‘The Haunting of Hill House’ is Coming to Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights Event

the haunting of hill house universal studios

The door to the Red Room is about to open to theme park guests. Halloween Horror Nights was unfortunately canceled last year at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, but the event is set to return in 2021 with an all-new scary maze based on the Netflix series, The Haunting of Hill House.

Inside The Haunting of Hill House at Universal Studios

When you have a show with the words “haunting” and “house” in the title, it practically begs to be made into a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights. Universal Studios apparently felt the same. Now comes the news, via the Discover Universal Blog, that Universal is collaborating with Netflix on a Haunting of Hill House park experience that is authentic to the show.

See some of the interiors of The Haunting of Hill House at Universal Studios.

Director Mike Flanagan created The Haunting of Hill House series for Netflix as a loose adaptation of Shirley Jackson’s classic novel. It hit the streaming service in 2018 but Flanagan brought back many of the same cast members and continued it as an anthology with The Haunting of Bly Manor in 2020.

Universal’s haunted house will be based on the show’s first season. Here’s what Flanagan had to say about The Haunting of Hill House coming to Universal:

“I have loved Halloween Horror Nights for so long. Some of my favorite memories of Halloween were made at Universal Studios, screaming and laughing with my friends. It is such an honor to be included among such fantastic Haunts, and I’m so glad that fans will be able to walk the halls of Hill House this Halloween. This is – without a doubt – one of the coolest things that’s ever happened to us at Intrepid [Pictures]. We are so excited to visit the Red Room again – we hope to see you all there!”

A Tension-Building Halloween Horror Nights Maze

Over the course of 10 episodes, The Haunting of Hill House utilized shifting character perspectives to tell the story of the Crain siblings and their confrontation with the ghosts of their past in their childhood home. Guests can expect to encounter ghosts in Universal’s Haunting of Hill House maze, too, but this time, the mansion is the main character. They’ll have the opportunity to be “digested” in the Red Room, the mansion’s stomach, and there will be Easter eggs like hidden ghosts and the blueprints of Hill House. It’s all part of an experience that is designed to build tension and “sinister, creepy vibes” before exploding in all-out jump-scare action. Discover Universal notes:

Iconic scenes from the Netflix series will be featured throughout the maze, including the omni-powerful Red Room – the heart of Hill House – and the infamous Hall of Statues, where deceptive powers overtake everyone who enters. Apparitions will appear around every corner, from William Hill – The Tall Man, whose towering stature overwhelms everyone he encounters; to The Ghost in the Basement, who feverishly crawls throughout the bowels of the House in search of his next victim; to The Bent-Neck Lady, whose disturbing scream and ghastly appearance invoke a constant state of unnerving dread.

There will be plenty of Hill House-themed merchandise available for those who survive the mansion at Universal. Halloween Horror Nights runs from select nights between September 3 and October 31 at Universal Orlando Resort, and from select nights between September 9 and October 31 at Universal Studios Hollywood. Tickets are available on www.HalloweenHorrorNights.com and are expected to sell out.