Halloween Horror Nights 2023 Speculation Map Arrives!
Its OFFICIAL! Universal has announced all 10 houses and 5 scare zones for the 2023 season of Halloween Horror Nights! Read about it here!
One of the joys of being a Halloween Horror Nights fan is looking forward to all the speculation and rumors that surrounds the upcoming event each year. So let the speculation begin! @HHNightmares on Twitter has become quite well-known in the fandom for their HHN Spec Maps, and the time has come for version 1.0 for what the HHN 32 season could possibly look like! We do want to mention at the top though that these are just rumors, mere speculation! One of these houses has already been confirmed, some of them are likely to be at the event, but some of these are for sure going to change by the time we have official confirmation of all the houses coming to Halloween Horror Nights this upcoming 2023 season. Although changes are inevitable, it's still fun to have a conversation about what could be, so without further to do, let's dive into v1.0 of this year's spec map!
Be sure to check back in for any updates as houses get officially announced! They’ll be listed here for your convenience.
— UPDATES —
Chucky is OFFICIALLY confirmed
HHN Speculation Map V1.0 Curtsey of @HHNightmares on Twitter
List of Houses:
Chucky - CONFIRMED
Universal Monsters: Phantom / Dracula
Krampus (Original)
Original
The Horrors of Blumhouse: M3GAN & Insidious
Lair of the Banshees (Original)
Devil Dogs (Original)
Original
日本の生き物 (Original)
With four original houses being speculated for this year (not including Universal Monsters, which is technically an intellectual property), and six IP houses, one of which is already confirmed for the 2023 season, we definitely have a lot to discuss and piece together. Let’s start at the top with letter A.
A. Chucky
Chucky was officially announced by Universal Creative on October 31, 2022 before last year’s event had even concluded, which made this house the earliest announcement we’ve ever had in HHN history! Chucky will return to the event as a house for the first time since 2008; however, this time the property will be based on the most recent USA/Syfy television show surrounding the character. Although it’s been a while since Chucky has appeared as a house at Halloween Horror Nights, the famous Good Guys doll has had a presence in the 2021 and 2022 seasons with merchandise and a photo op. Chucky was also featured in a scarezone titled Revenge of Chucky in 2018.
B. Universal Monsters: Phantom / Dracula
Universal Orlando Resort has been pushing the Universal Classic Monsters IP hard for the past few years since 2019. With the Classic Monsters coming to the new park, Universal’s Epic Universe set to open in 2025, it makes perfect sense to see this property continue to make an appearance in Halloween Horror Nights. With HHN being one of the most attended seasonal events in Florida, there’s almost no better way to get the classic properties back into the public’s eye. With that being said though, Universal continues to up their game on these houses year after year, with the previous season’s Legends Collide house being the biggest in scale so far. Personally, as long as Universal keeps up the commitment of maintaining a high level of excellence with these houses, I have no problem with them continuing to feature their own properties in the event. It only makes sense. However, the moment the quality of these houses decline, I might be inclined to feel otherwise. We don’t want another Walking Dead on our hands. But for now, these houses continue to knock it out of the park perennially.
C. The Last of Us
The Last of Us has been rumored since the first version of the HHN Spec Map from 2022. However, if there is a year for the property to make its way to Universal, this would be the year! Universal does have a history of pursuing hot television properties in the past with the Walking Dead and Stranger Things just to name a few. However, with The Last of Us premiering on HBO, a network owned by Warner Brothers, I’ve kept my expectations managed. Warner Brothers and Universal have had a history of not being able to strike a deal with each other in recent years over properties for Halloween Horror Nights. The main reason for this is because of Warner Brothers’ own desire to enter the horror themed entertainment industry around Halloween on their backlot tour in Hollywood, California.
With that being said, The Last of Us would be an amazing property for Universal to add to their lineup. Not only is it a popular property that’s never been in more demand than it is right now, but it’s also a property that would make use of the large budget set designs that Universal Creative has become known for with Halloween Horror Nights. Here’s hoping that we’ll be able to experience a clicker face to face during the 2023 season.
D. Krampus
Krampus is a cult classic property for HHN fans. The property that spins Christmas cheer into Christmas fear was met with mixed reactions when it debuted in 2016 based off of the film of the same name. However, fans of the wackier side of Horror Nights fell in love with the property and have been begging to see its return almost every year since. Although I personally don’t see the property returning this year, it would be an extra IP to help boost their portfolio for the year, and with the film rights belonging to Universal, it would be an easy grab for the event. What do you think about Christmas coming early to Universal Orlando this year?
E. Original - Maybe Navy Themed?
This next house is rumored to be an original house, although with only an emblem and no title, there’s very little to go off of. With an anchor as the main icon it's safe to assume that this concept would include some sort of nautical theme, which has had a decent presence at HHN as of late. With the logo loosely resembling the signet of the navy, I’d be curious if this could potentially be a follow up to Havoc with an oceanic twist. That’s a complete shot in the dark, but it would be a neat concept to explore.
F. The Horrors of Blumhouse: M3GAN & Insidious
With Blumhouse producing hit after hit for Universal in recent years, and with properties that are relevant and already under the Universal wing, it only makes sense to assume that Blumhouse will return. Also add in the fact that M3GAN was a massive hit and viral phenomenon to the mix and of course the speculation map would include this property in the lineup.
Although Blumhouse has been hit or miss for me as an attraction at Halloween Horror Nights, M3GAN would be a great addition to this year’s roster. And with the fifth installment of Insidious to hit theaters on July 7th of this year, the pairing of the two franchises align with previous iterations of Blumhouse at the event. With both of these properties being proven as successful, this is one of the houses that I expect to be confirmed first off this rumor list. If reviews are positive of Insidious: Fear the Dark, I wouldn’t be surprised to get the announcement around early July.
G. Lair of the Banshees
Lair of the Banshees sounds exactly like an old-school original Halloween Horror Nights house. With no information to go off of except for the title, this house already has my interest. With Webster Dictionary defining a banshee as “a female spirit in Gaelic folklore whose appearance or wailing warns a family that one of them will soon die”, I can only imagine the dark, atmospheric places that Universal Creative will take us. What do you imagine this house could consist of?
H. Devil Dogs
DEVIL DOGS! If I were to guess which house would be the comedy house of the year, I would put my money on this one. Devil Dogs is taken from the fan favorite house “Slaughter Sinema” from 2018. Slaughter Sinema was composed of several different ideas that Universal Creative kept pitching and bouncing around, but never seemed to stick. The theme was set to a 1980’s theater playing horror b-movies. As you walked through the house, each movie would come to life in its own scene. One of these movies was Devil Dogs - a demented gang of Werewolf bikers attacking a local bar. Although the scene was short, it was one of the smash hits of the house. This isn’t the first time Universal Creative has revisited the ideas thrown into Slaughter Sinema. Did you have a chance to experience Devil Dogs, and would you be interested in seeing a fully realized version of the concept?
I. Rock n Roll! Maybe?
This is another house listing that comes with no title but only a symbol to go off of. However, with the Stratocaster guitar and lightning bolt, it makes you dream of what a rock n roll themed house could be. One thing to note is that this house doesn’t have the listing of “original” underneath it. Does that mean that this house could have the backing of a larger known artist such as Rob Zombie or The Weeknd? After all, the lightning bolt does look similar to that of the “S” in the Kiss logo. With that being said, we really don’t have much info to go off of for this house quite yet. If it is an original house, I could see it being a rock n roll concert gone wrong with some sort of supernatural twist. However, time will tell. What are your theories for what this house could be?
J. 日本の生き物
Lastly, we have a Japanese themed house! The title is quite interesting, and I’m curious if this would be the official banner name if it did make it into the event. This house is an original, and the title loosely translates to “Japanese Creature”. It sounds like this house will be the story of a Japanese folklore creature brought to life. If that’s the case, this house has my full attention! The amount of atmospheric work and set design the creative team can do to bring us to an unsuspecting Japanese village is limitless, and the possibilities genuinely have me very excited.
Although that is all 10 houses for the year, the Speculation Map does include a few more interesting pieces of information to gleam! With KidsZone now officially under construction, the queue lines for the parade buildings will have to be rerouted, and according to this map, it seems as if they’ll cut back between the Simpsons ride building and Fast Food Boulevard where the Simpson characters can often been seen doing meet and greets during the day.
One other quick observation is on the two shows that pop up for the Halloween season. Firstly, it seems as if we’re expecting Nightmare Fuel to make a return for their third consecutive year at Halloween Horror Nights. Last year was a solid performance, but was met with some criticism for being too much of a repeat from the previous year. It’ll be interesting to see the new elements that they bring to the event this year if they bring any at all. Their show is expected to be held in the former Fear Factor stadium once again, which further cements the fact that the demolition of the stadium has been canceled altogether.
The second show is once again not a stage show, but a lagoon show! Although we don’t have a rumored name for it quite yet, it seems as if Universal is pushing forward with their idea of a nighttime lagoon show that celebrates horror and the various IP’s being represented in the event for the season. Last year’s show ended on a whimper after a hurricane blew through Orlando and damaged the show’s technology. HHN ended its final month with no lagoon show; however, the park has fixed their infrastructure since then and has returned to the normal nighttime celebration.
That’s a wrap for this year’s version 1.0 of the Speculation Map! What are your thoughts on the rumored properties and stories coming to the event this year? Share your ideas and thoughts down below in the comments! Also be sure to stay posted to our site for updates on Scarezones as they release and official Universal Orlando announcements as well! Make The Drop your home for all Halloween Horror Nights information by subscribing to our newsletter down below.
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