Universal Orlando finally made it official that The Weeknd will be featured in their own house at Halloween Horror Nights 2022! This house has been rumored and speculated about for a long time now, ever since the unfortunate end of the Billie Eilish house that we never got in 2020. However, with The Weeknd being a newer musical phenomenon in pop culture, many people have been wondering what they need to be familiar with before experiencing their original house this year at HHN 31. Here’s a list of EIGHT music videos that you NEED to catch up on before experiencing The Weeknd at Halloween Horror Nights!

1. Heartless

Heartless is where our Journey begins. After experiencing great heartbreak, Abel tries to mask the pain, but the price of which soon sets him off on a dark path.

2. Blinding Lights

The Weeknd’s mainstream claim to fame, Blinding Lights, continues down the path of Abel’s struggle with grief and pain; however, now some pieces of the story begin to take place. We find Abel stumbling through a drunken rampage from Las Vegas to get back into LA.

After Abel’s journey back to LA, he performs the iconic song live for Jimmy Kimmel. This leads us into the After Hours short film.

3. After Hours

The namesake of this year’s house, After Hours, is where the story takes a sharp turn. The Short film is setting up the dark, horror themes that the rest of these stories follow. The album of the same name explores Abel’s mental health as he struggles with the aftermath of a bad breakup, and here we can see the first cracks of a broken man expose themselves as something evil takes over.

4. In Your Eyes

This video picks up immediately after the ending of ‘After Hours’, and follows a woman as Abel hunts her down. Pay attention to all the fun classic horror movie homages. There are themes and Easter eggs referring to classics such as Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Evil Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and more! (Some of which will also be represented at this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event!)

5. Until I Bleed Out

This video is a look into Abel’s personal Hell as he struggles with the pain of loss. It takes a moment to address what his spirit is going through while the evil ravages his body in the real world.

6. Too Late

Too Late is not only the resurrection of our main character, but also a look into the fake-ness of Hollywood - the price of beauty on the outside when the evil still holds its roots on the inside. While the evil plagues Abel’s soul and body, these people mask their evil with plastic surgery.

7. Save Your Tears

Save Your Tears shows us an Abel that falls down the path of masking his pain on the outside; however, the torment continues internally. Ultimately we see the physical demise of our character once again, but follow his journey into his own personal Hell.

8. Snowchild

This animated music video picks up at the last introspective video, ‘Until I Bleed Out’, and shows the internal struggles of Abel in an artistic interpretation of Hell and the After Life. The story ultimately ends with our main character seeing himself at the beginning of ‘Heartless’, which realizes the final story of this character. Abel is destined to repeat the cycle of pain and heartbreak. As he walks through the stages of grief, he brings himself down a path of physical, emotional, and spiritual trauma that causes him to ultimately become heartless again. The cycle continues on, and on, and on with every heartbreak he will ever go through.

So that’s the storyline of After Hours by The Weeknd. A dark, sometimes twisted, look at one man’s grieving process that ultimately brings him to a cyclical loop of self destruction. It’s no wonder that Universal Orlando wanted to pursue working with The Weeknd. These videos are filled with so many moments of haunting imagery that will fit in perfectly within an original Halloween Horror Nights house!

What are your thoughts on The Weeknd and his inclusion into this year’s HHN event? Are you looking forward to seeing what the twisted minds behind the event came up with for this house? Let us know your thoughts down below, and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter to stay up-to-date with all things Halloween Horror Nights!

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