The glitz, glamour, gambling, and glorious gaudiness of Las Vegas has long made it a de facto theme park for adults. Now Sin City is also home to world class amusement park gore. Just a few minutes from the Strip, you can visit one of the very best offerings in all of theme park entertainment. And you can go all year long. Universal Horror Unleashed is the company’s first full-time horror experience.
And as someone who loves theme parks, Halloween, and Las Vegas, after my first visit I say this without an iota of exaggeration: Universal Horror Unleashed is one of the absolute best additions to that entertainment desert mecca in my lifetime.
Last August, Universal Destinations & Experiences’ opened a new, full-time experience. Universal Horror Unleashed is the company’s permanent answer to its theme parks’ wildly popular seasonal Halloween Horror Nights. Located in the very cool AREA15 entertainment district, it all takes place in a massive, 110,000 square-foot warehouse. Inside guests will find four horror houses, four themed areas full live entertainment, themed food and drinks, a fantastic merch store, and more.
The venue is themed as an “abandoned production warehouse” where the studio has long sent costumes, props, and set pieces into long-term storage. Over the years those items, after being kept in areas with names like Prop Graveyard and Dead Storage, have turned evil. As have many of the workers, demons, and spirits who call the warehouse home. (I spent considerable time speaking with a veteran employee of the production warehouse who believed we were meeting sometime around 1941. When we weren’t talking, she eyed me over as a possible lunch.)
You feel the wonderful dread of the space the moment you walk in. Just a few of the many creepy touches (too many to count) of the impeccably themed venue include unpleasant mannequins, unsettling antique wedding dresses and tuxes (one it turns out is worn by an actual human), and dangerous old machinery and weapons. There are also strewn corpses and bloody appendages throughout for good measures. And while the scenery and atmosphere provide all the frightful vibes any horror-lover would want from a horror-themed bar alone, it’s the talented live performers who elevate the experience. They make what would be a great bar on its own into a unique, fun experience.
Universal Horror Unleashed features a whopping—and I asked three times to make sure I had this right—126 live performers during its open hours (Thursday to Sunday). That number does not include the many bartenders, waitstaff, custodial staff, managers, or security. There are 126 people whose sole role is to perform as killers, demons, ghosts, monsters, and more.
For some, that means taking the stage for a choreographed show, dancing on a catwalk, haunting one of four-themed houses, or roaming the venue’s multiple bar and food areas so no customer can ever fully relax. Some of my favorites actors fly like human bats from tower to tower on a wire overhead. Sometimes you briefly forget they are there. Then they stomp so loudly half the patrons scream in shock. It’s the best.
Sometimes, the wandering actors stalk you like a supernatural monster in a slasher flick. Others just want quietly sneak up on you to make sure you remember where you are. And a few want to talk. I found them to be the most unsettling. It’s easier to deal with a large silent creature holding an axe than a “sweet” young lady telling you all about the bloody bunny she’s holding by a leash. What makes those conversations the best/worst is that Horror Unleashed’s performers never break. Ever. They force you to meet them on their turf, which is weird, scary, and downright uncomfortable. I’m not usually at a loss for words, but many times I just found myself saying “sorry” or “thanks” so I wouldn’t upset them. I loved them so much.
I also loved the presence of Halloween Horror Nights legends Jack and Chance, the biggest stars of the venue. They’re a huge presence throughout and lead the venue’s best stage show. (Which includes numerous other great performances that occur throughout the night.) At the end of Jack and Chance’s show audience members brought on stage get to vote “stay or slay” after watching a kidnapped, non-evil performer try to save herself. Our group of four voters included me after I got threatened when I briefly hesitated. We all chose “slay” because obviously.
As you can imagine, playing two Universal icons is a big deal that is also a big job. Del Wynegar, who recently took over as Assistant Director of Entertainment at Universal Horror Unleashed, told me only “a very select group” is capable of taking on the two important roles. It’s not hard to see why. They are very hard on the performers, both vocally and physically. Wynegar said casting either requires a “very thorough audition process.” Jack’s inherent joyful chaotic malice and Chance’s playful evil sets the tone for everything you’ll find at the experience, which is the best of a Universal theme park experience.
Our media group saw how Jack and Chance capture the best of what the venue has to offer when they unexpectedly joined us for the bus ride from our hotel to the warehouse. Jack’s fantastic makeup—which highlighted the level of time and effort that goes into bringing the venue to life—-scared me by itself. Then his growl and demeanor scared me some more. When Chance yelled at me a lot and I knew I was not fully prepared—in the best way—for everything else that would follow in the next few hours.
Our media event took place in the spring at the halfway point until Halloween, so the venue was celebrating “Feaster Grievings.” Throughout you could find evil Easter touches (hence half-dead bunnies on leashes held by young women in blood-stained pastel dresses). It also included an egg hunt through the area’s only outdoors aspect. There we met the Feaster Bunny for what turned out to be maybe the best photo of me ever taken.
The queue was better than the actual outside area, which was the only aspect of the venue that felt underdeveloped. But that was genuinely the only part—and I do mean only part—of Universal Horror Unleashed I found underwhelming. It’s also the area that will certainly get better with time, as it changes with the seasons. Summer, Halloween, and Christmas all get their own special spooky overlays. That helps the venue remain fresh, as it offers a different experience each time you go. The inevitable re-themes of the space’s four haunted houses will also do that, though it’s not clear when that might happen. (I don’t think there’s any reason to change them anytime soon.)
Thing is, you don’t need something new to go again. The permanent aspects are simply that good. They’re so good in fact you might have noticed I haven’t even talked specifically about the four haunted houses yet. It’s not because they’re bad. Quite the opposite. They’re incredible. (We’re going to get to why, I promise.) It’s that Universal Horror Unleashed is a great themed-bar even without them.
In addition to the live performers, the first area alone would make this a place I’d want to revisit every time I’m in Vegas. I want to go back here for the same way I revisit my favorite bars in any city. The first space, The Boiler, is a massive, immersive bar I could have sat at for hours. I also had two absolutely incredible cocktails while doing exactly that, one of which came served in a giant cage.
Nearby you’ll also find the Kill Vault. It’s full of both rusty weapons and live performers. It’s also home to Rough Cuts, which serves up themed small plates. I really enjoyed all of the themed-food and drinks I tried throughout the space. This is where I grabbed an authentically heart shaped cake pop. I planned to have two bites of it to save space for others stuff. Instead I demolished the whole thing because it was so good.
Towards the back of the warehouse, you’ll also find the dark carnival-themed Jack’s Alley. This is where the stage shows take place. Behind it is another bar where you can go if you want a (slightly) less chaotic atmosphere. If you want more of a sit down experience there’s also Premiere House. It’s a tapas bar area with tables themed around Blumhouse horror films. There’s a part where M3GAN comes out and performs. Next to it are real movie props, masks, a payphone, and the Grabber’s van for when he gets in on the fun. Opposite them on the far wall, Premiere House also lives up to its name by showing trailers and clips from upcoming Blumhouse releases.
(While Universal says the venue is probably best for kids at least 13 years old, I saw children younger than that. They seemed to be having the time of their life, so it’s really up to you if you bring your young ones or not. You know best what your kid can and cannot handle. If really scary movies don’t give them nightmares, they’re probably fine. Premiere House also offers a great location for them to enjoy the themed food. The other bar areas, which also provide some table seating, aren’t off limits, but they definitely felt more adult-centered.)
By 6PM, just 90 minutes after opening, both bars were full and lively. They remained that way throughout my stay, which ended up being much longer than I planned because I was having so much fun. Outside of a brief early sneak peek and some interview opportunities, my time at Universal Horror Unleashed took place during normal operating hours. It let me see and experience firsthand what it’s like to actually go. It also let me see just how quickly it gets busy. I also saw just how happy people are to be there.
This is a place for people who love horror, loved being scared, and who love being uncomfortable. Universal Horror Unleashed promises a lot. It promises the very best in theme park horror experiences. It overdelivers on its promise, so of course the type of people who seek it out have a great time there. It’s so good it will even win over some horror skeptics who are always enchanted by a world-class themed-bar.
….Horror skeptics might enjoy the four haunted houses a little less, though, because they rule.
Before I ventured into my first I couldn’t have anticipated just how different each would be or that they would so naturally invite multiple trips. They are all different in meaningful ways beyond their IPs and themes. Some utilize jump scares more than others while others lean more on settings, activations, lighting, or special effects. One of the best “tricks” is when you see a performer well before you reach them. The anticipation of terror got me more than the unexpected presence of it. Certain house also employ more fake out dummies, so you can’t even try to guess what’s a mannequin and who’s a performer ready to pounce. They make sure you never even think you might be okay or prepare. Not a single haunted house felt the same as the others. Each scared me in its own way, which only adds to the experience.
(Universal Horror Unleashed offers tiers of tickets in addition to special VIP experiences. Of the three main tiers the first gets you just into the bar areas. The next guarantees one visit into each haunted house. The highest gets you unlimited house visits.)
The first haunted house I explored was Scarecrow: The Reaping. It’s an original and beloved Halloween Horror Nights IP that has turns the Nevada desert into a cornfield. It takes guests through a demented farmland from the 1930s’ Dust Bowl era. After entering a farmhouse, which is claustrophobic and unpleasant, you go out into the cornfield itself. There stalks sway and hit you in the face, a simple but highly upsetting element. The house also utilizes mirrors and fans to make it feel much bigger, authentic, and scarier than the space might otherwise. Longtime Universal Horror fans and newcomers alike will love it, and I think it made for the perfect first house.
Veterans and first-timers will also both love what I found to be the coolest of the four houses, Universal Monsters. It features more modern versions of the studio’s iconic creatures, but the haunted house captures the look and feel of the classic films in the best way. It’s probably the “least scary” of the four, but that’s like saying a 90-degree day is the least hot day of a heatwave. I still got scared plenty of times, including one of the absolute best scares of the whole venue. This house was the one I was most eager to go back into as a movie fan just so I could look at it more. Then I got scared again all the same.
The most surprising house, both for its inclusion and for how successful it is, goes to Blumhouse’s The Exorcist: Believer. The movie, to be kind, is not exactly a fan favorite or critical darling. It was easily the house I was least excited for. Then I walked through and found it very uncomfortable! (Again, I mean that in the most complimentary way possible.) Having a bunch of demonic “children” pop out at you, in a house that feels far too real, is not a good feeling. If you don’t like your haunted house to be an actual house this one will get you. It also features the best special effects of the entire warehouse.
The only downside of The Exorcist: Believer are the demons. I found them funny instead of scary. But even then, those came during some of the best moments Universal Horror Unleashed has to offer. Before going through any house I asked Wyengar and Nate Stevenson, Show Director, Entertainment Creative Development, Universal Orlando Resort what advantages a permanent space provides versus Universal’s seasonal Horror Nights at the parks. They both immediately highlighted “pulsing.”
With the seasonal houses, which can be jammed-packed, guests can experience bottlenecking. Your group can inadvertently get lumped with others either at the start or shortly after entering. At Universal Horror Unleashed walkthroughs are controlled and paced at the start by employees communicating with walkie talkies. They make your trip yours, hence the “pulsing” effect.
Slow or fast movers can hinder the venue’s efforts, but I had walkthroughs entirely to myself. That provided pure jump scares where I had no idea a performer was even close even though they certainly scared the person before me moments ago. It also meant in The Exorcist: Believer house I got to see an “exorcism” scene from start to finish. The performer gently guides you around the room as part of the show so it doesn’t feel like they’re telling to keep going. It’s all natural and added to the experience. It’s a major way—along with getting more one-on-one interactions with performers, especially Jack and Chance—this Las Vegas horror outpost provides a more in-depth, immersive experience than the beloved Halloween Horror Nights.
The other way it does that is by straight up putting you inside one of the scariest freaking movies ever made. I love (love) the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That’s exactly why I did not enjoy the sensation of feeling like I was living it. That’s the only way I can describe going through Universal Horror Unleashed’s recreation of the legendary 1974 film. My chest was tight the entire time. It’s the only house where I felt the need to fast walk through portions. At one point I gave myself a quiet little pep talk to remember I was not in actual danger. Then a performer didn’t move a single iota or breath for 15 seconds, including during another performer’s jump scare, and I thought my head was going to implode.
It was awful and uncomfortable and it made me feel bad. I immediately went back through again.
I’m also immediately, without question, going back to Universal Horror Unleashed the next time I’m in Las Vegas. Whatever expectations I had for it were demolished. It’s nearly perfect in every way. I love theme parks and being immersed in an experience that includes the highest levels of craft. Just as I love the audacious, larger-than-life fun of Sin City. And I love great horror, because being unsettled can be wildly entertaining in a way no other feeling can offer.
It’s also why it has far broader appeal than you might expect. Whether you love that sensation of being scared or not, at the very least this year-round horror outpost is incredible place with a fantastic atmosphere to hang out and have some great food and and drinks. It’s one of the best bars I’ve ever been to. It’s one of the best spots in Vegas I’ve ever visited. The fact it’s also everything you’d want from a Universal Horror experience is what makes Universal Horror Unleashed special.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. He would have ordered 17 of those amazing Bloodsucker cocktails but he’s a professional. And also old. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermikeOpens in a new tab. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.