It may be February, but Halloween Horror Nights fans know it’s not too early for speculation season. Horror Night Nightmares (@HNNightmares) has released the first speculation map for Halloween Horror Nights 32 at Universal Studios Florida.
HHNightmares releases maps throughout the pre-HHN season as a yearly tradition featuring the rumored and confirmed houses, scare zones, and shows.
The maps are based on current rumors and speculation about Halloween Horror Nights 31 and will change, but they give us a good idea of what we can expect this year (and add some excitement to the off-season).
The scare zones are currently unknown, but their likely locations are marked on the map in yellow.
The only show listed is Nightmare Fuel, which will likely be changed to differentiate it from the last two versions.
Speculation Map – Houses
Here are the houses listed on this speculation map:
- Chucky
- Universal Studios Monsters (The Phantom/Dracula)
- “The Last of Us”
- Krampus (original)
- “Anchor” (original)
- The Horrors of Blumhouse: M3GAN / Insidious
- Lair of the Banshees (original)
- Devil Dogs (original)
- “Guitar”
- Japanese (original)
As you can see, there are five houses with original stories.
Chucky
Chucky is currently the only house that has been confirmed. A frequent flier at HHN, Chucky hasn’t had his own house since 2009 (but he did have a scare zone at HHN28. He’s made many appearances in between, including a photo op for the past two years.
Universal Studios Monsters: Phantom/Dracula
There have been many houses featuring the Universal Studios Monsters throughout the past 31 years, and given their place in the hallows-eve halls of horror, their inclusion is not a surprise. This also follows the trend of the past few years. We had Universal Monsters in 2019, Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein in 2020 & 2021, and Universal Monsters: Legends Collide in 2022.
The Phantom, as seen in the concept art above, has not been featured since 2019.
“The Last of Us”
“The Last of Us” is an HBO TV series (based on a video game) that is currently garnering viral popularity. While not a confirmation, Pedro Pascal (who plays Joel Miller, one of the series’ leads) likened the filming experience to “an extreme version of Halloween Horror Nights.” However, it’s worth noting that “The Last of Us” was also on last year’s first speculation map — a good reminder to take the speculation map with a side of skepticism. The listed houses are rumors, and the plans can (and do) change at the last minute.
Krampus
Krampus was featured before at Halloween Horror Nights 26, but that house was based on the 2015 film of the same name. This year’s house is rumored to be an original concept, likely drawing more inspiration from Germanic myths.
The All Hallows Eve Boutique at Universal’s Islands of Adventure had a Krampus makeover during the holiday season, featuring a large figure for photo ops.
Anchor
The house represented by an image of an anchor is an original concept. Some fans are speculating a return of or sequel to Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake, but Universal typically does not repeat houses back to back. That being said, it’s not out of the realm of possibility, and it was a very popular house last year.
Universal has done other nautical themes before, with the S.S. Frightanic from HHNVIII and Ship of Screams from HHN 13. While not primarily nautical in theme, Dead Waters from HHN27 featured a sinking riverboat, and 2019’s Depths of Fear took place in an underwater mining facility
The Horrors of Blumhouse: M3GAN and Insidious 2
There have been several houses entitled The Horrors of Blumhouse, all featuring multiple properties in each house. Given that Universal has a ten-year deal with Blumhouse for ownership and distribution of movies, the partnership makes (synergistic) sense.
As for the latest iteration of The Horrors of Blumhouse, an official source behind the M3GAN Reddit AMA said, “I can’t wait to go to HHN this year.” This is also still not a confirmation, but it wouldn’t be the first time a collaborating company heavily hinted at their involvement.
Insidious has been featured multiple times, with its own house in 2015 as well as being featured in the first The Horrors of Blumhouse in 2017.
Lair of the Banshees
Lair of the Banshees was first an original scare zone at HHN26. The house would likely be related to the zone as a prequel or sequel. Universal Orlando has done this in the past, such as turning Dead Man’s Wharf into Dead Man’s Pier: Winter’s Wake.
Many of the set pieces from Lair of the Banshees have been reused over the past few years, including in Gorewood Forest (as pictured above) at HHN30 and last year’s Conjure the Dark scare zone.
Devil Dogs
Devil Dogs was one of the fictional movies in 2018’s Slaughter Sinema, which has inspired other houses after positive fan reactions to the house. While none of the movies have directly translated into houses, The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin was partially inspired by Pumpkin Guts, and the Beast Baby from Cult of the Beast Baby and the Swamp Yeti from Revenge of the Swamp Yeti have made cameo appearances,
The plot for the fake movie was “They thought they were the biggest, they thought they were the baddest, they thought they were the boldest, they thought they were tough guys. They were wrong. Devil Dogs! When the full moon rises, this pack rides!”
Guitar
A speculated house represented by a guitar and lightning bolt is also listed. It’s not marked as an original, creating speculation that the house will be based on the discography of a band. No official clues have been given, but some fans are hopeful that the lightning bolt could mean Metallica (the bolt being a clue for their “Ride the Lightning” album) or even a Stranger Things/Metallica house based on the latest season.
Both Stranger Things houses and band-based houses have appeared at the event before, but given that these are rumors not even speculated by HNNightmares directly, we advise against getting your hopes up yet.
Japanese Original House
The house was represented on the map with “Japanese creatures (original)” written in Japanese. There’s not much more to go off for this rumored house yet, but given the popularity of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Japan, perhaps the creative teams have collaborated on a mythology-based house.
Let us know what you hope will come true for Halloween Horror Nights 32 in the comments below or on social media.
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