Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2026 Is Open. Select Nights September 3 Through November 1. Art the Clown Took the Terror Tram. Slash Scored a Quinceañera That Goes Wrong.

John Murdy’s Midsummer Scream panel in August locked the slate. Forty-two nights, 7 p.m. to the small hours, Early Event Access from 5:30 if you bought that add-on. This is the West Coast event — not Orlando’s twin, even when the IPs overlap.

The houses (eight, plus the tram)

Shared with Florida in spirit if not in every wall: Sinners (Ryan Coogler’s 1930s Mississippi juke joint, vampires in the smoke), Stranger Things 5 (Hawkins, Vecna, the last chapter, Soundstage 15 / Lower Lot in the fan maps), Hellraiser (Pinhead and the Cenobites; some recaps tag a “Sinners” subtitle — the official language most used is the franchise name), Evil Dead Burn (cabin, Deadites, the new film’s heat), Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness (tribute maze, Crazy Train energy without requiring a deep cut collection).

Hollywood-only or Hollywood-first: Killer Klowns from Outer Space back for another ’80s circus-from-space run; KILLceañera: Music by SLASH — Latin American folklore, a birthday that should not be blown out, original score from Slash; Dead, Deader, Deadest, the original, an abandoned Deville Family Funeral Home and a miracle embalming drug called Ambrotox that does not stay in the bottle.

That is eight mazes. Rankings already exist because the event is live. They are opinions. Sinners and Hellraiser are the ones reviewers keep putting near the top. Stranger Things 5 is the one some called a whimper of a finale. Your legs will decide.

Terror Tram starring Art the Clown

The Studio Tour becomes a hijack. Terrifier’s Art arrives too early for Christmas with a bag of presents and a soundtrack by Ice Nine Kills twisting carols into something that should not be hummed on the 101. Vicki, the Little Pale Girl, Sienna in a white “Snow Angel” look at the end in the walkthroughs. Guests who think they left him on the backlot may find him in the park. That is the pitch. WDWNT filmed it. It is the headline experience this year the way the tram always wants to be.

Streets and extras

Scare zones in the guides: Fortnitemares, El Circo de la Muerte, Hackerz, Blood Bog. Street beat: Freaky Nikki from Obsession making nightly trouble. Death Eaters in the Wizarding World, because even licensed castles get a night shift. The Purge: Dangerous Waters is back in the WaterWorld tank as the stunt show.

Food is its own maze. Clown Cafe and Art’s Tinsel Bar if you want a chocolate hat on a cold brew and to pay festival prices for it.

How to read a lineup without a spreadsheet

IP houses sell tickets. Originals are how Murdy keeps a coast from feeling like a press junket. KILLceañera plus Slash is the swing this year — a cultural specific that is not another licensed slasher IP. Dead, Deader, Deadest is the funeral-home zombie idea he has circled before. Art on the tram is the viral still. Ozzy is the memorial that has to land as a house, not a wax museum.

Tickets are separate from a daytime park pass. Express exists and starts in the neighborhood of tens of dollars per selected attraction, not a golden ticket to every queue. RIP tours are the expensive skip. None of that is a recommendation. It is the menu.

If you go: comfortable shoes, a plan for Sinners or Hellraiser first if those are your movies, and the understanding that a clown who loves Christmas now owns the tram. The event already started. November 1 is the last listed night. Pinhead, Vecna, Deadites, and a quinceañera that hired Slash will all still be there until then. The rest is whether you like being yelled at in the dark. That part is not new. The Christmas clown on the backlot is.