Who could be a better fit for Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights than the Prince of Darkness?
Ozzy Osbourne, the English rocker/songwriter who died at age 76 in July 2025, is getting the haunted house/tribute treatment at this year’s event, which starts Friday (Aug. 28) at Universal Studios Florida theme park. It doesn’t sound like creators held back.
“You actually see Ozzy, as a full bat, bite the head off a human,” Lora Sauls, assistant director of entertainment creative development and show direction at Universal Orlando, said a week ahead of its HHN debut.
The houses — there’s a different one in the works for Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood — are with the blessing of Osbourne’s family. His son Jack, who had attended the event in California, was instrumental in making these mazes happen, Universal officials have said.
“We’ve been working really close with [wife] Sharon and Jack, specifically, making sure that we are giving not only an aggressive, amazing haunted house, but really a tribute to Ozzy’s legacy, to his music and to his iconography of being this amazing horror-based musician,” Sauls said.
“They allowed us to do some original characters in there with the Ozzy logo, like, burned into their skulls or etched into their masks,” she said. “So it was just a great collaboration.”
In Orlando, HHN visitors will travel through ancient ruins and dungeons before boarding the “Crazy Train” for a journey inspired by the covers of Osbourne’s solo albums, including “Diary of a Madman,” “Bark at the Moon,” “The Ultimate Sin” and “Black Rain.”
The house will include different versions of the musician, such as werewolf Ozzy and “mid-transformation bat Ozzy,” Sauls said. “Then it culminates with seeing the Prince of Darkness himself sitting on the throne that emulates the throne he sat on at his very last concert.”
The house will include Osbourne’s hits plus some deep cuts, Sauls said.
“It’s a great tribute to Ozzy, and he’s telling us in his own words, his own voice, that he loves us,” she said.
The original “Hellraiser” trilogy will be the basis of a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando in 2026. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)
Pinning down Pinhead
One film has been at the top of the wish list of Horror Nights honchos for more than 10 years, Sauls said.
“We have been wanting to do ‘Hellraiser’ for over a decade,” she said. “For many years we would ask about it, and the rights seemed to be a little bit of an issue. … We wanted it for years and years and years, and this year we finally got it.”
The 1987 film is “one of the true classic horror movies that has stood the test of time,” Sauls said. “If you’ve never seen ‘Hellraiser,’ I’m positive at some time in everyone’s life, you’ve seen Pinhead,” the nickname for the nailed-up, bald-headed protagonist and distinctive movie-poster image.
Filmmaker Clive Barker and team were involved in the HHN projects.
“When his team came to our park here in Orlando, and they walked the house, they obviously filled him in on how incredible the house looks,” Sauls said. “And Clive wrote us a handwritten letter, thanking us for bringing this franchise to life.”
New to Halloween Horror Nights in 2026 is a haunted house based on the 2025 award-winning original horror film, “Sinners,” produced, written and directed by Ryan Coogler. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)
‘Sinners’ singalong of sorts
The house, based on the Oscar-winning film “Sinners,” has the storylines, characters and music that fans would anticipate, Sauls said.
“It’s got some amazing special effects because when you go into the juke joint, you’re gonna see Preacher Boy singing on the stage. You’re going to see that power of music, that gift of music, break the veil, and you’re going to see representation of musicians from past, present, future,” she said.
“Of course, Remmick is right there on our tail with his gang of vampires coming at us. … It brings that film to life, but yet in an aggressive way. Remmick is around every corner. You’re gonna see all the amazing vampires that he’s created to go after Preacher Boy, and then, of course — spoiler alert — the sun comes up.”
The final season of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” will be the basis of a haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando in 2026. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)
And the rest
Seven additional houses are part of 2026 HHN, including mazes based on the fifth season of “Stranger Things” and “Evil Dead Burn,” a film that arrived in theaters this summer. Original-concept houses include Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control (icons at odds), Cybergoria (futuristic machines, cold world), Madlands: Caged Cannibals (defunct zoo), Invasion: Alien Abduction (otherworldly visitors, remote homestead) and H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular (a cinematic scare-a-thon from Carey, Ohio).
Also in the mix are a “Stranger Things” retrospective lagoon show, a new “Nightmare Fuel” stage show and multiple scare zones, including a mammoth one known as Downtown Clowntown and one named Sideshow of Decay that connects to past HHNs.
Halloween Horror Nights 2026 will feature a haunted house based on the film “Evil Dead Burn,” which was released in theaters in mid-July. (Courtesy Universal Orlando)
“Cindy Caine, who has been a part of our event for a very long time but really has never taken the lead on anything; she’s befriended Dr. Oddfellow,” Sauls said.
“He’s opened a portal in the Sideshow of Decay to our HHN graveyard, where he is allowing her to resurrect all of these iconic characters and icons of our past. … so she can have them as playthings,” Sauls said. “They are not just coming after us. They’re going after each other because they don’t know each other.”
Halloween Horror Nights: How Jack is back with Oddfellow
Halloween Horror Nights runs for 49 select nights through Nov. 1. For tickets and more details, go to universalorlando.com/hhn. Mini-reviews of all 10 haunted houses will be posted on orlandosentinel.com Saturday (Aug. 29) morning.
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