Porting some reviews of some of the older HHN events in USJ since they’re no longer on at that other forum, and that’s forum’s sorta closed anyway now. None of these reviews are from me specifically.
Starting with the 2015 event. Sourced from
here by a poster named “Invader Butters”:
Well hello all you wonderful people.
I see that this section is flourishing with content. Though I can understand why there is not alot of information about Halloween Horror Nights in Japan, as it is very far away. I could have filled up this post with very's in that last sentence. Well because of luck, yours truly has been blessed with the pleasure of experiencing Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Japan. Let me first tell you, Halloween Horror Nights is not a separately ticketed event like it is state side. And the haunted houses open at the spooky time of NOON! Why is this? Well when your target audience and population mostly rides trains to your theme park and the trains stop running at midnight, that means the park closes earlier. If you want to see all of the included with the cost of a ticket into a day of USJ you got to get to the park early. "Why is that?", you ask yourself unsure of what answer you might get in return as a voice in your head might reply back with some inane retort like "WERE OUT OF PUNCH.". But, I'm getting ahead of myself the reason is that on peak days and for one key attraction you need a 'return time' which you might have to wait an hour just to get a return time at 8 am only to find that you will have to stay in the park till closing to do it. What attraction should garner such a wait? Well I'm glad you asked
Biohazard: The Real which not only is deserved of the wait but is a tour-de-force of excitement. But I'll get back to that later.
So this year at Halloween Horror Nights their are four Haunted Houses
Chucky's Horror Factory 2, Alien Vs Predator, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and
Biohazard: The Real 3.
So let me start off with the familiar
Alien Vs Predator
So there really is no backstory on this haunted house from what I can tell you wander into a Weyland-Yutani research lab that has been over run by Xenomorphs and Predators. They were operating on Predators so maybe they released them? This maze hearkened back to what was experienced at Orlando last year, people getting attacked and dragged away, Predators uncloaking and scaring you, bending over and going though a tunnel with an Alien at your feet, and Alien puppets. But the ending had a Predator hacking away on a Robotic Alien Queen which was a sight to be seen!
A Nightmare On Elm Street
I have to start this off by saying in Japan they know this movie as "The Night Killer". Before you go into the house you are paired off into groups of 6-8 and told to hold on to a rope. In a perfect world you won't run into the group infront of you because you are pulsed through the house. Freddy shows up and speaks in English. Tell you "Welcome to his world" and "No running in the halls". There is one particular moment in this haunt that I thought was pulled off really well. You pass what looks like a cell and the wall cracks open from freddy's piercing glove it scratches the room following the group until gets to the end of the wall and freddy pops out right next to it. Good setup, a very showy haunted house.
Chucky's Horror Factory 2
This maze starts off with you entering an abandoned factory where they produce "good guy" dolls, a bum sees the line and regales the yard of the curse of Chucky, I think my Japanese is pretty poor. As you enter the factory it is clear that Chucky is in control, they use small dolls, actors in suits, and even actors with small puppets attacking them as the puppet is attached to their hair. The house slowly devolves into a more generic factory setting where these factory workers have victims that they are ripping the legs off of and keeping chained up for dissection. With Chucky popping up here and there. Then you get to a part where an actor tells you to get into a room. There is an actor frantically trying to get our small group of 20-25 people out of this room, screaming that (I think) "Chucky is coming" the lights go out and suddenly there is a man with a chainsaw in the room and in the back of the room Chucky is riding on the shoulders of someone. Chucky has a chainsaw in his hands as well and cuts the man's head off. It was one of the greatest endings to a haunted house I have ever seen in my life.
Biohazard: The Real 3
Why is it the real 3? Because its the third time they've done it and boy oh boy, do they do it well. First you wait in a stairwell that visually tells you you just got out of the raccoon city subway. You are given a mask that tells your vitals and ammo, a umbrella arm band, and a gun. You are lead by a member of Umbrella (SO YOU ARE THE BAD GUY) to find a T-cell canister. You have to shot of real zombies, Lickers ( that slide about on the floor), Tyrants, even Nemesis shows up as an "end boss" delivering his one line "STARS!". It was something that has to be seen to be believed.
Ok so this where it gets good, not only do they have haunted houses and one extreme house (that I haven't mentioned) they change some of the rides around and make them horror versions I could write about them or you could kinda see it in a video I did on it, which includes the zombie scare zones
A day at universal studios japan during Halloween Horror Nights
Tell me what you think!