‘The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare’: Halloween Horror Nights Delivers a Unique Blend of Terror and Pop Music to Universal Studios
Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios is the premier Halloween event that draws in millions of guests annually. Universal spares no expense in creating houses and scare zones that terrify guests and send them home with nightmares. One of the new houses drawing interest this year is The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare.
The house combines The Weeknd’s After Hours aesthetic with fear and chaos. While The Weeknd isn’t typically terrifying, Universal has made this house a disorienting trip into madness with a killer soundtrack.
‘The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare’ brings The Weeknd to Halloween Horror Nights
Halloween Horror Nights is Universal’s annual Halloween event that brings thrills and chills to guests. While other theme parks have haunt events, Universal excels past them with its massive catalog of immersive and horrifying houses. In 2022, Universal Orlando boasts an impressive 10 houses, with six original houses and others based on Halloween, Blumhouse productions, and Universal monsters.
The event’s biggest draw this year is The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare. While it’s not the first house to be based around a musical artist, The Weeknd was still a surprising theme for a haunted house. However, fans of The Weeknd who watched his music videos for After Hours songs know there is a lot of horror imagery and influence.
‘After Hours’ music videos are twisted and transformed into your worst nightmares
While the house is themed to the 2020 album After Hours, it mainly uses four songs: “Blinding Lights,” “In Your Eyes,” “Heartless,” and “Save Your Tears.” Once guests enter the house, they are greeted with a mannequin of The Weeknd (born Abel Tesfaye) in a chair as wires draw ideas and images from his brain. After that, the nightmare begins.
Guests enter a dark nightclub where they are immediately greeted by Abel, with his red suit and afro, slashing someone’s throat. As you continue through the maze, you are chased by bandaged versions of Abel and other plastic surgery patients who lunge at you with a knife, trying to put a smile on your face. The scares are effective, and it’s hard to know where they will jump out from.
The Weeknd himself transforms, similar to his evolution in the After Hours music videos. He begins with bandages, and his face becomes more contorted in every room. At one point, he even becomes a giant frog monster that emerges from the darkness, reminiscent of the frog he licks in “Heartless.”
Meanwhile, guests continue to run from the constantly-evolving Abel as they walk through hotel hallways, subway stations, hospital rooms, and a disorienting mirror maze similar to his Super Bowl performance. It all concludes in a room where guests are surrounded by multiple bandaged men, unsure which one is real.
How scary is ‘After Hours Nightmare’?
After Hours Nightmare is one of the scarier houses available at the event this year. The Weeknd is constantly jumping out of dark corners, and there are a variety of other frights, including an effective scene where scare actors wear suits that camouflage into the wallpaper. It is also a visually appealing house as it contains impressive sets and dazzling light displays.
This house is an absolute must for The Weeknd fans and horror fans. It’s one of the better houses of the whole evening, and Universal does a terrific job at bringing The Weeknd’s demented imagination to life.
