Universal Named Two Scenes Inside the H.R. Bloodengutz House at Halloween Horror Nights 35, and the Original Queue Video Actor Is Back
Universal Orlando has published the first look inside "H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!", one of the original haunted houses in the Halloween Horror Nights 35 lineup. The resort's own blog ran an interview on August 6 with show director Ramon Paradoa and scenic designer Nick Collins, and it is the first time Universal has described what guests actually walk through rather than just the premise.
The main stage of the Midnight Horror Show, the in-universe TV set the house is built around. Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort.
The short version: two scenes are now named, the 2011 queue video actor is back, two new characters join the story, and the studio itself is staged as a boarded-up crime scene rather than a working set.
The two scenes Universal named
The conceit of the house is a movie marathon, so each room is a different straight-to-TV Halloween film. Paradoa and Collins each picked one to talk about, and those are the only two the resort has named so far.
The Grayscale Graveyard is a black and white zombie picture set in a graveyard on Halloween night. Paradoa says the scenic, decor, costuming and makeup all lean into the grayscale so guests are surrounded by it, and calls it a fun challenge for the design teams to bring to life.
The Grayscale Graveyard, built so that scenic, costuming and makeup all read in black and white. Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort.
Monster's Night Out is a tiki bar. Collins points to the crossover between horror and tiki culture as the reason the scene was fun to build, and says the Decor team hid what he describes as iconic Easter eggs throughout it. Universal's image from the scene shows a mermaid figure.
A mermaid in the Monster's Night Out tiki bar. Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort.
Between the films are interstitial rooms. Paradoa says guests travel through a series of living rooms in Carey, Ohio, and the decor in each one carries hints toward the movie that comes next. That is a structural detail worth knowing before you walk it, because the payoff only lands if you look at the set dressing instead of scanning for the next scare.
The queue video, and the actor who is returning
The 2011 house is remembered as much for its queue video as for its rooms, and Universal is making a new one. Paradoa says the team is working with the original actor again and that he has reprised the role.
Universal did not name him. The video also introduces two new characters: fellow inmates from the Carey Penitentiary who are now working as production assistants on the marathon.
A poster for The Midnight Horror Show, the WKNB program at the center of the house. Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort.
The character has changed too. Collins describes the 2011 version as sympathetic, a host whose show was taken from him and who wanted revenge, and the 2026 version as more grizzled and simply out to enjoy himself. He now wears a mix of his Carey Penitentiary uniform and leftover pieces of his old costume scavenged from the studio.
The studio is a crime scene, not a set
The most useful new detail is the state of the building. Universal's framing is that WKNB went under shortly after the events of the 2011 house and was left abandoned. Collins calls it a crime scene that has not been touched since the day Bloodengutz was arrested, boarded up, with the night you walk it being the first time anyone has been back inside. Paradoa adds that Bloodengutz has to piece the broadcast together from the old, failing equipment that is still there.
That is a real design constraint rather than marketing language: it explains why the house should look decayed and improvised instead of polished, and it is the thread that connects a 2011 house to a 2026 one without requiring guests to remember the first.
What Universal did not say
- The rest of the films. Only two of the marathon's movies have been named. Universal explicitly held the others back.
- How many scenes there are. No room count, and no word on where the house is staged, whether a soundstage or a tent.
- Which two movies are HHN callbacks. The blog says two of the films reference previous events and that a familiar character or two from the original house may turn up, without saying which.
- The actor's name. Universal confirmed the original performer is back but did not identify him.
How this fits what we have already reported
A scene from the 2011 house, H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: Holidays of Horror. Image credit: Universal Orlando Resort.
Universal announced the house on June 22 as the first original, non-licensed house of the 35th anniversary lineup, and the character's first headlining house since 2011. Since then the full slate has filled in to ten houses, closing with Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness at the end of July. Today's interview is the first detailed look Universal has given inside the Bloodengutz house.
One thing to note on the name: our June coverage used the styling that circulated with the announcement, "H.R. Bloodengutz presents: Halloween Fright-Tacular." The resort's blog now writes it as "H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!" We have used the blog's version here.
Planner notes
- Halloween Horror Nights 35 runs select nights from August 28 through November 1, 2026 at Universal Studios Florida.
- Bloodengutz is not one of the three houses that open early at 2 p.m. for eligible Stay & Scream guests. Those are Stranger Things 5, Hellraiser, and Jack & Oddfellow: Chaos & Control, so plan to reach this one during regular event hours.
- If you care about the Easter eggs, the living rooms between scenes are where they are hidden, not the scenes themselves.
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