I don’t do horror. Scary things freak me out. When I was assigned to cover the opening night of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, I started to panic. It actually wasn’t that bad, and I’m here to tell you all about my experience.

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This season, Universal Studios Hollywood is bringing us the scariest and most intense Halloween event in Southern California — Halloween Horror Nights. Brought to you by the sickest minds in horror and the movie studio that brought you the horror genre, HHN is probably one of the most anticipated events of the year, and I experienced it first hand on opening night for Celeb Secrets.

To kick off the night, Universal hosted a “blood” red carpet with some of today’s hottest stars including Jessica Rothe (Happy Death Day), Israel Broussard (Happy Death Day), Tobin Bell (SAW franchise), Leigh Whannell (Insidious, SAW), Jason Blum (Happy Death Day, Insidious, Get Out), Matthew Passmore (JIGSAW), Jennifer Tilly (Child’s Play), Tom Payne (“The Walking Dead”), Emily Kinney (“The Walking Dead”), Frank Grillo (The Purge: Election Year), Jabbawockeez, Slash (Musician), Christian Navarro (“13 Reasons Why”), David Arquette (Scream), Vanessa Hudgens (“Powerless”), Noah Cyrus (Musician), Guillermo Diaz (“Scandal”), Jaime Camil (“Jane the Virgin”), Cody Christian (“Teen Wolf”), Dylan Sprayberry (“Teen Wolf”), Kyla Kenedy (“Speechless”), Jordan Clarkson (LA Lakers, NBA Player), Miles Brown (“Black-Ish”), Lisa Edelstein (“Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce), and John Murdy, Creative Director at Universal Studios Hollywood and Executive Producer of “Halloween Horror Nights,” among others.

On the carpet, I caught up with HHN veterans Frankie Grande, Sydney Park, and Kyla Kennedy who gave me some tips on what to expect and what their favorite maze is.

Check out the full video below:

Here is your first hand survival guide: just keep going and have fun! That’s it.

Following the carpet, my worst nightmare came true. I was about to go inside Halloween Horror Nights. 

This year’s event has a number of unrivaled film and television production quality mazes, including for the first time ever the psychological thriller The Shining, rightful scare zones, and a fully reimagined Terror Tram experience hosted by your favorite doll “Chucky” – all uniquely themed to today’s most definitive horror properties.

For someone who doesn’t do horror, this was a real challenge for me — BUT — I survived my first taste of the experience — the scare zones.

I had to endure the tunnel of terror to get from one side of the park to the other. I was faced with a loud, dark tunnel, trying to escape from these “creatures” who get in your face. The first time around my heart was racing, but the second time I had some courage in me wanting to face these “creatures” face on.

The real test was enduring the mazes made from real horror productions! My favorite was the AHS maze, which included aspects from every season. This year’s was better than ever; the details that go into these mazes are straight out of the movie which is HHN’s goal — transporting you into your favorite horror films.

At the end of the day, even if you think you can’t do it, you should. Halloween Horror Nights has something for everyone — mazes, scare zones, shows, rides, adrenaline, and laughs. I would have never imagined myself doing this event, but I’m glad I did. It was an experience that brought so many memories that I will talk about for many years.

Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights is running every weekend until the beginning of November. For complete dates and ticket links, make sure to visit USH’s website here.

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