One of this year’s Intellectual Property houses is the cult classic Terrifier franchise. It features highlights from all three films, plus new kills invented just for HHN, all in a gory and disgusting experience.
Backstory
Nothing can prepare you for this grisly haunted house based on all three of Damien Leone’s Terrifier films. Try your luck against the sadistic Art the Clown in his twisted funhouse. Witness Art’s gleefully grotesque handiwork of torture. You’ll be left literally dripping with terror and drenched with fear. It’s a whole new level of gore!
This house is based on all three Terrifier films, released from 2016 to 2024. The films feature Art the Clown, a sadistic serial killer who murders his victims in various gruesome ways. The main protagonist of the two sequels is Sienna Shaw, who battles Art the Clown multiple times. As it turns out, the clown can’t be killed easily. Sienna even cuts off his head, and he’s still able to come back to life. Art is assisted in his killing by the Little Pale Girl and Victoria Heyes. The latter begins as a hero in the first film, but after being disfigured by Art, becomes obsessed with him.
HHN creatives have said this may be their goriest house ever. As we will explain in this review, they are probably right.
Review
Guests who haven’t seen the Terrifier films may be shocked by the gore level in this house, but guests who have already watched the movies will know what they’re in for. The gore level here is probably on par with the films.
This house is exactly what’s described on the package: a highlight reel of Art’s kills. He is everywhere in this house, and we are paraded through his murder scenes. It does a good job of capturing the balance between gore and silliness from the films. We also thought the facade being the Terrifier funhouse from the second film was a nice touch.
We were disappointed Sienna was not featured until the very end, we wanted to see more of her. This house also fails to capture the unsettling nature of Art, especially since we are plopped in the middle of his in-process kills.
It’s hard not to compare this house to Halloween. Having one featured character replayed over and over can be cumbersome. In our opinion, the Halloween house handled this better than any other house with the same problem, and Halloween was from back in 2014.
That being said, one of the main qualities of Art is that he’s always there. He doesn’t die, and he doesn’t go away. So in that regard, the house again meshed well with the films.
The marketing for this house has also mentioned a scene in a bathroom with a strong feces smell. We thought it smelled closer to manure. It was still gross, but tolerable as long as you aren’t overly sensitive to various scents.
As one other note, this house has made a big deal of the “blood” effect that involves guests getting soaked in warm water tinted using red lights. The finale actually has two paths, so guests can choose to take either the wet path or the dry path. However, there were reports that the wet path experienced drainage issues and some flooding during the Team Member previews. As a result, we suspect the water effect was toned down. We did not get nearly as soaked as Universal claimed. Not that we didn’t get wet — it was the equivalent of a full Florida rain shower in the span of a minute down a hallway. We were still glad to wear a poncho.
Rating
We would not call this a bad house, but it wasn’t our favorite either. It had some strong moments, but it also felt a little repetitive. Overall, we would rate it right in the middle.
Rating out of 7: 4
Know Before You Go
Location
The Terrifier house is located in the building near Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, next to Grave of Flesh.
Fun Facts
- Guests can meet Art the Clown around the streets of HHN. He can be found roaming the park on foot or on a tricycle.
- This is one of the goriest houses in HHN history.
- Guests can expect to get soaked in “blood” and smell all sorts of disgusting things, including human excrement.
- Guests can choose wither a wet or dry path for the finale, so you don’t have to get violently soaked.
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