Halloween Horror Nights 35 (UO) - Speculation & Rumors

[Kichkinet85]

Not sure if this will make you happy but Hallowed Out Horror posted this…

Wondering when this would make it over here. Ozzy: Memories of a Madman I like it

 

[Acandrews12]

Wondering when this would make it over here. Ozzy: Memories of a Madman I like it

Looks like it says Memoirs of a Madman. I like the name. Seems like they’re doing a similar concept to what they did with The Weeknd. Should be a fun house. Doesn’t seem to be as controversial as Weeknd was.

 

[Kichkinet85]

Looks like it says Memoirs of a Madman. I like the name. Seems like they’re doing a similar concept to what they did with The Weeknd. Should be a fun house. Doesn’t seem to be as controversial as Weeknd was.

Correct! It is memoirs. Will be similar probably to what they did with The Weeknd. Looks like we will definitely see “Bat Ozzy” in the house.

With the Jack live, Pandora, and now this it a question of when it gets announced not if. @hunnylvr looks like you will get your wish this week.

 

[kingmantis]

I think people are in love with the idea of a Backrooms or Obsession house more than the reality of what it'd actually be.

Obsession is pretty clearly playing with themes of consent and coercion, and draws a really uncomfortable parallel to rape/sexual abuse under the illusion of "love." Yes, Horror deals with pretty heavy stuff sometimes, but I think there's a difference between watching that play out in a movie and turning it into something you're supposed to walk through.

Remember, while Nikki is the aggressor for much of the movie, she's not the villain. Bear is... (I'll also allow Ian to take some blame, too). So I don't really know what the house is supposed to be. Are we supposed to be following Nikki while she's being manipulated? Are we just watching scenes play out? The movie wants you to empathize with Nikki, not fear her, so none of those really feel appropriate. The movie works because of those themes, but those same themes are exactly why I don't think it makes for a good haunted house.

I do think they'll want to bring it to HHN, in the form of a photo op, or maybe even some food or merch, but that should be the extent of it.

With Backrooms, I get why people bring it up. The setting is literally a maze.

But the horror of the Backrooms lies in the isolation: being completely alone in the endless liminal spaces, knowing something is there. The fear comes from the feeling of uncertainty while also being alone.

The biggest thing working against that at HHN is... HHN... You're in a conga line. You won't get that feeling of being alone, and without that, I think you lose the thing that makes Backrooms scary in the first place. It's more likely you'll get an original that plays off it to make it better suited for a HHN-style house.

Catching up on the thread and do want to respectfully push back on the Backrooms take, if only because I feel like we’ve seen this exact conversation plays out so many times over the years about whether or not a certain movie would come to the event based on it’s adaptability of horror.

I remember the buzz around Us was certain groups insisting it couldn’t come to the event because the horror aspect of that movie revolved around dopplegangers, and that’s unadaptable for the average guest. Then Us made a bunch of money and they fast-tracked the house for the same year.

Or years of debating whether Terrifier would come to the event over concerns about its controversial nature, that most of the horror was the graphic torture scenes so too passive for a house, etc. Then Terrifier 3 made a boatload of money and it showed up the next year.

Goes on with The Weeknd, The Exorcist, Fortnitemares this year. Are the houses/zones guaranteed to be good? Nope! But if an IP demonstrates that it will move tickets and sell merch, there’s a willingness to get creative with an adaption for the event. Not being the right type of horror hasn't been a barrier.

For Backrooms, the selling point that you get to walk through an recreation of the same practical sets as the movie, in essence step foot into the actual backrooms, is an incredible sell to the younger audience they’re after. The congaline is a tradeoff I’m pretty sure most are willing to make. Also, there are monsters and people who went crazy trapped in there too, even more if they include Kane Parson’s youtube series. There’s plenty of material for a workable book report adaption.

All that to say, assuming zero issues with rights negotiations and the other usual caveats, I think Backrooms has like an 80% chance of showing up next year, 99% after Backrooms 2 in a few years.

[Obsession, like Get Out, is trickier because the horror material deals with a sensitive team but more importantly, there isn’t enough horror material to adapt outside of maybe a compilation house. With Sinners you can skip over the KKK elements and still have a workable vampire house. Obsession and Get Out leaves you with maybe 20 minutes of material to stretch into a house, just not doable.]

 

[Brian G.]

Catching up on the thread and do want to respectfully push back on the Backrooms take, if only because I feel like we’ve seen this exact conversation plays out so many times over the years about whether or not a certain movie would come to the event based on it’s adaptability of horror.

I remember the buzz around Us was certain groups insisting it couldn’t come to the event because the horror aspect of that movie revolved around dopplegangers, and that’s unadaptable for the average guest. Then Us made a bunch of money and they fast-tracked the house for the same year.

Or years of debating whether Terrifier would come to the event over concerns about its controversial nature, that most of the horror was the graphic torture scenes so too passive for a house, etc. Then Terrifier 3 made a boatload of money and it showed up the next year.

Goes on with The Weeknd, The Exorcist, Fortnitemares this year. Are the houses/zones guaranteed to be good? Nope! But if an IP demonstrates that it will move tickets and sell merch, there’s a willingness to get creative with an adaption for the event. Not being the right type of horror hasn't been a barrier.

For Backrooms, the selling point that you get to walk through an recreation of the same practical sets as the movie, in essence step foot into the actual backrooms, is an incredible sell to the younger audience they’re after. The congaline is a tradeoff I’m pretty sure most are willing to make. Also, there are monsters and people who went crazy trapped in there too, even more if they include Kane Parson’s youtube series. There’s plenty of material for a workable book report adaption.

All that to say, assuming zero issues with rights negotiations and the other usual caveats, I think Backrooms has like an 80% chance of showing up next year, 99% after Backrooms 2 in a few years.

[Obsession, like Get Out, is trickier because the horror material deals with a sensitive team but more importantly, there isn’t enough horror material to adapt outside of maybe a compilation house. With Sinners you can skip over the KKK elements and still have a workable vampire house. Obsession and Get Out leaves you with maybe 20 minutes of material to stretch into a house, just not doable.]

I think we’re arguing two different points.

My point is that the translation into a haunted house is tricky to adapt.

I’ve never said something has to be “horror enough,” or that popularity doesn’t matter. If an IP is popular enough, Universal will absolutely look for ways to adapt it, but it also has to work.

I don’t remember the Terrifier debate ever being about whether it could work as a haunted house. The question was whether Universal would be willing to cross that bridge, given the content, especially since the franchise was still relatively niche at the time of that discussion. I even remember people pointing out that if it becomes successful, maybe the convo changes.

With Backrooms, brightly lit, wide-open spaces aren't exactly what haunted houses are designed around. If Uni builds a Backrooms house, I don't doubt fans will come, but how do you sell the GP on this:



If you have to ditch the bright, open, liminal spaces in favor of a more traditional haunted house layout, you've removed the thing that makes Backrooms unique.

 

[kingmantis]

That’s the key piece with Terrifier though, the conversation changed when it made money. And now Backrooms made money, so as an event you become more willing to look at a challenge than you would for a low-grossing indie.

I think it’s a similar question to A Quiet Place, which faced a similar challenge, how do you create a silent house when they’re supposed to be loud without losing something? The actual specifics are for the A&D team to figure out, but the answer is find a unique approach to the material that married the two. Doesn’t always work, but doesn’t make it a nonstarter.

The brightly lit yellow areas are only a portion of the movie. There’s varied, darkly lit environments where the monsters appear (including a particularly terrifying room of Christmas decorations). I think you have a quieter beginning where people soak in the yellow rooms before moving to these darker areas for a more traditional back half to a house as one possibility, all staying with sets and characters in the movie. It keeps that uniqueness playing by the same rules as the movie and YouTube series does.

Backrooms made almost $400M at the box office so far and is now A24’s highest grossing movie. I think those fans ARE the GP now, this is the next step in that younger generation coming to the event. I just think Backrooms at is an easier sell to people at the event than some are giving credit for. But probably better to revisit in November come HHN36, I imagine it’ll come up way more.

 

[Tobias]

I think we’re arguing two different points.

My point is that the translation into a haunted house is tricky to adapt.

I’ve never said something has to be “horror enough,” or that popularity doesn’t matter. If an IP is popular enough, Universal will absolutely look for ways to adapt it, but it also has to work.

I don’t remember the Terrifier debate ever being about whether it could work as a haunted house. The question was whether Universal would be willing to cross that bridge, given the content, especially since the franchise was still relatively niche at the time of that discussion. I even remember people pointing out that if it becomes successful, maybe the convo changes.

With Backrooms, brightly lit, wide-open spaces aren't exactly what haunted houses are designed around. If Uni builds a Backrooms house, I don't doubt fans will come, but how do you sell the GP on this:

View attachment 30408

If you have to ditch the bright, open, liminal spaces in favor of a more traditional haunted house layout, you've removed the thing that makes Backrooms unique.

And adding to this, I recall someone a while back suggested they should have not as many scareactors to pull off the liminal space aspect. While I see the reasoning behind it, I also see the many ways that'll just backfire and not work the way one might hope it would.

For one, folks do notice if a house doesn't have that many scareactors, and that's always seen as a negative and never as a positive. And if there's a hole in the smaller cast? OOF.

Second, as we all know our experiences going through a house is always different. There are times where we can get hit by every scare around, yet there are times where the timing is just not there and we miss a good chunk of scares. And that would be utterly devastating to a house which has a smaller cast.

 

[Brian G.]

That’s the key piece with Terrifier though, the conversation changed when it made money. And now Backrooms made money, so as an event you become more willing to look at a challenge than you would for a low-grossing indie.

Right, but it was never a question of whether it worked as a haunted house and translated well...

I think it’s a similar question to A Quiet Place, which faced a similar challenge, how do you create a silent house when they’re supposed to be loud without losing something? The actual specifics are for the A&D team to figure out, but the answer is find a unique approach to the material that married the two. Doesn’t always work, but doesn’t make it a nonstarter.

By Aiello's own admission, it was an unlikely property, but they found a way. I would consider that the outlier. With that said, AQP had more tangible things to translate. You had the creatures, the family, the farm, and the hook of the complete silence. However, that year was also looked at by many as a very down year, with that house getting mixed results.

Backrooms made almost $400M at the box office so far and is now A24’s highest grossing movie. I think those fans ARE the GP now, this is the next step in that younger generation coming to the event. I just think Backrooms at is an easier sell to people at the event than some are giving credit for.

I don't think you can call fans the general public. Those are two different audiences by definition. If they were the same, we wouldn't call them fans.

I also think your familiarity with Backrooms makes some of its appeal feel more universal (no pun intended) than it actually is.

And it's also worth noting that, despite A24's success, they still haven't had a haunted house at HHN. That doesn't mean it never happens, but I think jumping to an 80% chance is a pretty big leap.

The brightly lit yellow areas are only a portion of the movie. There’s varied, darkly lit environments where the monsters appear (including a particularly terrifying room of Christmas decorations). I think you have a quieter beginning where people soak in the yellow rooms before moving to these darker areas for a more traditional back half to a house as one possibility, all staying with sets and characters in the movie. It keeps that uniqueness playing by the same rules as the movie and YouTube series does.

How do you sell it to the GP who are unfamiliar with the films? You take away the lore of Art the Clown, you still have a psycho murder clown. You take away the quiet angle from AQP, you still have terrifying creatures.

Take away the liminal spaces, and you're left with a tall, squiggly creature. That's not exactly an instantly recognizable horror icon.

If the environment becomes secondary so you can create a more traditional haunted house, then you've lost part of the appeal.

The Backrooms monsters are effective because much of their impact comes from being encountered in that environment rather than from their appearance alone.

 

[kingmantis]

Right, but it was never a question of whether it worked as a haunted house and translated well...



By Aiello's own admission, it was an unlikely property, but they found a way. I would consider that the outlier. With that said, AQP had more tangible things to translate. You had the creatures, the family, the farm, and the hook of the complete silence. However, that year was also looked at by many as a very down year, with that house getting mixed results.



I don't think you can call fans the general public. Those are two different audiences by definition. If they were the same, we wouldn't call them fans.

I also think your familiarity with Backrooms makes some of its appeal feel more universal (no pun intended) than it actually is.

And it's also worth noting that, despite A24's success, they still haven't had a haunted house at HHN. That doesn't mean it never happens, but I think jumping to an 80% chance is a pretty big leap.


How do you sell it to the GP who are unfamiliar with the films? You take away the lore of Art the Clown, you still have a psycho murder clown. You take away the quiet angle from AQP, you still have terrifying creatures.

Take away the liminal spaces, and you're left with a tall, squiggly creature. That's not exactly an instantly recognizable horror icon.

If the environment becomes secondary so you can create a more traditional haunted house, then you've lost part of the appeal.

The Backrooms monsters are effective because much of their impact comes from being encountered in that environment rather than from their appearance alone.

I’ve been dancing around spoilers, but just to be on the same page did you see the movie? Because the squiggle monster is not in the movie. What is there is both adaptable and recognizable to younger audiences. Not in a you need to squint way. There are humans and humanoid monsters and unique environments (both well-lit and in the dark) that all make sense for a fairly straightforward adaption into a haunted house.

A24 hasn’t had a house at the event because the only films that came even close to a blockbuster-level gross would be Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar, everything else has been niche. Backrooms is their breakout, again, it’s made $400M dollars; it cleared the Five Nights at Freddy’s movie by $100M, and that wasn’t considered too niche for the event.

It’s quietly following the same track as the more unorthodox IPs as the event; build a fandom through other channels (video games, internet content), movie adaption legitimizes the material into something tangible enough for it to appear at HHN. It appeals heavily to a younger segment of the audience, why does it need to be universal? The Wyatt Six aren’t exactly household names and they got a house last year. And you can say that’s different because it was a passion projection, but if all these IPs I mention keep having exceptions that prove the rule, maybe there’s not a rule in the first place?There’s four other IP houses to target the rest of the GP, something for everyone as they say.

I say this as someone who’s only seen the movie and bits and pieces of the other shorts, not someone that’s been super immersed in whatever you’d call a Backrooms fandom. But this very much feels like a case of older fans just not connecting with a newer property and dismissing the actual interest in it out of hand. The movie is the 13th highest grossing horror film of all time. It made more than Sinners. There’s an appeal and an avenue for a credible adaption for a house if handled the same way they’ve done other unique properties in the past.

Maybe 80% is too high, but I just want to stress that it this pops up next year, or for a Backrooms 2 in a couple of years, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

 

[Brian G.]

I’ve been dancing around spoilers, but just to be on the same page did you see the movie? Because the squiggle monster is not in the movie. What is there is both adaptable and recognizable to younger audiences. Not in a you need to squint way. There are humans and humanoid monsters and unique environments (both well-lit and in the dark) that all make sense for a fairly straightforward adaption into a haunted house.

It’s quietly following the same track as the more unorthodox IPs as the event; build a fandom through other channels (video games, internet content), movie adaption legitimizes the material into something tangible enough for it to appear at HHN. It appeals heavily to a younger segment of the audience, why does it need to be universal? The Wyatt Six aren’t exactly household names and they got a house last year. And you can say that’s different because it was a passion projection, but if all these IPs I mention keep having exceptions that prove the rule, maybe there’s not a rule in the first place?There’s four other IP houses to target the rest of the GP, something for everyone as they say.

I say this as someone who’s only seen the movie and bits and pieces of the other shorts, not someone that’s been super immersed in whatever you’d call a Backrooms fandom. But this very much feels like a case of older fans just not connecting with a newer property and dismissing the actual interest in it out of hand. The movie is the 13th highest grossing horror film of all time. It made more than Sinners. There’s an appeal and an avenue for a credible adaption for a house if handled the same way they’ve done other unique properties in the past.

Maybe 80% is too high, but I just want to stress that it this pops up next year, or for a Backrooms 2 in a couple of years, this shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

Yes. I saw it. I only mentioned the YouTube series due to your comment about expanding into it. If they keep it strictly to the film, it’s better fodder but even that’s a stretch. Most of the “monsters” are docile and the only aggressor is silly looking.

No, it’s not a case of older fans. I’m literally in another thread advocating for Fortnitemares.

You keep mentioning examples of properties that had no problem translating into a haunted house or the event, despite how “unorthodox” the horror is. I’ve not argued that once. Yes, Wyatt Family is an unorthodox choice, but it’s a psychological cult group that wear masks that hurt people. Yes, Fortnite is unorthodox, but it’s still costumed people full of Halloween iconography like pumpkins, skeletons, etc.

I’m not saying Backrooms is bad horror. I’m saying it’s a uniquely difficult property to adapt into a haunted house because so much of its appeal is tied to the environment that doesn’t translate effectively unless heavy concessions or adaptations are made. You’re responding to arguments I’m not making instead of the one I am.

You keep answering “Why would Universal do it?” while I’m saying “How can it effectively translate?”

 

[Lucky Planet]

Catching up on the thread and do want to respectfully push back on the Backrooms take, if only because I feel like we’ve seen this exact conversation plays out so many times over the years about whether or not a certain movie would come to the event based on it’s adaptability of horror.

I remember the buzz around Us was certain groups insisting it couldn’t come to the event because the horror aspect of that movie revolved around dopplegangers, and that’s unadaptable for the average guest. Then Us made a bunch of money and they fast-tracked the house for the same year.

Or years of debating whether Terrifier would come to the event over concerns about its controversial nature, that most of the horror was the graphic torture scenes so too passive for a house, etc. Then Terrifier 3 made a boatload of money and it showed up the next year.

Goes on with The Weeknd, The Exorcist, Fortnitemares this year. Are the houses/zones guaranteed to be good? Nope! But if an IP demonstrates that it will move tickets and sell merch, there’s a willingness to get creative with an adaption for the event. Not being the right type of horror hasn't been a barrier.

For Backrooms, the selling point that you get to walk through an recreation of the same practical sets as the movie, in essence step foot into the actual backrooms, is an incredible sell to the younger audience they’re after. The congaline is a tradeoff I’m pretty sure most are willing to make. Also, there are monsters and people who went crazy trapped in there too, even more if they include Kane Parson’s youtube series. There’s plenty of material for a workable book report adaption.

All that to say, assuming zero issues with rights negotiations and the other usual caveats, I think Backrooms has like an 80% chance of showing up next year, 99% after Backrooms 2 in a few years.

[Obsession, like Get Out, is trickier because the horror material deals with a sensitive team but more importantly, there isn’t enough horror material to adapt outside of maybe a compilation house. With Sinners you can skip over the KKK elements and still have a workable vampire house. Obsession and Get Out leaves you with maybe 20 minutes of material to stretch into a house, just not doable.]

just to add to this,
technically a house that should have never worked is five nights at Freddy's ( just because of the nature of the game and the lack of a linear story which the movie kinda fixed) if you went by the games alone a hhn house based on Freddy's should have never worked. they are too cute in their normal versions
( some people would still argue that this properly didn't work well and that the house was a mistake)

from dusk till dawn was also a property that was a difficult adaptation from a fan point of view. the entire story takes place in one bar with a lot of lighting and the house adapted caves and vampire rooms.
if they can adapt from dusk till dawn they could adapt backrooms. I feel like they could.

Happy Death Day was another difficult adaptation that translated pretty well.

and this was another park, six flags, but they did a Blair witch haunt which should have never work but they did it lol . makes me laugh because it was so unexpected.

I feel like if they wanted, if they tried it, backrooms would be translated well. I could see it happening.
( it would remind me of the edgar Alan poe house in how that house had to get creative with their adaptation)

I think we’re arguing two different points.

My point is that the translation into a haunted house is tricky to adapt.

I’ve never said something has to be “horror enough,” or that popularity doesn’t matter. If an IP is popular enough, Universal will absolutely look for ways to adapt it, but it also has to work.

I don’t remember the Terrifier debate ever being about whether it could work as a haunted house. The question was whether Universal would be willing to cross that bridge, given the content, especially since the franchise was still relatively niche at the time of that discussion. I even remember people pointing out that if it becomes successful, maybe the convo changes.

With Backrooms, brightly lit, wide-open spaces aren't exactly what haunted houses are designed around. If Uni builds a Backrooms house, I don't doubt fans will come, but how do you sell the GP on this:

View attachment 30408

If you have to ditch the bright, open, liminal spaces in favor of a more traditional haunted house layout, you've removed the thing that makes Backrooms unique.

have there ever been houses with a lot of lighting? the chance house kinda comes to mind, 3D houses felt bright. (afterlife felt pretty bright)
doomsday in 2008 before nightfall was basically a daytime house. other houses in that area like Texas chainsaw or like giggles and gore were very bright from the sun if you visited them at park open.
the final room of the purge house was a super bright flashing light.
I don't know feel like if the first and last rooms are super bright in a backrooms house then it would be ok. and parts of the backrooms movie were dark like the hand held camera part.

 

[DOOMBOT]

"The Backrooms" as a concept are basically antithetical to the design style and typical experience of an HHN haunt attraction, for all the reasons Brian has already said. Isolation, the endlessly looping and ever-changing nature of the architecture, the fear of an unknown and mostly unseen creature potentially being around any wall.

"Backrooms", the 2026 movie, would be tricky to adapt, but I don't think it is totally impossible. It would lose a lot of the initial eerie concept / vibes, and likely have to fit into the more traditional HHN "book report"-y tropes and structure.

I think IP like A Quiet Place, with its' wildly large monsters and reliance on silence; or Black Phone, taking place almost entirely in a singular dark room, are decent comparisons. I didn't think AQP would ever happen for a number of reasons, but I was wrong and they did it anyways. I still wasn't huge on the AQP house in execution, because the limitations I was worried about were genuine issues with the house (overuse of stiff monster puppets, a sound "mechanic" with no bite). But I conversely thought the Black Phone house was deeply clever in how it portrayed the claustrophobic themes and aesthetics of the film.

I don't personally believe the idea would make for a very good house, and similar to AQP / Black Phone, it would take a lot of bending and work-arounds to portray in the format. But, I've seen weirder and far more niche IP included at the event over the years. The Backrooms film was reasonably successful, and it does have a very specific look and vibe to it.

Outside of really specific cases like Obsession, Hereditary, and a few others, I'm mostly done counting IP totally out of the HHN picture. I am not personally looking for it to happen, but if the HHN team wants it, they'll be able to find some way. For better, or for worse haha.

 

[mccgavin]

technically a house that should have never worked is five nights at Freddy's ( just because of the nature of the game and the lack of a linear story which the movie kinda fixed) if you went by the games alone a hhn house based on Freddy's should have never worked. they are too cute in their normal versions

I don't really agree with this at all. Five Nights at Freddy's has always been well suited for a house. If anything, the house largely ignored the narrative of the film and its characters, and more so focused on the environment of the pizzeria and the animatronics.

If the house had included more from the original game and its more intense feeling of dread/scares compared to the film, it likely would've ended up being even better than what we ended up getting (which I still enjoyed a lot).