Halloween Horror Nights - general information

Halloween Horror Nights is an annual Halloween event that occurs at Universal Studios. Universal Studios remains operational during the day and transitions to Halloween Horror Nights at night. The event features haunted houses, "scare zones" and live entertainment, many of which utilize Universal's characters and other licenses.

Halloween Horror Nights began in 1991 under the title "Fright Nights" but was renamed "Halloween Horror Nights" in 1992, advertised as the "second annual". Halloween Horror Nights began as a three night event but has since been extended to include up to 24 nights.
From 1991–2001, the event was held at Universal Studios Florida Halloween Horror Nights moved to Universal's Islands of Adventure in 2002. In 2004, the resort experimented with a dual-park format, which connected and utilized parts of both parks. In 2006, the event made a return to Universal Studios Florida .

Halloween Horror Nights XI, coming so close after the events of September 11 2001, caused Universal to make many changes to tone the event down. Any gore was scrapped from the event and blood was replaced with green "goop". The names of several houses, scare zones, and shows were changed. The original icon character "Eddie" was scrapped. Edgar Sawyer was conceived as a demented, chainsaw-wielding horror movie buff that had been disfigured by a fire. He was supposed to be a threat to previous icon Jack and the tagline "No more clowning around" was used and even seen on early advertisements and merchandise. Eddie was ultimately removed from the event before it began, although still appearing on that year's logo and merchandise with the official "I.C.U." tagline. As a hurried replacement, Jack would return along with a line of merchandise bearing the tagline "Jack's Back." Eddie's back-story was changed to his name being Eddie Schmidt and being Jack's younger brother. He later appeared with the other icons at Halloween Horror Nights XIV in Horror Nights Nightmares, and with his own house for Halloween Horror Nights XVI, Run: Hostile Territory.

The Caretaker was not the original icon for Halloween Horror Nights XII. Cindy, the daughter of mortuary owner Paul Bearer, was originally the icon of the event. In the event's premise, every land would be ruled over by her "playthings". Unfortunately, after several child abductions in the area, the Cindy concept was abandoned and her father Paul Bearer morphed into Dr. Albert Caine aka The Caretaker. Cindy would eventually appear in image in 2006's Scream House Resurrection, as a live character in 2009's Shadows of the Past, alongside her father, and finally featured in 2010 in her own house, "The Orfanage".

For 2007, Universal acquired the rights to use New Line Cinema's characters Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhee and Leatherface for Halloween Horror Nights and used the characters for a second year in 2008. Freddy Kruegar & Jason Voorhees will return for a third year in 2010.
2010 marks the 20th installment of the event at the Orlando park, titled "Twenty Years of Fear", featuring the embodiement of Fear itself as the event's icon.