Sinners and Stranger Things Can Wait - H.R. Bloodengutz Just Hijacked HHN 35

Photo:Universal Orlando 

by Tara Adams
The Creature Beat

While Stranger Things and Sinners will be massive draws, Universal Orlando just dropped the news I’ve been waiting for since 2011: the campy, creature-feature house H.R. Bloodengutz is returning to Halloween Horror Nights this fall.

Universal creates top tier haunted houses every year. I loved The Exorcist house in 2016. I loved The Shining house in 2017. They rank among my Top Five HHN houses.

But my favorite has always been 2011's H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: Holidays of Horror.

Located in the Disaster! queue during HHN 21, the house recaptured the gritty, low-budget spirit of late-night monster movies while delivering some of the most creative scares in the 2011 lineup.

​The strength of Holidays of Horror relied on its narrative framing. It centered on Larry Kurtzberg, a man driven mad by his alter-ego, H.R. Bloodengutz, a cynical, unhinged late-night horror host. When the fictional network executives at WKNB in Carey, Ohio, cancelled his show, Bloodengutz hijacked the station for a final, live "Midnight Mayhem" marathon.

And it was something else.

​Queue videos set the stage by showing Bloodengutz torturing his producer on live television, immediately establishing the dark comedy that defined the attraction.

Once inside the studio, guests walked directly into Bloodengutz's twisted broadcast, moving through a series of rooms that represented different low-budget, holiday-themed B-movies.

​Each segment was introduced by Bloodengutz via overhead TV monitors, transitioning guests through a gauntlet of holiday horrors:

• ​Valentine's Day (VD2: The Recurrence): A gory twist on romance.
• ​Independence Day (Uncle Sam Wants YOU): A deeply unsettling, patriotic nightmare.
• ​Easter (The Feaster Bunny): Featuring a massive, mutated rabbit.
• ​Arbor Day (When the Bough Breaks, Your Limbs Will Fall ... Off!): A campy eco-horror room where nature fought back.
• ​St. Patrick's Day (Get Lucked): Chaos driven by blood-soaked leprechauns.
• ​Presidents Day (Undead Presidents Day 2: The Re-Election): Zombie commanders-in-chief on the attack.
• ​Thanksgiving (Thanks-Killing): A room dominated by aggressive, killer turkeys.
• ​Christmas (Ho Ho Homicide): A bloody, festive winter wonderland that served as the house’s finale.

​By treating each room as a distinct film set, the design team created a house that was full of jump scares and fun, securing its reputation as a fan-favorite cult classic.

​Fourteen years after his initial broadcast, Universal has announced that H.R. Bloodengutz is returning to the lineup for Halloween Horror Nights 35.

​The upcoming house, "H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular!" advances the character's storyline.

According to the newly released lore, Bloodengutz has spent the years since 2011 locked away in the Carey Penitentiary. Having finally staged a prison break, he has tracked a path back to the WKNB studio to host a new marathon.

​Rather than repeating the multi-holiday format of the original, the new house will focus on a curated selection of straight-to-TV, low-budget horror flicks centered around Halloween night, concepts the character never had the chance to broadcast during his original run. 

For longtime attendees who favor the event's original, character-driven properties over licensed intellectual houses, the return to WKNB Channel 21 is easily one of the most anticipated highlights of the season.