Could Halloween Horror Nights 28 at Universal Studios Orlando have an 80s theme?
Last week Universal announced that a Stranger Things house will be coming to this years Halloween Horror Nights event in Orlando, Hollywood and Singapore. Stranger Things is set in the 80s with both it’s storyline and visuals being hugely influenced by 80s culture. Throughout the series there are many references made to classic 80s films such as E.T. and Gremlins.
The Universal Orlando blog post detailing the Stranger Things announcement indicates that the property will also be featured in a scare zone. The huge popularity of Stranger Things has led to the rebirth of certain 80s trends. This can be seen in many aspects of today’s pop culture such as film and fashion.
Many of the other strongly rumoured houses for this year are based either on films made in the 80s or set in the 80s. These are films such as Nightmare on Elm Street (released in 1984) , The Thing (released in 1982) and the IT remake. The IT film is based on the novel by Stephen King released in 1986. The story itself is set in 1988.
The house and scarezone lineup at this years event in Orlando, as usual, will also feature houses based on original ideas thought up by the talented Universal creative team. These houses are always highly anticipated by the Horror Nights fan community. These houses have been some of the best at the event in recent years. They are often more popular in the fan community than the houses based on famous IPs.
Many Horror Night fans are desperate to see a sequel to the popular Vamp 66 scarezone from Horror Nights 26. The idea being talked about in the fan community is to do a scarezone or house called Vamp 88. Vamp 88 would have 80s inspired vampires and base its storyline on popular 80s culture. There is a past history of Universal reviving past original houses/scarezones and then creating sequels to these stories.
With the huge popularity of the Vamp 66 area 2 years ago it would certainly make sense for Universal to reuse this idea and add to the current storyline.
In addition to these rumours, the idea of a ‘The Lost Boys’ themed house or scare zone has also been circulating. For those who are unfamiliar with this film, it is essentially about a gang of very 80s biker vampires. So could we see this IP instead of an original concept?
A final, smaller point to consider is that with this years event being Halloween Horror Nights 28. Universal could take advantage of this and have this years event billed as Halloween Horror Nights twenty-eighties.
The current Horror Night announcement and online rumours do hint towards the possibility of this years event being 80s themed. The potential of this happening will probably become clearer as Universal announce more of this years houses.