Halloween Horror Nights 35 opens August 28th at Universal Orlando Resort. One of the event’s most anticipated haunted houses this year adapts an Oscar-winning film rather than an original concept. Universal previously confirmed the “Sinners” haunted house, built around Ryan Coogler’s 1930s Mississippi vampire film, as part of this year’s IP lineup. Now, Universal has shared new design details and comments from its creative team, plus reactions from Coogler and his fellow Proximity Media producers.
Behind the Scenes of Sinners Haunted House for Halloween Horror Nights 35
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Universal has shared new design and creative details behind the Sinners haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights 35
- The house adapts key scenes from the film, including its centerpiece musical sequence
- Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian shared comments on seeing their film built into a haunted house
Adapting an Award-Winning Film Into a Haunted House
Ramon Paradoa, a show director with Universal Orlando’s creative development group, led the effort to adapt “Sinners” for the haunted house maze format. Paradoa said he was “through-the-roof excited” when he learned the film would become an HHN house, according to Universal. He and his team quickly recognized the scale of the challenge ahead of them.
“Right off the bat, we knew that this house was tailor-made for Halloween Horror Nights,” Paradoa said, per Universal. “Once we knew that we were adapting it for a haunted house, we knew it would be a challenge, but a challenge that we were really, really excited about.”
That challenge centered on balancing two goals at once. First, the team needed to preserve the film’s cultural weight. At the same time, the house still had to deliver the scares HHN guests expect. Paradoa framed the question: how do you represent the movie’s most iconic moments in a format that still functions as a real scare experience?
“Sinners” stars twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their Mississippi Delta hometown to open a juke joint. The celebration turns deadly when the vampire Remmick and his newly turned thralls crash the party. That grand opening night bloodbath earned the film 16 Academy Award nominations and four Oscar wins after its 2025 release. Universal has called it the highest-grossing original horror film since its debut.
The Scene the Team Had to Get Right
Early in the design process, Paradoa and Manuel Cordero, senior designer at Universal Orlando, identified one sequence they considered non-negotiable. It’s the film’s surreal musical montage built around the song “I Lied to You.” Universal said the team built the scenes before and after that moment around it, a sequencing approach it doesn’t always use for its haunted houses.
The team also had to solve a specific tonal problem with the film’s “Rocky Road to Dublin” sequence. Paradoa said the driving folk track “doesn’t necessarily scream a song you’d hear in a haunted house”. So the team leaned harder into the scares surrounding it. “The scares are really heavy hitting and have very horrific elements to them to counteract the song playing from the soundtrack of the film,” Paradoa said.
Cordero’s design work extended to the house’s recreation of Club Juke itself. Universal said the set uses forced perspective to make the space seem larger than its physical footprint. “We created it in a very interesting way,” Cordero said, adding that his team “designed it in a clever way so that it feels larger than it is.”
Walking Through the House
The maze opens at a recreation of the Clarksdale train station. There, guests encounter Sammie and Delta Slim by video effect. The Smokestack twins appear next, discussing the juke joint’s opening night. From there, the path moves to a remote farmhouse where Remmick triggers a bloody confrontation. It continues through a cornfield stalked by Remmick and his newly turned vampire thralls. That path leads to the juke joint itself.
Inside, guests hear the chorus of “I Lied to You” as Sammie performs on stage while spirit shadows from the past and future hover above him. Universal said the scene builds from there into chaos as the sequence’s fire imagery shifts from figurative to literal. The house closes with Remmick and his vampire thralls overrunning the burning juke joint. Paradoa called the finale “very ambitious,” citing the sheer number of moving scenic and technical elements involved, according to Universal.
Guests should expect the house’s emotional beats to hit harder than in past HHN houses, Paradoa said, given how closely the characters connect with audiences. “What makes this house special and unique to anything we’ve ever done before is that it presents these characters that you can resonate with,” Paradoa said. He added that the house celebrates music and culture, plus the “importance of embracing your culture, embracing the past, embracing your ancestry,” while still functioning as a vampire story built by someone who “admires the craft and admires the horror genre.”
Coogler and Proximity Media React to the Adaptation
Ryan Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian, the Proximity Media founders behind “Sinners,” also weighed in on seeing their film adapted into a haunted house. The trio said the experience felt surreal given the way they originally built the film’s world. “From the beginning, we wanted to build a world that audiences could lose themselves in, so seeing ‘Sinners’ evolve into an experience people can physically step inside is both humbling and incredibly exciting,” they said.
The producers also credited the Halloween Horror Nights team for the adaptation. “We’re excited for fans to experience the story from an entirely new perspective, and we’re grateful to the Halloween Horror Nights team for giving us the opportunity to weigh in and collaborate directly on bringing that live experience to life,” they said. The trio praised the execution. “They have an incredible ability to translate cinematic worlds into unforgettable experiences, and they’ve captured the tension, mystery and emotional stakes that define ‘Sinners.'”
“Sinners” is one of five IP-based haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights 35. It joins houses built around “Stranger Things 5,” “Hellraiser,” “Evil Dead Burn,” and an Ozzy Osbourne tribute. The event marks Halloween Horror Nights’ 35th anniversary and runs select nights through November 1st at Universal Studios Florida.
The Story So Far
- Stranger Things 5, Sinners, Ozzy Osbourne, and More: Every IP Haunted House at HHN 35: Universal confirmed the Sinners haunted house as part of its full IP lineup for Halloween Horror Nights 35, alongside houses based on “Stranger Things 5,” “Hellraiser,” “Evil Dead Burn,” and Ozzy Osbourne.
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