Things to Know About The Exorcist Halloween Horror Nights House 2023

In recent years, Halloween Horror Nights has developed several partnerships in the creation of its premier spooky event. A Universal partnership growing over the last few years involves Blumhouse Productions. Based on that, “The Exorcist: Believer” Halloween Horror Nights House was announced recently for the 2023 spooky season event. What should you know before entering this house?

Halloween Horror Nights fans got another house announcement. This time a familiar name in horror emerged, “The Exorcist.” The wildest part about this Exorcist house at Halloween Horror Nights this year revolves around which movie it will be based on. Also, a challenging path led to this Exorcist house happening at HHN. This resembled in some ways a Shakesperean tragedy where onlookers asked, “To Be or Not To Be with The Exorcist, That is the Question.”

How Did This All Start?

Early speculation, for HHN 2023, revolved around the Blumhouse movies, “M3GAN” and “Insidious: Fear the Dark.” Those movies make logical sense to be part of a dual house like the 2022 Blumhouse edition.

Last year, Halloween Horror Nights fans enjoyed Horrors of Blumhouse based on the movies, “Freaky” and “Black Phone.” Many people considered that version to be the best of the Blumhouse Halloween Horror Nights houses done in Orlando.

“M3GAN”

Predictions of a “M3GAN” Halloween Horror Nights House started back in 2022. The scripted plan of an HHN house based on Blumhouse properties starts to look as commonplace as a Universal Classic Monsters HHN house happening most years. Though this fourth volume of an HHN Blumhouse creation might have come with more hype based on the viral success of “M3GAN.”

With the success of the movie “M3GAN,” logic caused fans to wonder if this movie would make a good Halloween Horror Nights house. When an “ask me anything” Redditt thread involved the character M3GAN saying she was looking forward to HHH, Halloween Horror Nights fans paid more attention to this. Also, it might make an exciting interaction with M3GAN and Chucky if that could happen with the Chucky house already announced.

Early Speculation Failed to Be Correct

With the previous pattern of Blumhouse HHN houses using two movies, the next question revolved around which other Blumhouse movie would pair with “M3GAN.” Once again, logic dictated that “Insidious: Fear the Dark” would be the second movie based on its release this summer. Some other Blumhouse films offer the potential to be good HHN houses, but the “Insidious” one made the most sense.

With these two movies, the pattern from last year looked to be developing for this year. A comedy-horror film would be paired with a genuine strict horror movie. If the break in the queue happens again this year, these two movies will be excellent together as a Blumhouse Halloween Horror Nights house.

However, that talk turned out to be incorrect. However, the rumor of a “M3GAN” element to Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights will not disappear. Stil, we have nothing official about “M3GAN: being a part of HHN officially.

“The Exorcist” Talk Started

Then, in April, we started hearing that this seemingly obvious Blumhouse HHN house would not be coming to Halloween Horror Nights 2023. The Blumhouse movie building on “The Exorcist” movie franchise became widespread speculation for an HHN house. Still, that movie had a scheduled release on October 13, 2023. That means a sequel to the original film will come out 50 years later. More importantly for HHN fans, the movie comes out after the event starts. Historically, that has not gone well for those properties (and fans) at HHN.

We know that intellectual properties in the past that featured movies not released before HHN started could have done better. Will this “The Exorcist” house avoid that issue since horror fans know so much about the property before the Blumhouse movie comes out?

We also know that the upcoming sequel, entitled “The Exorcist: Believer,” has received less than stellar results in test screenings. Based on the IMDB page, the title of this movie being released went through some changes. On that website, we have seen the film as untitled or just “The Exorcist.” We know this movie plans to pretend like all the other sequels to the original “The Exorcist” movie did not exist.

Friday, October 13 #TheExorcistBeliever pic.twitter.com/WMDWUkDAzG

— Jason Blum (@jason_blum) July 20, 2023

Jason Blum – “The Exorcist: Believer”

Then on July 20, Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions posted a photo of the upcoming Exorcist movie with the previously expected title, “The Exorcist: Believer.” Did this mean that the new movie would be the basis of the HHN 2023 house?

“The Exorcist” was used at Universal Studios Hollywood in Halloween Horror Nights 2016 and 2021. Also, an “Exorcist” HHN house was part of Halloween Horror Nights 26 at Universal Studios Florida. Still, those were based on the classic movies, not the new Blumhouse version. How will things be different? Since the previous “Exorcist” HHN houses did not make anyone’s top HHN houses, will this impress fans?

Promotion of the “The Exorcist: Believer” movie leads to many additional questions. When did these decisions get finalized? Will we actually get that movie or another retelling of the original 1973 movie? Why did the popularity of “M3GAN” not qualify as a house? Will people be confused with an HHN house on both coasts based on the 2023 movie “The Exorcist: Believer” thinking it is supposed to be the 1973 classic?

“The Exorcist: Believer” Official Announcement

The following is what Universal released today about the Exorcist Halloween Horror Nights house for 2023:

Inspired by Universal Pictures’ terrifying new horror film from Blumhouse and Morgan Creek Entertainment (in theaters Friday, October 13), “The Exorcist: Believer” haunted house will unleash an entirely new level of terror to Halloween Horror Nights. In this new chapter, guests will be transported to a bustling street market in Haiti, where an innocent purchase of a strange folk doll with three eyes leads to the opening of a demonic portal, the awakening of sinister spirits and the subsequent disappearance of two 12-year-old girls in the U.S. The girls are found three days later with no memory of what happened to them. After the girls begin to exhibit unsettling behavior, it soon becomes clear that only an exorcism can save them – and everyone who comes in contact with them, including unwitting guests, is suddenly at risk of losing their souls.”

This sounds like a very different movie than the classic one. Will having this house start at Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando and Hollywood well before it debuts in theatres be a problem? For those visiting HHN this year, they should expect far more than just a young girl spitting green pea soup everywhere. What setting will we find in this HHN house? Will we see the folk doll picked up and the mayhem afterward in this HHN house?

“The Exorcist: Believer” Merchandise

On the day that Universal Orlando made a gigantic Halloween Horror Nights announcement declaring names of seven houses and other information, they chose to release only “The Exorcist: Believer” merchandise. Universal Orlando Resort did not even release any new merchandise for the Universal Classic Monsters house or any of the five original concept houses. This looked like an odd move with only a month, or so, until Halloween Horror Nights starts in Orlando.

“The Exorcist: Believer” Sequels

Could the reason for this merchandise pattern be connected to the two scheduled sequels to the “The Exorcist: Believer” planned by Blumhouse? Should we expect more Exorcist houses at HHN in the future? I guess we will have to wait and see about that.

What do you think of this house announcement?  Let us know in the comments below.