If you’re a horror-loving kid of a certain age, you remember exactly when "The Exorcist" broke your brain. For me, it started with the novel. As a preteen, I was fully aware I shouldn’t be reading it, which of course meant I simply had to read it late at night under the covers. Then came the movie. Then came weeks of very bad sleep and a mild, lasting suspicion of staircases.
So when I tell you that The Exorcist: Believer is one of four haunted houses at Universal Horror Unleashed—a year-round horrorfest 10 minutes from the Strip—you’ll understand the thrill and terror this gives me. Opened at AREA15 in 2025 by the team behind Halloween Horror Nights, Universal Horror spans 110,000 square feet of film-level sets and professional scare actors.
“For us, to give our guests this opportunity to have horror personalized to them makes this unique offering that gives them something they’ve never seen before,” says TJ Mannarino, vice president of art and design for Universal’s Entertainment Division, on Universal Horror’s website.
He’s not underselling it. Four haunted houses anchor the experience. Universal Monsters puts you in Van Helsing’s boots inside a crumbling castle—Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolf Man, the Mummy—each section built around its creature. Scarecrow: The Reaping drops you into a Dust Bowl-era farmhouse where bloodthirsty scarecrows made of dried flesh and bone have taken a like to you. Texas Chainsaw Massacre puts you face-to-face with Leatherface, exactly how you remember in your recurring nightmare.
And then there’s Blumhouse’s The Exorcist: Believer, the latest chapter. An ordinary neighborhood turns unholy as two young friends fall under the same ancient force. You follow their footsteps through rooms—hospitals, woods—that shift from calm to utter chaos until the final exorcism closes in around you.
“During the exorcism scene, we make a wall disappear, and behind it, you see this hellscape—it gives you an idea what these girls are fighting with, and also what they’re trying to escape,” according to Nate Stevenson, the show director.
Between houses, the common areas are just as horrifyingly entertaining. Jack’s Alley Bar is a circus nightmare run by Jack the Clown. You have acrobats, themed cocktails and the persistent feeling something bad is coming (in the best way possible). The Prop Graveyard displays haunted dolls and mannequins from real film sets. Kill Vault serves small plates in a knife-lined space.
A Fraidy Cat ticket ($19) covers the atmosphere and bars without the haunted houses. (No judgment here: The houses aren’t for the faint of heart, but the cocktails are for everyone.) General admission starts at $49 (one-time access per house) or $79 for unlimited. VIP adds priority lanes, reserved tables and bottle service.
You don’t have to wait until October for your nightmare to begin. At Universal Horror Unleashed, fear is always in season, Thursday through Sunday. Those sleepless nights I had at 12? Turns out they were just a preview. The hellscape is real now, and it has an address.
AREA15. universalhorrorunleashed.com
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