Universal Orlando Resort is getting ready to celebrate its 35th anniversary in a big way this spooky season by making us feel like we’re locked inside some of the best horror movies. The theme park has already announced Sinners will have its own house and we've learned we’ll be able to relive the final season of Stranger Things. I can’t wait for those scares, but now we have new word about one of the original houses, and it’s the scariest, and most unexpected house announcement yet. Also allegedly among "the bloodiest" this season.
The latest confirmed house set to be on Universal Orlando Resort’s Halloween Horror Nights 2026 lineup is called Madlands: Caged Cannibals. Guys... cannibals!??! I'm screaming already. It's the third original house announced this year alongside Jack and Oddfellow: Chaos and Control and H.R. Bloodengutz Presents: A Halloween Fright-Tacular.
CinemaBlend had the chance to speak to Lora Sauls, who is the resort’s assistant director of entertainment creative development, about the new house, and she told me a lot about how the idea came about and why they think it'll be a "home run" with people in the parks.
This idea came out of a brainstorm week we do every year, where we have scenic designers, character designers, and show directors who all come to the table with every idea they can think of. No idea is a bad idea. Last April, we had that meeting, and one of our newer scenic designers had the idea for this post-apocalyptic zoo that's infested by this tribe of cannibals [in a world where] animals are extinct. Humans are cannibals, and they take on the traits of the animals that once lived in this post-apocalyptic zoo... And, we just said, 'This is a home run.'
Typically, half of HHN's houses consist of non-IP haunts, and after Sauls described Madlands to me, I completely understand why they're particularly hyped about this one. It's a shocker in the best way. Plus, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre houses are already incredibly popular whenever they have them, and now Universal Orlando Resort the chance to put their own memorable spin on the cannibal sub-genre of horror. As Sauls explained:
It's a bloody house. It's [one of] our bloodiest this year... [The cannibals] are coming at [guests] strongly. They are killing machines, and every person that goes into this house is their prey.
When guests enter Madlands, they’ll be transported to a fictional dystopian world where a tribe of cannibals take on the traits of zoo animals when hunting their prey. And guys, we are the prey. Per Sauls, the tribe of cannibals we'll meet in Madlands have been inspired by what they imagine zoo animals to be like, but since animals have gone extinct, they are only operating on an idea. It's also apparently one of the more hardcore houses this year – which means it’s going to be one people are going to be talking about!
We think this house is going to be one of the most aggressive in the event… I think this one is gonna be intense. Very bloody. Very in your face. Very intense... These are tribes of cannibals. They just need to eat, and you are their food.
Sauls also said she’s really proud of this one from a production point of view, pointing out the “scenic aesthetic” of it. She encourages fans to go at a slow-but-steady pace through it, but I just know this one is really going to trigger some serious fears. I'm already stressing out about it and I'm nowhere near a theme park gate yet. Of course, I was curious about the smells in this one; the Universal Orlando Resort's assistant director teased there’s some “interesting” ones to get ready for. Hope you brought a clothespin.
If you’ve been craving (pun intended) a really scary haunted house at Universal Orlando Resorts’s Halloween Horror Nights, Madlands sounds like it will have the kind of intensity you might be searching for. The announcement comes at a perfect time in the HHN lineup in my opinion, too. I always want something to get me into my fears, and Madlands might be that house this year.
Tickets are now on sale at Universal Orlando Resort’s website with the theme park event running from August 28 until November 1.
