The animals are long gone, but this zoo is more dangerous than it’s ever been.
Madlands: Caged Cannibals is shaping up to be one of the bloodiest original haunted houses Halloween Horror Nights 35 has to offer, according to Universal’s own creative team.
The house is located in Soundstage 24B at Universal Studios Florida, sharing the same soundstage building as Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness, which occupies 24A next door. Soundstage 24 is one of the park’s larger facilities normally used as a filming location for movies and television. Halloween Horror Nights 35 runs select nights from August 28 through November 1, 2026, and this house is exclusive to Orlando.
Madlands: Caged Cannibals was announced on June 24, 2026, making it the fifth haunted house confirmed overall and the third original concept house revealed during HHN 35’s “Originals Week” stretch of announcements.
The Official Premise
Universal’s own description doesn’t waste time setting the tone: a defunct zoo is now the deadly domain of warring cannibal factions that have taken their animal instincts to extremes. They’re territorial. They’re hungry. And guests are lunch.
Guests entering the house find themselves among a small group of survivors seeking refuge from a dystopian wasteland, only to discover the abandoned zoo they’ve stumbled into has become contested territory for rival tribes of cannibals who no longer see any real distinction between predator, prey, and each other.
How It Compares to HHN’s Past Cannibal Concepts
While the defunct zoo setting itself is new territory for Halloween Horror Nights, the broader concept has some clear ancestors in the event’s history. It draws comparisons to 2009’s Apocalypse: City of Cannibals scarezone, one of HHN’s most memorable original post-apocalyptic concepts. Longtime HHN fans have also pointed to similarities with past original houses like Terra Cruentus, known for its savage world-building and reliance on human blood, and Leave It to Cleaver, centered on a community with a taste for human flesh.
Where the Idea Came From
According to Lora Sauls, Universal Orlando Resort’s Assistant Director of Entertainment Creative Development, this concept was born out of one of the studio’s annual “brainstorm weeks,” where scenic designers, character designers, and show directors gather to pitch ideas with no concept considered off-limits. The Madlands concept specifically came from a newer scenic designer on the team, who pitched the idea of a post-apocalyptic zoo overtaken by a cannibal tribe built around the idea that with the actual animals extinct, the tribe’s own animal instincts had nowhere left to go but toward each other, and toward anyone unlucky enough to wander in.
“One of Our Bloodiest This Year”
Sauls didn’t hold back describing the intensity guests should expect. According to her, this is a genuinely bloody house (among the bloodiest of the entire HHN 35 lineup) with cannibal characters designed to come at guests aggressively throughout. She described them as true killing machines, with every single guest who enters treated as their prey.
Behind the Scenes
Internally, this house’s development codename was “Train,” continuing HHN’s tradition of vehicle-themed codenames for its haunted houses. Notably, when Universal began obscuring image URLs to stop fans from guessing codenames early, the placeholder used for this house’s key art was the cheeky “DontEatMePlease.” The house’s logo was designed by Instagram artist @derekdeal.
What Fans Are Anticipating
Early buzz among longtime HHN forum-goers has drawn comparisons to some of the event’s most talked-about recent scare sequences, including the Michael Myers room from HHN 31’s Halloween house, the Lipstick Demon pop-out sequence and finale from HHN 33’s Insidious house, and the Jason gauntlet from HHN 34’s Jason Univ3rse house, suggesting fans expect this to be an especially aggressive, high-intensity walkthrough.
Bookmark this page, check back soon, and let us know in the comments if you’re ready to brave this one!
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