Ruled by paper effigies, the Hell House takes guests on a fiery journey into the underworld.
“You will burn for eternity, in the wrath of a thousand effigies!”
– Prophecy of the Blood Moon
SPOILER WARNING
This post includes photos taken inside the HELL HOUSE haunted house (original version). The house has been enhanced in middle of October for better scares. Anyway, our HHN5 special features showcase the design of the haunted houses and we welcome haunt fans to share their reviews and experiences about the houses too!
Photography and video recording is not permitted inside any of the Haunted Houses at Universal Studios Singapore during Halloween Horror Nights 5.
NOTE: Some images in this entry may be too scary for some audiences.
Overview and Thoughts
Click to expand and read our review and commentaryI’d say Hell House this year’s most underrated haunted house. As one of three Asian-themed haunted houses, it’s hard to compete with the headliner The MRT, or the amazingly elaborate Siloso Gateway Block 50. This is my favourite haunted house, because it is just unsettling. Of course, for anything to be truly scary, it needs to be relevant to the audience. Otherwise this just seems like a ‘doll house’.
From the moment you enter the queue, a haunting melody can be heard. It is the instrumental version of the sombre Namo Amitabha chant commonly heard during funeral processions and in columbariums. The music grows louder as you approach the Hell House. Thankfully, this is a rather ‘energetic’ rendition and not the chanting music played at actual funerals.
The production team is daring enough to use real offerings and items (or they just look.. like the real deal) inside Hell House. I hope they did the necessary prayers… or they might’ve got more than what they asked – inviting real spirits into the house. Hmm, how come every time I visit this house, it feels more crowded than before? *chills*
It would be interesting if there were more transitions, like stepping out of a burning house.. into the doorsteps of hell. The house catches fire very quickly, and we were out of the house before we knew it. Granted there isn’t much space and the park shouldn’t be building a mini Haw Par Villa, but some may have expected scenes from Hell that isn’t cramped, horrifying corridors. Or maybe that is closer to the real thing – sadly we won’t know. Anyway, you will get to meet an important representative of the Court towards the end.
Adjustments
After the first weekend, Hell House was adjusted to enhance the scares… and the inferno within. It is much hotter that the attractions operations crew were fanning themselves with the Spirit Currency dropped by park guests. Many scenes, which used to be bright and colorful, were toned down. A particular corridor no longer have its lanterns lit. More paper effigies can be found in each room, and they are much more… ‘interactive’. The entrance to the queue was also shifted out of the Hungry Ghosts scare zone to not affect the experience and traffic flow of the junction at Jurassic Park.
As USS has adjusted the house to enhance guest experience; not all photos here represent the current iteration, for which some were captured during the media preview.
Pre-show experience
Hell House has a unique entrance that looks like those displays surrounding caskets at wakes.
Remember to take one! Before entering Hell House, you can grab Spirit Currency. These notes may protect you from the mischievous haunts inside the house.
You may also want to peek inside a paper house on the way in.
These are the spirit currency notes. Hold it safe when you walk inside the Hell House. (Please do not throw them around the haunted house! You can recycle them when you exit)
Hell House
The paper effigies were awakened with the Rise of the Blood Moon. They welcome you to their humble mansion – but would you be willing to stay as their guest… forever?
Mourners frozen in a trance, burning offerings.
This scale model paper mansion is built to be burned as an offering. Not the most lavish palace, but at least it’s a bungalow.
What is that music? It’s getting louder. And you see that there’s quite a welcoming party ahead.
The paper mansion you saw earlier? It just became real.
Once inside, more paper effigies will greet you.
The Lady in Blue… is this her house?
What’s this warm, hazy glow? It feels quite soothing.
You will meet the Lady, but she seemed quite disturbed at what’s happening at her home.
The paper servants are generous hosts. They’ve invited you to their housewarming after all.
Giant talismans decorate the halls in this house. Can’t settle for silk organza drapes, y’know.
Inside the Hell House, you’ll meet many spirits going about their (after)lives.
The servants have even prepared the bath for guests.
Whether you choose to take a bath (or not), your tour takes a drastic turn from this point.
In this hallway, you see the mourners performing rites. For you.
It’s starting to feel… hotter in here.
A giant eye gazes at you while inside. Oh – where did it come from??
Joss papers messily scattered everywhere. What were the paper servants doing?
This house is on fire, and there’s no turning back from here!
The walls of the house are shifting, while parts of the ceiling collapses. The party is over.
The only way forward is to walk deeper into Hell.
But after surviving many horrific scenes, you will be given a choice.
Hope you still managed to keep your Spirit Money handy. It’s your ‘bribe’ to escape back to the world of the Living!
Could you handle the heat in Hell House?
How many paper effigies did you meet inside Hell House? Did you manage to keep your Spirit Money safe until the end? And was it scorching in ‘Hell’? Let us know!
Looking for the HHN5 review? Discover uniquely-Singaporean haunts at Halloween Horror Nights 5 here!
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This was my Favourite haunted house! It was very well themed! I would have gone for a second time if I could.
The hell house was indeed very detailed and well done but some scenes seemed rather off.. like the blue lady, is it her that was shown on the advertisement poster? Because I thought we were invited to the lady in the advertisements house warming…. Also the mirror scene. Why did she continue to comb her hair and why is there a fiery version of her in the mirror.. and why do we exit through a corridor? So many questions… but the eye is kinda cool… ppl tend to miss that part
It’s a shame that the actual houses often don’t line up with the marketing. Clearly it was an impactful image, but it doesn’t work with the online experience as well.
Many scenes in Hell House will remain a mystery. The final corridor is the strangest, because it is far too clean and modern compared to the scenes before. Then there are stray altars lying about.
Thank goodness they shifted the entrance queue of this haunted house to the side. It was a terrible idea to put the queue “within” the end part of the Hungry Ghost Scare Zone without any exits if the line and area become to cramped.
It was a nice idea to walk into Hell House after the final scene in Hungry Ghosts. Unfortunately there just isn’t enough queue capacity and space for it to work well with crowds.
It’s not the idea per se but the planning and execution of the idea. Unfortunately, this is one of booboos in this year’s execution of HHN.
Oh, don’t get me started with the forcing of the crowd to go left after the Opening Scaremony when both streets could be opened for the crowd. Because if the main idea for that “controlling” is to disperse crowd evenly and unclog queues… Well… It’s obviously not working.
That crowd diversion has been done in past events, although this year it was done (rather forcefully) for a different reason. The right side remains closed until the performers involved in the opening scaremony have returned to their sets in ConTERMINATED, The Invaders, and Siloso Gateway Block 50. They have to be ‘show ready’ before park guests arrive.
I don’t remember having a crowd diversions in HHN3 and 4 after the opening Scaremony.
I believe that the fireworks after the bloodmoon creatures mob is more than enough for the scare actors to return to their posts. If not, they could have stretched that part longer.
I don’t know. I really find that the “forceful” crowd diversion is off and it tends to dampen the experience even before it began.
Hell House was crazy. I didn’t expect the path to be so narrow, and yes the ghosts were not touching me but they are mostly only 5 cm to my skin arggggghhhhhh.. i didn’t know that i could scream that loud until i enter this house. Btw I still keep my spirit money safe until the end.
Nice theme and well decorated. Got a shock at the end when the pillar turned and revealed a devil/ghost. Managed to give my hell money to the lady in blue too.