Universal Studios Orlando’s annual fright-fest known as Halloween Horror Nights kicked off this year with 10 mazes full of grisly sights and costumed “scareactors.” Half of the mazes are based on popular horror IP such as Stranger Things and Poltergeist, while the rest are original creations born from the twisted minds of the HHN maze designers. IGN attended opening night and came away both with long-lasting psychological scars from being traumatized by scare after scare for hours on end, and with a ranking of just how scary each maze was.

Ranking Halloween Horror Nights' 10 Mazes by Scariness 30 IMAGES

10. Seeds of Extinction

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9. Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After

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8. Trick ‘r Treat

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7. The Carnival Graveyard: Rust in Pieces

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Stranger Things Inspired Dishes at Halloween Horror Nights 14 IMAGES

6. The Horrors of Blumhouse

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Halloween Horror Nights 2018 Merchandise 32 IMAGES

5. Slaughterhouse Sinema

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4. Poltergeist

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3. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

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2. Stranger Things

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1. Dead Exposure: Patient Zero

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[Editor's Note: We recently visited Universal Studios Hollywood and updated this article at the bottom with an additional ranking of that location's similar-yet-different mazes.]You can check out our ranking by flipping through the slideshow below, or keep reading to read it as an article.The Seeds of Extinction maze takes you into a world where humanity was wiped out by a meteor and what remained was taken over by monstrous plants. While the premise was intriguing and the design of the numerous plant-creatures were well-executed, there were only so many scares to be mined from vegetation-gone-wild. That left this maze feeling more like a tour of a strange sci-fi movie.While Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After was light on thrills, it certainly took top marks in terms of creativity and set design. The Wicked Witch of the West has cursed the land so popular fairy tale heroes have become bad and their villains even worse. Seeing perverse spins on beloved stories was a fun time in itself, although it didn’t exactly make us jump.This maze is based on the Trick r Treat movie where the rules of Halloween must be followed if you wish to avoid the wrath of the supernatural Sam. The film itself is more on the level of Tales of Cryptkeeper in terms of scariness and the maze follows suit. That said, Sam’s small height did allow for him to surprise us a couple times -- you just don’t expect anything to come from down below!This excellently constructed maze takes you through a junkyard filled with discarded and rusted carnival rides and is inhabited by demented versions of those who used to run the park. This maze earns a few jump-scares simply from the deranged characters who suddenly appear and make a beeline right for you. One standout moment that really got under our skin came when we entered a dilapidated Tunnel of Love” and witnessed two lovers making an overly passionate embrace… while wearing masks made from the skin of other people’s faces. Turning the silly fun of a carnival into a scary experience is a tried and true horror trope, yet it’s still effective as ever.The two Blumhouse properties featured in this maze were Happy Death Day and The First Purge. The Happy Death Day portion had you walking through the same settings over and over again as audio cues from the movie reinforced we were stuck in a Groundhog Day scenario, repeatedly being stalked by the same baby-mask-wearing murderer. The First Purge took us back to, you guessed it, the time of the first Purge and included numerous masked murderers with free leave to kill all who cross their path. Both set the tone for their respective properties well, and while Happy Death Day gave us an unnerving sense of Deja Vu, we weren’t as unsettled by The First Purge, perhaps because the scares work better out on the street in a Scare Zone than in a maze.The Slaughterhouse Sinema takes you on a tour through made-up grindhouse movies, each set up by a fake movie poster before letting you explore the concept within. This was one of the more fun mazes as you got a hint of what’s to come and then saw it brought to life in gorey, disgusting fashion. This one earns extra points for giving us laughs and scares in equal measure.The Poltergeist maze takes what you know about the classic horror film and takes it one step further as you explore what’s beyond the light. This gave us a different angle to explore iconic moments as well as be terrified by brand new ones. The maze itself plays with your perception as it becomes constrained and claustrophobic before it opens up to show off giant monstrosities with full range of motion, a truly impressive display of puppetry that still manage to deliver big scares.It’s hard not to tense up when the iconic tune plays overhead and you enter into a house where you know Michael Myers could be (and usually is) around every corner. This maze really emphasizes the jump scares as Michael appears from unexpected angles with a loud noise, weapon raised and ready to stab. The maze truly makes you feel like there’s no escape from Michael as he pursues you throughout the entire experience, never giving you a moment’s rest. We definitely had our heart-rate increased by the end of this one.The new kid on the horror block made an impressive debut with a maze that captures the essence of the entire first season of Stranger Things. We’re taken through the secret government lab, the Byer’s home with the alphabet/Christmas lights, and into the Upside Down itself -- and the Demogorgon is never far behind. Fun fact: the Demogorgon was a digital creation in the show, so a working, practical version had to be designed for this maze. Turns out it’s really, really scary in real life.(For a better look inside the Stranger Things maze, check our our tour and reaction by watching the video below.)The surprise hit of Halloween Horror Nights 2018 was the maze for Dead Expose: Patient Zero. A zombie outbreak is bad enough, but this maze has you wandering through the maze in pitch black, only for a black light to sparsely illuminate your surroundings… and the walking dead as they creep closer. One moment you see them at a safe distance, then lights go off, and when they come on again the zombies are right up in your face. A truly imaginative and effective way to scare the crap out of us -- and the best thrill we got all night.Keep reading for our ranking of the similar-but-different mazes from Halloween Horror Nights in Universal Studios Hollywood.