Dead, Deader, Deadest Haunted House Announced for HHN Hollywood

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Deville Family Funeral Home has been in business since the 1920s. Universal Studios Hollywood announced Dead, Deader, Deadest, a new original haunted house for Halloween Horror Nights 2026 — and creative director John Murdy has already shared backstory that suggests real depth behind it.

The Dead Deader Deadest haunted house will be located in the Jurassic World extended queue.

Halloween Horror Nights 2026 at Universal Studios Hollywood runs September 3, 2026 through November 1, 2026.

Quick Summary

• Dead, Deader, Deadest is a new original haunted house at Universal Studios Hollywood
• The setting is the Deville Family Funeral Home, where reanimated corpses have risen from their graves
• The house is located in the Jurassic World extended queue
• John Murdy shared backstory establishing the funeral home’s 1920s origins
• HHN 2026 at Universal Studios Hollywood runs September 3 through November 1

The Premise

Universal’s description: “Uncover the dark secrets of the Deville Family Funeral Home in this haunted house, where reanimated corpses have risen from their graves.”

John Murdy, Creative Director and Executive Producer of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood, shared backstory from the treatment of the house:

“Founded in the early 1920’s by infamous hotel impresario Maximilian Deville, The Deville Family Funeral Home was the first full-service facility of its kind in Los Angeles County.”

Why That One Sentence Matters

Read it again. There’s more packed in there than a haunted house description usually carries.

“Infamous hotel impresario.” Not a mortician. A hotel man who moved into funeral services. That career pivot is a question the house presumably answers, and “infamous” tells you the answer isn’t good.

“Early 1920s.” Los Angeles in the early twenties was a boomtown — real estate speculation, the film industry taking hold, enormous fortunes appearing fast and disappearing faster. Setting a funeral empire in that specific moment ties it to a very particular kind of American greed.

“First full-service facility of its kind in Los Angeles County.” Full-service means the entire process happened under one roof, from preparation through burial. That’s a lot of building, and a lot of rooms guests will presumably walk through.

“Family.” Multi-generational. Whatever Maximilian started, someone inherited.

Murdy’s Track Record

For anyone unfamiliar with the Hollywood side of HHN: John Murdy has been the creative force behind Universal Studios Hollywood’s event for years, and he’s known specifically for building detailed backstories that inform the design even when guests never explicitly learn them.

Original houses from Hollywood tend to have more thought-out mythology than a four-minute walkthrough strictly requires. That’s a feature — the detail shows up in set dressing, prop choices, and environmental storytelling even when nobody stops to read a newspaper on a desk.

The Jurassic World Extended Queue Location

The house is located in the Jurassic World extended queue, which is worth understanding as a venue.

Extended queue spaces are a Hollywood specialty born of necessity. Universal Studios Hollywood is built on a hillside with far less flat land than Orlando, so the park converts existing infrastructure into maze venues rather than building dedicated soundstages.

What that means practically:

• Long, linear layouts. Queue buildings are corridors by design, which suits a walkthrough well.
• Existing structure to work with. Set builders work within a fixed footprint rather than an open box.
• Good acoustics. Enclosed queue spaces contain sound effectively.

A funeral home concept fits a corridor-based layout naturally. Funeral homes are sequences of rooms — viewing parlor, chapel, preparation room, crematorium, basement. Each is a distinct space with its own function and its own dread.

What to Expect Inside

Based on the premise and setting:

• Period detail. A 1920s-founded institution gives designers a century of accumulated decor to layer
• Preparation room sequences. The most viscerally uncomfortable space in any funeral home
• Reanimated corpses in various states. The description promises risen dead, and a funeral home means bodies at every stage of the process
• Family portraits and lineage detail. “Family” in the name signals generational storytelling in the set dressing
• A secret. “Uncover the dark secrets” suggests a reveal structure rather than pure chase

Planning Tips

• HHN Hollywood opens September 3 and runs select nights through November 1.
• Hollywood’s event is smaller than Orlando’s. Fewer houses means you can realistically do everything in one night, which changes your strategy entirely.
• Original houses often have shorter lines than the licensed properties. Hit Hellraiser and the big IP first.
• The Hollywood terrain is a factor. The park is built on a hill with escalators connecting Upper and Lower Lots. Plan your route to minimize backtracking.
• Ticket options at Hollywood include General Admission, Universal Express, R.I.P. Tour, Day/Night, After 2pm Day/Night, and an Early Access Ticket that gets you into select houses from 5:30pm.
• The Early Access Ticket is the best value add-on if you’re only doing one night. Getting into houses before the event officially starts is worth more than almost anything else.

The Bottom Line

Dead, Deader, Deadest brings the Deville Family Funeral Home to Halloween Horror Nights 2026 at Universal Studios Hollywood, located in the Jurassic World extended queue, with reanimated corpses risen from their graves and a backstory reaching back to a 1920s hotel impresario named Maximilian Deville.

John Murdy’s houses reward attention to detail, so walk this one slowly.

Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood runs September 3 through November 1, 2026.

---

---