A Colonial-themed original house, Blood Moon: Dark Offerings, is one of ten haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights 32.

Blood Moon: Dark Offering

In a Colonial-era village, moon-worshippers witness a blood moon at their fall festival. They take it as a sign to hunt down any non-followers, including you and your scream squad.

Backstory

A cult of moon worshippers in a starving Colonial village witness a Blood Moon rising during a fall festival. Desperate, they take it as a sign to sacrifice the festival-goers.

A story told on the Discover Universal podcast followed a young man named Elias who lived in the colony. Elias was in love with Abigail, whose mother Constance led a cult that worshiped The Celestial (the moon). Elias’s family warned him away from the “lunatics,” forbidding Elias from courting Abigail.

When he expressed doubt in their beliefs, Abigail brought Elias to a clearing in the woods where the stars shone bright and ethereal. After a row with his father, Elias returned to the clearing and begged the Celestial for a sign that he should believe.

Slowly, the moon was overtaken by a deep shade of red that appeared to bathe the colony in blood. Upon hearing screams of terror from the Fall Festival being held in the town square, Elias ran back to the village. He proceeded to sneak into a mill — to find Constance and her followers collecting body parts of the “falsehearted” non-believers.

He fled to his home to find his parents bound to their dining room chairs. Two masked worshipers were already in the room, armed with knives. Abigail removed her mask to reveal herself to Elias and offered him the blade, pleading with him to kill his family and join her. He accepted.

The house features Constance, but not Abigail or Elias. It starts with guests entering the mill in Parish Town, where Constance is holding court with her followers, preaching that the blood moon has risen and demands sacrifices. The followers are trying to sacrifice the guests.

This house is sort of dull and repetitive. Highlights include the town square, where children are eerily standing around something similar to a maypole, and the church where cultists are in prayer. Dr. Oddfellow’s symbol appears on the church chalkboard, among other symbols and notes about how to appease the celestial. The symbol predates Dr. Oddfellow — he adopted it after his adventure in the Jungle of Doom — so this is another fun way to tie the entire story of HHN 32 together.

There’s a totem made of human flesh, which is appropriately grotesque, but the scares in this house are minimal. The sets are beautiful and make use of the soundstage’s height for things such as a bell tower with a worshiper ringing the bell to signal the beginning of the sacrifice.

Since there is no indication one way or another about the supernatural beliefs being real, this plays harder into the man vs. man concept on a flip of the “burn the witch” trope. It also plays on themes of religious righteousness, with Constance and her followers saying, “The falsehearted must pay, lest we all pay. The falsehearted must die, lest we all die.”

Overall, it makes great use of sets with a clear, interesting narrative, though it fails to be scary.

Location

Blood Moon: Dark Offerings is located at A on the map below, with the entrance next to Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem.

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