Millions of people visit Halloween events to get in the spirit, and this year I surprisingly took part in one of these events. Don’t get me wrong, I can watch scary movies, but only by looking at the screen through the gaps of my fingers. I doubt could handle people chasing me and scaring me all night — especially clowns.

For 25 years, Universal Studios has held their annual Halloween Horror Nights on select nights, usually Thursdays to Sundays, during the months of September, October and November, starting at dusk and essentially ending at 2 a.m. This year’s theme is based off the movie The Purge: Election Year with seven mazes — Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, The Exorcist, Freddy vs. Jason, Halloween, and Krampus — plus the Terror Tram, a Live Jabbawockeez show and the numerous Purge scare zones.

“I’m so excited,” said college freshman and first time attendee, Chardae Balidio, as we waited for the opening ceremony to start. It starts with visitors screaming and waiting, crowded in one area, while there’s flames, fog, scare actors waiting to attack, and the iconic, “This is your emergency broadcast system announcing the commencement of the Annual Purge…” playing on the speakers throughout the park. Once the crowd is set to pass the distinct area, everybody runs as they are chased throughout the park with chainsaws and knives.

“I wasn’t excited at first,” says junior Arman Hakobyan, “but after I went through the first few mazes, I was really hyped for everything else.”

The Purge scare zones are really intense — strobe lights, chainsaws, knives, blood. The scare actors make it seem like they’re actually going to Purge and hurt you (thankfully, they can’t). Junior NJ Nathan jokingly says of the experience: “If they touched me I would’ve sued Universal.”

While you’re inside the mazes, it’s a very dark and tight space, so while you’re walking through the maze you have people behind you stepping on the back of your shoes, sweat dripping down your body because of all the body heat, no visibility of where you’re going, and no space to run. These tight spaces are a definite disadvantage, especially when scare actors pop up in front of you.

One of the most frightening mazes is The Exorcist, based off the famous horror movie. This maze makes you feel as if you are  in the actual movie and in the presence of a possessed being. The Exorcist was Hakobyan’s favorite. “It had the best effects,” he said.

The American Horror Story maze feels like the longest maze. Balidio and I fell down multiple times and had difficulty getting back up. The maze is based off three different AHS seasons — Murder House, Freak Show and Motel — split into three different sections of the maze. Freak Show and Motel are the scariest, especially Twisty the clown. Coulrophobia isn’t a fan of him.

“It’s funny watching people get scared,” said a Universal employee who works in the mazes to ensure that no one attacks the scare actors. “It’s hard not to laugh, though.”

In fact, there were many incidents where I fell and cried, and got laughed at by fellow visitors and the employees. I hid behind Nathan, and he had to pick me up whenever I fell, trying to run away from people encircling me with their chainsaws pointed at my feet.

This year’s terror tram is the first one thought of by a filmmaker, in this case, Eli Roth.The terror tram drops visitors off in the back lot, with killer clowns within the area holding knives and chainsaws. The visitors are supposed to get their way to the end, usually taking 5-10 minutes.