Phoenix Named Halloween 2025 Haunted Hotspot

Metro Phoenix is being promoted as a Halloween hotspot for 2025 with five headline haunted attractions — Fear Farm (relocating from Glendale to Scottsdale with new themes), Sanctum of Horror, Scarizona (adding three new attractions), 13th Floor Haunted House, and Nightfall at Old Tucson — running from late September through early November. Several attractions, notably Scarizona and Sanctum, are offering multiple attractions, dates and tiered pricing and fast-pass options for different scare levels. In Des Moines, bars and breweries are staging immersive Halloween pop-ups through early November, including Nightmare on Ingersoll at Dugan’s Hideaway, the Disturb pop-up at Good News, Darling, and The Haunting at Exile Brewing, all featuring themed cocktails, food and special events. Despite 2025 being a strong year for horror generally, studios scheduled no major new horror releases for the Halloween weekend, with Emma Stone’s Bugonia topping the wide-release slate instead. Fans are being encouraged to revisit cult classics such as 2007’s Trick ’r Treat, which is finding renewed life on streaming, or to host themed gatherings using recipes like beet-stained “eyeball” eggs and creamy Gouda pasta. Separately, veterans and officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japan’s prime minister marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima this week.