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WB Studios - A Festival of Frights

So here's my review of the event: overall, I think it's fine. Really, it's alright, but I do believe paying full price for this is just a middle finger. I still prefer HHN but I think it was fun, and I did everything really quick which kinda left my friend and I going "Dang, that was it?"

Positives:
- Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake absolutely craps all over Terror Tram. The acting is phenomenal and this was the best thing of the night. So fun and actually scary. The costumes were great as well, and I like the representations of Freddy. This was awesome, cant have enough praise over it.

- The Exorcist Forbidden Screening: This was really fun, I didn't know what to expect and I kind of wondered why HHN never did anything like this before. That said it kinda just ends out of nowhere and feels like something was missing, but I think they could improve around it.

Alright's:
- IT: It's fun, and someone else put it best - it feels like KSF had the rights to IT and what they'd do with the property. A lot of the scenic feels cheap, but the costumes are better in person and the maze is pretty lengthy and I actually got some good scares. That said the immersion is not always there, and at times feels a bit thrown together. Timing scares needs to be better too.

Terrible's:
- The Conjuring: Oh brother. I love these movies, they legitimately are fun, but the whole guided aspect of it really kills it for me. Everything felt SO cheesy and forced, and I think this really needs a new approach. It was the first thing my friend and I did and it kinda left a bad taste in our mouth, but good thing it wasn't reflective of the whole event. I think the Nun paining is really well done though, HHN should work on a scare like that. Anyways, I feel this property has so much potential that's just unfortunately wasted.

- Arkham: Oh man. I'm a huge DC fan, and an Arkham games fan. The beginning was so promising, kinda reminded me of something KSF would do, but everything afterwards just felt like a walkthrough attraction/ museum. I was legitimately bored in this, but the Joker actors are really fun, and I feel kinda bad that they're subjected to these type of environments. Nothing really "feels" like Arkham here, not to mention the weak designs/ scares.

- NOISE BLEEDS. Seriously. It's so bad, it kind of became a running joke among some other people we met in line.

Overall, it was okay. Some of it was fun, and there's a lot to be improved on and I know WB has the capability to take this thing up a notch. That said, I wouldn't pay full price (I went on a discount a friend had from working at the studio). My friend and I thought "Hey that wasn't that bad", but it's something one and done. I still think HHN is better with immersion, but WB has some really cool properties that I think could be taken a step above. Maybe this might be a "every other year" kind of thing for me. This honestly felt like a test run, and my biggest wonder was where they could go from here, and what they wanna do from here. I think the market in SoCal is saturated as it is when it comes to haunts, so WB IMO doesnt offer anything brand new (IPs aside).

This event could be much better, but it also needs to decide whether it should.
 
I keep hearing "Jason rising out of the lake" the last few weeks. So like he was literally coming out of the water? That's pretty bada$$.

Obviously this shoddy cell phone pic doesn't do it justice but... YEAH.

10sg9km.jpg
 
Going to the topic of HMH..So, next year. Do we want to create a new thread for Spec, or just stay here until they talk anything? Because from what I'm gathering, it sounds like WB did a lot of surveying during the 2018 operational season for HMH.

It would be sweet if they could do a Game of Thrones house (Time-Warner owns HBO). Getting George RR Martin to approve it would probably be the major challenge.
 
So here's my review of the event: overall, I think it's fine.
This event could be much better, but it also needs to decide whether it should.

I did my first ever trip to LA and as a movie/horror buff, I made a point of adding this to my itinerary along with Dark Harbor oat the Queen Mary. To me it felt like a smaller scale HHN before they got their secret sauce of budget and design down. I think they have good IP and having smaller crowds (I went on 10/28 and got there for rope drop. I didn't wait more than 20 min for anything besides Exorcist which somehow went from 20 min to AN HOUR).

It's definitely on the cheaper end of budget so I explained it as HHN on a slightly bigger than Fright Fest at Six Flags budget. As a tourist, I didn't care too much about the cost, but if I was local, I'd be much more discriminating. That being said, I did have a good time and would go back.

One final note: those who heard about Jason being in the water
it's true and was horrifying. The second time I did it, Jason pulled a girl who was warning us to get out of there into the water to never be seen again. I did bring my DSLR camera for this shot...

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I did my first ever trip to LA and as a movie/horror buff, I made a point of adding this to my itinerary along with Dark Harbor oat the Queen Mary. To me it felt like a smaller scale HHN before they got their secret sauce of budget and design down. I think they have good IP and having smaller crowds (I went on 10/28 and got there for rope drop. I didn't wait more than 20 min for anything besides Exorcist which somehow went from 20 min to AN HOUR).

It's definitely on the cheaper end of budget so I explained it as HHN on a slightly bigger than Fright Fest at Six Flags budget. As a tourist, I didn't care too much about the cost, but if I was local, I'd be much more discriminating. That being said, I did have a good time and would go back.

One final note: those who heard about Jason being in the water
it's true and was horrifying. The second time I did it, Jason pulled a girl who was warning us to get out of there into the water to never be seen again. I did bring my DSLR camera for this shot...

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Wasn't that one of the most insane things you've seen in your life? Amazing shot!
 
Wasn't that one of the most insane things you've seen in your life? Amazing shot!
To me, that experience completely made their event for me. It also shows that they have their minds in the right place with the direction of the event.

It's a rough market in the space in the region, they wanted to see if it's worth the investment. I hope their numbers say yes.
 
We did that maze, but didn't have that happen for us. Bummer.

On a side note, we've been watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls, and after being on that lot for so long for that event, we're now able to recognize that set a lot better. (Gilmore Girls did all it's exterior town shots in the exact space as the event.) Kinda want to go back next year just to better appreciate the set, haha
 
We did that maze, but didn't have that happen for us. Bummer.

On a side note, we've been watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls, and after being on that lot for so long for that event, we're now able to recognize that set a lot better. (Gilmore Girls did all it's exterior town shots in the exact space as the event.) Kinda want to go back next year just to better appreciate the set, haha

I actually did the daytime tour first 2 years ago and then started watching the show because of it. It was so cool to recognize all the places we got to check out the interiors and exteriors of. Then during Horror Made Here, I recognized even MORE sets like where they held the town meetings, etc.

I actually liked the show so much more than I would have ever imagined. Lorelai is the best character.
 
So are we going to speculate for this year's event (If anyone even cares) in this thread?

Here's some of my speculations for 2019.

- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Tram
- IT (Same Location)
- The Shining (Arkham Location)
- The Exorcist (Conjuring Location)
- Lost Boys 4D Screening
 
Honestly, I somewhat forgot about this thread.

My..guesses..

- IT (Same Location)
- Chilling Adventures of Sabrina/Supernatural Tram
- Arkham (Same Location, with revisions)
- The Shining (Conjuring Location)
- The Lost Boys & Exorcist 4D Screening (both run at different times, same location).
 
I have a gut feeling they are going to add an additional maze this year.

For sure, they're keeping IT and Camp Crystal Lake.

The new mazes will be The Nun, The Shining, and a wild card.

Not sure about the wild card though. They have quite a few options.

Personally, I want to see them tackle The Exorcist as a maze.

Universal's take on The Exorcist was pretty good, but too many black walls & repetitive scenes. I think WB would do a much better job with their property.

Ermagerd, imagine entering the actual FULL-SIZE house of Linda Blairs mom and being "locked" inside. Whoa.
 
Would love to see how WB handles the Shining. Hearing they took a bunch of criticisms to heart so let's hope for improvement.
 
Would love to see how WB handles the Shining. Hearing they took a bunch of criticisms to heart so let's hope for improvement.

I have no doubt next year will be even better.

Do you think they'll keep the same amount of mazes or add another one to the roster?
 
I know I'm late to this. But since Netflix did a Sabrina pop up as promo for the show last year with full sets, I could absolutely see WB doing a maze or Instagram museum in a similar vein.
 
WB sending out e-mails that Festival of Frights is NOT returning this year. Guess it gave up plans on trying to be a heavy hitter in the Haunt industry. Honestly, hoping this means Uni can snatch up some properties. That may seem like dancing on WB's grave but... the event looked terrible anyway haha
 
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