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Halloween Horror Nights 2020 Old Speculation Thread

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Not tryna "throw all IPs at the wall" but with the strong reviews its getting, and potentially building a great facade and ambiance around it, does The Lodge have a chance at all? Could be a really unique experience that may be a bit different than your typically HHN house.

Outside of rights or certain content, anything has a shot. That's why we're trying to avoid the whole "What about this?" IP.
 
More Universal Monsters, more originals, no Purge, no Black Walls, and scare zones with better quality.
Keep the roaming hordes, have WWOHP open every night, work on crowd control, and add a second show.
They also really need to bring back Throwback Thursdays or better yet, replace all the Dubstep and EDM with 80s music for every night!
 
Look forward to seeing more obscure, but not entirely abstract, properties at HHN...

Right...wasn't there talk about People Under the Stairs?

They also really need to bring back Throwback Thursdays or better yet, replace all the Dubstep and EDM with 80s music for every night!

Tbh I think the 80s are starting to get overplayed, especially since we're now 40 years away. I'm ready for the 90s music though: Luniz, Nine inch Nails, Nirvana...

Speaking of the 90s, James Wan is making a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer for Amazon. Maybe not the most likely property, but especially with the Scream rights tied up, it could be a fun replacement.
 
In terms of operations, this is what I would like to see next year:

Every Wednesday in October should be open next year. This has been the most crowded year by a longshot for HHN. The event has gotten mainstream enough to where they can do it. If they really feel iffy about having Wednesdays open, have a midnight closure and extend until one if it gets too busy.

Just open Potter during HHN for Pete's sake. C'mon. At the very least on Fridays and Saturdays and then Thursdays in October. The event needs all of the crowd suck they can get. Maybe throw in SLoP in there as well. We need more ways to get people off the streets. Just last night I overheard someone wanting to go to Potter. When they saw it blocked off, I heard them say, "They closed the Harry Potter world? That's bull $#*& man!" It's really lame that on the official opening night on Friday the 13th, they didn't even consider having Potter open. I didn't go but I heard it was the worst night ever for crowds. Just open it.

In terms of entertainment, at least on Thursday nights, it's a HUGE step forward to add more kinetics to the event. In the past several years, the only "entertainment" they had was Jabba and the scare patrol. If you still remember them, I'm glad they retired them. That aspect was so annoying. I'm glad to see Chucky and the Fast Times band performing. I think they should use the stage down there to have a freak show or something and not just a tribute band.

In terms of black walls, while there were a few annoying parts this year, they did a good job making most of the black wall sections seem unnoticeable. I understand that the black walls are slightly indicative of Hollywood now, but I would like to see less of them to make the houses feel less "choppy".

In terms of venues, it would be logistically tricky, but I could see the JP queue come back. The space is still there, but the line set-up may be tricky. I'm glad to see the tram finally gone and have two houses in its place. I hope they keep that. I know it's not feasible, but I would love to see the Metro expanded so they can have a full-on scarezone downstairs on the scale of HHNO's NY street zones. Not gonna happen, but one can dream.

Finally, bring back the fire towers. Please.
 
I totally understand. I haven’t followed HHN closely so I guess that’s why I asked how realistic it could be for a house here
My thing with IPs that lean more on the arthouse side is there isn’t any precedence, and it’s not like there are a lack of options. There haven’t been any houses like that in the past, and (unless I’m mistaken!), there hasn’t been any indication that HHN has pursued the A24 or NEON stuff. They lean more crowd-pleasing than say, prestigious critical darlings, and tbh I think it should stay that way. I enjoy something like The Lodge or Midsommar much, much more than something like Killer Klownz as a film, but as a maze?? I would 100% prefer something like Killer Klownz.
 
My thing with IPs that lean more on the arthouse side is there isn’t any precedence, and it’s not like there are a lack of options. There haven’t been any houses like that in the past, and (unless I’m mistaken!), there hasn’t been any indication that HHN has pursued the A24 or NEON stuff. They lean more crowd-pleasing than say, prestigious critical darlings, and tbh I think it should stay that way. I enjoy something like The Lodge or Midsommar much, much more than something like Killer Klownz as a film, but as a maze?? I would 100% prefer something like Killer Klownz.
I don’t disagree, I just think it could be fun to see what they do with the psychological side of horror with a house but I totally understand your point and why they go that route. Imagine a Hereditary house lol
 
So I’m not gonna focus on what properties I think are gonna happen, but what I expect/would like to see from next years event.

9 houses, with maybe 1 returning from 2019
At least 2 originals, preferably 3
Potter needs to be open
Frequent Fear with Express being an option
No more Jabbawockies, if you look at the Orlando thread, there’s some talk about Bill and Ted coming back, so if that comes to fruition, please bring it back to Hollywood as well.
Bring back fire tower, the event feels off when it’s not there
 
Then do an original based strictly around the ending and don’t waste money on an IP.

Assuming negotiations for the rights aren't a nonstarter, why not just go for the real deal instead of an original that vaguely resembles it? I'm sure a Hereditary house would get more buzz than a generic cult house. Plus, there's lots of movie-specific imagery in that movie that I think would be very cool to see in a maze.
 
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Alright I’ve been waiting for this thread since I got home from my annual visit to HHN, I think next year could be great after seeing the direction this year was heading. While 2019 wasn’t the most perfect event I do believe it made a lot of great improvements over 2018 mainly being the mazes felt a lot more tended to equally this time around (besides stranger things which got no attention whatsoever)

Now I have no idea the numbers or budgets for this year, or how much the event made overall or how well it was recieved, but This year crowd wise has been the most busy I’ve ever seen it so I hope Universal takes note and gives us another steady budget for next year.

Some properties that I think have a great chance of coming next year are:

Universal Monsters (duh): HHN needs to just permanently keep the monsters in their event, these houses have so much care put into them and they just go over so well with the event it’s a no brainer for me that it’ll be back next year. As for what monsters I have no idea, but a stand alone creature or Dracula house would be on top of my list. I also wouldn’t mind seeing a mummy house. I’m not so sure that these houses will turn into the blumhouse produced films they’re coming out with, but I doubt they would considering the invisible man doesn’t really lend itself to an interesting maze. Time will tell if that’s the route they go with however.

Stranger things: I think this property has the potential to come back next year, but I’m pretty sure it ranked low on the house list for both years and I personally don’t want to see it back. I know it draws in a huge crowd but the product they get is really bad. Won’t be surprised if it’s first to be announced next year, and I won’t miss it if it doesn’t return.

Halloween 2018: alright I know we speculated this last year and there is something wrong with the rights to this specific movie, and John Murdy allegedly has a bad relationship with blumhouse right now (which I have no idea where this comes from if anyone here has the information about this I’d love to know why) but Halloween Kills is set to debut next October and universal has distribution rights to it so I just don’t see them not capitalizing on it. If not Halloween 2018 then I can see another Halloween movie coming in it’s place, I wouldn’t mind seeing rob zombies version of it at the event.

The Thing: This is one of the last major 80s horror movies that hasn’t been to the event yet and I think it’s finally time to bite the bullet. It’s been on the speculation list for every year I’ve been on this forum and it still feels right every year, just bring this property to the event already.

these are the only properties right now that I genuinely think have a chance of being on the lineup next year, as much as I want to put Scream, The Conjuring, It, Scary Stories, and Doctor Sleep on here I just don’t see any of them concretely. i also think Candyman has a good shot of coming but I’m always iffy on putting things that aren’t out yet on speculation lists. Cant wait to see how this next year goes!
 
Eight scenes where nothing happens, then a finale where you wonder how you got there?
That's the main reason I've always felt like Hereditary would work better as a package with a couple other A24 movies, since most tend to be pretty slow burns with fairly limited maze content. Maybe pair it with something else popular like The VVitch or The Lighthouse if they felt up to the challenge of the latter, and something like Green Room that while not necessarily counting as traditional horror, is pretty much set entirely in a claustrophobic environment full of people trying to kill you. I don't think this next year will be the year to see it happen, but I still think we shouldn't entirely write off the A24 properties until the people responsible for them explicitely say it isn't happening.
 
Eight scenes where nothing happens, then a finale where you wonder how you got there?
See, thats where you can be mistaken. If done right, it can lend itself to a creepy haunt. My friend @rageofthegods made a pretty good treatment that shows it can work if done right.
I actually feel that the "classic" property is more like "effects-driven" (so tons of blackout actors in Polt and Exorcist, while the Shining had tons of projection effects and mirror work, as well as probably the most elaborate vignette Horror Nights has done with the Here's Johnny scene); it arguably goes further back with Halloween in 2015 and definitely AWiL in 2014. While the Thing is an amazing property that I'd love to see (it would've been perfect at the Mummy Queue), I actually think Hereditary would be a neat Effects-Driven maze to sneak into the backlot. I have a rough overview of how it would go.

* Start with a facade of the house from the movie, with yelling and screaming coming from inside. The Treehouse is visible, smoking in the distance. (or Maybe, a little ambitious, they could have the house cut in half like a dollhouse, with each of the little rooms having a figure in the family staring out). There would be a projection effect with the Paimon shimmer-light closing in.
* Start in Annie's Miniature room. A ghostly Leigh is visible in the corner. There are faint and subtle "clucks" in the background.
* Go through a few forests into a little area where the car crash just happened. Charlie's head is visible, as is the telephone poll with the symbol scratched on the side. Annie is screaming "CHARLIEEEEEE" in the background. Several smiling cultists jump out from the bushes.
* transition to a small, house facade. At the window, a projection effect shows Annie ranting at Peter at the dinner table.
* Into the living room with the doll houses. On the table, an upside-down glass is going ballistic, and a sketchbook is rapidly flipping through the pages. A cultist jumps out from a side room. A side table has Peter's graduation photo with his eyes poked out, as well as the little latin runes scrawled on.
* past a hallway into Peter's bedroom, with the sketchbook full of his crossed out eyes. A fakeout scare with the falling volleyball happens. Charlie stands in the corner, and suddenly, hands jump out from under the bed.
* Into the closet and into the attic, where Grandma's dead body is hiding. There are, again, a cultist or two.
* back into Peter's bedroom, where there's a visitor on his ceiling. A twisted up Annie pops out of the closet, Chang-from-Roanoke style.
* And down a hallway back to the living room where all hell is starting to break loose. A suit covered in LEDs represents the father's smoldering corpse. A cultist appears at the side door, again. There is a smashed piano off to one side.
* Into a hallway where Annie is banging her head against the ceiling.
* Aaaaaaand into the Attic again, where this time there is an Annie performer "sawing her head off" with the piano wire. She's standing on a box behind a few other boxes to simulate hanging. She sprays on guests, while cultists pop up from behind.
* through the window and into the treehouse for the finale, which is set into a black wall to simulate the final shot. The Paimon statue is there, as are the arrayed cultists, some of whom are real.

That's rough and ignores quite a few scenes (the school-desk scene, Joan, the fireplace sketchbook, the sleepwalking confession, etc.) but it gets the major beats in, I feel. It could fit the Ash vs. Evil Dead / First Purge spot, or even the Poltergeist spot easily.
 
See, thats where you can be mistaken. If done right, it can lend itself to a creepy haunt. My friend @rageofthegods made a pretty good treatment that shows it can work if done right.
That treatment mischaracterizes the cultist as aggressive antagonists. All the cultist do is be naked and watch. That’s why you might as well do an original. Paying five figures to bastardize an IP is a waste and a risk.


Never mind that the IP is no longer relevant.
 
That treatment mischaracterizes the cultist as aggressive antagonists. All the cultist do is be naked and watch. That’s why you might as well do an original. Paying five figures to bastardize an IP is a waste and a risk.


Never mind that the IP is no longer relevant.
Personally, I think the cultists just standing and watching could be utilized as pretty effective distractions for scares if done correctly, and I don't agree that the IP is no longer relevant given that it's gotta be easily one of the most praised horror films of the last decade, but in the end it comes down to opinion.
 
Personally, I think the cultists just standing and watching could be utilized as pretty effective distractions for scares if done correctly, and I don't agree that the IP is no longer relevant given that it's gotta be easily one of the most praised horror films of the last decade, but in the end it comes down to opinion.

I'm with @Legacy, Hereditary isn't relevant anymore and I would probably go so far as to say it never really had the name recognition that would warrant spending money on the rights.
 
Personally, I think the cultists just standing and watching could be utilized as pretty effective distractions for scares if done correctly, and I don't agree that the IP is no longer relevant given that it's gotta be easily one of the most praised horror films of the last decade, but in the end it comes down to opinion.
Audition, Let the Right One In, and Troll Hunter are also highly praised horror movies. That doesn’t mean there’s any chance of them showing up.

Grab a Sharpie and go ahead and right “Hereditary” in the “Not Gonna Happen” column.
 
That treatment mischaracterizes the cultist as aggressive antagonists. All the cultist do is be naked and watch. That’s why you might as well do an original. Paying five figures to bastardize an IP is a waste and a risk.


Never mind that the IP is no longer relevant.

Again, I can see where you're coming from, but the skeletons from the Shining didn't move either, and most of the other ghosts just kinda stood there and stared (Great Party guy just stood, the Twins had a "scare" but they didn't exactly jump out of a cupboard, Delbert Grady kinda just talked, etc). Not quite the same thing, sure, since they had Jack, but there's precedent for Horror Nights bending the rules to make scares.

As for relevance, I disagree. I feel like Hereditary is fast-becoming one of those cult classics like Trick R Treat, Creepshow or Killer Klownz. I can't go a day on Reddit without seeing a "DAE want to discuss Hereditary" thread. It certainly made money, at least; it made about as much money as Sinister did and more than Krampus or Truth or Dare did in America. I realize those are all first-party IPs and so they don't require payments, but it's still an impressive performance.

Audition, Let the Right One In, and Troll Hunter are also highly praised horror movies. That doesn’t mean there’s any chance of them showing up.

Grab a Sharpie and go ahead and right “Hereditary” in the “Not Gonna Happen” column.

If there's really no chance for it coming, then that's too bad. I do think it would've been a great experience.
 
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