Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Halloween Horror Nights 28 General Discussion

The scare zones are average at best. For all the good that is Chucky, Killer Klowns, and Carnie Chainsaws the blandness of Harvest and Traditions bring it down. During exec review we moved a character from Traditions to Harvest and it wasn't out of place; not enough difference between them. Only having the IP House displays without any of the characters from those IPs is limiting.

Vamp, again, is more "this is fun" than it is scary. "Oh look! Michael Jackson, Boy George, Madonna." And for better or for worse, the cast in that street currently have very "active social media" presence.

Poltergeist is simply just a knockout and that one house alone will make this event for so many.

I don't mind Vamp being "fun" ... there will be plenty of scary stuff elsewhere.


vamp sounds like a lot of fun actually. if those "celebrities" are in it in some way then its going to be super awesome
 
The scare zones are average at best. For all the good that is Chucky, Killer Klowns, and Carnie Chainsaws the blandness of Harvest and Traditions bring it down. During exec review we moved a character from Traditions to Harvest and it wasn't out of place; not enough difference between them. Only having the IP House displays without any of the characters from those IPs is limiting.

Vamp, again, is more "this is fun" than it is scary. "Oh look! Michael Jackson, Boy George, Madonna." And for better or for worse, the cast in that street currently have very "active social media" presence.

Poltergeist is simply just a knockout and that one house alone will make this event for so many.

What is your idea of a good year for scare zones and why? Just looking to calibrate my expectations.
 
Last edited by a moderator:


What happened to the “horror of the 80’s theme”???? Why aren’t the signs on the front arch themed to that? They could’ve have the posters be like VHS slip covers. What is this pumpkin thing that seems to be the symbol of the event this year? It seems besides a couple of the ip’s, a couple scarezones, and part of the website, you wouldn’t know the 80’s is the theme this year. I really hope there’s good 80’s music blasting through the park. That would put that exclamation point on the theme this year desperately needs!

*looks at merch*

It was never really the theme.

Which, though I was keyed in on there potentially being a "blast from the past theme," shouldn't really surprise anyone. The "past" talk started disappearing from Uni's official comments on the event in, like, July. Whether it's because of money or conscious decision-making, cohesive themes are no longer a focus of the event.
 
With TM/Media previews coming up, it's probably best for me to avoid most of the boards to keep all the good stuff secret until next week. (The main exception being what the stay & scream details are.)

Thanks for all the spec, it's been a long wait to finally attend, so I'm ecstatic to be down there next week!
 
People seriously complaining about "fun" scarezones? Isn't that why we go to the event? For fun?

I've been going 8 years. I've never seen a scary scarezone. The fun ones are the ones I remember. HHN is a party. The more fun in the scarezones, the better

To be honest, I don’t get how people find scarezones “scary”. It’s open space and you can see them all coming mostly. What makes a scarezone to me is how it’s designed and how the actors fit the story they’ve been given.
 
People seriously complaining about "fun" scarezones? Isn't that why we go to the event? For fun?

I've been going 8 years. I've never seen a scary scarezone. The fun ones are the ones I remember. HHN is a party. The more fun in the scarezones, the better

This. The only exception for me was Bayou of Blood while they still had the sacrifice.
 
I wonder if the cast of STranger Things will go to the Hollywood one and then if they will film it like they did with the cast of walking dead

Because that would also be huge and would be extra promotion, specially if the kids go visit the house and get really scared. because a funny video like that will get shared millions of times

Definitely more likely for UO because the cast is currently filming season three in Atlanta (saw the "older teens" at dinner the other night in town).
 
People seriously complaining about "fun" scarezones? Isn't that why we go to the event? For fun?

I've been going 8 years. I've never seen a scary scarezone. The fun ones are the ones I remember. HHN is a party. The more fun in the scarezones, the better

I completely agree with you. Oddly enough, I think I am also on year 8.
 
Mid aughts the zones could be scary. Field of Screams, Jurassic Park & Fright Yard would get legitimately uncomfortable to walk through. Granted, I think Islands allowed "scarier" zones because of the structure of the park.

I could see that. IoA has claustrophobic streets and more corners to hide in.

That being said, I also think the crowd levels the event currently gets help to negate any possible scares. Hard for the cast to really do anything through the waves of humanity
 
I was really hoping this might offer some "deeper cuts", but nonetheless it would appear that fans of Slaughter Sinema will get a chance at getting the cool poster designs on a shirt. The guy seems to allude more designs will be coming.
The "boxing match" design is kind of neat. Some pretty generic and tacky stuff in there too though.


This is not quite what I was expecting. Most of these are a little too cheesy for my personal tastes.
 
Not actually a scare-zone, but the chainsaw clowns last year were pretty scary. Anyhow, I'm hoping the houses will keep high intensity, since we have four and a half houses that don't quite fit the "100 percent scary" mold:

Stranger Things, obviously
Poltergeist, no one actually dies, rated PG (PG-13 by today's standards)
TrT and SS, dark humor
Half of Blumhouse is HDD, more cutesy to me at least

Basically, hoping they don't go "light" on intensity in houses like DE2 out of fear of potential young ones brought in by Stranger Things. That would've been a major benefit of It, even if I'm not a huge fan of the property--people know It is not for kids, and therefore would think twice before bringing little Susie just because they have Stranger Things.

Hope we get to hear some reviews tonight!
 
Last edited:
I love the more fun/comedy scarezones. They have always provided me some of my best memories of the event. Last years zones were all a let down because none of them had that "lighthearted" feel to them. Plus, none of the actors could really talk except for a small few in the alien one. When the actors can talk and interact with guests, it creates a more personal experience. That's what made Vamp '55 so good was all the personal interactions with guests (and each other).
 
The scare zones are average at best. For all the good that is Chucky, Killer Klowns, and Carnie Chainsaws the blandness of Harvest and Traditions bring it down. During exec review we moved a character from Traditions to Harvest and it wasn't out of place; not enough difference between them. Only having the IP House displays without any of the characters from those IPs is limiting.

Vamp, again, is more "this is fun" than it is scary. "Oh look! Michael Jackson, Boy George, Madonna." And for better or for worse, the cast in that street currently have very "active social media" presence.

Poltergeist is simply just a knockout and that one house alone will make this event for so many.

I hope that means we get to hear “Thriller” in Vamp ‘85, they play it so often at MNSSHP that I’ve been slightly worried tbh.
 
Top