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Halloween Horror Nights '19 General Discussion

The Game of Thrones rumor got me thinking how boring that maze will be if it was actually true. The creature design is so boring and generic and it's been done so many times, a more interesting take on dark medieval fantasy would be that of either Dark Souls or the manga Berserk. These two take this concept and send it to a more sinister outlook and holly hell is the creature design 100 times more interesting and completely terrifying.
 
The Game of Thrones rumor got me thinking how boring that maze will be if it was actually true. The creature design is so boring and generic and it's been done so many times, a more interesting take on dark medieval fantasy would be that of either Dark Souls or the manga Berserk. These two take this concept and send it to a more sinister outlook and holly hell is the creature design 100 times more interesting and completely terrifying.

I disagree completely. The novelty isn't the monsters themselves but the fact that we've never seen anything like it at horror nights. Guys in medieval costumes, dragons, ice zombies, fire? Maybe guys fighting with swords? A literal wall of zombies? That's something hhn has never done before, and it wouldve been new, interesting ground for the event.

Moot point now that its probably never coming, but I don't think we should be striking out against Murdy and co. Trying something new and different.

They can do Dark Souls or Bloodborne and it'd be awesome, but that wouldn't have made Game of Thrones any less interesting, by my estimation.
 
The Game of Thrones rumor got me thinking how boring that maze will be if it was actually true. The creature design is so boring and generic and it's been done so many times, a more interesting take on dark medieval fantasy would be that of either Dark Souls or the manga Berserk. These two take this concept and send it to a more sinister outlook and holly hell is the creature design 100 times more interesting and completely terrifying.

Okay, but one of these things is a billion dollar IP and one of the most-watched television shows of all time.

The other is a reasonably popular but niche video game series and a manga most are not familiar with.
 
disagree completely. The novelty isn't the monsters themselves but the fact that we've never seen anything like it at horror nights. Guys in medieval costumes, dragons, ice zombies, fire? Maybe guys fighting with swords? A literal wall of zombies? That's something hhn has never done before, and it wouldve been new, interesting ground for the event.
that is true that its a kinda new concept to HHN but a different take would be creatively more interesting and something more obscure and experimental.
Okay, but one of these things is a billion dollar IP and one of the most-watched television shows of all time.

The other is a reasonably popular but niche video game series and a manga most are not familiar with.
Being risky and trying something new and more interesting has its disadvantages and pros. I mean with those two series the concept is nothing new if you just tag dark fantasy and medieval people would already have the perception of what the maze is going to be
 
that is true that its a kinda new concept to HHN but a different take would be creatively more interesting and something more obscure and experimental.

Im not disagreeing with you there. I am disagreeing with you when you call a GoT house boring though. I think it could've made a run for HotY if they really went all out with the effects.
 
that is true that its a kinda new concept to HHN but a different take would be creatively more interesting and something more obscure and experimental.

Being risky and trying something new and more interesting has its disadvantages and pros. I mean with those two series the concept is nothing new if you just tag dark fantasy and medieval people would already have the perception of what the maze is going to be

Yes, but you're misunderstanding why Universal incorporates IP's into its event. They're looking for draws, with the occasional "cult favorite" the creative team likes/knows the horror community likes.

I'm not disagreeing that the IPs you named would make compelling mazes. I bet they would... but they aren't on the docket, and it's important to understand why.

And yeah, I think Game of Thrones would have made a compelling maze.
 
I think people underestimate how much a Game of Thrones maze would have changed the nature of HHN, and not for the better. It could have become less about creating unique horror experiences and more about promoting whichever TV/movie property happens to be the hottest and most popular at the time. Stranger Things already kinda pushed it in this direction, but at least it fits the theme. GoT might have some "scary" elements, but you'd have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to say that fits the genre you normally see at HHN. GoT was a cash grab, pure and simple, and if it had worked (and let's face it, last season be damned, it would have worked), you would have a seen a lot of more of this kind of stuff. More shows and movies that don't fit the genre but have a nerdy/dedicated/massive following—it would start to feel like SDCC or something, just a farm for what's hot and new, not unique or singular or even related to the genre.

I know this is rich coming from a guy who wants all IPs, all the time, but GoT would have been beyond the pale, IMO.
 
I think people underestimate how much a Game of Thrones maze would have changed the nature of HHN, and not for the better. It could have become less about creating unique horror experiences and more about promoting whichever TV/movie property happens to be the hottest and most popular at the time. Stranger Things already kinda pushed it in this direction, but at least it fits the theme. GoT might have some "scary" elements, but you'd have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to say that fits the genre you normally see at HHN. GoT was a cash grab, pure and simple, and if it had worked (and let's face it, last season be damned, it would have worked), you would have a seen a lot of more of this kind of stuff. More shows and movies that don't fit the genre but have a nerdy/dedicated/massive following—it would start to feel like SDCC or something, just a farm for what's hot and new, not unique or singular or even related to the genre.

I know this is rich coming from a guy who wants all IPs, all the time, but GoT would have been beyond the pale, IMO.
I was about to say why would a GOT maze come to HHN as it nothing to do with it at all.
 
I think people underestimate how much a Game of Thrones maze would have changed the nature of HHN, and not for the better. It could have become less about creating unique horror experiences and more about promoting whichever TV/movie property happens to be the hottest and most popular at the time. Stranger Things already kinda pushed it in this direction, but at least it fits the theme. GoT might have some "scary" elements, but you'd have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to say that fits the genre you normally see at HHN. GoT was a cash grab, pure and simple, and if it had worked (and let's face it, last season be damned, it would have worked), you would have a seen a lot of more of this kind of stuff. More shows and movies that don't fit the genre but have a nerdy/dedicated/massive following—it would start to feel like SDCC or something, just a farm for what's hot and new, not unique or singular or even related to the genre.

I know this is rich coming from a guy who wants all IPs, all the time, but GoT would have been beyond the pale, IMO.

I just don't know why that would be a bad thing, is my point.

Tons of people consider books like Firestarter and The Stand horror, because of its connection to Stephen King. But are they horror? Firestarter is a political thriller about a family with psychic powers, and The Stand is an epic fantasy about good guys and bad guys in post apocalypse America. Psycho is a mystery/noir, isn't it? Alien is just Sci-Fi. But they still get called horror anyways, because they're filled with weird, terrifying moments and plenty of body horror. Horror has a long history of harboring alot of movies that have setups similar to other genres.

I'm always sad when critics review a horror movie I like and pull the old "it's actually a thriller, so it's okay to enjoy it." It can be horror too. There were people calling IT a thriller, like honestly. So I don't get why we don't try and take an expansive view of what horror is. True, Game of Thrones isn't the first thing that pops into mind when you think horror, but it's not like it wasn't there. Plenty of articles have pointed out that the last season was essentially a massive horror movie for a full half of its length. Genre is fluid as all hell, so I don't see why good moments of horror that show up in other media shouldn't be represented, especially when it's such a huge part of the show (and especially especially when it was the only good part of the final season of said show).
 
I just don't know why that would be a bad thing, is my point.

Tons of people consider books like Firestarter and The Stand horror, because of its connection to Stephen King. But are they horror? Firestarter is a political thriller about a family with psychic powers, and The Stand is an epic fantasy about good guys and bad guys in post apocalypse America. Psycho is a mystery/noir, isn't it? Alien is just Sci-Fi. But they still get called horror anyways, because they're filled with weird, terrifying moments and plenty of body horror. Horror has a long history of harboring alot of movies that have setups similar to other genres.

I'm always sad when critics review a horror movie I like and pull the old "it's actually a thriller, so it's okay to enjoy it." It can be horror too. There were people calling IT a thriller, like honestly. So I don't get why we don't try and take an expansive view of what horror is. True, Game of Thrones isn't the first thing that pops into mind when you think horror, but it's not like it wasn't there. Plenty of articles have pointed out that the last season was essentially a massive horror movie for a full half of its length. Genre is fluid as all hell, so I don't see why good moments of horror that show up in other media shouldn't be represented, especially when it's such a huge part of the show (and especially especially when it was the only good part of the final season of said show).
I don't disagree with any of your thoughts on genre whatsoever; horror is undoubtedly fluid, which is why it's so powerful. But it's kinda beside the point that I'm trying to make, which is that a GoT house would have felt like an attempt to shoehorn a vaguely horror-related IP into a very specifically horror event simply for the sake of its huge popularity. That's not a good look, IMO. It's blatantly commercial, and I would have had a hard time seeing it as anything other than a marketing stunt. And I know it's not like they haven't done this kind of stuff in the past—I mean, what is a Purge house or an AHS house or even a Creepshow house if not glorified marketing? But GoT just seems too far afield.
 
Idk to me the properties they choose often have little to no effect on how scary the mazes turn out to be—there were a lot of complaints about Poltergeist coming last year because it’s a “PG Kid’s Horror Movie” and I think I can comfortably say that it scared the living poop out of most people in this forum...my point being that properties that aren’t strictly horror don’t always yield mazes that aren’t strictly horror
 
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