Halloween Horror Nights '19 General Discussion

[Freak]

I would love to see Holidayz in Hell become a house. Orlando did something similar a while back with HR Bloodengutz. They should continue the story with the Screecher from Titans and have you walk into his studio for the "Holidayz in Hell" special. It can go from there. They should play on the Screecher's insanity by having him pop up throughout the house and maybe kill everybody in the studio at the end.

 

[Clive]

I would love to see Holidayz in Hell become a house. Orlando did something similar a while back with HR Bloodengutz. They should continue the story with the Screecher from Titans and have you walk into his studio for the "Holidayz in Hell" special. It can go from there. They should play on the Screecher's insanity by having him pop up throughout the house and maybe kill everybody in the studio at the end.

They could also just use Hollywood Harry since he's a more threatening character/they already have the masks... it's ultimately just a framing device.

 

[torr4nce]

Yea, I’d love to see Holidayz in Hell as a maze and Bloodengutz already proved that it can work. I also think giving Hollywood Harry his own maze would be a fun idea. He’s essentially the closest Hollywood will ever get (at least for now) to having an icon like a Orlando. His established storyline and popularity are good enough to sustain him for a maze.

 

[rageofthegods]

 

[Freak]

Watch it be Happy Death Day. Those people will be so disappointed. LOL

 

[Freak]

They could also just use Hollywood Harry since he's a more threatening character/they already have the masks... it's ultimately just a framing device.

True. Hollywood Harry has grown on me some as an original character, so this would give him enough material to have his own house.

 

[Clive]

Yea, I’d love to see Holidayz in Hell as a maze and Bloodengutz already proved that it can work. I also think giving Hollywood Harry his own maze would be a fun idea. He’s essentially the closest Hollywood will ever get (at least for now) to having an icon like a Orlando. His established storyline and popularity are good enough to sustain him for a maze.

It's a great "last minute replacement" and/or "budget" maze as many of the costumes, masks, and props already exist - the zone was a smorgasbord of existing/flexible assets, with the newly created elements being fresh enough for another round in a revised setting. Throw in the Hollywood Harry familiarity/inexpensive framing device (again, costumes/masks already exist - that's huge) and you've got a solid "original" maze for a fraction of the cost of a wholesale attraction. Which means money can go into sprucing up other mazes, etc...

 

[Freak]

Once you do one Theme with Hollywood Harry “hosting” it, that opens the door for several other themes: Twisted game show (ala Run), “Scary Tales”, Urban Legends, clown “show”, etc. They can reuse the facade and props for whatever setting Harry has set-up at (TV Studio or funhouse). You have an even more economical original house.

Also, now that we got Universal Monsters done for an old-school house, I would love to see an Alfred Hitchcock mash-up house done eventually with Psycho and the Birds. Won’t be next year, but hopefully eventually.

 

[Dr. Herbert West]

Also, now that we got Universal Monsters done for an old-school house, I would love to see an Alfred Hitchcock mash-up house done eventually with Psycho and the Birds. Won’t be next year, but hopefully eventually.

I second a Hitchcock mash-up house. Psycho and The Birds are definitely his films that have the most maze material, but I could see some clever rooms working from some of his other films (i.e. flash bulb scene from Rear Window, dream sequence and/or bell tower from Vertigo).

 

[Clive]

I second a Hitchcock mash-up house. Psycho and The Birds are definitely his films that have the most maze material, but I could see some clever rooms working from some of his other films (i.e. flash bulb scene from Rear Window, dream sequence and/or bell tower from Vertigo).

This has always been my problem with a Hitchcock maze. Inevitably, Psycho (and to a lesser extent, The Birds) will take over the maze, as other films aren't really maze-adaptable or sufficiently in the zeitgeist to be recognizable. It doesn't help that some of Hitchcock's filmography is split amongst the studios, though Universal controls most of the heavy hitters. At that point, you might as well just do a Psycho maze... which is usually what happens.

 

[hhnlover]

But how are they gonna do the birds. Are they gonna do it like the facehuggers in avp? If so the that just sounds hilarious

 

[Clive]

But how are they gonna do the birds. Are they gonna do it like the facehuggers in avp? If so the that just sounds hilarious

Exactly. Only real option is to have a bunch of fake birds attached to costume pieces... which might come off more amusing than actually scary.

Yes, you could do the camera bulb flash from Rear Window, but Thorwald divorced from context isn't all that scary. Hitchcock favors thrills of anticipation more than maze-ready jump scares.

 

[Dr. Herbert West]

Exactly. Only real option is to have a bunch of fake birds attached to costume pieces... which might come off more amusing than actually scary.

Yes, you could do the camera bulb flash from Rear Window, but Thorwald divorced from context isn't all that scary. Hitchcock favors thrills of anticipation more than maze-ready jump scares.

I'd much rather Universal be less reliant on the boo-hole jump scare tactic than they currently are. I thought Renfield was by far the scariest part of Universal Monsters, and that just had him staring at you while giggling.

 

[Clive]

I'd much rather Universal be less reliant on the boo-hole jump scare tactic than they currently are. I thought Renfield was by far the scariest part of Universal Monsters, and that just had him staring at you while giggling.

I don't disagree that they should incorporate more of those kinds of scares... but again, Renfield's mask is inherently disturbing, and the sustained giggle only makes it moreso. It's hard to imagine a scenario where the grounded Hitchcock films can pull off that same sort of effect.

 

[Dr. Herbert West]

I don't disagree that they should incorporate more of those kinds of scares... but again, Renfield's mask is inherently disturbing, and the sustained giggle only makes it moreso. It's hard to imagine a scenario where the grounded Hitchcock films can pull off that same sort of effect.

True, though Renfield in the 1931 Dracula looks nothing like the mask they used.

 

[Clive]

True, though Renfield in the 1931 Dracula looks nothing like the mask they used.

There's definitely a resemblance between the "crazed/mad" Renfield and the version seen in Monsters... but it's a stylized maze to begin with, one that warped every Monster to suit a more uniform, "scarier" aesthetic. It was also the creative team's conduit to paying tribute to The Man Who Laughs, a "classic monster" in his own right.

As far as Hitchcock goes, it's hard to imagine they'd so heavily warp a traditional human's face in that context... most of the characters outside of "Mother" would likely need to be face characters, a casting approach they've tried to avoid where possible.

 

[rageofthegods]

There's definitely a resemblance between the "crazed/mad" Renfield and the version seen in Monsters... but it's a stylized maze to begin with, one that warped every Monster to suit a more uniform, "scarier" aesthetic. It was also the creative team's conduit to paying tribute to The Man Who Laughs, a "classic monster" in his own right.

As far as Hitchcock goes, it's hard to imagine they'd so heavily warp a traditional human's face in that context... most of the characters outside of "Mother" would likely need to be face characters, a casting approach they've tried to avoid where possible.

I mean, they could do some funky things with glasses-man from Rear Window (like, those glasses being the only thing showing with the rest of the face in shadow). Uncle Charlie could have a very twisted face (he had very evil, Jack Torrance eyebrows), as could the Strangers on a Train folks, the Vertigo nun, especially the creepy Topaz guy... A bit like Jack Nicholson or Mads Mikkelsen, where they're perfectly normal human beings with very dramatic, even handsome faces that could reasonably scare someone if they jump out a cupboard snarling.

Hell, the Shining was basically all Jack, right? They can make masks out of the Hitchcock folks. I have faith in them.

Beyond that, they could totally throw in Spellbound, which would be awesomely trippy and Eraserhead-ish. (That dream sequence was actually designed by Salvador Dali!)

EDIT: While I want them to do Hitchcock, I'd kill for a Giallo maze (not just Suspiria), full of corn-syrupy gore and faceless masks and trenchcoats (think Blood and Black Lace, Bird with Crystal Plumage" and bright, 3d colors. I think that'd be more fun than Hitchcock, honestly, though I seriously wouldn't mind a Hitchcock maze.

 

[Clive]

I mean, they could do some funky things with glasses-man from Rear Window (like, those glasses being the only thing showing with the rest of the face in shadow). Uncle Charlie could have a very twisted face (he had very evil, Jack Torrance eyebrows), as could the Strangers on a Train folks, the Vertigo nun, especially the creepy Topaz guy... A bit like Jack Nicholson or Mads Mikkelsen, where they're perfectly normal human beings with very dramatic, even handsome faces that could reasonably scare someone if they jump out a cupboard snarling.

Hell, the Shining was basically all Jack, right? They can make masks out of the Hitchcock folks. I have faith in them.

Beyond that, they could totally throw in Spellbound, which would be awesomely trippy and Eraserhead-ish. (That dream sequence was actually designed by Salvador Dali!)

EDIT: While I want them to do Hitchcock, I'd kill for a Giallo maze (not just Suspiria), full of corn-syrupy gore and faceless masks and trenchcoats (think Blood and Black Lace, Bird with Crystal Plumage" and bright, 3d colors. I think that'd be more fun than Hitchcock, honestly, though I seriously wouldn't mind a Hitchcock maze.

I hear you, but you're vastly overestimating the public's familiarity with any of those characters. Jack Torrance is infamous and unforgettable. As great as many of Hitchcock's human villains are great in their own right, they don't penetrate the cultural zeitgeist in the same way. Only Norman Bates and Mother have truly endured... and that's why Universal spends so much time emphasizing them, both in day time attractions and throughout the event's history on both coasts.

You could absolutely pull off scenes as you described, but the general public likely wouldn't understand them. Mazes can't be designed exclusively for cinephiles unless the characters/scares are obviously universal in their means of terror.

Now a Giallo maze you could potentially get away with because it's so visually memorable, especially with that sort of execution. The general public might not understand who any of the characters are or what's going on, but they'll think it looks awesome. (A surprising amount of people didn't know who the Invisible Man was, but you bet they were talking about that scene in the maze.)

 

[MacMillian Crew]

As soon as the camera flash bulb scene from Rear Window was mentioned, I automatically thought of that Halloween light decorations fakeout scare scene from Halloween 4. Overall, I'd love to see a Giallo maze, especially with all the colors and soundtracks incorporated.

 

[rageofthegods]

I hear you, but you're vastly overestimating the public's familiarity with any of those characters. Jack Torrance is infamous and unforgettable. As great as many of Hitchcock's human villains are great in their own right, they don't penetrate the cultural zeitgeist in the same way. Only Norman Bates and Mother have truly endured... and that's why Universal spends so much time emphasizing them, both in day time attractions and throughout the event's history on both coasts.

You could absolutely pull off scenes as you described, but the general public likely wouldn't understand them. Mazes can't be designed exclusively for cinephiles unless the characters/scares are obviously universal in their means of terror.

Now a Giallo maze you could potentially get away with because it's so visually memorable, especially with that sort of execution. The general public might not understand who any of the characters are or what's going on, but they'll think it looks awesome. (A surprising amount of people didn't know who the Invisible Man was, but you bet they were talking about that scene in the maze.)

See, I totally get what you're saying, but my feeling about a Hitchcock maze is that it would mostly be based on the famous ones, with little scenes from the other movies sprinkled throughout (maybe a Vertigo church scene and Shadow of a Doubt locked garage with the running car) somewhere in the middle, sandwiched between the Birds and Psycho. Iunno, I feel like that's how UCM was this year, with lesser known ones like Invisible Man, Quasimodo, and arguably Phantom and Renfield stuck between the Wolfman, Dracula and Frankenstein.

Though I do ultimately agree that the chances of a Hitchcock maze in the near future are kaput. Darn GA...

EDIT: Though I do think there's a couple of lesser-known Hitchcock scenes that could make legendary haunt moments:

- Locked garage from Shadow of a Doubt, with the sound of a running car and a fog machine running, a little girl actor banging on the "garage door," and an Uncle Charlie Actor peaking in through the window.

- A hallway full of hanging bodies from Rope, with one or two scare-actor jumping out from cracks in the walls above, Insidious or Krampus style.