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Halloween Horror Nights 2018 (USH): Reviews & Photos

I don't feel like I have the patience to write a long, lengthy review full of detail. This year's event left me bored, sad, disappointed on many fronts, though that's not to say there weren't highlights... it's just that it seems John Murdy has decided they aren't the elements that should drive the event anymore.

Everything more than ever feels like it's less about being scary and more about being a pseudo-rave with droning dubstep (remember scarezone music? Remember that?!), constant strobes and dance lighting with themeing in most SZs reduced to roll out floats. Only the Trick R Treat scarezone had a hint of identity and consistent thematic design. The budget was clearly scaled back resulting in a cheap, thrown-together vibe. This of course is coupled with the fact that alcohol and food sales seem to drive everything now more than ever (especially with the Stranger Things items), making it all seemingly less about the scares and theme and more about a party/festival atmosphere. However, instead of this being a Halloween festival or celebration, it's more of a frat boy/EDM dealie. I never felt out of place at Orlando's HHN or at Knott's. I felt out of place here. HHN at USH is changing rapidly and I'm not a fan.

The staff was also standoffish and rude. After realizing the turnstile TMs forgot to hand out wristbands to the first hundred for 2PM entry, I was stopped by a team member who refused to let me move and also had no option to call anyone but instead wanted me to wait for a lead to eventually come along. I tracked one day, and the dude constantly refused to apologize despite me giving him several options to. The woman who gave me my wristband was the first person to apologize to me and listen. Maze watchers all had the permanent "please kill me" look on their faces, many of which refused to let me even soak in a scene lest I not move along. Luckily F&B were all very nice and welcoming, which was a nice change of pace. The stress of the event and the crowd coming in has clearly already taken a toll on them.

Still, there are mazes and let's go through them:

Stranger Things: I love this show. I did not love this maze.

So much about this is pulled straight out of Orlando's playbook and boy oh boy did they fumble that interpretation. Playing the 80s music outside, having extra queue space in the soundstage... ok, I get it. The problem is that 1) they forgot to include the facade once inside the maze proper and 2) they forgot to shut the doors in the bulk of the stage which leads to light leakage and 3) there was no roof over this thing despite it being a tent in the SS leading to EVEN MORE LIGHT LEAKAGE.

Would be nice if the maze were consistent but no, the demogorgans are not very effective and only a few effects work. I did like the lab scenes and appreciate the scenic but the Upside Down is poorly done with fiber optics instead of the very obvious foam effect in use in Orlando, and the child statuettes are pathetic. There's good elements there, but they just don't work together. I hope they can make for a better showing next year.

Trick R Treat: black freaking walls. Light leakage like crazy. Bad location. Dumb repetitive scares. Yeah, some cool sets here and there but there's some major flaws here. Worst maze of the event.

Blumhouse: it's ok. I don't get the Unfriended stuff and was bizarre and felt cheap. I liked the Little Girl ending, that had some really neat creative elements and some decent scares.

The First Purge: I barely remember this maze outside of thinking, "eh that wasn't that bad". Say what you will.

Poltergeist: aaahhh I get to praise something and say nice things! Yes, this is not a perfect maze (there's a black wall switchback and clearly had a missing scareactor) but there are so many really neat rooms, puppets and effective scares. The scenic in this one is perfect and reminds me of all the best Insidious mazes. Lots of great practical effects, and man I loved that skull. Did it three times, second favorite. Dug the Jerry Goldsmith score outside the house as well.

Terror Tram: the whole Hollywood Harry stuff is a delight, and I enjoyed the cheesy video on the tram. It reminded me (fittingly) of the macabre Jack humor, so consider me happy as a clam upon seeing a reference to ol Jack in the path itself. I liked how it was segmented and while everything here is pretty rote and tired, at least they put a fun, creative spin on everything.

Halloween 4: it's a gauntlet of Michaels with some pretty decent scenic. Another solid WW queue maze. I really wish I had more to say but at least it was nice.

Universal Monsters: now here's the stuff! Insane scenic, wonderful makeup and scare placements, amazing effects (the invisible man) and something that felt fully like a love letter, a genuine, sincere ode to the old Universal Monsters. This was the clear winner and I adored all three walk-throughs. This is one that Orlando peeps would rave about, and it's a shame most of the other mazes aren't even close to this level.

So yeah, I didn't have a great time at this year's HHN but it wasn't a total loss. I really hope the team learns their lessons and sees why UMR was a success and why some of the other things weren't. Nothing is an automatic win, and if they want to keep up, they need to put the effort back in. Raise budgets, be creative and stop giving into your worst tendencies.

Also, no, I didn't see Jabbawockeez. It's not my thing, but I'm glad people seem to enjoy it.

This is a very, very fair review on all fronts.
 
I don't feel like I have the patience to write a long, lengthy review full of detail. This year's event left me bored, sad, disappointed on many fronts, though that's not to say there weren't highlights... it's just that it seems John Murdy has decided they aren't the elements that should drive the event anymore.

Everything more than ever feels like it's less about being scary and more about being a pseudo-rave with droning dubstep (remember scarezone music? Remember that?!), constant strobes and dance lighting with themeing in most SZs reduced to roll out floats. Only the Trick R Treat scarezone had a hint of identity and consistent thematic design. The budget was clearly scaled back resulting in a cheap, thrown-together vibe. This of course is coupled with the fact that alcohol and food sales seem to drive everything now more than ever (especially with the Stranger Things items), making it all seemingly less about the scares and theme and more about a party/festival atmosphere. However, instead of this being a Halloween festival or celebration, it's more of a frat boy/EDM dealie. I never felt out of place at Orlando's HHN or at Knott's. I felt out of place here. HHN at USH is changing rapidly and I'm not a fan.

The staff was also standoffish and rude. After realizing the turnstile TMs forgot to hand out wristbands to the first hundred for 2PM entry, I was stopped by a team member who refused to let me move and also had no option to call anyone but instead wanted me to wait for a lead to eventually come along. I tracked one day, and the dude constantly refused to apologize despite me giving him several options to. The woman who gave me my wristband was the first person to apologize to me and listen. Maze watchers all had the permanent "please kill me" look on their faces, many of which refused to let me even soak in a scene lest I not move along. Luckily F&B were all very nice and welcoming, which was a nice change of pace. The stress of the event and the crowd coming in has clearly already taken a toll on them.

Still, there are mazes and let's go through them:

Stranger Things: I love this show. I did not love this maze.

So much about this is pulled straight out of Orlando's playbook and boy oh boy did they fumble that interpretation. Playing the 80s music outside, having extra queue space in the soundstage... ok, I get it. The problem is that 1) they forgot to include the facade once inside the maze proper and 2) they forgot to shut the doors in the bulk of the stage which leads to light leakage and 3) there was no roof over this thing despite it being a tent in the SS leading to EVEN MORE LIGHT LEAKAGE.

Would be nice if the maze were consistent but no, the demogorgans are not very effective and only a few effects work. I did like the lab scenes and appreciate the scenic but the Upside Down is poorly done with fiber optics instead of the very obvious foam effect in use in Orlando, and the child statuettes are pathetic. There's good elements there, but they just don't work together. I hope they can make for a better showing next year.

Trick R Treat: black freaking walls. Light leakage like crazy. Bad location. Dumb repetitive scares. Yeah, some cool sets here and there but there's some major flaws here. Worst maze of the event.

Blumhouse: it's ok. I don't get the Unfriended stuff and was bizarre and felt cheap. I liked the Little Girl ending, that had some really neat creative elements and some decent scares.

The First Purge: I barely remember this maze outside of thinking, "eh that wasn't that bad". Say what you will.

Poltergeist: aaahhh I get to praise something and say nice things! Yes, this is not a perfect maze (there's a black wall switchback and clearly had a missing scareactor) but there are so many really neat rooms, puppets and effective scares. The scenic in this one is perfect and reminds me of all the best Insidious mazes. Lots of great practical effects, and man I loved that skull. Did it three times, second favorite. Dug the Jerry Goldsmith score outside the house as well.

Terror Tram: the whole Hollywood Harry stuff is a delight, and I enjoyed the cheesy video on the tram. It reminded me (fittingly) of the macabre Jack humor, so consider me happy as a clam upon seeing a reference to ol Jack in the path itself. I liked how it was segmented and while everything here is pretty rote and tired, at least they put a fun, creative spin on everything.

Halloween 4: it's a gauntlet of Michaels with some pretty decent scenic. Another solid WW queue maze. I really wish I had more to say but at least it was nice.

Universal Monsters: now here's the stuff! Insane scenic, wonderful makeup and scare placements, amazing effects (the invisible man) and something that felt fully like a love letter, a genuine, sincere ode to the old Universal Monsters. This was the clear winner and I adored all three walk-throughs. This is one that Orlando peeps would rave about, and it's a shame most of the other mazes aren't even close to this level.

So yeah, I didn't have a great time at this year's HHN but it wasn't a total loss. I really hope the team learns their lessons and sees why UMR was a success and why some of the other things weren't. Nothing is an automatic win, and if they want to keep up, they need to put the effort back in. Raise budgets, be creative and stop giving into your worst tendencies.

Also, no, I didn't see Jabbawockeez. It's not my thing, but I'm glad people seem to enjoy it.

Ooh now I'm curious.. where's the reference/nod to Jack The Clown on Terror Tram?
 
Hey guys, I know I’m super late but I just wanted to post my review for HHN Hollywood 2018 before the year ends. This lineup consisted of some great IPs and some meh IPs. We may have finally gotten the classic monsters and little Sam this year, but we had yet another Purge related attraction, a random Halloween sequel that isn’t even canon anymore, and an excuse to sell Blu-Rays of Blumhouse’s two worst films. The actual lineup overall was pretty solid on paper, but after what had happened with 2017 I was also preparing myself for some disappointing mazes. So here we go...

Stranger Things:
I’ve been wanting to see this property as a maze ever since I saw the first season. I was very excited that we were getting a soundstage as a maze location again and I hope they reuse it in 2019. After finally walking through it multiple times, I thought it was good. This maze has one of the best sound designs in 2018. The sets were amazing, I can see why people say that it didn’t feel like a soundstage maze but what they had was still impressive. The Demogorgon costumes could’ve been way better and the scares were pretty weak as well. I actually think the Upside Down wasn’t all that bad. Sure it could’ve been better but it was still okay. As an HHN maze this wasn’t all that great but as a Stranger Things experience it was fantastic.

Trick R Treat:
When I first walked through TrT I was disappointed. But after multiple revisits I started to appreciate it more and more. The facade was quite excellent. The amount of Black Walls were insane and it definitely drove me crazy. But when there were actual sets they were pretty cool. The scares were kinda cool as well and some of the actors were awesome. Each section had their fair share of ups and downs but if I had to pick a favorite it would probably be the Meet Sam portion. I don’t think Murdy planned to include the Black Walls when he first designed this maze, his original vision was probably totally different than what we got. But aside from the flaws, this was still enjoyable.

Poltergeist:
I was curious to see how they would pull this maze off, and oh boy did it deliver. Poltergeist surprised the hell outta me and ended up being one of my favorites this year. The scares were incredible in this one, I especially loved the terrifying coffin scene. The sets were fairly basic, but what do you expect when the setting of the film is a house in the suburbs. There was a long hallway of nothing but Black Walls that lasted about 30 seconds, not as long as the ones in AVED but still long. The huge puppets were quite terrific. So aside from that one awkward transition, the rest of Poltergeist was really well made.

The First Purge:
This was my least favorite of 2018. It started off strong with some solid scares, but on the halfway point it just fell flat. The facade was kind of cheap and small. The sets were alright but the amount of Black Walls was insane. There was a long section of them and it was so dark, I didn’t know where I was going. A maze host had to show me the way to go with their light wand. The maze ended prematurely with a bunch railings with scare actors wearing fake looking Skeletor masks. First Purge was totally bland and brought nothing new or game-changing to the table.

Blumhouse of Horrors 2 (I’m naming this maze the way it should be named):
I was DEFINITELY NOT looking forward to this one. I just wanted to get this over with but the end result wasn’t that bad. The Truth or Dare segment was actually alright. It had neat sets and I especially like the room with the axe-wielding nun and severed limbs everywhere. But other than that everything else just wasn’t all that memorable. The Unfriended part was pretty decent. I liked how the scenes were recreated but the masks for the victims and Laura Barns looked so ridiculous. The Girl was my most anticipated section and I was disappointed. I was confused with the story and the majority of it was just Black Walls and a devil guy coming out of a boo-hole.

Toxxic Tunnel:
So this was a thing...again...this time with two X’s. It was better than 2017 but that’s not saying much.

Terror Tram:
I would say Dreadtime Storiez is about as good as Klowntasm. Sure there were a ton of reused props and gags but it still had fun vibes. The actors were having a crazy good time acting like their characters. Nothing totally extraordinary in this Tram but at least it’s light years better than 2017.

Universal Monsters:
John Murdy has been a hardcore fan of the Classic Universal Monster movies. So it would be impossible for him to screw this up. I LOVED UNIVERSAL MONSTERS!!! Is it the best HHN maze ever created? Not really, but it is one of the best. The character designs for the revamped monsters were outstanding. The soundtrack composed by Slash was phenomenal and the set design was incredible. But I hate how I’m getting immersed into a beautiful and scary scene only to have it interrupted by Black Walls. And the monsters didn’t have equal maze presence, it mostly focused on Frankenstein’s monster. But aside from the small nitpicks this maze is easily on my top 5 of all time.

Monster Masquerade:
This was an awesome unofficial ending to an awesome maze. The decor could’ve been better but the music and scare actors were great.

Trick R Treat (scare zone):
It was very atmospheric but they could’ve done so much more. The actors in here were cool but they never scared me. I’m just glad the fire towers returned.

Hell’s Harvest:
The chainsaw performers were great like always. I loved how each doll had their own name. The Bonesy Brothers was a welcoming new addition and I hope to see them again in 2019.

Halloween 4:
I know there are people who are tired of seeing Michael Myers in the event, but every time he’s at HHN it’s pure magic and this maze was no exception. This was probably the weakest Halloween maze that they made but it is by no means terrible. The Diner/Gas Station facade was quite large and realistic looking. The maze had solid scares and some pretty decent sets. I was disappointed with the lack of an ending but the maze overall managed to pack a great punch.

The Walking Dead Attraction:
Only thing that startled me was a maze host lady casually walking by...

Jabbawockeez:
Didn’t see them, don’t care!

Holidayz in Hell:
Now this is how a scare zone should be like! It’s a perfect balance of fun and terror. There were a lot of reused props but they felt like they were there for a purpose. The scare actors were on fire every time I went through. Awesome job to everyone who was involved in this zone.

And that concludes my review of HHN Hollywood 2018! I’ve been going to Horror Nights for 5 years now and I would rank this year right in the middle. If there are any HNN Forum members reading this I posted a longer, more detailed review over there where I rank the mazes from worst to best and talk about other random thoughts I had about 2018. Thanks for reading and I hope you all have a happy new year!
 
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