Halloween Horror Nights 2019 (USH): Reviews & Photos

Might as well throw my 2 cents in. I live in the Temecula area and work weekends (DJ) so I don't get to HHN neatly as much as I would want. My wife and I go once a year and this year we decided to do a Dark Harbor/HHN twin bill weekend. My feet were on fire about 9pm Sunday.

We did the unlimited express pass so lines were never an issue, we went on Sunday 9/28 and man was it crowded for a Sunday. All that out of the way here is my rankings:

1. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman - The first run through the cast singled me out as the one to get and they did. In the lab scene I got both monsters laying on the table.
2. Ghostbusters - This was the most fun I have had going through a maze since Krampus.
3. Creepshow - Loved it, was everything I wanted.
4. Klowns - To me this seemed like the most polished maze in a long time. I liked the bit with the farmer looking for his dog out front.
5. US - I think this one was a victim of the twin bill. The first run through was my the first maze of the night and was in the first group through it and they didn't have the scenic lights on so it was tough to see anything, by the time I got back I was tired and looking forward to calling it a night. My wife however loved it and put it as her top maze.
6. Holidayz - Liked the scare zone better
7. HotC - Both times I went through the cast seemed bored, except Dr. Satan he was my favorite scare actor.
8. Stranger Things - I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it either.
9. Pandora's Box - I have missed HHN from 06 - 15 so most of the reuse was still new to me, I just didn't get the story of the maze. I never got if we were going through the box, if the box had been opened. I am guessing the box was opened cause I remember at one point hearing a screech of "You'll never close the box"

 

Alright, gonna throw in my two cents before this thread bites the dust:

1. Killer Klowns - Had two impeccable runs through this house with never a dull moment. The water effects were really surprising (though expect them to unfortunately be in every maze next year), the sets were all well realized, no black walls until the finale, the costumes were amazingly accurate, and the fakeout hanging cotton candy cocoons might be my favorite scare of the event this year. Just a perfect balance between scares, camp, sets, and a great cast. A+

2. Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman - Felt much better realized and developed, both character-wise and scenic-wise than Monsters was last year. Great variety of environments, and the dueling monsters were all very aggressive. A

3. Us - Was not a fan of the film, but this maze rocked. Faithful sets, a few intense scares, best finale this year, and a truly dedicated cast. The moments where the actors were allowed to be creepy instead of jumping out were refreshing. A few dead spots, but a great maze nonetheless. A

4. Creepshow - This was a real blast, though there was the potential for this to be the best of the year with some minor tweaks (and GOAT if they had stuck with all 5 of the movie segments and ditched the TV show). The comic book hallways pulled off the scene transitions well, and man, I was not expecting so many Creeps! Father's Day was my favorite scene of the year; felt exactly like walking through the film and the Nate costumes and actors were great. The Crate was also great, though they could've thrown Billie in there somewhere. Creeping was light on scares, but amazing scenic, while Bad Wolf Down was the inverse. Grey Matter was kinda dull, and made me wish it was a Jordy Verrill ghillie suit room instead. Still super fun though. A-

5. Holidayz - Despite the fair amount of reusing going on here, I quite enjoyed this one. A few holidays were duds (Valentines, St. Patrick's, Christmas) but the rest all ranged from good to great. Should've stuck with traditional holiday music instead of that garbage Figure music though. More originals like this please. B+

6. Ghostbusters - Steep drop off in quality here. Having an extremely long black hallway with minimal scares and lackluster effects right up front really prevents this maze from picking up any momentum. However, when they do decide to build sets, they all look pretty great. Dana's apartment and the Hotel sections really shine, and the slimer and terror dogs look great. And the actors playing the Ghostbusters (plus Janine) all nail it. Stay Puft looks good, though that room feels so static, without any actors or movement, and having that as your finale kinda leaves the maze off on a dull note. C

7. HotC - Really boring, except for the actor playing the robot Dr. Satan, who deserves an award of some kind. The rest of this maze isn't bad, but it's just so "been there done that" with the previous Corpses mazes as well as the Texas Chainsaw mazes. D+

8. Stranger Things - Nope. F

Didn't get to do Pandora's Box, but overall a really solid year, with the top 5 mazes this year being pretty competitive with 2016's top 5, (even if 2016 overall was much stronger due to that year's worst maze was probably around a B-/C+ imo).

 

Here is the scores of the final night (nov 3,2019) closing night of hhn Hollywood



Mazes

1. House of 1000 corpses 10/10

2. Holidays in hell 10/10

3.Us 10/10

4. The curse of Pandora’s box 5/10

5. Stranger things 1/10

6. Killer clowns from outer space 10/10

7.creepshow 7/10

8.Universal monsters Frankenstein meet the Wolfman 7/10

9. Ghostbusters 10/10

10. Walking dead attraction (did not go through I’m closing tonight)



Scare zones

1. Fallen Angels 10/10

2. Spirits and demons of the east 9/10

3. Christmas in hell 10/10

4. Toxic tunnel 1/10

5. All Hallow’s Evil 10/10



So this is my final scores for this year‘s Halloween horror nights it is over can’t wait to do it again next year in 2020