Halloween Horror Nights 22 Discussion

[ReelJustice]

Is that based on source or park hours?

British travel agencies.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

"A Cabin In The Woods" or bust!

 

[Octobers Fade]

2012 would be a sorry lack of creativity, IMO, just like the 21 gambling theme.

Wheres the benefit in a Walking Dead house? Is AMC going to give Uni advertising money, otherwise its another zombie house... Personaly I don't care for the houses with someones name attached to them, they shouldn't need it.

 

[JungleSkip]

2012 would be a sorry lack of creativity, IMO, just like the 21 gambling theme.

You mean the year with great houses? Bring on the lack of creativity!

 

[Octobers Fade]

You mean the year with great houses? Bring on the lack of creativity!

I agree the house were spectacular, the theme however.... not so much!

 

[JungleSkip]

I agree the house were spectacular, the theme however.... not so much!

Really, is that that big of a deal?

Personally, I'm not going to HHN for its overall theme. I'm going for extraordinary haunted houses. If the theme is good, more power to them, but a bad theme really isn't going to detract form my experience really.

 

[Octobers Fade]

No.
I go for the houses and zones, I don't get scared I want to appriciate the work that goes into it, my point would be that 18 had a great theme and it has gone down hill since then.

 

[Jakemeister]

"A Cabin In The Woods" or bust!

If I want to see any I.P. used it's 'Cabin in The Woods'. It'd be such a great way to have a fresh spin on the greatest hits type house.

I genuinely don't see the benefit of a 'Walking Dead' house, I don't see the appeal of the show either. I tried to watch it, and it just went downhill really fast. Zombies are just too generic of a house concept for me to fall in love with. If it was just straight zombies like Deadtropolis and they don't see the need to build to much a story line then I'm content. I'd rather have a vampire house before a zombie house. Dracula and the original Vampyr were phenomenal houses.

 

[Clive]

Really, is that that big of a deal?

Personally, I'm not going to HHN for its overall theme. I'm going for extraordinary haunted houses. If the theme is good, more power to them, but a bad theme really isn't going to detract form my experience really.

No reason we can't have both. Plenty of events across the country have extraordinary haunted houses - one of the unique things HHN does best is the overarching themes. See 2005-2009 for the best examples.

That said, last year's houses were stellar, not a bad one in the bunch (though some were weaker than others). Zones are sort of weak or at least inconsistent (except 7). Lady Luck & the overarching theme never found its footing and flopped. No one remembers Lady Luck, and IMO that's a problem.

 

[Hatetofly]

25 Event dates sounds good to me. Only a matter of time before we start to see a few more weekdays thrown into the mix.

 

[JungleSkip]

No reason we can't have both.

No, there's not and of course that's preferable. But if it came down to spending time on making a better overall theme and better houses, I'd rather have them spend that time on the houses.

 

[Clive]

No, there's not and of course that's preferable. But if it came down to spending time on making a better overall theme and better houses, I'd rather have them spend that time on the houses.

I understand there need to be priorities - and truthfully I'd prefer houses myself - but the reality is it often comes down to A&D delivering what marketing puts out, or at the very least what's pushed hard on the website, and for some reason the past 2 years it hasn't really been happening.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

For the 21st, HHN should gave a free drink for anyone celebrating a 21st birthday. Kidding. But yea... even the most terrible houses last year were better than many average houses of years prior. The streets, however, were shameful. Regardless of over all theme or icon, I would like a better balance between streets and houses.

 

[Jakemeister]

I disagree, there is a true balance to be struck and I've seen it fully stricken once, and I saw a decent balance stricken the two subsequent years.

2008 to me had a perfect balance of streets and houses. I had just as much fun in the houses as I did in the streets. I can't think of a single bad street that year and I loved the two mini scarezones that were added to the 6 official zones.

2009 had a pretty good balance. All around good zones, but more concentration on the houses.

2010. Houses were far superior to the streets. The streets however weren't too bad and I could deal with them and hung out scare watching quite a bit in them.

 

[Clive]

I disagree, there is a true balance to be struck and I've seen it fully stricken once, and I saw a decent balance stricken the two subsequent years.

2008 to me had a perfect balance of streets and houses. I had just as much fun in the houses as I did in the streets. I can't think of a single bad street that year and I loved the two mini scarezones that were added to the 6 official zones.

2009 had a pretty good balance. All around good zones, but more concentration on the houses.

2010. Houses were far superior to the streets. The streets however weren't too bad and I could deal with them and hung out scare watching quite a bit in them.

Some contrasting opinions for good measure:

2008 - best atmosphere overall hands down with the Bloody Mary omnipresence and the best scare zone collection in my time attending at least. Houses were mixed - some were excellent (Scary Tales, Body Collectors, Dead Exposure, Hallow), some were weaker (Creatures, Interstellar, Disaster) and one was a relative disaster given the hype (Reflections). Streets/atmosphere/overarching theme totally dominated 08 - and were helped tremendously by the 3 additional "unofficial" zones - the mirror men, the chainsaws in San Francisco, and the zombie hoard in World Expo... eliminated a lot of dead zones.

2009 - a strong lineup of houses with great atmosphere in the park, but an overall confused identity. The Usher had fantastic park presence once you actually arrived at the event - but the lack of merchandise and diverging marketing hurt it overall. Houses were mostly great (all 3 monsters, Cleaver, SAW, Silver Screams), an average house (Chucky, though IMO it's a fantastic house) with one of the worst houses in recent history (The Spawning...) The zones were mostly blah... Apocalypse and Containment seemed to be grasping at straws, the Chainsaw zone was surprisingly ineffective/unmemorable, Cirque, while cool, was a glorified movie ad. Horrorwood and War of the Living Dead were the only two stand outs.

2010 - see, I thought this year was bad all around. The streets were mixed - Muerte was pretty but seldom scary, Zombie Gras was pretty awful, Coven hit or miss. Saws'n'Steam tended to be good, and 20 Years of Fear/Fear Revealed were fun photo op zones - but strictly that, they rarely provided real scares. Houses weren't much better. Psychoscareapy was bland, Legendary Truth was a thoughtful experiment that never really panned out, Hades hit occasionally but missed on a lot of potential. Zombie was decent, Orfanage's response was mixed (I liked it), Havoc had great actors but a piss poor presentation, Catacombs was well done but still not a knockout hit... and Hallow'd Past was pretty weak given the scope of the material they had to work with. Easily the worst offender though was the last minute nature of the icon, who failed to live up to any form of hype and never actually "scared" anyone during the event. Disappointing year IMO.

 

[Jakemeister]

If you have only been 18-21 then I can see where you're coming from. Streets and houses have improved tenfold since I've been going. Last year streets definitely took a step backwards and in 16 and 17 I think they did as well. Houses have been made progression up until they plateaued in 19 and took a step back in 20. Streets in 20 weren't the best but I assure you, they were significantly better than some of the other years I've been to the event, and atleast there were props in the street at 20.

 

[Octobers Fade]

Some contrasting opinions for good measure:

2008 - best atmosphere overall hands down with the Bloody Mary omnipresence and the best scare zone collection in my time attending at least. Houses were mixed - some were excellent (Scary Tales, Body Collectors, Dead Exposure, Hallow), some were weaker (Creatures, Interstellar, Disaster) and one was a relative disaster given the hype (Reflections). Streets/atmosphere/overarching theme totally dominated 08 - and were helped tremendously by the 3 additional "unofficial" zones - the mirror men, the chainsaws in San Francisco, and the zombie hoard in World Expo... eliminated a lot of dead zones.

2009 - a strong lineup of houses with great atmosphere in the park, but an overall confused identity. The Usher had fantastic park presence once you actually arrived at the event - but the lack of merchandise and diverging marketing hurt it overall. Houses were mostly great (all 3 monsters, Cleaver, SAW, Silver Screams), an average house (Chucky, though IMO it's a fantastic house) with one of the worst houses in recent history (The Spawning...) The zones were mostly blah... Apocalypse and Containment seemed to be grasping at straws, the Chainsaw zone was surprisingly ineffective/unmemorable, Cirque, while cool, was a glorified movie ad. Horrorwood and War of the Living Dead were the only two stand outs.

2010 - see, I thought this year was bad all around. The streets were mixed - Muerte was pretty but seldom scary, Zombie Gras was pretty awful, Coven hit or miss. Saws'n'Steam tended to be good, and 20 Years of Fear/Fear Revealed were fun photo op zones - but strictly that, they rarely provided real scares. Houses weren't much better. Psychoscareapy was bland, Legendary Truth was a thoughtful experiment that never really panned out, Hades hit occasionally but missed on a lot of potential. Zombie was decent, Orfanage's response was mixed (I liked it), Havoc had great actors but a piss poor presentation, Catacombs was well done but still not a knockout hit... and Hallow'd Past was pretty weak given the scope of the material they had to work with. Easily the worst offender though was the last minute nature of the icon, who failed to live up to any form of hype and never actually "scared" anyone during the event. Disappointing year IMO.

I agree with 95% of what you said, and it was said well!

 

[Clive]

If you have only been 18-21 then I can see where you're coming from. Streets and houses have improved tenfold since I've been going. Last year streets definitely took a step backwards and in 16 and 17 I think they did as well. Houses have been made progression up until they plateaued in 19 and took a step back in 20. Streets in 20 weren't the best but I assure you, they were significantly better than some of the other years I've been to the event, and atleast there were props in the street at 20.

Right you are, I began attending in 18. I don't doubt the street improvement - I know all too well that 17 was a disaster in terms of streets. And certainly the show quality has improved overall since the turn of the century, perhaps at the expense of true primal scariness, but no matter... as long as we never get another Maximum Carnage or Fear Factor! I still think, from an onlooker's perspective, that HHN14 would've been the best combo of streets & houses - though the no icon/overarching theme other than "2X The Fear!" would've bothered me.

 

[Scarletwebslingr]

I disagree, there is a true balance to be struck and I've seen it fully stricken once, and I saw a decent balance stricken the two subsequent years.

2008 to me had a perfect balance of streets and houses. I had just as much fun in the houses as I did in the streets. I can't think of a single bad street that year and I loved the two mini scarezones that were added to the 6 official zones.

2009 had a pretty good balance. All around good zones, but more concentration on the houses.

2010. Houses were far superior to the streets. The streets however weren't too bad and I could deal with them and hung out scare watching quite a bit in them.

You're right. And honestly, I'd prefer better houses to streets (or anything, really). Wishful thinking never hurt though so I'll be greedy and hope for Awesome streets, houses, AND B&T show. Lord knows B&T need a boost.

 

[Clive]

You're right. And honestly, I'd prefer better houses to streets (or anything, really). Wishful thinking never hurt though so I'll be greedy and hope for Awesome streets, houses, AND B&T show. Lord knows B&T need a boost.

I'm slowly accepting that B&T will never be that daring/outrageously offensive/parodic again. The fear of legal action just seems to dominate the show's writing too much.