I FINALLY got to the event last night and had a good time. I'll start off by saying the scarezones sucked this year. Trick r' Treat was the only decent zone. The Purge had none of the energy 2014 had, and Festival of the Dead was kind of there. Shoutout to the Bagul in Altars of Horror that went after me twice; otherwise, that was a meh zone. Invasion was an absolute joke and had no variety in characters; hell, it didn't even have many actors. Universal needs to get their act together on the zones next year.
Now, THE HOUSES:
9. Saw: The Games of Jigsaw: I started off my night here because many consider it to be the weakest house, and.... they're right. This isn't an awful house, but like many of this year's houses, it's very timing dependent. However, the torture on display isn't really interesting, and the scares by Jigsaw himself aren't that good. The lack of a facade sours me even more. However, I wouldn't put this anywhere near the worst of the past four years. It's just a house that exists to eat up crowds.
6/10
8. The Horrors of Blumhouse: Sigh. I really wanted to love this one, but I had a poorly timed run. The line had to be pulsed during a cast change (I think that's what it was). I *almost* had a great gap from the people in front of me, but they eventually caught up to the people who were pulsed before we were let in. The Sinister section was ok, and I got a decent scare from the one boy (I haven't seen Sinister so forgive me
). I was surprised just how short that section was, but The Purge's length left me in utter shock. You enter the Ouija living room, make a right turn to the kitchen, turn right one more time into a hallway, and then you're into Insidious. I got hit with a couple of scares towards the end of the maze, yet I didn't jump as they were just humans. The Key Demon looks cool, at least. If I had a better run, this might have been in the upper half.
7/10
7. The Fallen: This is a very beautiful house that's straggled by some poor scare placements. I got hit with a few scares in here that made me jump, so I think the cast is trying. What knocks this house down on my list is the last few scares. I was stuck at the flyer for at least 5 seconds and stared at him waiting all the way back, yet I never heard him come as I was leaving or entering the room. Similarly, I could see the bungee jumpers but never saw them go (my dad said he saw one fly across). Big scares like this are nice, but the last third of the house should NOT have revolved around them.
7.5/10
6. Dead Waters: This is a BEAUTIFUL house with amazing sets. The hallway after the slanted walkway provides a cool mental trick, and I was always looking up for the details. This is another house where I had some poor timing, but the scares I did hit were pretty good. Ultimately, the length is a gigantic issue with this house. It's been said plenty of times before, but the house ends in the second act. It really doesn't feel like it's over, and I didn't expect the final actor to appear so close to the end; I expected him to be closer to the soundstage exit. If this was longer or I hit more scares, this might have been higher on the list (maybe even fourth). Overall, it's a good house.
8/10
5. Ash vs Evil Dead: I went into this expecting the worst house of the event (this was after Saw too
). However, once I heard Renegade playing outside, I couldn't help but get excited. I had a VERY strong run through this house during a cast change no less! The only scenes I missed were the bathroom scene (too far behind) and Ash in front of the cabin (cast change going on then). The house has such a fun, kinetic vibe to it, and the actors playing Ash are fantastic. The scares from the Deadites are solid too and made me jump quite often. I haven't seen a single episode of the show, but that didn't hinder my enjoyment at all. Before writing this, I was torn between giving this and Dead Waters #5, but this is pretty comfortably in its ranking now. This is a really underrated house.
8.5/10
4. The Shining: This gives Dead Waters a run for its money for the best sets this year. Though it isn't pitch perfect, the sets capture a lot of the film and made me smile. Unfortunately for me, this was a very poorly timed run as I got hit with NO scares. I even left a gap between the people in front of me and never got any scares. I was always seeing the aftermath of the scares, which isn't as bad as no scares, I guess. Even if I had gotten the scares, I don't know if this would be in my top 3. I don't think the slow build nature of The Shining lends itself to a house full of jumpscares, but it does lend itself to a very good walkthrough.
8.5/10
3. American Horror Story: Volume 2: First off, those four switchbacks can
GO TO HELL. Now that I've taken care of that, this is a GREAT house. I got almost every scare in Asylum and Roanoke yet none in Coven. The cast in this house is very energetic and makes it a very fun walkthrough. Additionally, the references in here are great (Cricket!). The sets are what's holding me back from placing this higher. I looooooved all of Asylum's sets and felt it recreated the show perfectly. Coven and Roanoke didn't have a whole lot of variety to their sets, though. Roanoke's sets especially disappointed me because the house in the show has so much detail and scale to it. Had that season been its own house, I probably wouldn't have this complaint. Aside from some personal gripes with the sets, this is excellent and blows last year's AHS out of the water.
9/10
2. Hive: This was a great house. The sets impressed me quite a bit here, and I couldn't sense any of The Conjuring in it. The vampires' design is awesome, especially the glowing eyes. The makeup on the actors amplified the creepiness of the scares. The actors here made me jump quite a bit, and had the sets accommodated for some more personal scares, this may have been my HOTY. As is, it's a very good runner up.
9/10
1. Scarecrow: The Reaping: YES! YES! YES! This is everything I want a HHN house to be! 70% of the house was getting scared by actors I had no idea were even around. I could be looking in another direction, and out of nowhere a Scarecrow arm is in my face! Every single scare I got in this house made me scream. SCREAM. The sets and costume design only make this house go up for me, and the house's layout allows the scares to be far and away the best of the year. It had perfect pacing too, yet I didn't want this to end. Scarecrow: The Reaping is a visceral experience that should be the gold standard of the event. This is EASILY in my personal top 3 of all time and might even be my favorite. Just incredible.
10/10
Overall, this was a solid year. It's not quite as good as 25, but it's much better than 24. I don't know if I'd place it above 26 because of how timing dependent so many of these houses are. A poorly timed run can greatly affect your perception of a house, and when half of these rely on good timing, it can lead to a poor night if you miss everything in all the houses. Next year, the houses need to be less dependent on timing; having multiple scareactors in a room helps offset this issue IMO.