Halloween Horror Nights 27 (UO): Reviews & Photos

[Brian G.]

Final Rankings - we'll discuss more on our recap podcast that we're recording this week.

9. Ash - It just fell flat as the event went on. Low wait times, not helped by isolated location, killed anything for this house.
8. Saw - It got better - but still was outclassed but the other houses. Seemed to be the most popular with crowds though.
7. Fallen - Only keeping it above Saw because of the first 2 weekends.
6. AHS - Was fine. Didn't have same fire as the first couple of weekends as the event progressed.
5. Shining - Good runs - but still killed by a bad Cast B.
4. Hive - The cast made this house and got better as event went on. Not bad for being an retrofitted adjustment.
3. Dead Waters - The theming saved this house. May be a bit overrated due to it, but still had good, solid runs consistently.
2. Blumhouse - Another great effort by cast, that relied on tight spaces and clever scares. When chemistry hit, it finally hit stride. Obv theme was missing, and is a "repeat" house, otherwise could have been an easy #1 for me.
1. Scarecrow - Def entering my top 25. One of the best original houses since 21. Always delivering on scares consistently.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

^How does this year (or at least, this house lineup) rank to you?

 

[jrn14]

I have been meaning to write my review of HHN27 since my trip to Orlando the 19th-25th, but just have been super busy.

Me and two of my friends from PA traveled to Orlando from 10/19-25 and stayed at Cabana Bay. We did horror nights on Friday the 20th and it was absolutely perfect! We did stay and scream in Springfield and we seemed to time almost everything perfectly! We were able to hit up all 9 houses, watch Bill and Ted, and ride Gringotts, Transformers, and The Mummy. We also spent a decent amount of time the scare zones especially Purge and Trick R Treat. We even sat in Ben & Jerrys for a good 20 minutes to rest...I"m kind of amazed how we managed to fit this all in. This is only my third year attending (2013/2015) and this is the first time I was able to do all the houses, and also unlike 2015 and to a lesser extent 2013. There were 0 houses I thought were unsatisfactory. Perhaps the fact that we barely waited for any of the houses helped me maintain a more positive view of them... but alas my rankings.

Sidenote- I did my rankings before read through this thread and I was kind of surprised how much mine seemed to vary from the consensus... I think that kind is a combination of personal taste and what our runs were like that night since i only experienced every house only once.

9. The Hive- This was the second house we did probably right around 6pm. It was still light out which may have possibly made it slightly less scary. We walked right in and I really did enjoy it, but I guess the reason I put this one last is I just felt the theme wasn't as strong as the others. I was looking around for a lot of detail and I felt it was hard to find.. I know this might be kind of silly but I was expecting more humanoid vampires. Though the makeup was top notch I felt they looked like weird demon/vampire/gremlin hybrids... I was kind of expecting a family of vampires.. Though there still were some cool stuff like the vamp hanging upside down. I think I missed the stilt scare which is a bummer. 6/10

8. Blumhouse-This was the first house we did and we were one of the first 20 people inside. It was still light and I think because it was literally the start of the night the cast was just getting the barrings because the timing seemed a tad off, I honestly didn't like that it was a mashup house considering the Purge/Sinister sections were over soooooooooooo quickly ... and with the very elaborate purge scarezone on the other side of the park it really didn't need to be there.. Sinister would have been cooler in an expanded role, but it was over too fast to really set the mood. Though the Insidious stuff kind of ran together for me, I think they should have just made this a full Insidous house considering it was a good 80% of the house and some of the stuff was really effective and atmospheric. I thought it was cool and pretty scary, but my complaint would just be I spent a lot of time trying to recognize what was going on that I never really got fully engrossed in the house. Still lots of fun. 7/10

7. Scarecrow: The Reaping- I know crazy right. We were able to do this one seventh . A 20 minute wait was posted and we only waited about 6-8 minutes.. and part of that was for a shift change parade of scarecrows. I know what you're thinking... this seems to be a huge fan fav and word has spread. We randomly heard tons of people saying Scarecrow was the best house Thursday and Friday and I knew it was really well received. I really liked it a lot and found it very atmospheric. The setting was great, I LOVED the outdoor facade and some of the rooms were really cool. I really enjoyed the room with all the crows/ravens above you pooping on you. We still really liked this house but it wasn't quite up to the MASSIVE expecations we had. Also I think watching the parade of scarecrows enter kind of soured things a tad as we knew exactly who we would be seeing inside so no surprises as far as characters were concerned, but I still quite enjoyed the setting. 7.5/10

6. Ash vs. The Evil Dead- We were able to do this one third and again just walked right in with nobody behind or in front of us. I did like that we were virtually alone so we got to watch most of the scenes unfold. I finally watched the original evil dead this October, but I didn't really know much about the show. So it all seemed a bit silly, but to be honest I really liked it.. I found it funny and at times a bit scary and it felt like more of a theatrical production than a haunted house.... but it was fun and different. I liked the music and the settings.. I thought all the different ash's were goofy but made it more fun. What puts this one so high for me though was the finale. The vampire puppet and then the keg finale were just perfect for us. We timed them just right... we walked out to see him with the Keg and I thought... oh I guess this is some kind of photo op... then he cut the keg and we all got sprayed... very cool 8/10

5. Dead Waters- We did this one 5th and we waited about 5 minutes the first room with the riverboat facade is FANTASTIC. really good stuff and all the following rooms are just as good. The atmosphere and mood is fantastic and although it's a pretty common trick at local haunted houses I really liked how they included the slanted floor section. The reason though I can't rate this any higher though is it was the only house that I really felt coming out of that it was wayyy too short. I remember the last room thinking ... woah I can't wait to see what's in the next room... but there was no next room Still great, but just needed to be a bit longer and have a better finale... 8/10

4. The Fallen. We did this one 6th right after Dead Waters and waited about 15 or so minutes Reading through reviews I feel like people really downplay the atmosphere and setting of this one. I really felt like I was in a war torn/decaying cathedral and I thought the rooms really gave you this feeling. I thought it was quite beautiful and scary. The monsters were very well done and I thought the aerobatic tricks were fantastic. The one where the guy swung out at you was really cool as it was pitch black until he was right by you. Unfortunately I missed the other one though my friend two steps behind me filled me in and it sounded really cool . 9/10

3. Saw- We were originally going to do this 4th and waited in line for about 5-10 minutes when my friend suggested we do another house. The Shining was only posting a 10 minute wait and Saw said 40. So we got out of line and did The Shining. We later came back and did this 8th. This is the only house that we really waited for the sign said 40 minutes and it was exactly 40 minutes. Though I didn't read reviews I did guage from just checking the board that this house was considered to be less of a favorite than the others, so possibly my expectations were low, but I REALLY liked this house a lot. Maybe we just had a really good walk through but I just felt it was really atmospheric. I know it's not the hardest setting to portray (an abandoned warehouse but I really felt like I was in the films.. also with 8 films to pull from I was really shocked at how much I recognized. I'm glad they stuck with most of the iconic traps and characters and I remember getting scared several times. I also LOVED the bathroom from the first film. Very well done, great detail. Also liked the various water/blood effects int his one... 9/10

2. The Shining We did this one 4th and only waited about 5-10 minutes (see above). I think this comes down to what I said about personal preference. I think overall I tend to enjoy the IP houses more because I love seeing little details from the films/shows and am usually very impressed how great a job Uni does of capturing the film into a house. This was very well done with The Shining imho. The hedge maze entrance and exit were brilliant and the way Jack chased you out was amazing. I also thought the bar was sooo freaking cool it looked like they plucked it straight from the film. The actors in this house were also amazing. I remember intently watching a Jack and Wendy do the door scene that I didn't notice another Jack come up and scare the living crap out of me. Great job on the shower scene, dog, blood elevators, the twins.. I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this house. 10/10

1. American Horror Story: I love love loved this house... The wait posted said 40 minutes but we only waited about 20. Even though it was a bit of a trick I loved how you did part of the que inside in the dark with all the various theme songs playing. Again the way they captured scenes from the show really blew me away. I haven't watched asylum or coven for a very long time and i thought it was so cool how random characters and scenes I forgot all about where included and instantly I recalled all these folks. Again they did a great job. There was one moment in particular where I was intently watching Pepper who was doing a great job of keeping my attention. I turned around and someone else was there to scare the shiz out of me. I also really liked the greenhouse in the coven room and the angel of death from asylum. I agree with most that Roanoke was the least cool part but they still did a great job with it all and I loved the variety of settings and characters and everything felt like it had time to breathe. 10/10


I'll give some more thoughts on Bill and Ted and the scare-zones later

 

[Brian G.]

^How does this year (or at least, this house lineup) rank to you?

A push, pretty much. Better year for houses and a great B&T, but about equal for zones and AoV. Definitely a step back for overall theme and marketing.

 

[Legacy]

A push, pretty much. Better year for houses and a great B&T, but about equal for zones and AoV. Definitely a step back for overall theme and marketing.

They should have used the Director...

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

^ & ^^ I agree about overall theme and marketing. At first it seemed like they had something good going with the Soul Collectors. I really liked that ad of the guy being reverse dragged into the pool of roses. Alas, it fell through, and every time I saw that ad in line for houses I thought "what could've been." Cringed whenever I saw that Eli Roth ad. Oh well.

 

[Brian G.]

^ & ^^ I agree about overall theme and marketing. At first it seemed like they had something good going with the Soul Collectors. I really liked that ad of the guy being reverse dragged into the pool of roses. Alas, it fell through, and every time I saw that ad in line for houses I thought "what could've been." Cringed whenever I saw that Eli Roth ad. Oh well.

Try using the quote feature more. It helps people better understand with who and what you're talking about - but also alerts the person you are quoting.

 

[JawsVictim]

2. Blumhouse - Another great effort by cast, that relied on tight spaces and clever scares. When chemistry hit, it finally hit stride. Obv theme was missing, and is a "repeat" house, otherwise could have been an easy #1 for me.

Thank you so much for the kind words. I was in Blumhouse this year, and we worked incredibly hard to make our house as scary as possible. Gonna miss the cast and crew of that house - it truly was special.

 

[Nick]

Thank you so much for the kind words. I was in Blumhouse this year, and we worked incredibly hard to make our house as scary as possible. Gonna miss the cast and crew of that house - it truly was special.

The MIB tent is a truly special place for an HHN cast to get to know each other, I think. Dedicated costuming, makeup and no sharing a breakroom with another house. I think that helps not only build great relationships, but helps with house performance as people are genuinely happy when going on set.

 

[JMalez]

Been meaning to write this earlier but here it is: my final HHN 2017 review..
Just some background - I have been attending HHN Orlando since 2013, making this my 5th year at the event. I have been lucky enough to have gone through every house every year (bar 2013's AWIL which was redeemed by 2015's maze) meaning that I have been through a total of 42 mazes. 2017 is the first year that I have gone more than twice (went 8 times this year) and done every maze more than three times.

HOUSES
While this year didn't provide a new favorite house (my top 3 still belong to HHN25), this was without question the most consistent year for mazes - as i thoroughly enjoyed each and every house. The four originals this year were very strong and I felt that every IP translated fairly well.

9. Saw: The Games of Jigsaw
Strengths: This house was fun to walk through a showcase of traps from the movies. I enjoyed the early scene with the man trapped above the walkway, and seeing Jigsaw on the bike was fun as well. While not a particularly scary maze, the strobe room with all of the Pigmans provided some good jumps. The bathroom scene from the first movie was translated well also.

Weaknesses: Lacked an interesting facade that both Krampus and Asylum provided. With the exception of the previously mentioned room, this house was not very scary and was repetitive at times (a little too reliant on Pigman for jump scares). The final room with the scene from the new movie was not done well IMO and seemed like a last minute addition.
Overall Ranking: 36/42

8. The Fallen
Strengths: While not the most impressive I've seen, the facade was very cool and the impaled dummies were a nice touch. The costumes in this house were top notch as were most of the sets. Some props were moved about halfway through the event that made the house flow a little better. I enjoyed the soundtrack and SFX of this maze and the final flying scares were effective if timed properly.

Weaknesses: The scares in this house were often pretty lazy and ineffective. Some props were re used from Chances scarezone (which I understand is necessary but it bothered me how obvious it was). There also seemed to be a lack of angels (i forget what their name was... eternals?) and a battle between good and evil but was rather mostly demons. While I did enjoy it, I would frequently walk out of the house feeling as if something were missing / incomplete.
Overall Ranking: 31/42

7. Ash vs. Evil Dead
Strengths: This house felt like a party and was just a really good time to walk through. The trailer facade was small but really engaging and the following scene was just as entertaining. I couldnt help but enter this house with a smile in anticipation of the one liners that were about to be thrown at me. The bathroom and bar scene was done well and so was... well IMO almost every scene in this house. While not scary, and not meant to be, I still found more scares here than the previous two mazes. The energy of the show was present in this house and it provided a sense of levity to the relatively dark line up of mazes. Effective comedy maze.

Weaknesses: First thing that comes to mind is the lack of resemblance that the actors had to Ash. Also, as a fan of the show I felt as if there were some major things missing. Ball and Ruby, the asylum, a large amount of deadites etc.. also, while the one-liners were effective, there were funnier ones available that were not used.
Overall Ranking: 27/42

6. The Shining
Strengths: I was curious how well this movie was going to translate to a maze but man oh man this house was an awesome representation of the movie. The blood elevator could not have been done more effectively and the mirrors were a good move for the hallways and the grady twins. The Gold Room was one of my favorite rooms of the event and the scareactor in there got me almost every time. Beginning to end, this maze provided impressive rooms on a large scale.

Weaknesses: At this point I am mostly nitpicking. The snowing entrance / facade should have been much colder, the Jack half masks were kind of ridiculous, your reflection was kind of distracting in the hallway mirrors. No, it wasn't a very scary or in your face house, but then again neither was the movie. While overall an immensely impressive maze, (IMO) it didn't provide the same type of re-walk-ability that the following mazes did.
Overall Ranking: 24/42

5. Hive
Strengths: man did this house improve over the course of the event! After my first run through on opening night, I was not very impressed. The cast became more aggressive and I started to really enjoy this house. The stilt scare was reallllyyyyy fun to watch and had a surprisingly quick reset time. I loved the butcher room and water/blood effects. The masks and led / contact effects were well done and I enjoyed the sets in this house and thought that there were some really good scare placements. Some parts of this house were really dark which was cool and the catacombs toward the end were exciting as well. Although maybe not as grand as the Shining, I could have gone through this house a thousand times and not gotten tired of it. The same seems to be true for the top 4 houses as well. What a good time.

Weaknesses: The facade was weak and this maze could have really used a custom queue video to elaborate on the backstory. The 80's vibe was only really felt through the soundtrack. This house had the most underwhelming finales that I have seen though.. It wouldnt have been so bad if it was't so bright and contained at least one scareactor.
Overall Ranking: 23/42

4. The Horrors of Blumhouse
Strengths: INTENSE! No matter how many times I went through this maze I always got at least one or two good jump scares. The sets (especially insidious) were creepy and the Bagul hallway was really fun. The Key Demon portion actually made me at least a little more interested in seeing the movie and this house had the finale to end all finales. After last year, I assumed the MIB tent was where concepts were going to go to die. This house did more than prove me wrong. If anything like this, I would be more than happy to have another blumhouse mashup at 28.

Weaknesses: The same thing that has been said all event.. Sinister and Purge were significantly shorter than insidious. Also did they take the hanging dude out of the purge section?
Overall Ranking: 19/42

3. Dead Waters
Strengths: Need I even say the Riverboat..? (Almost) every scene in this house was as immersive and beautiful as they come. From the riverboat (and swamp monsters) to the slanted inside of the boat to the swamp forest that felt bigger than any forest that felt bigger than any I had seen before (TWD24, Scarecrow, etc) to the mindblowing two-story finale in which I found something new every time. On top of all of this, there are more than enough scares to satisfy as there is plenty to look at in order to distract you. Arguably the most beautiful maze that I have ever been through at HHN.

Weaknesses: You've all heard it before... this house could have used at lease 2 more scenes. The only other complaint I have about this house is that the Voodoo Queen barely played a role and her room was easily forgotten when compared to the rest of the house. You almost forget that it's the Voodoo Queen behind all of it.
Overall Ranking: 13/42

2. Scarecrow: The Reaping
Strengths: I liked Tomb of the Ancients.. Scarecrow blew it out of the water.
This and Blumhouse were so in your face intense and so high energy that it was impossible for your heart rate to not increase upon entering. The costumes were very well done and managed to provide variety in what I feared would be a rather monotone maze. The facade was great and once inside the action never let up. The scene with the windmill was impressive in scale, especially by tent standards, and the finale was disorienting and exciting. Also, shoutout to that birdpoop room! This is more tied as my number 1 as it is an absolute number 2.

Weaknesses: ummm... I really having to think here.... I guess in retrpspect the birdpoop room could have used a scareactor.
Overall Ranking: 5/42

1. American Horror Story Volume II
Strengths: This maze was one of the four examples of a mix I have been through. Im a sucker for elaborate sets, which AHSV2 had more than its fair share of (Asylum: staircase, common room Coven: attic, greenhouse, dollhouse Roanoke: the woods and hillbilly home). While not as elaborate as some of the Dead Waters scenes, they were more frequent and had more variety (and smells). Scares were also abundant in this house as there were many distracting elements, aggressive actors, and good placement. Finally, the costumes were on point (not as many look alikes as last year but still pretty close in resemblance.) Therefor: a perfect mix. Not to mention the sheer length of this house made it worth a longer wait time. IMO better than Volume I.
Overall Ranking: 4/42

Weaknesses: the only thing I would change is having the bull man in the attic at the end all chained up like in the show rather than a boo hole.. and that's just personal preference.

 

[JMalez]

Sorry for double post.. there were too many characters.

SCAREZONES
Although it doesn't seem to be the popular opinion, I thought this years scarezones were pretty memorable (bar Altars)

6. Altars of Horror
Just all around lack luster

5. The Purge
Nothing really wrong with this zone other than it has been here before and felt as if it didnt have quite as many scareactors this time.

4. Invasion
I just really liked the spaceship.. the costumes were cool but the retro feeling wasnt as present as I had hoped it would be. I guess there just isnt enough room to work with.

3. Festival of the Deadliest
I really didnt like this zone opening weekend. Thankfully, more was added and it became a pretty nice zone. Stilt actors and actresses were good and some of the actors were very aggressive.

2. Roaming Clowns
Just so fun to watch.. They do a really great job playing crazy and the music was creepy

1. Trick r Treat
The most visually stunning scarezone I have been through. Costumes, pumpkins, vomit, everything was great. Shoutout to the stilt actor in the skeleton costume.. he did a great job looking like a prop and I stopped by to watch him almost every night I went.

SHOWS

Academy of Villains was pretty good especially for a condensed show. Im glad to see that they is a relatively large following at the event and I honestly wouldnt mind seeing them again the next couple years.. especially if Uni decides to go the "multiple mini show" route in the absence of B&T

Bill and Teds: Im not gonna go into detail - everyone has heard about it in its respective thread. Great great great show and the last show really was an emotional experience, even for someone who had only seen them for 5 years. I cant imagine how those who have been seeing the show for 10 plus years must've felt.

Overall this year really had a lot to offer and I felt as if there was much more energy than last year. Although there wasn't an overarching theme, the party atmosphere was second only to 25. I hope an Icon returns but even without one, the event felt pretty cohesive (and IMHO more cohesive than last year..) Glad to have 27 to celebrate 5 years at HHN.

Looking forward to 2018

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Random, but a few (realistic) changes I would’ve made to this year’s event:

Put in a mausoleum section in DW and add another small dock “water” section at end. To make room and budget for this, remove the “fly” effect and altar room from Fallen, and make the “hurl” effect north to south instead of east to west (which I’m pretty sure it was). Honestly, it would’ve been ideal if Fallen and Saw could’ve swapped locations—with a couple fewer rooms in the former, obviously—so that DW could’ve taken up more Soundstage. Not sure if they can do fly effects in Shrek theatre.

Also with Fallen, elaborate on the story a bit. If the theme of “angels and demons” was deemed too offensive, simply use the Eternal and Fallen names over them—the “Fallen” could’ve been Eternals (who were godlike beings in an alternate dimension or something) who pitched a coup and are exacting their cruel reign. Also have a section of Metallica’s “Call of Ktulu” playing in the house.

If they didn’t have the budget for a queue video, make Hive’s facade some newspaper headline clippings setting up the story.

Instead of the fire effects outside of AvED, spend that on keeping the entrance and finale of Shining cold.

Lastly, they could’ve put the chainsaw clown actors in Festival.

————————
Just some random daydreaming I’ve been doing. This might not be a popular opinion but I kind of wish they had put all their future plans in place a few years earlier so that B&T wouldn’t have been a drag on the event’s budget, as bad as it seemed to have gotten.