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Halloween Horror Nights 29 General Discussion

I’m going to blame the musical. Running a live Beetlejuice theme park show the month before a highly anticipated Beetlejuice musical starts it’s out of town tryouts would have been terrible business. I can see it causing rights issues (that Legal would be blamed for).

EDIT- which means we may have next year’s show...
 
why didnt they just replace the host???????????
make it an original host? make it the cryptkeeper from tales from the crypt, he could tell a good joke
there are so many characters to choose from......

i just cannot believe that an entire show was cut just because they could not use bettlejuice.... just have the blues brothers or shrek host it... jesus lol
 
IMO, the problem with AoV is it's not a "main draw" show and it definitely has no suffers for repeat viewings with the multi-nighters. I thought the show was fine, but it was the weakest of their 3 years. I think they work better in a more intimate setting, with more crowd participation. Ideally, they should move to Animal Actors next year (if it survives). Do I think they come back? Probably - but I wouldn't be surprised if HHN moves on, too.

We attend multiple nights. Really, we go as much as we can throughout the event. I think we only stayed until close once this year.

We saw AOV once. That was enough. No slight on their talent ... just not our thing.

We spent far less money on food, beverage and merchandise simply because we weren’t staying for a show (or multiple viewings of a show).

I sure hope they add another show or move on from it.
 
Food for thought, of the FFL complex..who's to say it can't be a more elaborate version of a show like Carnival of Carnage, using more "stage magic" moments than prior? That could help, and it'd be a larger place to do something unique that could stand out, while also not causing traffic issues for Central Park.

Then, you can have one show in the back, and if AoV returns; have them in Terminator 2 in a Jabbawockeez-esque show.
 
Food for thought, of the FFL complex..who's to say it can't be a more elaborate version of a show like Carnival of Carnage, using more "stage magic" moments than prior? That could help, and it'd be a larger place to do something unique that could stand out, while also not causing traffic issues for Central Park.

Then, you can have one show in the back, and if AoV returns; have them in Terminator 2 in a Jabbawockeez-esque show.

I think Carnival of Carnage in a theater that size would have the same problems that AOV does. It works better in a more intimate setting
 
I think Carnival of Carnage in a theater that size would have the same problems that AOV does. It works better in a more intimate setting

I mean, I get that. But on one hand, couldn't it do more for allowing the characters to interact with the audience more; because it would be with a large group of people as opposed to a small hand of people (with onlookers)?
 
We attend multiple nights. Really, we go as much as we can throughout the event. I think we only stayed until close once this year.

We saw AOV once. That was enough. No slight on their talent ... just not our thing.

We spent far less money on food, beverage and merchandise simply because we weren’t staying for a show (or multiple viewings of a show).

I sure hope they add another show or move on from it.

last year i did academy every night
the year before that, the first year of academy, i did the show even twice in one night
i could not get enough of the music and the energy and the crowd having fun and the amazing dancers

this year............... once.... one time..... just once. i went from watching it daily to never watching it. i just didnt feel it. the stage was too far to walk all the way over there and most nights i was busy doing a house or watching a zone instead. the Vamp show kind of replaced my daily watching .
Im sure i cannot be the only one that felt that way.
 
last year i did academy every night
the year before that, the first year of academy, i did the show even twice in one night
i could not get enough of the music and the energy and the crowd having fun and the amazing dancers

this year............... once.... one time..... just once. i went from watching it daily to never watching it. i just didnt feel it. the stage was too far to walk all the way over there and most nights i was busy doing a house or watching a zone instead. the Vamp show kind of replaced my daily watching .
Im sure i cannot be the only one that felt that way.

That’s a great point about the evolution of the AOV show. Now that I think back to HHN26 it was a pretty darn good show. The asylum plot was certainly tailored more to a HHN audience and I liked the location outside Mel’s.

Maybe they can recapture that magic. I don’t know. Perhaps part of what we felt was due to it being new. I do know I will be disappointed if it remains the feature show and/or they don’t add another show.

I also wonder if the AOV shows fill up w/o the stranger things crowd.

Mike has said this was never intended to replace B&T. To think that they could easily find a property that could have that longevity would be naive. I would be surprised to see AOV 2 years from now.
 
why didnt they just replace the host???????????
make it an original host? make it the cryptkeeper from tales from the crypt, he could tell a good joke
there are so many characters to choose from......

It's not the host. Legal wanted to kill the show after 2016, but the event team made a case to bring it back for the "Farewell Tour" with Bill & Ted again--after, as I understand it, many, many rewrites. The issue wasn't the hosts, it was the use of other companies' IP, even in a "parody" setting. There's a reason the show used a dozen "Camera Nazis" and told them to be overzealous.

Long story short, we're not getting another pop culture parody show that incorporates other company IPs.

I think Carnival of Carnage in a theater that size would have the same problems that AOV does. It works better in a more intimate setting

Agreed. Also, "another Carnival of Carnage" is like "another Bill & Teds." Easy to say, but they've been trying to make one for years without success. The only icon who has proven he can anchor a show is Jack--and I'm sure they're saving him for HHN30. Just like I'd love to see a Universal Monsters house--I'm sure they're holding that for the next year.
 
why didnt they just replace the host???????????
make it an original host? make it the cryptkeeper from tales from the crypt, he could tell a good joke
there are so many characters to choose from......

i just cannot believe that an entire show was cut just because they could not use bettlejuice.... just have the blues brothers or shrek host it... jesus lol
Because they all require rights, coordinating for those rights, then purchasing those rights. And that all requires time.
 
Whether it did well or not in its first year is largely irrelevant. It’ll be an investment for WB for at least three years (likely five). During that time, they’re going to retain their best IPs.

Horror From Here will get cancelled if it doesn’t show growth. Whether that happens are not is hard to say. Their haunt designs felt far more “regional” than “premier” but their film access is almost impossible to beat.

2018 was Horror Made Here's 3rd year already.
 
It's not the host. Legal wanted to kill the show after 2016, but the event team made a case to bring it back for the "Farewell Tour" with Bill & Ted again--after, as I understand it, many, many rewrites. The issue wasn't the hosts, it was the use of other companies' IP, even in a "parody" setting. There's a reason the show used a dozen "Camera Nazis" and told them to be overzealous.

Long story short, we're not getting another pop culture parody show that incorporates other company IPs.

And here I thought Bill and Ted’s biggest problem was the NSFW jokes. At Howl O Scream this year, there were multiple warnings before the Fiends show that much of the content would be considered offensive. Considering how big of an influence political correctness is having on society, I wouldn’t be surprised if that show gets the boot within a few years as well.
 
Does anyone know which dates sold out at this years HHN28? I think this is useful information as far as to what measures they will go to increase capacity... Possibly added dates.
 
Hard Bet IPs:
Stranger Things 2
Hill House or "Horrors of Netflix" style house
Hellraiser
Zombieland
Happy Death Day 2u

Soft Bet IPs:
It
Beetlejuice
Tales from the Crypt
Scream (finally)
Child's Play

I have a feeling they may go "90s" for 29...the way the team spoke to 80s nostalgia and the "energy" just makes me think they'll want to continue that vibe but move to a new loose iteration of a decade.

Originals...who knows? Although people have been clamoring for Nightingales...but I think they'll hold off til 30.

As a matter of fact, I think a lot of what people are speculating this year will be saved for 30:

Stranger Things 3 (All Seasons)
American Horror Story (All Seasons)
TWD (All Seasons)
Killer Klowns 3D
Titans of Terror (a la USH 2017) for The Big 3 New Line
Universal Monsters
etc.
 
I like AOV but I also watched them just once, but it was only cause the remix of The Lost Boys theme they played before the show made me kinda sad.

At some point I’d like to see a Captain Clegg style music act at HHN, maybe in front of Mel’s. And I still maintain Evil Dead: The Musical would be a scary and funny addition to the entertainment lineup.

Editing cause I think I’ve talked about this show enough without giving any details for anyone that’s never seen it. From only my memory ED: TM is basically a retelling of the first Evil Dead movie just with more comedy and songs. They also had a splatter section in the first few rows if you wanted to get sprayed with blood. Maybe it’s just me, but if they could get the rights to it I feel like that wouldn’t be such a bad show to add?? Although, if RHPS wasn’t well received I could see why they’d worry about adding a musical again-even as different as they both are.

Language so NSFW also if they did this show they’d probably have to clean up some of the dialogue...and maybe the lyrics/title of this song...


And if you’ve seen Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 then you know Captain Clegg so I probably don’t need to specify much there. Basically I wouldn’t be opposed to a Halloween-centric band with Halloween themed songs (&/or covering other popular Halloween songs) were to have a little show at HHN. Like Epcot’s old Canada band (Off Kilter I think?) but Halloween.
 
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last year i did academy every night
the year before that, the first year of academy, i did the show even twice in one night
i could not get enough of the music and the energy and the crowd having fun and the amazing dancers

this year............... once.... one time..... just once. i went from watching it daily to never watching it. i just didnt feel it. the stage was too far to walk all the way over there and most nights i was busy doing a house or watching a zone instead. the Vamp show kind of replaced my daily watching .
Im sure i cannot be the only one that felt that way.

You are not alone.

I didn’t even see it once this year... really loved the first year as well, in fact I liked it as much as carnage returns. Felt more than just a dance show.
I was excited for 27 AoV as well but obviously Irma made it basically a dance show.

This year I planned on watching it made a point to avoid all videos/spoilers but in the end I didn’t want to take basically an hour out my night to watch. Especially when the scarezones and houses were so good/busy.

Edit: they should have parodied the bill and ted show with dance lol

Seriously though I know they want to be their own thing but they definitely should have had songs, Easter eggs and general references to bill and ted. I expected some memorable songs from bill and ted tbh and that would have made me watch it multiple times. Instead it seemed they just really wanted to avoid the elephant in the room.
 
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