Halloween Horror Nights 33 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[ColbyTurkey]

2 pg-13 'horror' houses, 1 pg-13 comedy cash grab, a candy factory, night of the museum-ish house, drive in house, a birthday party house, a day of the dead scarezone, and a toys scare zones. Remember a few months ago when everybody complained about kids at the event? Better get used to it. Just sayin'

 

[Brian G.]

2 pg-13 'horror' houses, 1 pg-13 comedy cash grab, a candy factory, night of the museum-ish house, drive in house, a birthday party house, a day of the dead scarezone, and a toys scare zones. Remember a few months ago when everybody complained about kids at the event? Better get used to it. Just sayin'

This argument rears its head every now and then, and it's exhausting because it lacks any basis beyond a reason to complain.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

2 pg-13 'horror' houses, 1 pg-13 comedy cash grab, a candy factory, night of the museum-ish house, drive in house, a birthday party house, a day of the dead scarezone, and a toys scare zones. Remember a few months ago when everybody complained about kids at the event? Better get used to it. Just sayin'

All do respect, you are seriously over simplifying the contents of the lineup to try to pass off that the whole event is going to be aimed toward kids.

Let’s not try to pretend that there not will be gore in Slaughter Sinema, probably acts of Cannibalism in Sweets, huge amounts of Violence in Triplets, and considering how creepy the TOYZ SZ in Hollywood was last year we shouldn’t discount that either.

Those IPs also could be very much scary. I don’t understand the deal with people also saying Quiet place is tame either. I myself am surprised those first two films are PG13.

 

[Killer Klown]

This argument rears its head every now and then, and it's exhausting because it lacks any basis beyond a reason to complain.

The PG-13 arguments make absolutely no sense to me. PG-13 horror is becoming more and more popular by the year and a significant chunk of the most popular horror IP would fall under the PG13 umbrella.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I really don’t care about the IPs being weak and Ghostbusters absolutely belongs at HHN (it should be GB 1 or 2, of course).

My quibble is that a lot of the houses seem to be in the wrong place. Now, to forestall the argument, the tents can and have hosted spectacular houses. But different venues offer different strengths - the tents lend themselves to intense scares and intimacy, the soundstages (and defunct warehouses) to scope, variety of mood, and grand sets. Slaughter is a perfect right where it is and FE, for better or worse, probably needs a soundstage. Sweets, Goblin, and possibly Museum, however, all feel like soundstage houses. Insidious has worked perfectly well in a tent before and the IP really doesn’t lend itself to the strengths of a soundstage. Triplets also seems like a concept better suited to a tent, and even Monstrous seems like it might work as well in the confines of a sprung.

Perhaps the new tents will be able to combine the strengths of both venues, with intense scares and the space for grand sets. We’ll have to see. At the moment, I worry something other than the best fit for each concept governed the placement of houses.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

"Universal marketing is so stupid, they won't give us announcements (for houses we already know), they don't know what they're doing!"

Announcement drops

"Quick, let's all crap on the announcement we've been crying about not getting! It sucks! It's not what I wanted! I'd have done it differently and blown $5m on a 30sec video for a themepark event as if it was a Superbowl commercial!"

Followed shortly by

"Where are the multinight tickets? Uni really dropped the ball not releasing them with this announcement. Idiots! Nobody is going to buy tickets if they wait much longer!"

Followed by (after the event starts)

"The event is too packed, they need to not be so popular! They need to limit crowds. And, of course, tickets are too expensive."

Exactly - too many folks think websites, videos, and announcements are the product. They’re not - what’s behind those gates at 630pm is.

 

[Legacy]

Remember when HHN marketed itself as a “PG-13” event?

 

[Brian G.]

I really don’t care about the IPs being weak and Ghostbusters absolutely belongs at HHN (it should be GB 1 or 2, of course).

My quibble is that a lot of the houses seem to be in the wrong place. Now, to forestall the argument, the tents can and have hosted spectacular houses. But different venues offer different strengths - the tents lend themselves to intense scares and intimacy, the soundstages (and defunct warehouses) to scope, variety of mood, and grand sets. Slaughter is a perfect right where it is and FE, for better or worse, probably needs a soundstage. Sweets, Goblin, and possibly Museum, however, all feel like soundstage houses. Insidious has worked perfectly well in a tent before and the IP really doesn’t lend itself to the strengths of a soundstage. Triplets also seems like a concept better suited to a tent, and even Monstrous seems like it might work as well in the confines of a sprung.

Perhaps the new tents will be able to combine the strengths of both venues, with intense scares and the space for grand sets. We’ll have to see. At the moment, I worry something other than the best fit for each concept governed the placement of houses.

How about we wait and see after the event starts before deciding if it was the right place? You have a name and a one-sentence premise; with zero idea of context or intention.

Remember when HHN marketed itself as a “PG-13” event?

I remember when they complained about PG-13 a year after the event had House of 1000 Corpses and a scare zone with a blood eagle victim.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Remember when HHN marketed itself as a “PG-13” event?

Fear Factor is rated TV-PG!

 

[Brian G.]

Fear Factor is rated TV-PG!

Probably best we forget about that....

 

[SixBillium]

I'm ready to get flamed if this is a hot-take, but I've felt super strongly about this for years.

Who cares if something is straight-up horror or "horror-adjacent?" HHN (and, on a grander scale, Halloween events in general) should be a celebration of everything that falls under that pantheon. What do children / young teens get when it comes to spooky entertainment? Kid-friendly Trick-or-Treat trails? There aren't really intermediate Halloween events- you've typically only got things that are centered on young kids or 13+ years.

For their flaws, Ghostbusters, Spirits of the Coven, (some of) Stranger Things were fun haunts that were spooky- not particularly scary- and I really don't think there's anything wrong with exploring any number of horror-themed adjectives besides "scary" inside of a haunted house. So many attendees grew up with those Amblin movies that were just the right level of intermediate scary without being nightmare-inducing, and even if I don't feel Universal has stuck the landing quite yet, aspiring to have haunts that range from "Amblin-ish" all the way to the scariest scary movie you've ever seen is an admirable goal- especially given that few other places will have the resources and budget to bring a lot of those experiences to life the right way.

I don't think it's making the event "kid-friendly," I think it's simply acknowledging that horror is a broad concept. Something dark fantasy, like Dueling Dragons, isn't that scary either- but what other kind of temporary event could you bring something like that to life? Would it be better to just let the concept never see the light of day just because it doesn't meet a certain "fear-factor?" If every haunt is trying to accomplish being the scariest ever, what's the point when they're all doing the same thing?

Bring me the whimsical, bring me the spooky, kooky, and creepy, bring me an entire year of Amblin haunts for all I care. Don't gatekeep horror just because it isn't horror enough, especially for an event that's instrumental in keeping it relevant to the masses and influencing the next generation. There's plenty of terrifying independent haunts across the country that you can support if you want a true terror-fix.

 

[Casper Gutman]

How about we wait and see after the event starts before deciding if it was the right place? You have a name and a one-sentence premise; with zero idea of context or intention.

I neither implied or intended any judgement to be final. However, these boards are full of people making initial judgements about the event - I assume you don’t feel the many posters (including myself) who have expressed excitement over what has been announced need to “wait and see.”

Obviously we have limited information, although we do have some small idea of intention - those one-sentence premises, that describe things like a “village” or “factory.” We also have previous experience with certain concepts, like Insidious and Slaughter, and how they fit into certain venues.

 

[MikePat]

I remember when they complained about PG-13 a year after the event had House of 1000 Corpses and a scare zone with a blood eagle victim.

Don’t forget that year also had the Depth’s of Fear Dog - which for some “went a little too far.”

 

[Brian G.]

I neither implied or intended any judgement to be final. However, these boards are full of people making initial judgements about the event - I assume you don’t feel the many posters (including myself) who have expressed excitement over what has been announced need to “wait and see.”

We were literally just having that convo about Ghosbuters and comparing it to last year's Exoricist film... and that an opinion of the film doesn't mean the house will be good or bad.

It's too early for the convo. That's the end of it.

 

[Pixarfan96]

I understand that this year’s lineup of I.P’s is underwhelming. But you can’t deny that the lineup of Originals we have for this year are Goated AF.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Triplets also seems like a concept better suited to a tent

FWIW, all spec seems to indicate that Triplets takes place in a town/neighborhood with several buildings.

 

[Legacy]

But you can’t deny that the lineup of Originals we have for this year are Goated AF.

I hate statements like this because all they do is set expectations for things that aren’t even done being built.

Especially when, historically, setting high expectations ALWAYS leads to disappointment. It’s immensely rare that the most anticipated houses meet expectations, let alone exceed them. And I have seen so many “best originals ever” when all we officially know about a y of them is a two sentence teaser.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Well, my annual post-last announcement Q&A is gonna be fun this year...

 

[amar831]

I usually don’t comment on speculation, as i’ve learned that going into something with any sort of expectation is what murders enjoyment. I do love to follow along, I love knowing what is coming ahead of the GP, but I recognize that its an ever-changing event behind the scenes. I could’ve even written a dissertation about how bummed I was that NoES ended up on the cutting room floor (if it was even in the room to begin with) because it’s the first horror movie I watched when I was 8 years old. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t announced, the only thing I’m bothered by is that the speculation was wrong.

I’ve been going to HHN every year since 2010, haven’t missed a single year including HHN Lite, and I plan to go every year after that regardless. I know for some, IPs may make a difference, but at the end of the day, the creative team knows what they are doing.

I’m not trying to say that we can’t have opinions, everyone has one. Chucky was my most anticipated house last year and we know how that turned out; even though I did moderately enjoy it more than some others. Darkest Deal last year was the one house during spec season that I thought, yeah I really don’t know how that’s gonna work out, but still went in with an open mind because year after year this team puts together amazing (for the most part) houses that are just fun to go through. I just go into things with an open mind. They almost always have at least 1 thing that will cater to any specific taste.

Once we go through these houses, thats where we can discuss the success or failure of a house/scarezone by the actual product that they delivered, as opposed to the idea we create of what we think they should do.

Tldr;
Let A&D cook, judge it when you taste the dish

 

[MrBlonde]

Once we go through these houses, thats where we can discuss the success or failure of a house/scarezone by the actual product that they delivered, as opposed to the idea we create of what we think they should do.

Tldr;
Let A&D cook, judge it when you taste the dish

How dare you be reasonable and judge something by what it is and not what you want something to be. (I kid, of course)

re: the Ghostbusters video, the original 2019 video was fun homages to the original movie and got me pumped. This one felt more like social media content. That's perfectly fine. I already bought my tickets, they're trying to sell to people to come have fun, not purely kowtow to diehard fans like us. They also had to reflect the content of the new movie. Least we got an announcement!

My favorite announcement videos ever were Ghostbusters and Bride of Frankenstein Lives. I think they nailed them so well, and they'll be hard to top in my opinion.