1. Universal Monsters
The Classic Monsters have always delivered for me, haunt-wise. Their hyper-scary revitalization here looks on the money - I think we're underestimating the talent involved in their design (Murdy name dropped the guy who worked on Jurassic Park and some Burton films). The Slash music appears to be pushing the boundaries of what he's traditionally known for and won't be a cop-out rock score. Tons of potential in environments, and a huge variety in memorable characters. Everyone is confirmed except Creature... if the Gil-Man makes it in, this could be an all-timer.
2. Trick r Treat
The compact Mummy venue gives me pause, but other than that, this seems like a slam dunk. Dougherty films are made for maze adaptations, as Krampus readily proved. Trick r Treat is arguably even more maze-ready, with a plethora of diverse environments, visually exciting characters, and a lovely Halloween spirit. The film is a seasonal favorite of mine, and it's only held up even more on repeat watches. Scenes write themselves, and the talent known to be cast promises a solid execution on the acting side.
3. Stranger Things
This barely qualifies as horror, and I won't be at all scared going inside. That said, this ought to be a spectacular adaptation of the show and a real treat for genre/80s fans. I'm concerned about the number of Demagorgons that will almost certainly populate the scares, and I fear the human characters (and trust me, there are quite a few) won't ably carry scares on their own. The soundstage environment means we're going to get some fantastic visuals, but the scare design itself is going to be what makes or breaks this.
4. Poltergeist
I wish I could place this higher, but I'm still struggling to see how this translates into a maze without becoming Exorcist 2.0. Poltergeist is a great family-horror picture, but its scares are almost entirely rooted in emotional drama. There are a few solid scares - the clown, the swimming pool graveyard, the giant spirit heads, and the face peel - and those are all almost certainly going to make appearances. But Poltergeist lacks the dread and religiously charged terror of a defined, humanized demonic force - it trades Pazuzu for mute ambiguity, and I'm not convinced that's a strong trade-off for a maze. It could very well surprise me with strong scare design, but I'm anticipating a black wall boo-hole/puppet bonanza lacking the thick atmosphere that made Exorcist legitimately unpleasant to be inside.
5. Blumhouse of Horrors: Volume II
This really should be lower, but I'm ranking these on the anticipation of experience itself, not the quality/relevancy of the properties selected. Truth or Dare/Unfriended are bottom of the barrel selections that fly right in the face of the supposed "rules" of what makes a good maze... Even still, immense creative liberties are being taken here. When no one cares about the how the property is executed, one gets a tremendous amount of flexibility. I'll admit I have a little more insight as to how this is going to play out, but I am somewhat excited for both the Truth or Dare and finale "haunted house" portions. (Unfriended sounds silly to me, but we'll see, I guess. It kind of hinges on the effectiveness of the unseen demon.) Blumhouse was a surprise hit last year, and I could see it upsetting again thanks to motivated casts and solid, unexpected design choices.
6. The First Purge
Many of my comments regarding Blumhouse also apply here. First Purge is objectively a bad idea if they're doing a direct adaptation of the film: it's extremely politically charged to the point of outright discomfort in a real life setting. The most memorable characters are Klan/Nazi stand-ins, which obviously will not be included. This means that many creative liberties are likely to be taken, with a probable mix of older characters (wouldn't be surprised to see teddy bear face return) and new, original creations. The last-minute Purge maze in Orlando got by on sheer energy alone, and as long as this maze sports competent design, the casts will likely have the freedom to turn this into something enjoyable.
7. Halloween 4
They shouldn't have done Halloween when they couldn't get the 2018 reboot. It feels weird and embarrassing on a presentation level, especially as we're recreating mediocre moments from a film no one has any legitimate emotional investment in. Michael Myers is an icon, of course, and I'm sure he'll do his thing just fine; he's personally my least favorite of the Titans, as he just doesn't have the bite of the other slashers in a maze setting. I'm sure the maze will be technically competent and the casts will make it work, but if anything really feels like it's a cynical checking of the box, it's this.
8. Terror Tram
We keep knocking it, but Hollywood Harry was the best Tram we've had in years, and a legitimately clever/compelling original story that organically incorporated the Universal backlot. His return feels a little forced here, as much as I love the kitsch of low-budget/public access television gone amok (see also: Bloodengutz). Perhaps it's because Harry as a character holds an actual level of menace, which feels incompatible with the sort of inherent silliness of the premise. The execution might convince me otherwise, but I have a feeling we're just going to get an assortment of disjointed mini scare zones with Harry popping up in-between. That would be fine if the Tram route were longer, but it appears we'll be once again repeating mistakes and trying to funnel hundreds of guests into a narrow, all-too-short corridor.
9. Walking Dead
I mean, sure. It absorbs people, but this hasn't been fun since they doubled the cast in 2016. I'm under the impression that isn't happening this year, so this becomes completely disposable.