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HHN 29: Stranger Things

max is in the house twice, in the cabin and now in the arcade

I think in the cabin it should be max in one cast and mike in the other, but they might both be max now. They are interchangeable (like mike and Lucas last year)

Oh okay, I thought you meant that they replaced the Mike in one cast with another Max. Thanks for the clarification!
 
Most disappointing house so far. Too many still mannequins and 'guys with guns'. I did like the middle slayer anytime he showed up.

Also wtf was up with Billy's wig?!
 
Sadly, for the first time in my 7 trips that I didn't make it to all the houses, and this is the one I didn't get to. I chose GB for my first night, and for a Wednesday, this house had huge lines all night. Thursday, I did Springfield SNS, and by the time I made it back to the front after finishing the houses I didn't get to Wed and the 2 shows, I was too tired to wait an hour for this house. But seeing it during the UTH tour it looked great, but the only thing I actually wanted to see in the house was
the final giant Mind Flayer
in movement, but I'm sure I can find video of that.
 
Just felt the need to come on here to reflect on the reception of this house. Mind you, I have only been through the house once and I understand that it has probably changed since I went last.



I have been hearing some pretty rough criticisms of this house. And I don’t necessarily disagree with them, I just think that some of them can be explained. The major thing that I have heard hurt this house are the mannequins. And this completely makes sense. There was a lot of reliance on them and heavy strobe lighting and that organic "wow" factor of a live scareactor was lost (examples: Eleven closing the gate at the end of Season 2, Bob's demo-dog death, Eleven sitting in front of the TV set, Will staring at the Mind Flayer outside of the window in the arcade). I 100% agree that the house would have felt better with live actors in these positions. However, from a casting perspective, I can see how this is difficult. As the house is right now, during any one set, there are 3 live Elevens in the house at once. Meaning 3 separate ladies are needed to play the role at once. Not exactly sure how stingy Netflix was with casting this year (still pretty strict I'd presume) but I would think that Casting didn't have 20 Elevens to spare to sprinkle throughout the house. Could they have better placed where they used some of the Elevens? Sure, and that's where the house misses that opportunity. The same thing goes with any other repeat characters. For that gate closing scene, for example, I thought about how that would be executed for months and was racking my brain thinking of ideas of how they could pull it off. Turns out the task was a little too large. Eleven is levitating in this scene, meaning that the actress would have had to be hooked up to some harness or rig and uncomfortably hang there for 45 minutes. The cast changes would be a nightmare to figure out and the scene would probably have consistent issues throughout the season. Would I have loved for them to have figured it out and have that scene come to life? Of course, I would! I understand that it is Creative's job to come up with solutions and create everything to its best standard, but I can see where their issue was.
 
Just felt the need to come on here to reflect on the reception of this house. Mind you, I have only been through the house once and I understand that it has probably changed since I went last.



I have been hearing some pretty rough criticisms of this house. And I don’t necessarily disagree with them, I just think that some of them can be explained. The major thing that I have heard hurt this house are the mannequins. And this completely makes sense. There was a lot of reliance on them and heavy strobe lighting and that organic "wow" factor of a live scareactor was lost (examples: Eleven closing the gate at the end of Season 2, Bob's demo-dog death, Eleven sitting in front of the TV set, Will staring at the Mind Flayer outside of the window in the arcade). I 100% agree that the house would have felt better with live actors in these positions. However, from a casting perspective, I can see how this is difficult. As the house is right now, during any one set, there are 3 live Elevens in the house at once. Meaning 3 separate ladies are needed to play the role at once. Not exactly sure how stingy Netflix was with casting this year (still pretty strict I'd presume) but I would think that Casting didn't have 20 Elevens to spare to sprinkle throughout the house. Could they have better placed where they used some of the Elevens? Sure, and that's where the house misses that opportunity. The same thing goes with any other repeat characters. For that gate closing scene, for example, I thought about how that would be executed for months and was racking my brain thinking of ideas of how they could pull it off. Turns out the task was a little too large. Eleven is levitating in this scene, meaning that the actress would have had to be hooked up to some harness or rig and uncomfortably hang there for 45 minutes. The cast changes would be a nightmare to figure out and the scene would probably have consistent issues throughout the season. Would I have loved for them to have figured it out and have that scene come to life? Of course, I would! I understand that it is Creative's job to come up with solutions and create everything to its best standard, but I can see where their issue was.

{Sorry I have a lot to say :lol:}

The combination of both seasons was something else I felt that didn't work to their favor. There were aspects and scenes from both seasons that were missing. In Season 2, the pumpkin patch, the Byer's house with the tunnel maps all over the house, and Will's exorcism scene are the only ones coming to mind right at this second. In Season 3, we missed the Sauna scene, Starcourt Mall (that finale scene was not everything they could have done in Starcourt), the dinner scene when Billy and Heather murdered her parents, the Flayed all lined up in the sewers (I'm imagining rows fo dummies with one or two live actors in the mix), and more. There was just a lot missed that I wish we could have seen. Also, just remembered that there was no Joyce at all! They had great Joyces last year in the first house!

What the house did positively was still being able to deliver some really cool scenes. Hopper's Cabin was the scene that blew me away because of the, whaddaya know, amount of live scareactors in the room and the set and lighting and sound cues all at once. I had moments like these throughout the entire house! I think that people's colossal expectations (which they had a right to have after last year) and other unfortunate aspects, have been leading some people to not like the house at all. I still commend A&D for their final product and it was gorgeous to look at. There were just some things not taken into full consideration that made for a house that slightly misses the mark, at least for me.

If the property does return to any years in the future, I hope that they can take what they learned from both this year and last year's house to perfect that formula!


Okay rant done now. :faint:
 
{Sorry I have a lot to say :lol:}

The combination of both seasons was something else I felt that didn't work to their favor. There were aspects and scenes from both seasons that were missing. In Season 2, the pumpkin patch, the Byer's house with the tunnel maps all over the house, and Will's exorcism scene are the only ones coming to mind right at this second. In Season 3, we missed the Sauna scene, Starcourt Mall (that finale scene was not everything they could have done in Starcourt), the dinner scene when Billy and Heather murdered her parents, the Flayed all lined up in the sewers (I'm imagining rows fo dummies with one or two live actors in the mix), and more. There was just a lot missed that I wish we could have seen. Also, just remembered that there was no Joyce at all! They had great Joyces last year in the first house!

What the house did positively was still being able to deliver some really cool scenes. Hopper's Cabin was the scene that blew me away because of the, whaddaya know, amount of live scareactors in the room and the set and lighting and sound cues all at once. I had moments like these throughout the entire house! I think that people's colossal expectations (which they had a right to have after last year) and other unfortunate aspects, have been leading some people to not like the house at all. I still commend A&D for their final product and it was gorgeous to look at. There were just some things not taken into full consideration that made for a house that slightly misses the mark, at least for me.

If the property does return to any years in the future, I hope that they can take what they learned from both this year and last year's house to perfect that formula!


Okay rant done now. :faint:
Just for starters, I’m not criticizing your opinion. This is all valid and I 100% agree with you.

I think the central problem isn’t that the scenes have mannequins, per se, but that the scenes they used just didn’t work. As a haunted house, I see Stranger Things II as having missed the mark. Last year’s wasn’t incredibly scary, either, but I do have memories of some pretty creepy atmospheres and cool scares (Will’s bedroom with Should I Stay or Should I Go and the demogorgon / the woods all Upside Down-ified stick out). Let’s go through these rooms. This is subjective, of course, but:

1. Repeat of the classroom scene from the first house, but with actors this time: one joint scare.
2. Upside Down hallway transition: one protagonist jumpscare.
3. Arcade: atmospheric, but no scares.
4. Upside Down hallway transition with mirror: cool effect, but this isn’t a scare, so no scares.
5. Dustin’s bedroom: one protagonist jumpscare.
6. Basement: one protagonist jumpscare.
7. Upside Down tunnel: four protagonist jumpscares, one demodog scare-

-and I’ll leave it there. Do you see the pattern? It seems that the actual frightening parts of Stranger Things - the Byers’s house and Will’s exorcism, as you said, as examples - were left out in favor of...visuals? Those would have made GREAT scenes, scare-wise and visually, but they were replaced with Will looking into the Upside Down, mirror tricks, and so many characters that you love jumping out to remind you “hey! This is about Stranger Things!” They aren’t scares because they aren’t frightening, that’s it. Nothing about those characters says they want to hurt you, which is the most effective element of most scares, IMO.

The scares that are actually intimidating are the demodogs, of course, but we got a few small puppets and several statues. Not sure how they could have done this more effectively, but I think the inclusion of the statues in Bob’s death was downright silly. They almost look like a window display. Alternatively, why not include more of the flayed? The sauna would have been perfect; it was one of the freakiest parts of the season for me. How about the old woman and her fertilizer? Aggressive. Scary. Not present (because she isn’t iconic for the show and Steve is...? Hmm...)

The portal scene, if essential enough to need to be in the house, could have been downsized to the scale of what the Will-looking-into-Upside-Down scene is. It isn’t effective as it is, at least to me.

Anyway, that’s just a little rant. It’s an interesting and actually really beautiful interpretation of Stranger Things, but as a Halloween Horror Nights installation, it’s clear that the design leaned more in the “let’s look cute and market our show, look at these pretty people that you love” direction rather than any kind of horror. I don’t know. Just my thoughts.
 
Just for starters, I’m not criticizing your opinion. This is all valid and I 100% agree with you.

I think the central problem isn’t that the scenes have mannequins, per se, but that the scenes they used just didn’t work. As a haunted house, I see Stranger Things II as having missed the mark. Last year’s wasn’t incredibly scary, either, but I do have memories of some pretty creepy atmospheres and cool scares (Will’s bedroom with Should I Stay or Should I Go and the demogorgon / the woods all Upside Down-ified stick out). Let’s go through these rooms. This is subjective, of course, but:

1. Repeat of the classroom scene from the first house, but with actors this time: one joint scare.
2. Upside Down hallway transition: one protagonist jumpscare.
3. Arcade: atmospheric, but no scares.
4. Upside Down hallway transition with mirror: cool effect, but this isn’t a scare, so no scares.
5. Dustin’s bedroom: one protagonist jumpscare.
6. Basement: one protagonist jumpscare.
7. Upside Down tunnel: four protagonist jumpscares, one demodog scare-

-and I’ll leave it there. Do you see the pattern? It seems that the actual frightening parts of Stranger Things - the Byers’s house and Will’s exorcism, as you said, as examples - were left out in favor of...visuals? Those would have made GREAT scenes, scare-wise and visually, but they were replaced with Will looking into the Upside Down, mirror tricks, and so many characters that you love jumping out to remind you “hey! This is about Stranger Things!” They aren’t scares because they aren’t frightening, that’s it. Nothing about those characters says they want to hurt you, which is the most effective element of most scares, IMO.

The scares that are actually intimidating are the demodogs, of course, but we got a few small puppets and several statues. Not sure how they could have done this more effectively, but I think the inclusion of the statues in Bob’s death was downright silly. They almost look like a window display. Alternatively, why not include more of the flayed? The sauna would have been perfect; it was one of the freakiest parts of the season for me. How about the old woman and her fertilizer? Aggressive. Scary. Not present (because she isn’t iconic for the show and Steve is...? Hmm...)

The portal scene, if essential enough to need to be in the house, could have been downsized to the scale of what the Will-looking-into-Upside-Down scene is. It isn’t effective as it is, at least to me.

Anyway, that’s just a little rant. It’s an interesting and actually really beautiful interpretation of Stranger Things, but as a Halloween Horror Nights installation, it’s clear that the design leaned more in the “let’s look cute and market our show, look at these pretty people that you love” direction rather than any kind of horror. I don’t know. Just my thoughts.

Agreed 100%! It did lack that aggression. Also, completely forgot about the old woman and her fertilizer. When I first watched her rabid scene in the show, a house scene immediately popped in my head.
 
I tried to make Orlandos maze better in scares.
  • Remove the whole school section, and instead place Wills bathroom here, and have a hallway of the house drawings on wall.
  • Transition into arcade
  • Keep the Max scare. Its funny, offers a quick jump, and shows a character.
  • Dustins bedroom next.
  • Remove that little basememt scene, as it offered no purpouse tbh, and instead put the pumpkin patch here. You can have various hawkins truck, have Wills seizuring body as a distraction, and a hazmat guy as a scare.
  • Shorten the tunnels a bit.
  • Tad nitpick, but make the dogs bigger. Like, AWIL size.
  • Remove the bus scene, and replace it with a full junkyard set. You can still have a Steve scare, but also a dog scare.
  • Make Bob an actor, and have him reach out to you. This will be a distraction for a scare of Joyce screaming.
  • Make the gate closing scene a tad smaller, and have an Eleven actod floating.
  • After that, have the exorcism scene, with a possesed Will holding Joyce by the neck, and Nancy with the fire poker. This not only adds a scary scene, but it better transitions into the ST3 transition with Eleven and the tv.
  • Instead of having Steve in the void, instead have Heather popping out from a tub.
  • Replace the first scare of the flayed in the warehouse and instead put the basement scene with the fertelizer crazed lady.
  • Replace the Billy scare and instead have a small house hall with a scare of Beth with the bottle.
  • Replace the second flayed scare with the sauna test scene, and have Billy pop out from the door window
  • Replace Nancys scare with a Flayed Bruce scare.
  • Add some tentacle scares in the cabin.
  • Replace the facility scene and have a force prespective mall face, with Billys car as a scare
  • Have a store scene with tentacle scares
  • Replace that long hall of nothing with that starcourt scene with more scares.
  • End with a Demogorgon scare.
Think this is good, and anything i should change?
 
Just felt the need to come on here to reflect on the reception of this house. Mind you, I have only been through the house once and I understand that it has probably changed since I went last.



I have been hearing some pretty rough criticisms of this house. And I don’t necessarily disagree with them, I just think that some of them can be explained. The major thing that I have heard hurt this house are the mannequins. And this completely makes sense. There was a lot of reliance on them and heavy strobe lighting and that organic "wow" factor of a live scareactor was lost (examples: Eleven closing the gate at the end of Season 2, Bob's demo-dog death, Eleven sitting in front of the TV set, Will staring at the Mind Flayer outside of the window in the arcade). I 100% agree that the house would have felt better with live actors in these positions. However, from a casting perspective, I can see how this is difficult. As the house is right now, during any one set, there are 3 live Elevens in the house at once. Meaning 3 separate ladies are needed to play the role at once. Not exactly sure how stingy Netflix was with casting this year (still pretty strict I'd presume) but I would think that Casting didn't have 20 Elevens to spare to sprinkle throughout the house. Could they have better placed where they used some of the Elevens? Sure, and that's where the house misses that opportunity. The same thing goes with any other repeat characters. For that gate closing scene, for example, I thought about how that would be executed for months and was racking my brain thinking of ideas of how they could pull it off. Turns out the task was a little too large. Eleven is levitating in this scene, meaning that the actress would have had to be hooked up to some harness or rig and uncomfortably hang there for 45 minutes. The cast changes would be a nightmare to figure out and the scene would probably have consistent issues throughout the season. Would I have loved for them to have figured it out and have that scene come to life? Of course, I would! I understand that it is Creative's job to come up with solutions and create everything to its best standard, but I can see where their issue was.

I was paying attention to the mannequins around the house, and i think the problem is how fake they look. Their poses and their hair look pretty bad. The Will dummy looks really terrible from behind. I knowuni has always used mannequins for houses, but with these main characters they should have gotten better ones. The Hopper dummy has a terrible pose too. The eleven dummy is goo but Hopper looks terrible.
 
I was paying attention to the mannequins around the house, and i think the problem is how fake they look. Their poses and their hair look pretty bad. The Will dummy looks really terrible from behind. I knowuni has always used mannequins for houses, but with these main characters they should have gotten better ones. The Hopper dummy has a terrible pose too. The eleven dummy is goo but Hopper looks terrible.

I always thought they would have scareactors featured in that part but when I noticed they did the mannequins it seem weird but cool, especially where the Season 3 portion begins where Eleven sitting in front of TV reusing the same effect from last year's Poltergeist, they should have a scareactor for that part to get scared by both Eleven and Billy in that part, would be a better part for it was like.
 
While this house has issues--long hallways of nothing, too many static figures--I'm beginning to think the biggest problem is that, removed from the hype of July 4th binging, fans are starting to realize it's based on two repetitive, mediocre seasons of TV. I think it's a slightly below average house that's bearing the brunt of a general ST backlash.
 
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