HHN 33: Most Anticipated Scare Zone

[Brian G.]

Most Anticipated Scare Zone?

 

[TheCodeMan95]

1. Swamp of the Undead
2. Torture Faire
3. Blumhouse
4. Demon Queens
5. Duality of Fear

 

[SeventyOne]

5) Blumhouse – selfie zone with recycled costumes in an inevitable cluster to walk thru

4) Torture Faire – Forsooth! Every RenFaire is torture to me, my Lords & Ladies, but not sure the actors can be scarier than the denizens of a real-life MedFest (this will be the lifestyler fan-favorite for sure, tho)

3) Demon Queens – know so little about this and the next all I can do is hope for is striking costumes and good scares

2) Duality of Fear – two iconic characters gives it the slight edge over #3 but both zones probably will feel one and the same

1) Swamp of the Undead – sets look immersive and suitably creepy, holding out hope for that voodoo were-alligator

 

[Neo]

1. Swamp of the Undead
   Central Park is always my most anticipated zone. The heavy fog, the narrow paths, the lighting. Zombies don't sound all that exciting, but still super hyped for this zone.
2. Duality of Fear
   Usually this zone is towards to the bottom of my list for the "table of contents" type thing it usually is. But with Sin3ster and Surr3al, this has me intrigued. Not sure if they are two people, or a single person with multiple personalities or something and the choose your path, which I'm sure will be an insignificant throw away, still has me intrigued.
3. Torture Faire
   I think this zone is going to be a ton of fun, but mostly set pieces. The area is also a bit spaced out for my personal taste, but if they put a good show on the stage, this will probably shoot to the top of my post-event list.
4. Enter the Blumhouse
   This would be, BY FAR, my least anticipated zone if it weren't for the blurb accompanying its announcement mentioning the dancing M3gans. I kept catching the tail end of their popups last year (never saw more than the last 90 seconds), so if this zone can guarantee I get to see them if they come out on a regular schedule, it elevates out of the #5 spot for that alone. Otherwise, zzzzzzzzzz.
5. Demon Queens
   The description doesn't say much of anything about this zone so it's really an unknown. The lack of props doesn't help. The logo for it makes me think there will be 4 queens on stilts or stages, and then just generic minions roaming the crowd. With what we know so far, it does nothing for me.

 

[Kichkinet85]

1. Demon Queens
2. Swamp of the Undead
3. Torture Faire
4. Enter the Blumhouse
5. Duality of Fear

 

[ghostsarejerks]

5. Enter the Blumhouse- Feels very out of place, no real theming, more of a brand activation than a genuine scare zone.
4. Duality of Fear- Entry zones are always limited by space and having to serve as a preview for the rest of the zones, which is weird, just let them be their own thing.
3. Demon Queens- No idea what this entails, but sounds kind of camp.
2. Swamp of the Undead- I think this feels very classic HHN, great atmosphere, tons of set dressing, those masks they previewed look pretty scary.
1. Torture Faire- This also feels like classic HHN, taking a regular event or concept and adding a diabolical twist. Those sets look like a lot of fun and I'm hoping the rest of the zone matches those tongue in cheek vibes.

 

[Boodini]

5. Blumhouse: Nothing really new here.
4. Duality of Fear: The ambiguity of it is intriguing. It’s always nice to see new icons too.
3. Demon Queens: Reminds me of dark zodiac. Not sure what to expect really.
2. Swamp of the Undead: There’s a lot of high concept stuff this year so I’m welcome to the simplicity of zombies. Sounds scary too!
1. Torture Faire: What a fun original idea! Can’t wait to see the costumes.

 

[Kichkinet85]

Now that I'm off work, I'll go more in depth
1. Demon Queens- The idea seems very cool to me and similar to Dark Zodiac. It's also in Hollywood where some of my favorite zones have been.

2. Swamp of the Undead- Seems and looks amazing. However, it's in CP and that area is just not made for zones with today's crowds.

3. Torture Faire- The idea sounds very interesting but it's in NY. NY is such a big and wide area to fill.

4. Enter the Blumhouse- SF and it's Blumhouse, do I need to say more?

5. Duality of Fear- Opening zone and is always limited. The two paths to choose Sinist3r or Surr3al sounds cool, but I have a feeling it will just be ML vs Hollywood like the day.

 

[saint.piss]

1. Torture Faire
2. Swamp of the Undead
3. Demon Queens
4. Enter The Blumhouse
5. Duality of Fear

 

[Clive]

Not super jazzed about the zones this year, to be honest.

1) Torture Faire. This is likely going to be only one of two zones you can spend real time in. For the last few years, they've done a solid job picking themes for the NY area that allow for a party-adjacent atmosphere while still offering some scattered scares and inherently silly violence. I expect this to continue that trend.
2) Swamp of the Undead. Does this feel very derivative? Yep. Still, it has some really promising looking theming, and maybe the mask designs will impress (though last year's Jungle of Doom will be tough to top). Not expecting a whole lot given the location, but it'll likely be a moody-enough path you'll actually pass through a couple times a night. I really wish they'd consider letting the Central Park zones extend out a bit into the Mel's and Animal Actors plaza areas -- would allow for some more real scaring and give these themes (and casts) room to breathe.
3) Demon Queens. I want to be more into this concept, as Hollywood is the only other area that allows for a real zone right now. Unfortunately, this idea is way too vague and sounds a whole lot like the Zodiac business from last year. I don't see how this doesn't just become a bunch of abstract monsters milling about instead of something more immediate and frightening, like the Deadly Unrest zone from a few years ago. Hard to build genuine atmosphere with something this hard to wrap your head around.
4) Enter the Blumhouse. Finally, we've ditched the awful "Horrors of Blumhouse" moniker! This one may surprise people if they actually let the characters scare people. If they're stuck up on platforms like they were for Crypt TV, this becomes a very elaborate marketing stunt for Blumhouse and little else.
5) Duality of Fear. Can't even begin to get excited about this without knowing anything about Sinist3r/Surr3al. The opening scare zones in recent years have also become glorified photo ops, and I wish they'd actually staff these areas with actors on the ground. Until they bother to do that, this goes on the bottom by default.

 

[HHN Maddux]

1) Swamp of the Undead - This zone looks incredible and I think will be very fun!

2) Torture Faire - RENFAIR! So happy we're getting more medieval stuff in HHN.

3) Demon Queens - Eldritch horror demon queens? Enough said.

4) Duality of Fear - I'm excited to meet SINIST3R/SURR3AL, I just wish we actually knew more about them.

5) Enter the Blumhouse - Believe it or not, I am actually still excited for this, as I'd love to take photos with these characters. As said previously by many others tho, very much hoping they get to actually scare as well and it's not just an Altars/Crypt situation.

 

[GlitterandGloom41]

1. Blumhouse

I know very unpopular opinion it feels like, but yes I’m very hyped for this. Very biased reasons. I just adore multiple of these characters, mainly yes a bit of a hyperfixation on M3GAN, I just find her so fun and I loved it. Seeing the thing last year made my night & was one of my favorite things of last event (and I love the whole event very much, just goes to show how much I love M3GAN) but the way they did it operationally annoyed me very much because it was so hard to see them especially get picture with them, so knowing they’ll actually be reliably in a zone is amazing to me. And then besides her I love a lot of these other movies. Freaky, The Black Phone, and Happy Death Day are all some of my favorite horror movies as well!

2. Torture Faire

I love Ren Fairs, I love torture (that sounds weird lol, but for real, I very much enjoyed the Torture Museum in St Augustine, very cool place ) so combining them sounds cool and it’ll be great vibe.

3. Swamp of the Undead

Central Park tends be some of my faves and I love all the props out there so far, it’s looking super cool!

4. Demon Queens

Very mysterious so far and really not sure what this will be like, main reason it’s going in 4 instead of 5 is because I think this location tends to be much better zones, Hollywood zones are often great

5. Duality of Fear

Interested in how they’re selling this as different paths and curious to see what they look like, but outside of cool photo ops with Pumpkin Lord and Oddfellow, i feel like this location has barely even been a scarezone recently, very bad scarezone location, that’s the main reason this is in this spot.

 

[Killer Klown]

I’m pretty down on the zones this year tbh. They definitely feel like they’ve been budgetized compared to years prior which makes sense with the new parade and Epic. As a result my hype for this crop of zones is pretty low across the board.

5. Duality of Fear - The choose your path aspect could be cool but I’m not sure it’ll actually amount to much at all. Not to mention this location usually isn’t that great.
4. Demon Queens - We don’t really know anything about this zone at all so it’s kind of in this spot by default since Hollywood is a better location than the entrance. Could go up if we learn anything new but I have to say the lack of activity in the area is concerning.
3. Enter the Blumhouse - Hello bottleneck. This was clearly meant to be a cheap synergy play to both save costs by reusing costumes and props from old Blumhouse IP houses and add some extra IP to a year many consider lacking on that front.
2. Swamp of the Undead - Loving the atmosphere they’re building, probably the best of all the zones so far. Unfortunately, HHN and its obsession with The Walking Dead (and just The Walking Dead as a show in general) went out of its way to burn me out on zombies in perpetuity so there’s only so far my hype can go here.
1. Torture Faire - Love the Ren Faire setting. Hoping for some creative torture scenes and interested to see the characters walking around for this one. I am slightly worried this is going to feel like Dark Zodiac with different set dressing.

 

[johnathanm]

1. Swamp of the Undead: Love Central Park location. Feel like this will remind me of dead waters.

2. Torture Faire: Not sure this will work, but excited to see the costumes and vibe. Hope this is high energy.

3. Demon Queens: Eh, don’t know anything about it, but decent location and potential for cool costumes.

4. Enter the Blumhouse: Not as down on this as most. I’ll enjoy seeing these characters in a zone.

5. Duality of Fear: Could swap with Blum. Interested to see the icons, but we know nothing about them. Plus this tends to be a weaker location. Wish we had more of a story here.

 

[Lucky Planet]

1. Demon Queens

2. Torture Faire

3. Swamp of the Undead

4. Blumhouse

5. Duality of Fear

 

[EAS]

1. Duality of Fear: This one could be a bust because it could easily be limited to just directing traffic with a few nods to the theme, but the concept of the choice - and the visceral versus psychological distinction that people would have to align with - is very appealing.

2. Swamp of the Undead: Not huge on the zombie theme, but the bayou theme is very appealing, and if there are monsters other than zombies, it will be a joy. Also, gives Scooby Doo on Zombie Island vibes which is a plus.

3. Torture Faire: Fun theme and hopefully some gnarly gore.

4. Demon Queens: Could be really cool but the limited information sinks it down a bit.

5. Blumhouse: Honestly this could be fun, but it's out of place as others have said, and since I am fortunate enough to go to Hollywood as well this year, I assume the Terror Tram will be similar to but better than the zone.

 

[Darko]

1. Swamp of the Undead — I’m a little meh on the zombie (again) premise, but the scenic looks absolutely amazing, the humidity of Florida is gonna totally sell the atmosphere here. If the costumes are suitably grotesque enough, I might not mind zombies and of course, the scare-actors bringing them to life can make a huge difference (sometimes all of the difference).
2. Torture Faire — I like that they seem to have taken some queues from Vamp ‘69 last year which was a huge improvement over Vamp ‘85 in the same space. It better utilized the NY area and felt less empty. Hopefully this can match that and fill up the space. Also the idea just entertains me as someone who loves renaissance fairs.
3. Demon Queens — Not much seems to have rolled out for this one in the streets, but considering the other scare zones, it ranks a bit higher in anticipation. Can’t wait to see what it is but maybe not being able to parse it out before the event is for the better and will help it be a surprise. Well until closer to the event anyway which is less than two weeks away (holy crap).
4. Duality of Fear — I have some “fear” with this one being the usual entrance zone of where it’s just a preview zone and not its own thing. I really hate that trend and it may never stop now that they’ve continued the formula. Still I have more hope for it than the last zone on my list, that’s for sure.
5. Enter the Blumhouse — Nothing I’m about to say is controversial. This zone just seems like a marketing experience rather than a zone. Most likely will just end up a photo-op zone. It’s quite literally Altars of Horror 2.0 and that just makes me sad. Still, I hold out an incredibly small modicum of hope that this is more than it seems. Or, you know, at least the scare-actors elevate it or something.

 

[theuberguberman]

1) Demon Queens - For no actual reason aside from the panel art of the demon costumes, I have it set in my head that this zone will be pretty and I love a high aesthetic vibe (Vanity Ball has been my #1 zone since I started going in 2019)
2) Swamp of the Undead - the props are already looking good and I'm curious to see how lighting turns out in this one
3) Torture Faire - just seems like a good time
4) Enter the Blumhouse - No new thoughts here that haven't already been said lol
5) Duality of Fear - If this were ANYWHERE else, it would be higher on my list

Edit-- I don't know if it's just me, but this is the most excited I've been for zones since 2019. I haven't been overly thrilled by any zone (except graveyard in 2022) since, but this year has a lot of potential I feel like!

 

[AlexanderMBush]

1. Demon Queens
2. Torture Faire
3. Duality of Fear
4. Swamp of The Undead
5. Enter The Blumhouse

 

[PanicAtTheJedi]

Zones don't feel that exciting this year but still here's my hypelist
1. Torture Faire - This is the only concept that i'm properly hyped about tbh, idea is so fun and the torture machines look really cool, can't wait to see all the costumes too - also makes a nice change from all the post apocalyptic zones we usually get in New York
2. Swamp Of The Undead - On paper zombies in a swamp sounds fairly boring, however Universal have been going all out on props and the zone's looking insane, also the gators are a fun touch
3. Demon Queens - The idea was sounding like a Dark Zodiac knockoff, however I liked that zone so not mad if it is, was sitting towards the bottom of my list for a while but the props they've put out in the last week or so are some of my favourite's in the park
4. Enter The Blumhouse - Is it gonna be a extremely crowded photo op zone? Likely. Am I sick to death of blumhouse? Most definitely, But excited to see some of the characters, just hoping they have some actual scares in the zone
5. Duality Of Fear - The front of the house zones minus maybe Anarch-Cade are usually my least favourite by far, although I'm hyped for Sinist3r and Surr3al due to the zone location being altered bc of Minion Land this location seems to of gotten worse