March Madness: HHN 20 through HHN 27

The NCAA basketball tournament has inspired me to create a HHN bracket. I wanted to stick with the 64 'team' format and it just so happens that from HHN20 through HHN27 there have been 66 haunted houses. So, I had to leave out a couple and I tried to choose the worst two.

Here's the bracket I created, leaving out Afterlife (2013) and Dracula Untold (2014)... It's split into four 16-house images for easier viewing:










If you want to fill out the bracket to completion, the winner from the first image would be paired against the winner of the 2nd image and then winner of the 3rd image against the winner of the 4th image.

 

Here's my completed bracket:











Final Four:
Halloween (2014)
An American Werewolf in London (2013)

Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem (2015)
Nightingales (2011)


Final:
Halloween (2014)
Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem (2015)

 

It's interesting that we ended up with 3 of the same final 4. I think the three we agreed on would match up decently even against some of the pre-2010 favorites.

 

I'd love to see more responses to this. I just think that, because it's such a narrow set of people who have been to all of the last seven years, there aren't a lot of people who really comfortable doing an accurate assessment of things.

That said, I'm glad Catacombs is putting up a strong showing.

 

Scarecrow beat 25 Years for you? In your top 25 list, 25 Years was #5, and I remember you saying that Scarecrow was in the top 25, but in the late teens-early 20s. Interesting.

 

When I get a minute, I can create a 32-house bracket just from HHN 24 to HHN 27. I guess that would probably get a better response. I'd have to drop 3 houses, though. I think Dracula Untold and The Purge should be two of the three left out.

Which one of these two should I also leave out?

• Roanoke: Cannibal Colony (2014)
• Lunatic's Playground 3D: You Won't Stand a Chance (2016)

 

But if a house is a head-to-head winner, does that mean you liked it better? Obviously WD5 wasn't up against as strong competition, but you have Scarecrow "beating" M&M.

(I've always found brackets a little confusing.)

 

The way I determined each of my winners was by asking myself, 'which of these two houses would I prefer to experience again?'

 

Same.

I did two runs of Blumhouse. The daughter got me my first run, and then the first Baghuul my second.

The hammer kill scene in TCM 26 got me good--like, one of the biggest scares I've ever gotten, along with an inmate roaring "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" in my ear in PS Maximum Madness.

 

Here's my bracket, these were surprisingly tough at some points.

Made sure to include a finals bracket, but either way, Catacombs wins it all.

 

So my first year was 2011 and I was unable to go during 2013 but I've been the rest of the years between then and now.
It probably skews mine a little bit, but these are my favorites, pretty much.

SEMI-FINALISTS:
Bracket 1 -> Halloween
Bracket 2 -> Tomb of the Ancients

Bracket 3 -> The In-Between
Bracket 4 -> Dead End

FINALISTS:
Halloween
The In-Between

WINNER:
The In-Between

Honestly this house has just stuck with me, and every 3D house since then has just been a disappointment in comparison.