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That's what I've been seeing, too.
And my biggest gripe, from the video I saw of the the tour...
There is absolutely... zero... and I mean no... SOUNDTRACK. Completely silent. Plus scarce in actors littered far in between, and sometimes just one in really big rooms.
For $80, least you could do is have some music or ambience, geez.
I've got someone sending me pics/ reviews and oh my the event looks underwhelming so far. Apparently, it's not worth anywhere near the price they've advertised for. IT however is a highlight but the costumes/ makeup is apparently terrible. Conjuring being the most disappointing.
I actually have a lot of nitpicks about these pix, but I'm gonna sound like an... annoying nitpicker, I guess.
1) This facade is cool, but it wasn't made just for this year. It was made for national coverage last year apart of their free event (which I'm sure you know).
2) I like the tire marks, and how they even go up the curb... but how did it completely miss that POLE without knocking it over? And why did they go with one of the least recognizable Batmobiles from Arkham Knight? They didn't want to use the one from ARKHAM ASYLUM, or ARKHAM CITY, or ARKHAM ORIGINS, or the one that is IN THE PROMO PICTURE? Or BvS? TDK? Either version of the 90s? Heck, the Adam West one?!
3) This Joker looks awesome, that is all.
4) That IT mask looks very strange to me, like something is not proportionate. I especially hate the one in the sewer that they have outside, too.
5) They should've chose a way bigger room for Pennywise's lair. I think this DOES look cool, but it could be cooler.
6) I think this entry is cool visually. But I've seen videos and it seems... off. Where's the fog? Scary music instead of the DJ spinning? Joker quickly says something as you pass through and that's it? Where's the monsters? If it's going to be this narrow and tight, they might as well do the gauntlet way of things and have a lot more stuff.
The Pennywise makeup/ mask looks terrible. The only place acting was good was the tram according to my source. The maze acting was 75% miss according to him.
I feel like a lot of my worst fears for this event came true.
It doesn't look AWFUL, but there's no way I'm paying $80 for it. I fully stand by my price tag of $30-50. $60 is my absolute max. If they discount some tickets for the upcoming days, I'll go. But as of now, I'm more willing to go to KSF and do all their repeats, plus rides including a brand new one, and the world's best scarezones for only $40.
I think the biggest disappointment is the utter lack of sound as a tool to amp up the tone. To me, this is one of the main components for immersion. If I can hear the DJ playing while in a maze and I'm only watching a video, it's probably going to be a problem. It's a necessary component, in my opionion, to create any sense of dread, foreboding element, or rise in suspense. Maybe they wanted it more quiet since the actors are very interactive and they want you to hear what they say, but from my experience, Haunt acting is always cringe-worthy. So far, I can only say the camp counselors sound the most convincing. I haven't seen a video of Arkham yet, but boy, that better be top notch because I want that property done justice!
From what I can tell, Conjuring looks by far the worst. No sound, bad acting, low scares, and make up/masks are just okay. The effects and scenic are good though, so that's a plus.
Basically it looks like HHN sets, Fright Fest scares.
If that's your thing, then you very well may enjoy it...
It pains me, WOUNDS me, to see how bad the Conjuring plays out with how beautiful the sets are and how it reminds me of a sort of translated HHN maze. UGH.
Since I already decided I'm not going, I caved and watched the videos since ThemeParkHD uploaded. I have some thoughts...
Arkham - Far and away the coolest thing they did, but it still leaves something to be desired. I feel like it's missing that gothic tone the first video game has, and there's some hokey bits. Like Poison Ivy's lair should 1) look more realistic 2) should be way more elaborate. I think this has some of the better acting of all the mazes, but it's also kinda easy to act crazy. The interactivity is a nice touch but it needs more scares, and the intro stuff is pretty dang cool. And there's something missing from the set design, in all of the mazes actually, I just can't quite put my finger on it. What I do like though is that they design the mazes in a 360 degrees sense. I think they're meant to have a little more breathing room in where you look, so down a random hallway there may be some set pieces, or even behind you after you've already entered a room against the wall. Maybe it's not the most elaborate set design, but it looks realistic enough. The Joker is so on point it's insane, their voices sound 100% like Mark Hamill. I'm glad they found these guys. I was hoping for a few more of the Rogue's Gallery to appear (although didn't I read something like some characters switch out?), but they did well with the cast they chose. It definitely looks fun, but doesn't look all that scary. Maybe the atmosphere will be different with a more crowded maze?
7 out of 10
Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake - This actually looks really awesome at some points and flat boring in others. The acting is the best on the entire lot and there's quite a few surprises. There's a scare that I've been waiting to see for years and they finally did it
a real hanging person among hanging bodies that jolts alive as you walk pass
. The first bit with the lake is a nice big open area, but not enough actors to make it work, which is basically how I would describe most scenes. However, I guess there is a certain eerieness to walking in the dark for a whole 30 seconds with nothing coming at you, so when something finally does, it's a big scare. Could it have a better tone and build suspense in a much more senses-overload way? Sure, but if they're going for realism, I guess they went for it. I suppose we'll see how the masses respond to this approach, I'm personally not a fan of waiting an entire minute for a scare then walking another minute stretch for another scare. If you have a 10 minute attraction with only 10 scares, I'd say there's something off. Others might say that immerses them better. Maybe I'm spoiled.
6.5 out of 10
The Conjuring Universe - I am definitely not a fan of whatever this is. I hate guided tours in mazes and this does all the cardinal sins of that style. Acting is rough and the interactivity is shoddy at best. The effects are good and some of the surprises work, but I imagine I'd be bored majority of the time. The sense of disbelief is also hard to keep. Walking into a room and your guide going "oh no, we gotta go, there's an exorcism going on in here" is some of the laziest story telling I've ever seen. I do like how some things are tiny details that you have to look for. Like the backyard has a lot going on and even a scare if you're one of the last ones out, but this spot suffers from noise bleed outside the venue. I think my main gripes are the guided tours stuff, I just hate that so much.
4 out of 10
IT - I'd say this is the scariest maze they have, for sure and very different from last year. If only this had double the amount of talent on the inside, it could be something really special. In my opinion, they did just enough to kinda do it justice, and the scares hit pretty hard even without a trigger scare mostly because they actually have boo holes. They utilize alot of elements in here with sound, screens, animatronics, and special effects, but it's missing a certain... claustrophobia. I imagine I'd come out of this one the most happy with what I just saw and say it'd be worth a $7-10 e-ticket. But since this is only 1 of 4 scary attractions, divided up, this is basically supposed to be worth nearly $20, depending how much you value the Exorcist and that Demon Drop. However, I have big faith that an IT maze would be absolutely insanely scary if done right, preferably by HHN. Also, this is the only maze that had a constant soundtrack throughout the entire thing, that I can think of, and to me that goes leaps and bounds.
7.5 out of 10
Lost Boys arcade looks smaller than I thought. The Exorcist screening has a really small screen and I know that wouldn't be at all effective for me. The Tim Burton Exhibit looks AWESOME, I might have to go just to get a picture with a Mars Attacks martian. The Front Entry looks cool, but all the videos I saw didn't have any scares going on, so I can't really comment on that -- or that's just how it is, can't say for sure. Again, this is the perspective of just videos, so take my opinions with a grain of salt.
I would like to go get the in-person experience, just the price tag is insane for the quality. I urge WB to re-think their strategy with this one if they want to survive. I truly hope half the cast was missing or something. Literally every maze could use double the amount of people in there. IMO, it's nowhere near HHN, a step below KSF, but nowhere near as bad as FF.
Saw the videos too. I don't know why people are raving about the sets, especially in IT. I hate when they go for the tall walls, it looks so choppy and bad. Arkham is nice, but it feels thrown together. Also, it doesn't feel like the games to me.
I'm not gonna pay to go, but I'm glad I'm not. It doesnt look worth it. Unfortunate these properties look like they might've gone to waste.
Im watching the Arkham Asylum maze. This is a bit random but why did everybody and there mother use that lazer water effect this year? Knotts, Dark Harbor, and WB all have it lol
Also this guided tour thing just does not work...at all
Im watching the Arkham Asylum maze. This is a bit random but why did everybody and there mother use that lazer water effect this year? Knotts, Dark Harbor, and WB all have it lol
Also this guided tour thing just does not work...at all
Man you guys are really hard to please! It's not reasonable that you are comparing this to HHN. Need I remind you that this is HMH 3 vs HHN 28/17. They are barely getting their feet wet so they've actually come far for 3 years. My prediction still stands. In 5 years, this event will surpass HHN.
I actually have a lot of nitpicks about these pix, but I'm gonna sound like an... annoying nitpicker, I guess.
1) This facade is cool, but it wasn't made just for this year. It was made for national coverage last year apart of their free event (which I'm sure you know).
2) I like the tire marks, and how they even go up the curb... but how did it completely miss that POLL without knocking it over? And why did they go with one of the least recognizable Batmobiles from Arkham Knight? They didn't want to use the one from ARKHAM ASYLUM, or ARKHAM CITY, or ARKHAM ORIGINS, or the one that is IN THE PROMO PICTURE? Or BvS? TDK? Either version of the 90s? Heck, the Adam West one?!
3) This Joker looks awesome, that is all.
4) That IT mask looks very strange to me, like something is not proportionate. I especially hate the one in the sewer that they have outside, too.
5) They should've chose a way bigger room for Pennywise's lair. I think this DOES look cool, but it could be cooler.
6) I think this entry is cool visually. But I've seen videos and it seems... off. Where's the fog? Scary music instead of the DJ spinning? Joker quickly says something as you pass through and that's it? Where's the monsters? If it's going to be this narrow and tight, they might as well do the gauntlet way of things and have a lot more stuff.
-I reckon their reasoning had to do with the fact that you could never drive the batmobile in Arkham Asylum/City, but you can in Knight. Personally, I think it looks badass. How would it make sense to include the Adam West Batmobile when the universe is clearly from the Arkham series video games?
-I never went last year to the Neibolt house in WB or Hollywood, but I could've sworn it had a smaller scale. Still the facade looks pretty damn nice.
-Joker does look awesome.
-Where's the fog to the entrance you ask? BOOM!
Come on dude, this looks cool.
I agree. The rest of the stuff you said is pretty nitpicky. I really don't know what you guys were expecting. Did you actually expect Bill Skargard to come out in the maze? Because that's how you guys are sounding right now.
By what I'm reading online, people seem to pretty satisfied with the event. Of course, the moment of truth is on Friday when it opens to the GP.
Word I'm hearing from attendees is "disappointment."
The casting is pretty on-point, especially in Arkham. Wow, those Jokers, Riddler, Penguin, and Harleys look and sound game-accurate. Really impressive - lot of charisma.
...it's a shame they have nothing to do but vamp. Seriously, there are barely any scares in that thing - the struggle with the "guided" tours is you just get shuttled between one large room (capable of holding two dozen people) before going through a quick hallway to the next large room, with no substantial scares or momentum. It's the exact problem I had with the otherwise scenically nice IT promotional maze last year.
EDIT: Also, I don't want to hear any badmouthing WB for using off-the-shelf Immortal masks. Universal has done that for years with HHN, with a number of their generic products featuring VERY heavily this year.
Compound that with the relative lack of actors and huge lack of polish in lighting & sound, and you've got a clumsy, trying-but-not-really-succeeding that can only ride on enthusiasm for a few rooms.
That said, y'all are being really hard on some of the elements. Absolutely agree the lack of music/atmosphere/sound is a huge miss, but the Pennywise masks look fine (they're definitely the high-end Immortal brand). It's certainly better than Jack Torrance at The Shining. In other spots (i.e. Joker), the makeup is truly exemplary.
It's a real shame, as WB had a real opportunity to step up to the plate and humble HHN. They whiffed it, which maybe shouldn't have been a surprise given the ho-hum nature of their smaller haunt last year...
I won't be spending $76 on this. If I can get a comp or a steep discount I'll check it out.
It's fine if you liked it, but it objectively wasn't a very well-constructed narrative (i.e. the building blocks of what makes a movie a movie). The bad reviews/reactions were fairly warranted and substantiated. The fact that it made a ton of money isn't surprising, either - it enjoyed an expensive marketing campaign, a built-in franchise familiarity, and the benefit of deeply entrenched religious iconography.
McDonald's burgers can taste good, and they sell millions. Doesn't mean it's great or better than a sirloin steak.
