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Marathon of Mayhem: Carnage Factory

Brian G.

Editor-in-Chief
Jan 21, 2008
24,680
53,914
Orlando, FL
Jack the Clown will lure guests into a trance, and they’ll awaken in the heart of an insidious factory with pulsing lasers and pounding, electrifying music. Frozen with fear, a nightmare machine will extract guests’ deepest fears one-by-one and project them onto giant water screens, showcasing the notorious Halloween Horror Nights icons and frightening scenes from Netflix’s critically-acclaimed series “The Haunting of Hill House,” the legendary Universal Monsters classic movies and the iconic slasher film, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
 
Texas Chainsaw is a...strange pick for a lagoon show to say the least. Interested to see how this one plays compared to the one in 29. Klownz, Stranger Things, UM, and Ghostbusters fit a more fun energetic vibe than the IPs this year. Beetlejuice definitely could've matched them, but I guess that one won't be coming. Excited to see either way.
 
this show is very abstract. more abstract that I expected.
the 2019 show was very clear and had very clear segments, each property was done well made and unique. you jumped from segment to segment but they were very unique and pretty epic.
amazing colorful visuals, great music. great effects.

this show feels like everything is blended together. yes the segments are different but I was confused at times. I don't really remember the hill house segment. I was paying attention but most of the show is the same color tone as well. kinda dark and Grey.

I liked this show, but it was better in 2019. more enjoyable. funnier, and more epic looking.

this new show feels like a Rob zombie music video kinda. the icons are clearly represented but everything else is kind of abstract. you have the universal monsters like they did in 2019 but not as cool. Texas chainsaw shows up but in a more abstract way. Jack is great but shows up too much. Chance barely shows up like one or twice.
I'm glad they brought it back. but it needed beetlejuice. needed more Chance. needed better scenes from Texas chainsaw
 
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The show is way too loud. I get the rock concert vibes, and I’m not a poo-pooer of loud entertainment, but it’s just an unnecessary assault. Scary isn’t always loud. I also think there was a lack of water tricks in this show, when the water plays at the rest of the scenic to create a fuller scene. Mostly just colors this year except for the bits when the chainsaws “hack” the lagoon. Really enjoyed the announcer bit, too. REALLY suffered in the fact that none of the sequences had strong musical cues from their respective IPs - event Hill House’s song was remixed to the point of an inability to be recognized.
 
The show is way too loud. I get the rock concert vibes, and I’m not a poo-pooer of loud entertainment, but it’s just an unnecessary assault. Scary isn’t always loud. I also think there was a lack of water tricks in this show, when the water plays at the rest of the scenic to create a fuller scene. Mostly just colors this year except for the bits when the chainsaws “hack” the lagoon. Really enjoyed the announcer bit, too. REALLY suffered in the fact that none of the sequences had strong musical cues from their respective IPs - event Hill House’s song was remixed to the point of an inability to be recognized.

about the loud part,
the chainsaws part is a mess, musically, i cant even hear the song in that part. its just a mess. not just because of the chainsaws but the music is a mess
i have ear plugs for this show. i love the songs with the icons. but even jack is too much. i wished the icons talked more


I wonder if the loudness and the dark look of the show is because people said that the 2019 show was too light or too childish.
that might be why beetlejuice is missing.
 
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The TCM portion was my favorite bit with the chainsaws and blood red water. It also seemed to be the most appropriate for loud metal music.

Even though there was no “host,” the last MoM had such an iconic lineup of IPs with great music. The only IP this year with an iconic soundtrack is Beetlejuice, and they couldn’t even secure the rights to use it in the show.

IMO, they tried to do way too much here. It should have strictly been Icons/a retrospective of the event OR IPs. Also, aesthetically everything clashed: graphic novel style art of icons, steampunk/factory, old HHN promo footage, UCM, Hill House, TCM…way too many choices thrown in together. Somehow, KKFoS, ST, GB, and UCM all kind of fit into the last MoM altogether.

Then there’s the writing. Jack justifies the factory being a place to extract your fears several times. Yeah, we get it! You said it up top, Jack. They also don’t explain the wheel of chance bit and it only applies for one IP: UCM. Otherwise, it cuts from Icons to IPs or IP to IP with no other transitions. Just seems like an odd choice to have a bit like that once and no other transitions.
 
The TCM portion was my favorite bit with the chainsaws and blood red water. It also seemed to be the most appropriate for loud metal music.

Even though there was no “host,” the last MoM had such an iconic lineup of IPs with great music. The only IP this year with an iconic soundtrack is Beetlejuice, and they couldn’t even secure the rights to use it in the show.

IMO, they tried to do way too much here. It should have strictly been Icons/a retrospective of the event OR IPs. Also, aesthetically everything clashed: graphic novel style art of icons, steampunk/factory, old HHN promo footage, UCM, Hill House, TCM…way too many choices thrown in together. Somehow, KKFoS, ST, GB, and UCM all kind of fit into the last MoM altogether.

Then there’s the writing. Jack justifies the factory being a place to extract your fears several times. Yeah, we get it! You said it up top, Jack. They also don’t explain the wheel of chance bit and it only applies for one IP: UCM. Otherwise, it cuts from Icons to IPs or IP to IP with no other transitions. Just seems like an odd choice to have a bit like that once and no other transitions.

Totally agree, the Jack bits are strange, because the show positions itself as having an omnipotent narrator from the start, and then randomly (halfway through?) Jack begins to narrate. Feels like they had to make a cut/add filler because of Beetlejuice, whether or not that’s truly the case. Also weird that Chance isn’t brought on to do the Wheel of Chance.

Overall the show feels less constructed and more like a modular piece where designers can pull out or insert different IP each year… which I know isn’t the case, but it’s a shame that the connective tissue/art styles/everything mentioned by JawsVictim was the way it was.
 
I just wish the icons spoke more or were featured more. Im not hating on the show but Jack gets kind of annoying. i like Jack but it's too much.
and I would have even accepted Crypt TV scenes for this show instead of having Jack narrate twice. I don't know what kind of deal they had with Crypt TV, but I would have liked it to show.
also the back buildings aren't use as good as they were used in 2019. one of the best parts of 2019 was the stuff played in the buildings behind the water.

reusing the universal monsters was not that great since we saw them in 2019 and the show lacks color.
it should have focused more on the icons than having the universal monsters again.

I know everybody loves Jack the most, but it's a little too much jack. specially when he's not making sense.
 
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this show is very abstract. more abstract that I expected.
the 2019 show was very clear and had very clear segments, each property was done well made and unique. you jumped from segment to segment but they were very unique and pretty epic.
amazing colorful visuals, great music. great effects.

this show feels like everything is blended together. yes the segments are different but I was confused at times. I don't really remember the hill house segment. I was paying attention but most of the show is the same color tone as well. kinda dark and Grey.

I liked this show, but it was better in 2019. more enjoyable. funnier, and more epic looking.

this new show feels like a Rob zombie music video kinda. the icons are clearly represented but everything else is kind of abstract. you have the universal monsters like they did in 2019 but not as cool. Texas chainsaw shows up but in a more abstract way. Jack is great but shows up too much. Chance barely shows up like one or twice.
I'm glad they brought it back. but it needed beetlejuice. needed more Chance. needed better scenes from Texas chainsaw
When me and my wife finally did this show last night I can’t tell you how bummed we were in the end to realize Beetlejuice was never in it. We were like what the heck happened?!…Big mistake by Universal and just didn’t make sense for whatever reason they decided they didn’t want to do it. It literally felt like if a movie left out the ending lol I was bummed but my wife was definitely let down. The whole show she was smiling expecting that grand finale with Beetlejuice and then when it ended her face completely changed. Huge missed opportunity for Universal!

I just wish the icons spoke more or were featured more. Im not hating on the show but Jack gets kind of annoying. i like Jack but it's too much.
and I would have even accepted Crypt TV scenes for this show instead of having Jack narrate twice. I don't know what kind of deal they had with Crypt TV, but I would have liked it to show.
also the back buildings aren't use as good as they were used in 2019. one of the best parts of 2019 was the stuff played in the buildings behind the water.

reusing the universal monsters was not that great since we saw them in 2019 and the show lacks color.
it should have focused more on the icons than having the universal monsters again.

I know everybody loves Jack the most, but it's a little too much jack. specially when he's not making sense.
Yeah I agree. It felt like they were compensating for not doing Beetlejuice. But totally could’ve shown more of the other Icons or something else. And what’s funny is these types of things don’t usually bother me but the lagoon show was cool just because of what its like but had some huge flaws that I’m sure Universal knew about but just decided not add to or fix. I liked all the houses this year but the shows and some of the scare zones completely missed the mark in my opinion. It’s the 30th anniversary. It should’ve been much bigger. But at the same time I’m very grateful we got Horror Nights this year considering the cancellation of last year..

The TCM portion was my favorite bit with the chainsaws and blood red water. It also seemed to be the most appropriate for loud metal music.

Even though there was no “host,” the last MoM had such an iconic lineup of IPs with great music. The only IP this year with an iconic soundtrack is Beetlejuice, and they couldn’t even secure the rights to use it in the show.

IMO, they tried to do way too much here. It should have strictly been Icons/a retrospective of the event OR IPs. Also, aesthetically everything clashed: graphic novel style art of icons, steampunk/factory, old HHN promo footage, UCM, Hill House, TCM…way too many choices thrown in together. Somehow, KKFoS, ST, GB, and UCM all kind of fit into the last MoM altogether.

Then there’s the writing. Jack justifies the factory being a place to extract your fears several times. Yeah, we get it! You said it up top, Jack. They also don’t explain the wheel of chance bit and it only applies for one IP: UCM. Otherwise, it cuts from Icons to IPs or IP to IP with no other transitions. Just seems like an odd choice to have a bit like that once and no other transitions.
Yeah it was like they had somebody who doesn’t usually edit this stuff or the usual writer they often have. Maybe because of stupid Covid??..I know they didn’t have the chainsaw people by Springfield this year because of shortage of workers this year…
 
When me and my wife finally did this show last night I can’t tell you how bummed we were in the end to realize Beetlejuice was never in it. We were like what the heck happened?!…Big mistake by Universal and just didn’t make sense for whatever reason they decided they didn’t want to do it. It literally felt like if a movie left out the ending lol I was bummed but my wife was definitely let down. The whole show she was smiling expecting that grand finale with Beetlejuice and then when it ended her face completely changed. Huge missed opportunity for Universal!

I'm sure it's a licensing issue, but the show definitely could have used BJ, along with Danny Elfman's score.
 
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