Halloween Horror Nights 2022 (USH): Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[Brian G.]

This thread is for reviews, photos, and videos of HHN 2022.

Please limit all discussions to media and reviews of the event. Any general discussions should be posted in the News & Info or Tips & Tricks threads. Thanks!

 

[Brian G.]

 

[foodstampsFTW]

Opening night rankings without killer klowns, line was too long and I didn’t feel like making the long walk to go do it at the end of the night.

1. Scarecrow
2. La Llorona
3. Weeknd
4. Universal Horror Hotel
5. Halloween
6. Blumhouse
7. Monsters

I did not have a good run of monsters but even with a good run it’ll probably be in the bottom half of the houses this year, Freaky should’ve had its own maze, tram is actually worth doing this year, and the after hours bar is pretty dope. This year is pretty good and I’m definitely excited to make 2 or 3 more trips before it’s all over.

 

[baconwhiskers]

my night one rankings (i value best combo of scenery and scares with a little more emphasis on scares):

top tier amazing
1. scarecrow
2. la llorona
3. halloween (my halloween run was fantastic got every scare)
4. klowns

the very solid but minor gripes
5. monsters (the waste of space with black walls in the middle was a bummer, but scenery and sound design were amazing)
6. blumhouse (freaky part was amazing if you’ve seen the movie, black phone was weak. felt like a good old school hollywood house)

the lack of scares but pretty
7. hotel
8. weeknd

low effort/bad
9. tram (except Nope/Us part, that was awesome and i loved it)

every house was good in its own way but boy did terror tram feel bare and a waste of time except one cool part (Nope), which is the only thing that makes it worth doing. definitely the strongest year since i've been going (2018), only 2019 really rivals it but the houses this time all looked like a budget increase. Scarecrow is definitely the future.

 

[deadbydawn]

Wow, this year is really incredible. I'll just give a quick ranking and some thoughts. As a group, we all decided to skip Halloween initially and thought if we had time towards the end of the event we could check it out. We opted to go through The Weeknd a second time and Legends Collide a third time instead. Sorry Michael!

The Weeknd: I've made it pretty clear here that I am big fan of Abel's music, so this was probably always going to be a front runner for me but it did not disappoint. The effect on the facade was awesome, and the production value just felt insane to me throughout the whole house. It really felt like they used every bit of space they could which was refreshing. The soundtrack was great and I loved that it was inspired by his After Hours music videos, but not exactly 1:1. I'd love to see more houses like this in the future at the event.

Legends Collide: Having loved the Universal Monsters my whole life, I've been really enjoying their presence at Horror Nights. The effects on the mummy, the set design and the overall theme were great. I particularly love the Tom Tyler/Lon Chaney Jr. mummy sequels and there seemed to be a little bit they pulled from those films here which was great. I'm sure I won't be the only person to say that I was a little disappointed to have two pretty decent stretches of black walls in this one. I think my love of monsters outweighs my dislike of the walls, so it's tied for the top spot still.

La Llorona: This version felt like a "best of" the previous houses but also kind of beefed up. Still super scary and the lake scene still is kind of mind blowing to me. I'm glad they brought it back this year.

Scarecrow: This house felt full of scenic and full of actors. It was kind of nonstop the whole time which I appreciated. I never experienced the Orlando version but our whole group really had a good time in this one.

Horrors of Blumhouse: I really liked both of these films, but these Blumhouse houses have yet to really nail it for me. The buzzsaw scene in Freaky was awesome, and I understand why The Black Phone was harder to translate to a house. That being said, I didn't hate this by any means - it just felt sort of middle of the road to me.

Terror Tram: Generally, the Terror Tram is at the bottom of my list but I really like the vintage Halloween theme and party setting they went with. The die cuts and the costumes were awesome. Walking through the Nope set was neat I think it was smart of them to combine it with Us (and even some nods to Get Out). I still think that the novelty of the Terror Tram is kind of over for me and it's more of a time sink than anything else.

Universal Horror Hotel: Admittedly did not have a great run through of this house, but what I will say is the old Walking Dead space will be a great venue for houses in the future. This scope of this felt one felt really big.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: I might get some flak for this opinion but I don't love this film. I actually re-watched it again this week as a refresher, and while the house translates the film pretty perfectly, there wasn't much of a change from the previous time we had it at the event.

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

First impressions out the gate! I'll go at least twice more and obviously it will change but immediate reactions:

Weeknd (2x): A-
Killer Klowns: In general, it's an A-; in the context of this year, it's a C.
Monsters (2x): B-
Terror Tram: Jordan Peele stuff is an A-, the rest is more C+/B- level.
Halloween: A-
Scarecrow (2x): I wanted to love it, but it's a C+ currently. It's a TCM overlay with more burlap. But that one scare -- you know which -- is killer.
La Llorona (2x): A. First run was the best of the night for our group. Just phenomenally great.
Universal Horror Hotel: B
Blumhouse: C. Started out strong -- the Freaky section was clever and intense -- but man does it crater during Black Phone.

I'll be back in October!! Hopefully it's much cooler then.

 

[Freak]

Now that I have time to post after coming back, here is my review of the houses and event this year! (In order of what I've accomplished):

The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare: Had no idea whatsoever what to expect so it was nice going in blind. I got a pretty good runthrough of this. Got some really good scares in the Blinding Lights room, which felt like the kind of room I would expect in an Orlando house! Very disorienting and well-done! Also appreciated that there were virtually no black walls in here. It was also refreshing because this felt like a house you would see from early 2010's HHN: Very gritty, mature, and in-your-face. Enjoyed this more than I thought I would and is probably my favorite house in SS 29. Got lots of "Welcome to My Nightmare" but-on-a-grander-scale vibes in here.

Grade: A

Universal Monsters: Legends Collide: While this is unfortunately the biggest offender of the "black walls" this year, this was a really solid house. I got some good scares in the first half, but the second half up to the end of the graveyard was kinda ruined for me because there was some girl in front of my who was scared out of her mind and refused to move. To make it worse, her boyfriend was pointing out where all the scareactors were gonna pop out at. I got tired of dealing with them so I squeezed past them while they were stuck. They were both creating an annoying conga line of stopping and jumping back. I liked the scenic in here as it really felt like a big British warehouse from the 19th century. Anubis was really cool but why'd they have to have him in a black hallway? Would it have killed them to put a little detail in here as well as that long black hallway?

Grade: B-

Halloween: At this point, we skipped Klowns since the line happened to be longer than the Weekend at this point and it was a repeat. Decided to come back later to do it until the line died down and go up to the Curious George area. I already discussed the line situation in the "tips and trick" thread so you can read it there. I was a little soured by the experience so it kinda effected my enjoyment of this a little bit. Well it was fine. Got some good scares, but it's literally the same as the 2015 house with some tweaks. Been there, done that. Time to give the shape a break. A LONG break.

Grade: C

Scarecrow: The Reaping: I am really thankful to have gone to Orlando's house from 2017, one of my favorite Orlando houses ever. I was a little doubtful that they would be able to recapture the same intensity that the Orlando house had, but holy cheeseballs this was good! Really good! This might have made my top 5 list of best houses HHN Hollywood has ever done. The scenic was absolutely gorgeous in this house and the cast was on FIRE. Not to mention, it felt very gritty and dark just like HHN of old. There was one scene where there was a pause in the conga line (Won't say where to not spoil too much). I was kinda zoned out not paying attention. Then about ten seconds in while I was spaced out, one of the scarecrows came OUT OF THE FREAKING WALL and gave me the best scare of the night! They actually got creative with the kind of scares that were in here and made the booholes well hidden! The way everything was designed from the sets to the scare tactics really stood out from the whole event. If you were to put a gun to my head and say "Which is better? Orlando's or Hollywood's Scarecrow? Answer NOW", I would say Orlando's. But my expectations have been exceeded for this and they came very close to recapturing the magic from Orlando's 2017 house. Well done. We need more houses like this here in Hollywood. Clearly the winner of the event.

Grade: A+

Terror Tram: While I used to hate the Terror Tram, it's absence from 2019 and 2020 made me appreciate it more for what it is (But last year's tram sucked). Tram lives or dies by the cast. While I went in not expecting much, I enjoyed tram! Actors were great and there was a clear effort to freshen it up a little. Walking the Nope sets were really cool. Loved the effect when all the actors would freeze and look up whenever Jean Jacket was "above" us. While the Tram is just the Tram, it was cool getting a bonus section. Really had fun.

Grade: B

Universal Horror Hotel: Hit this up since the line was painfully short. I was really curious about this house since I was really wondering what the space looked like post-TWDA. It was cool they had a little queue video to tell the story, I was kinda disappointed how there was no theming in the queue at all until where the house started. It felt like a big missed opportunity to use that bare-bones and eerily quiet indoor queue line as a lobby. Even a few picture frames and some signs and maybe some lighting fixtures would've gone a long way. It felt like I was waiting in line for some indy haunt in Orange County that used an old warehouse or retail space to operate. While I digress, onto the house itself: I liked this. No black walls were great even though it did feel a little repetitive with the numerous hallways with room numbers on it. I got an okay runthrough of this, but some of the more spacious rooms were poorly designed to where you could see the scares coming from a mile away so it wasn't as effective. But when there were scares, there were good scares. Also, moderate spoiler, when you go into "the basement" of the hotel, it becomes really obvious where they reused the same walls as TWDA. They even kept the iron catwalk that was from the prison scene, which i felt was kind of interesting. I walked through the hallway, looked up, and saw the catwalk. But yeah, good house. The venue felt MUCH larger than what TWDA originally seemed to show. I see lots of good potential with this venue and hope they use it for more grand-scale houses in future events. They can reuse that iron catwalk for some cool scenic effects if they get creative enough. But until then, not a bad first post-TWDA house for this venue.

Grade: B-

La Llorona: The Weeping Woman: Being a veteran HHNH fan, I'm thankful for being able to have gone through the first two renditions. The first iteration is still in my top 5. This was essentially the same with elements of 2011 and 12 put together, but more compact and spiffed up. I was really impressed with how much mileage they got with the limited space in the venue. Oh, and finally no black hallway of death transitioning into the actual courtyard. Having some actual scenic in that hallway goes a long way. Once again, a great throwback to HHN of old when the event felt a lot grittier and dark.While nothing will top the 2011 OG since it's dang near impossible to recapture that same amount of greatness and novelty that the original did, I would put this above the 2012 version. Thrilled my sister got to experience it who was too young at the time as well as a whole new generation of HHN fans who can see why we loved it so much. Once again, very few black walls.

Grade: B

The Horrors of Blumhouse: Yeah, more like the Ho-Hum of Blumhouse....or the Ho of Humhouse whichever you prefer, although the latter sounds kinda weird. ANYWAY, I didn't expect much, and I still enjoyed it. Surprisingly not a lot of black walls....except for that one scene from Freaky that used a scrim pretty well. But Blumhouse was Blumhouse. Nothing to write home about but it was fun. I think this is the strongest of the three Blumhouse renditions.

Grade: B-

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: Well, I went back downstairs to do this since the wait died out. Literally the exact same house from 2019 but 1) The whole layout was mirrored, which I felt was interesting. 2) More felt "cut out". Also, a lot of people have complained that the cast was kind of out of it due to the heat and the massive suits, but I got a pretty good runthrough. Still, this was the weakest of the whole event for me. Not as good as 2019 and felt a repeat was kind of unnecessary. Oh well.

Overall: C-

Overall thoughts: Man I really liked this year! While I hesitate to say this year is outstanding, this was a very solid year overall. The biggest thing holding me back from calling this an outstanding year was all of the repeats (Halloween, Klowns, and LL). LL I'm willing to forgive as that house was great and it's been ten years since they've done it, but Halloween and Klowns was pretty annoying to repeat.

I like how they listened to a lot more to the fans this year: There is far less "dead space" this year thanks to the hidden scarezones (Death Eaters and Forbidden Forest), roaming stiltwalker, improved Tram, improved food options, more original content, improved scare tactics, less black walls, and the addition of the Death Eaters from Potter! Death Eaters was fantastic seeing in Wizarding World. Had it not been for the repeats, I would say this would rival 2016 greatness (Hot take I know). I also felt like the event kinda going back to its roots of grittiness and being more in-your-face. It felt like there was less "fluff" than what we had from the late 2010's with Ghostbusters and Stranger Things.

But yeah, I had a great time this year and look forward to my return next week! Hoping to go back a couple more times in October as well!

House rankings as of now:

1) Scarecrow
2) Weeknd
3) Monsters
4) La Llorona
5) Hotel
6) Blumhouse
7) Halloween
8) Klowns

 

[chris.g]

*sigh*

I cant believe I'm saying this guys, I'm a little disappointed with this year so far...

Scarecrow was the biggest disappointment for me. Way too linear, boo holes to the max, predictable, LOUD and just too obvious with what was coming next. At one point the scares feel annoying rather than effective, being a matter of when rather than where. As far as immersion, this killed it set wise, but I don't know... I felt like I saw everything coming...

The Weeknd was a real real treat. Very fun and hardcore and like someone said above, mature. Felt reminiscent of the Silent Hill house that I so desperately wish we could bring back. It was unique and unpredictable while providing for some effective scenes. Very impressed here.

Killer Klowns was exactly the same. Some set tweaks but seriously, very heartless compared to its first run. Almost like the cast didnt seem to be into it.

Universal Horror Hotel was actually another disappointment scare wise, with everything being predictable or triggered by sound. Where is the tension in this? Sad too as it had a very great build up and the story has lots of potential. The corridors felt endless at the beginning as well. Sure there's no black walls, but does some minimally themed hallway do a world of a difference?

La Llorona. Incredible. Simply amazing how this felt and was able to be executed. Lots of variety in delivery, in tone, in set design and costumes. It was almost perfect. It suffers from a lot of the loud blaring and triggered scares that I've complained about already, but at least here its very appropriately executed.

Universal Monsters was also beautiful. Very very impressive in terms of what was able to fit into this space, and while some of the effects felt a bit cheesy, I felt the storyline and scares were great in this. It does suffer a bit from under utilization with the house being left much to appreciation but I think with a few tweaks this is definitely ties with La Llorona for me for House of the Year...

Halloween was also interesting, but I think they need to tone down the mannerisms of Michael here. His scare actors are too in your face where as Myers is slow, menacing, and ever omnipresent as an intimidating force because of his hesitations rather than being seen as oncoming, despite being inevitable. I think with some improvement this would be a very good house, but the actors playing Michael bring it down a LOT. Some nail it, others think they're nailing it.

Didn't do Blumhouse. Skipped Terror Tram. Death Eaters was awesome. The scare zones were heavy atmospheric. I will come back at least twice but right now, oof... I'm not as enthralled as I hoped to be...

Rankings

1) La Llorona
2) Universal Monsters
3) The Weeknd
4) Halloween
5) Scarecrow
6) Uni Horror Hotel (tied)
6) Killer Klowns (tied)

 

[DTH]

I will come back at least twice but right now, oof... I'm not as enthralled as I hoped to be...

Cheer up, bud, you gave 4 mazes relatively good reviews! IMO, that's better than most years lol Plus you still have 2 more attractions to see. And it can only get better from here. I know Scarecrow was highly anticipated, but it'll all work out!

 

[chris.g]

Yeah, I think its still a good year. It's the most Halloween-y I've felt at HHN in years, the houses themselves just definitely didnt land for me. I so desperately wanted Scarecrow to rock! Hopefully it will on my next visit.

 

[baconwhiskers]

Scarecrow was the biggest disappointment for me. Way too linear, boo holes to the max, predictable, LOUD and just too obvious with what was coming next. At one point the scares feel annoying rather than effective, being a matter of when rather than where. As far as immersion, this killed it set wise, but I don't know... I felt like I saw everything coming...

I thought this maze did the best job in scaring you since they rly felt everywhere. Walls would come a part in places for them to get you vs it being mostly some end of the hallway or coming out of the corner type scare.

The weeknd on the other hand was how you describe this one for my run, it was bare, all predictable, and easily seen minus one room.

 

[DTH]

*This is a spoiler review*

INTRO
Entering, and even in City Walk, the Halloween atmosphere has definitely been amped. There are TWO Halloween stores and the Studio Store is filled with various merch. I give major kudos to Universal for finally listening to the reviews to make this event FEEL more like Halloween time. The overall presence of Halloween-ness around the park was very appreciated as well. Way less dead zones, although I will say something is still needed on the lower lot, but I’ll give it a pass for now since they have Killer Known BBQ and The Weeknd bar. Lined up at the gates at 4pm and it was surprisingly empty. They didn’t let us in until about 5:15pm and headed straight for The Weeknd…

THE WEEKND: AFTER HOURS NIGHTMARE
Advertised Wait: 90 minutes
Time in Line: 5:38pm
In the Maze: 6:23pm
Actual Wait: 45 minutes

They play some Weeknd music videos while waiting in line, which I appreciate, and I was waiting for something to lend itself to the horror atmosphere. At some point, the music slows down and I thought, “oh, here we go.” But then…that’s all it does. Slows down for a few seconds then goes back to normal. And I am sad to say, the maze music is pretty much the same. I didn’t get much of the “horror-version” sense as I did with other musician mazes. Speaking of which, I have never been a fan of them. How does this fare in comparison? I am sad to report, I am still very much not a fan. I was very hesitant even hearing about this idea and while they clearly put a HUGE budget into this maze — it’s one of the best looking ones this year, for sure — the scares and atmosphere overall are fairly weak. My main gripe is most of the scares are repetitive. Mannequin scare in almost every room. Is this really it? What am I missing here? Other than the cosmetic surgery room, which we’ve seen in a maze before (was it Alice Cooper?) and some creepy toad men, I was bored. My friends liked it, but weren’t extremely enthusiastic, but just enough to enjoy their time but I think they just boogied with the music, not necessarily scared. I literally just don’t understand how this works for Horror Nights when there’s so many other properties and ideas they could do. I have the hardest time even calling this horror. I think, “maybe I’m just a grandpa,” but I love The Weeknd! Facade was…fine. Performances were pretty good, there was a dancing Abel really hitting the moves in there. For me, this all comes to the scares, and there’s just way too many mannequin scares in almost every room. I came in with a “really?” And left with an even harder, “really?!” I wanted this maze to prove me wrong, but if it weren’t for some repeats this year, it’d be dead last.

C-

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: LEGENDS COLLIDE
Advertised Wait: 60 minutes
Time in Line: 6:33pm
In the Maze: 7:22pm
Actual Wait: 49 minutes

I think the story set up with the video needs to happen much earlier, maybe if they could project somewhere, but I had no idea what was being said, and I barely got to see it. For the most part, I think I follow the story. I do have to say, the Universal Monsters mazes have always been on point and this is one is no different. However, I will say it is one of the weaker ones so far. The maze in itself is fine, but there’s somewhat of a “been there, done that” feel to it. Granted, we’ve never had so much Mummy, but after Bride of Frankenstein last year, I was really hoping we’d venture into some interesting stories. While the narrative is unique here, it feels same-y as things I’ve seen before. I’d love Creature from the Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, or see what they could do with Invisible Man. And who cleared the Dracula design here? It looks like a children’s mask. This felt like Horror Nights to me though, the sets were beautiful, the atmosphere was thick, and the scares were pretty fierce. I could see this one getting a lot better throughout the run.

B

DEATH EATERS
These guys were so on their game, getting in your face with their wands, it was incredible how aggressive they were. For such a limited space, they truly owned it. The lights and sounds were a nice touch, and for it being a bonus zone, honestly felt like a highlight for me. I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan, but it was the talent involved here that elevated it.

HALLOWEEN
Advertised Wait: 60 minutes
Time in Line: 7:51pm
In the Maze: 9:05pm
Actual Wait: 74 minutes

My experience was soured by operations as the same thing that happened to Freak happened to me: I got to the front of the line and saw the hold up: I was literally on that last little spot and was held there for 10 minutes as they let in Express. How is this okay? On top of that, the Curious George parking lot is the absolute worst muggy heat while waiting. I honestly thought my night was ruined by how slow and hot this line was. And to top it off…the maze SUCKED. Halloween 4’s repeat last year saw some interesting additions and improvements. This not only was the same as 2015, but somehow WORSE — in design. What about the scare actors? None of them cared. Nobody was going for it. Just lumbering around slow. It’s bad enough they repeated the worse version of the first Halloween maze (the 09 version is FAR superior), but they couldn’t even put some gusto into it. I’m forgiving of repeats, but this was scraping the bottom of the barrel — just lazy on all accounts. If you can skip anything this year, let this be the one. I wish I did, because we missed a maze (Killer Klowns) and I sure wish I did that one instead.

F

DINNER
Was going to hit Scarecrow next but the line was 90 minutes, it was 9:00pm and my group was dying. And after that terrible experience, I can’t blame them. We needed energy so we hit Three Broomsticks. I still highly recommend this as oddly the most empty place you can find dinner in the park and also the best value.

UNIVERSAL HORROR HOTEL
Advertised Wait: 45 minutes
Time Line: 10:11pm
In the Maze: 10:35pm
Actual Wait: 24 minutes

Literally right after I got out of this maze and waited for La Llorona, this maze was at a zero minute wait. It was completely empty. I didn’t see anyone go in for long stretches of time. It was weird. Anyway, on to the maze…

I wasn’t expecting much, but this totally took me by surprise and ROCKED it from the moment it started. The little pre-show hanging started it off on a great note and the tub scene was fantastic too. After that, it was just pure chaos of story being thrown at us, that it was so hard to take it all in. The queue video tries to set things up nicely and from what I saw (the line was going QUICK by it), it set it up pretty well for me to gleam what was happening. The more I went into the maze, the more it felt like a labyrinth into madness. I hadn’t read any glowing reviews for this yet, so I was shocked, because this was by far my favorite so far (and spoiler alert: it edges out to be my number 1 for the event this year). The scares come from every angle in some rooms and everything just felt downright creative. For this to be a last minute replacement of Evil Dead Rise, I never would’ve known. It felt so grand in scope, it felt like the plan all along. And the length: wow, what a long maze! As soon as I thought it would end, it would just keep going and get scarier and scarier. Do not skip this one!

A

LA LLORONA: THE WEEPING WOMAN
Advertised Wait: 55 minutes
Time in Line: 10:41pm
In the Maze: 11:32pm
Actual Wait: 51 minutes

This line was moving super fast and then came to a halt at the last little bit as they let in Express. This is such a huge problem this year, it’s not even funny. The maze was going to be at most maybe 20 minutes and then 31 extra minutes were added for that final stretch before going in. I thought I wasn’t going to make Terror Tram for a second. Anyway, if you’ve seen this maze before, it’s still rockin’ like you remember! It’s been 10 years since the last La Llorona sighting and it still holds strong. The novelty may be gone for some of us, but my friends were absolutely terrified. I wouldn’t quite call it a best of ’11 and ’12’s version, as I think ’12’s version is the absolute best rendition of this maze. The horse stuff was missing in the ’12 version and it wasn’t necessarily missed. In some ways, it almost felt out of context here. Unfortunately, I think we hit a cast switch toward the second half of the maze because most of the talent was gone and nobody was in the bed being eaten. I will say that I wish they kept the prosthetic look of La Llorona as the face paint just isn’t quite as scary. For a repeat, this had great energy. This also made me realize what all the mazes are lacking this year — jaw dropping finales. They all kinda just…end. This one has that giant monster at the end that makes you run out, which I really appreciate. I don’t know why all the mazes this year don’t go for the big scare in the finale, but it really made me miss it when that was a thing and La Llorona was part of the evolution of that at HHNH in 2011 along with The Thing. Anyway, still a good maze, it’s just seen better days.

B-

 

[DTH]

TERROR TRAM: Featuring NOPE and Us
Advertised Wait: 30 minutes
Time in Line: 11:39pm
In the Maze: 11:54pm
Actual Wait: 15 minutes

Was one of the last few to hit the tram and I am glad we got it with a short wait (it was 90 minutes at some point) because wow, is this just one of the most boring trams ever. The video is re-used and the scare grounds were mostly empty. There were long stretches of just no one. The few that were there, I do give props to, but the theme of it all felt so thin (ZERO mention of NOPE or Us in the tram video or by the guide). If it weren’t for the NOPE+Us section, I would say it was easily the worst Tram I have ever been on. And that’s not even me being bitter by poor operations in the line or by people guiding the hill (because everything went smoothly), it was all just…bland. And what was included…like a DJ on the Psycho set? Really? Anyway, let’s just talk about the good stuff…

The NOPE and Us portion was pretty awesome. This is the best addition to the tram in years. I can’t wait to see what else they do here. The Us characters were ALL great, I didn’t see one single one of them not scaring the hell out of people. There was even a Get Out reference here with an Us character holding the tea cup and that was a VERY nice touch. Also loved the prank aliens from the movie on the sides. And when the UFO came and they all went still — absolutely eerie. Loved every second of that. Honestly, if they had just let me off at the NOPE set, I would’ve been very happy just to go through that. Usually I am very forgiving of the tram, but it hasn’t been this bankrupt of creativity since they did Walking Dead 3 years in a row. Go for the NOPE part, that easily was one of the highlights of my night.

C+

SCARECROW: THE REAPING
Advertised Wait: 70 minutes
Time in Line: 12:40am
In the Maze: 1:11am
Actual Wait: 31 minutes

Came all the way back over here because I had to see Scarecrow since it was my most anticipated. And boy, did it not disappoint! Well, it could’ve been better, but at least it had some really awesome scenes that kid who likes corn is going to love, at least. I saw someone say this was a Texas Chainsaw Massacre clone and I honestly could see that through the whole maze — it needed a little more variation. Honestly, this maze reminded me of a weird mashup between Pumpkin Eater and Cornstalkers at Knotts. And I hate to say those mazes, when they are on their A-game, are better than this maze. I think just conceptually, it is hard not to be derivative, but they could’ve tried to be a bit more creative. Another complaint I saw was that the scares can be seen from a mile away — I agree for the first half, that they need to hide those scares a bit better. Why they chose those spots is beyond me, they are so out in the open, it’s hilarious. Stand out moments is the bird poop scene and then a crazy section where there were 3 or 4 scarecrows just going crazy in one room with their pop outs. I loved it, but I think I could’ve loved it more. I think it has potential to be an all time great, it just needs some tweaks. Right now, Hotel edges it out, but this is a very strong second place that can become first place if it makes all the right moves.

A-

HORRORS OF BLUMHOUSE: VOL 3
Advertised Wait: 65 minutes
Time in Line: 1:36am
In the Maze: 2:06am
Actual Wait: 30 minutes

We were debating which maze we were going to skip, because we weren’t going to have time, and I personally voted Klowns since I had seen it before and the repeats so far on this night weren’t exactly my favorites. I have heard Klowns was exactly the same and after Halloween and La Llorona, I was inclined to believe that 100%.

First Blumhouse maze was pretty bad other than Sinister. Second one was surprisingly amazing. This one? Somewhere in the middle. I liked the Freaky section a lot more than I thought I would. The beginning is pretty dead though and the title card moments really drop the energy with no scares associated with them. I do think the buzz saw scene and the chainsaw moments really elevate this though.

Black Phone feels like 2 rooms and then turns into pop outs. It’s…okay. I give it to the talent for making it work, because design-wise, it’s pretty bare bones. Really loved the moment walking by The Grabber in the kitchen. If you get the right timing of it, it’s pretty perfect if you pretend you have to be quiet to go by him.

It’s good for some quick jolts, but the maze isn’t going to change the industry. You won’t regret it, at least, but it’s the perfect “down the middle” maze. Do it while it’s short or at the end of the night.

B-

CONCLUSION
I’d say overall it’s a good year for HHN, but the quality is wildly inconsistent throughout the night depending on your maze order. Also depends if you boogie with The Weeknd, as I know I am in the minority of not caring for that maze. Also depends if you’ve gone through La Llorona, Halloween, or Killer Klowns before. Lines are HELL all over and we didn’t have time for all the mazes. I am honestly surprised we even only missed one because I was fairly certain at some point, we’d have to miss 2. Luckily things calmed down in the last 2 hours. Scarezones and atmosphere overall are good, El Pueblo and Death Eaters being my stand outs just because they are interesting. El Pueblo had an insane amount of scare actors for such a small area. I hope they keep it that populated.

RANKING:
Universal Horror Hotel - A
Scarecrow: The Reaping - A-
Universal Monsters: Legends Collide - B
Horrors of Blumhouse: Vol 3 - B-
La Llorona: The Weeping Woman - B-
Terror Tram: Featuring NOPE and Us - C+
The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare - C-
Halloween - F

 

[Freak]

Yeah I hope they resolve the line situation for this coming week. I despise this policy of emptying Express before letting one or two groups from standby in.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Thank you @DTH

Love the time in line kinda review. Helps me plan for tonight so its much appreciated

 

[baconwhiskers]

Halloween is extremely hit or miss it seems. My first run was super aggressive and fun which shocked me as it was my least anticipated but then my second run was so off timed and i got no scares lol It’s the house with the worst line management that i’ve seen.

Also klowns after thursday has been pretty bad, lots of missing scares and the pizza box is broken, must’ve been the rain.

 

[Rub]

Alright, finished my second night of HHN and have finally done everything that is offered this year at least once. I do want to begin by mentioning that my current rankings are most definitely going to change around as the season progresses, as they do every year. The first few times I do mazes, the ones that scared me the most, which could be a result of a good or bad walkthrough, will be higher on the list. Once I do the mazes more and more, I have time to also factor in set design, audio, special effects, and other factors.

Before I rank the mazes, I do want to mention the terror tram briefly. The terror tram this year is my least favorite experience again, because there are practically no scares at all. I always view the tram as a hybrid of a maze and a scare zone, because you have to move along a linear path but have all the space as you do in a scare zone. It's cool if you want to walk along the sets of the backlot, but it is not intense at all. It has the same layout as all of the other trams, but the lack of interesting costume design makes this one feel bland. The highlight is the added Jupiter's Claim area, as I felt that the actors were playing their roles quite well and it thematically worked. I personally think the tram is burned out and needs a complete new layout, or should simply be swapped for one or two extra mazes.

8. KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE
I really wanted to love this maze as much as I enjoyed the previous version, but alas it wasn't meant to be. The facade was great but the scares didn't deliver whatsoever. This maze feels more "fun" than scary, which should never be the aim of a horror nights maze in my opinion. The clowns weren't able to hide due to their large costumes and the maze felt to be short in length as well. This was low on my anticipation list since I had already done it before, but this version does not do the last one any justice. (C-)

7. UNIVERSAL HORROR HOTEL
This was the wild card for this year's event, and it was an interesting maze indeed. The pre-show was a brilliant addition and the theme worked very well for a maze. It is very hard to tell that this maze was slapped together as a last-minute replacement as the theming is fantastic. The reason this is lower on the list is because the scares are too predictable and repetitive. The hotel owner feels like the only one who keeps scaring us, but some of the effects are cool. The costume design is great and some of the effects were awesome too. I just have a hard time getting scared in this one as the scaring locations are painfully obvious to notice. (C-)

6. THE HORRORS OF BLUMHOUSE
I entered this maze having watched both Freaky and The Black Phone recently, expecting to see some cool moments of the films. Freaky did not disappoint at all. It felt extremely accurate to the film and the actors were well chosen to represent the characters. Many cool effects and scenes in this segment which were all appreciated. The Black Phone was slightly underwhelming, even though it is the better film in my opinion. They should have added many more scenes from the film than they did, but they couldn't because they dedicated most of the maze for Freaky. Honestly, they should have just chosen one film and made an entire maze on that, instead of trying to cram two movies into one maze. However, I did like Freaky so much and predict that this maze could end up being in the top half of my list as the season progresses. (B-)

5. HALLOWEEN
Michael Myers proves that even though he is at the event time and time again, people never get tired of him. Boasting on of the longest lines throughout the night, this maze was absolutely enjoyable and intense. Perhaps we got a good walkthrough on this maze, but it was packed with scares all throughout. The actors were aggressive, the eerie music was present, and the maze was good. Nothing new that hasn't been seen before. (B-)

4. UNIVERSAL MONSTERS: LEGENDS COLLIDE
This was a great Universal Monsters maze, just like all of the previous versions have been. This is not my favorite and do not think it will be, but has some awesome sets nonetheless. The scares in this one are amplified with multiple monsters jumping at you at once. Slash's score is great as always and the house is filled with lots of cool details. It does end abruptly without some sort of a comprehensive ending, but it is a great maze regardless. The facade is my favorite from this year's houses without a doubt. (B)

3. LA LLORONA: THE WEEPING WOMAN
This maze is quite intense. We got a subpar walkthrough on our first day, but our second walkthrough made it clear how great of a maze this truly is. Fantastic imagery and scenery. The storyline is great, starting from the church where the children are buried all the way to the lake where the children are drowned. It feels like there are two halves to it. The first is La Llorona in "human" form, and the second is in "monster" form. Lots of cool characters and scares in this maze, and it isn't one to be missed this year. (B+)

2. THE WEEKND: AFTER HOURS NIGHTMARE
I do enjoy the songs from The Weeknd, so I had this highly ranked in my anticipation list and it did not disappoint. The storytelling as we entered the worlds of each of his songs was amazingly done and the scares were aplenty throughout the maze. The cosmetic surgery room, mannequin lounge, and mirror section were all highlights in this maze. It's one of the more colorful and brighter mazes this year, alongside Killer Klowns, but still manages to be scary. It is evident that a lot of care and work went into the creation of this maze and am glad that we finally have a good maze in Soundstage 29. The line gets long, but is a must-do this year. (A)

1. SCARECROW: THE REAPING
Going first on this maze was the perfect was to go along as this one scared everything out of me. So much stuff-in-face to move around and great scenes throughout. The scare locations were well hidden and the scareactors were quick and in-your-face. The costumes are awesome, the scenes are jaw-dropping, and the atmosphere sends chills down the spine. Overall, a fantastic and creepy maze that is simply phenomenal. (A+)

Overall, this was a great year as I don't think there were any real duds. Lots of cool atmospheric changes and additions make the event feel more full and complete. The scare zones are good, but El Pueblo del Terror is particularly great. Lots of cool costume designs in that zone. This is one of the best years for HHN we have had in a long time.

 

[StopMakingSense]

Went Friday night in the rain and overall had a good time. Lots of operational problems that even having express unlimited couldn’t help avoid. My rankings:

1 - Weeknd - I’m not even a fan really of the music, but I went in with an open mind. I ended up going through three times and loved it every time. Really a beautiful, fun, mature maze. A+

2 - La Llorona - there was a lot of hype leading up to this one and I thought it lived up to it. An amazing maze and the one maze that the rain actually helped. The outdoor scene with the kids face down in the water looked amazing in the rain. A+

3 - Legends Collide - not the scariest, and I couldn’t tell at all how the story tied out with Orlando’s. I thought this was supposed to be a sequel to that maze, but that maze ended with Drac and the Wolfman both dead. I don’t recall actually ever seeing the legends colliding in Hollywood's version either. Nonetheless, the facade and the inside scenic were amazing! There was one stretch of black walls toward the end that killed it for some people, but it wasn’t a big deal to me. I really enjoyed this one. B

4 - Scarecrow - I liked the maze, the set designs were fantastic. I thought it was missing some scares though and it didn’t feel like it tied in with the backstory enough. After I went through it I assumed this would be at or near the top of a lot of lists, but it just wasn't all the way there for me. C+

5 - Klowns - this was my favorite in 2018, this year was disappointing. It seemed quiet and a little worn. The location did it no favors at all. It was a zoo trying to get into it, and then a cluster trying to get out of it through the soundstage. They also closed it down two different times, both of which I was standing in line. The second time they closed it down, they sent the entire queue through the soundstage to leave without opening up the barricades at all. It took about 15 minutes just to exit back out into the lower lot. Brutal! But I did manage one run earlier in the night and it was completely underwhelming. May have been related to the operational issues they were clearly experiencing, but it just was not the same maze it was in 2018. C-

6 - Halloween - a pretty fun maze, exactly what you’d expect to see. Some of it felt bland and underwhelming, other scenes felt very well done. After watching Orlando's walkthrough, I felt a little jaded about ours. But ultimately I had fun. C-

7 - Universal Hotel - I was not a fan. Rooms were huge and scares were minimal. It felt sloppy and thrown together at the last minute (which it apparently was). D

8 - Blumhouse - terrible. Just awful. My least favorite HHN maze of all time. F

Finally, the Tram was pretty lame. Walking through the Nope set was cool, everything else was entirely forgettable. I was looking forward to the theme but it turned out pretty cheesy. They would have been better served theming the entire thing to Us/Nope instead of just the second half.

 

[DTH]

Dang, sad to see nobody else liking Hotel. I thought it was the clear stand out design-wise and I had a great run through it, to the point I felt like I was missing details. Really glad I've been able to watch walkthroughs on YouTube so I can appreciate it.

Also don't understand why people keep saying Weeknd is a gritty, mature dark maze like HHN of old days. I literally feel like I am going through a completely different maze than the rest of y'all. There's like 4 rooms of mannequin scares and then some toad people.

 

[Rideguy70]

I generally really like Legends (long black corridor aside), but I feel both times I've gone so far, I've completely mis-timed a lot of the scares... so while I'm enjoying the set design a lot, I feel like I've not yet had the complete experience. I could say the same for Klownz (which I've only done once Sunday night).

I've only done Hotel once, but I enjoyed it. Does it reach the same level as the others? To me, no. But it's not the worst, either. For me, the biggest issue is they build it up as a vintage hotel from the 30/s40s, but it kinda looks more 70s bland. I think I agree that some of the rooms may be a bit too large to be effective. However, I do find it interesting how much longer it feels compared to TWD that was in there for years.

I don't actually hate Blumhouse. Again, it's weak by comparison, and the repetitive ending is a complete waste. But the humor of Freaky actually worked for me. Was I scared a lot? Not really. But was I entertained? I mostly was! This is the closest they've come to a successful humorous maze.

And Tram... it's tram. I appreciate they tried something different, and I do like the vintage Halloween party touches in the beginning. The first night I did it, there was not a single scare actor in the "Bad Cat Section", but they were out in force the second night I went. To me, it's totally worth it for the Nope/Us section. Those scareactors there are just killing it. And I love seeing the Jupiter's Claim employees--I didn't expect that. The set choreography of all them freezing and staring up in unison is chilling. In terms of scareactors, it's between Nope/Us and Scarecrows that are just ruling the event.

While I'm still frustrated with how line management has been so far (though it seems to be gradually improving), that is balanced out by the fact the entire event feels more full with both the Haunted Forest and Death Eaters now making nearly the entire upper lot a scarezone.