Alright. Just did my one and only night at this year's Halloween Horror Nights this past Saturday. And here is my rankings:
For those of you who don't remember or just don't want to look back at the "Most Anticipated Houses", here's my list:
My pre-HHN rankings:
1. Havoc: Derailed (I loved the original house and I have high hopes for the sequel)
2. The Cabin In The Woods (I enjoyed the movie and the ending of this house should be great)
3. Urban Legends: La Llorana (A well executed house from Hollywood move to Orlando. Lets hope it'll be better than last years export from Hollywood, "Alice Cooper: Welcome To My Nightmare")
4. The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven (I HATED The Walking Dead House last year. The actor were in the open, the wore plastic masks that were very cheap and fake looking instead of makeup from the Universal Horror Crew and were in the cramped Disaster Quene to try and fit two seasons worth of content into. Now they are in the parade warehouse. Hopefully they can turn it around.)
5. Afterlife: Death's Vengeance (Could be great or it could suck. Just going to have to wait and see.)
6. Resident Evil: Escape From Raccoon City (I know nothing about the franchise besides the fact that the movies suck. I know it's game based, but I've never played it. Silent Hill was a huge letdown for me last year and I think that's why I'm not high on Resident Evil as others are.)
7. Evil Dead (Saw the movie and its just a gore fest. I just don't know what to think about this house yet. It could suck or it could be "Groovy")
8. An American Werewolf In London (Ok. I just got done watching "An American Werewolf In London". I know others enjoy this movie and I'm not here to **** on your opinions of the movie. However, I thought this movie was incredibly boring from start to finish. Yes, the transformation scene was good, but it took forever to get to. For a werewolf movie, I think the "werewolf" was used for all of 15-20 minutes of this movie. The rest was a guy in a hospital bed with bizarre nightmares and being haunted by his friend, male ass shots and watching porno at Picadilli Square. Seriously, if I didn't know any better, I'd think this was a soft core pornonabout a werewolf. Plus the movie ends so abruptly that its jarring. I was looking forward to this house because of the hype the HHN Community has been giving it, but I think this house is going to suck big time. Could anyone explain what I missed in this movie that is going to make this a good house?)
Now here's my rankings from Worst to First:
8.
HAVOC: Derailed (2nd House of The Night, 5 Minute Wait, Visits: 1): As you can tell, I was looking forward to this house. I literally walked in at the beginning of the night and walked right into the house. I am a huge fan of the house from Horror Nights 20. But this? This SUCKED!!! It was way too short and when you walk out of the house, you can see how much empty space was left untapped for this incredibly short house. This house could have been good, but the lack of space and then not utilizing it to its fullest potential damned this house. The actors are in their form that we want them to be in, but they are just to restricted from doing anything. Such a damn shame. If its over an 60 minute wait, avoid it.
7:
Afterlife: Death's Vengeance (5th House of the Night, 45 Minute Wait, Visits: 1): I knew the story heading in, but the house just was mediocre to me. It didn't help that I missed the Electric Chair going off. The house has no surprises. Everyone is in plain sight and it relies on you being disoriented by mirrors and neon lights that pop in the 3D House. I personally feel "The In-Betwen" is the better house. It just didn't click for me.
6:
AMC's The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven (3rd House of the Night, 30 Minute Wait, Visits: 1): Previously on AMC and Horror Nights' Walking Dead, Universal Studios put this house based of a hot TV Show in what I deam to be the new "cursed" area of the park with JAWS gone, the Disaster Studios Quene. The house contained in a too quick experience Seasons 1 and 2. And now they have put it EVERYWHERE! After a while, the Walking Dead theme will becoming grating, I guarantee it. In fact, the Walking Dead really has grown stale as a Horror Nights Experience. The house's sets were good, but with better scares elsewhere and the lack of characters from the show (I only saw The Govenor's Daughter, That Nerdy Dude that dies in the last episode or two of last season and that Annoying Blonde Chick we were all glad to see die, Andria.) I don't know if I missed the others or if they are just not there, but it just didn't do it for me.
5.
Urban Legends: La Llorana (4th House of the Night, 20 Minute Wait, Visits: 1): Okay, the house is only this low because the next four houses were really good (to me at least). This was fairly well done and the sets were gorgeous. I do feel its not as good as the Hollywood incarnation, but it was still enjoyable. Not much to really say here that hasn't been said.
4.
Resident Evil: Escape From Raccoon City (7th House of the Night, 45 & 5 minute waits, Visits: 2): Okay, before people ask, I do not play the games. I know nothing about the property. I thought this house had fairly good intensity. The pause scene is forgettable, but I love the giant what ever the hell that thing is that is a stilt guy that pops out of that hole near the end and the dude with the gatoling gun. The ending was meh, but it was good. I also liked the Meats Meats reference.
3.
Evil Dead (8th House of the Night, 45 & 0 Minute Waits, Visits: 2): Ok, this house makes it to 3 on two reasons: Number 1: Chainsaws and Number 2: The "Alone" Experience I had at the end of the night. I walked through with my uncle, by ourselves, the entire length of this house. We got hit with all of the scares. And we were chased out the door (literally) by the girl at the end with the chainsaw. Props. Good house, especially if there's no one else there.
2.
The Cabin In The Woods (6th House of The Night, 60 & 30 Minute Waits, Visits: 2): I was highly looking forward to this house. And it did not disappoint like HAVOC. The only complaint I had was I felt it was too short, but this house is great. It was also nice seeing certain characters on the second floor of the last room. And in almost any other year, this is the best house. But damn...
1.
An American Werewolf In London (1st House of the night, 15, 60, & 5 minute waits, Visits: 3): Mmm... Crow... Yeah, I'm eating crow on this one. I still stand by my comments on the movie. I still don't like it. But when you cut everything that I hated, especially the 45 minutes of filler in the hospital bed flirting with the nurse and no one believing that he was attacked. And of course, the werewolfs. Those things are INCREDIBLE!!! This house is phenomenal and is the best house I've seen in my 5 years of Horror Nights. I'm glad that John Landis waited to do this because the years it's been on the shelf is worth it.
Thanks for reading and have a happy Horror Nights.