As it stands
It's too early for me to pick a favorite house. Right now I have two.
1. Walking Dead (Tie) - I haven't watched the TV show since season one ended but man, is this a good haunted house. You can tell that they took the time to listen to all the complaints from last year and just go through with a check list. Everything I disliked from the house last year; fixed. They then went on to incorporate all the things that have improved HHN houses in the past few years. Huge sets, awesome effects, etc. This is the flagship house and it shows, but on the other side you can tell that it was the corporate house and that is the ONLY reason it is tied. The cast might end up on edging it out or not, this could go either way.
1. American Werewolf in London (Tie): This house, this house. I think Mr. Landis himself put it best, this house was made by passionate geeks and it shows in all the right ways. They've tried to do the puppet thing many times and even try to do it this year and it is not done nearly as well as it is done in this house. There are some things I would change about this house, but overall it is a great house, with an awesome story that brings it overall. It's just a good house, with a lot of heart.
3. La Llorona: The cast, no where near there yet. I don't know if they will be, I don't care if they will be. If HHN was going to give an award for house of the year based purely on the set pieces Llorona would get it. It has some cool scares that are going to get a lot of people, but this house...wow. I can't say enough good things about the visuals in this house. I was blown away come the middle.
4. Cabin In The Woods: I want to like this house more than I do. I'm a huge fan of the movie, but it in all honesty it is just a bit of a lit down. Don't take that as me saying it isn't an awesome house, because it is, but I'm not blown away. It did however go up a few spots on my list from Wednesday to last night. Once you are in the facility though the house is awesome! I know some of you like to find the other house(s) that are good in 3D, CitW is one of them.
5. Evil Dead: This house is good, like really good, like I like it a lot good. As far as straight transportation from silver screen to haunted house this is definitely one of the better movie houses. I would say it probably has more continuity with it's source material than AWiL (AWiL has a lot more heart though). If you liked the movie you are REALLY going to like this house, it might not be your favorite but you will enjoy it, you will have fun, you'll probably get scared. Also the first 3 scenes are awesome in 3D.
6. Resident Evil: I don't dislike this house, if you took this house and put it in a year like 2010 everyone would be saying it was the best house ever. However, up against it's competition it does not stand a chance. It's a really good house, one scene in particular is REALLY stupid though, and that detracts. Some other things are really dumb. There was an addition to the house that wasn't there on Wednesday that added a significant amount and I'm not sure which cast it is (it's the only one I've seen), but they have GROWN so much in the two days of the run. The potential is there and the house is decent enough.
7. Havoc 2: I wanted to like Havoc 2, sets are good enough, but the scares are not there. Havoc was such a successful house because of the high energy involved with it. The cast(s) I have seen have not hit their stride yet. Hopefully they will get better, but there were a fair amount of people who might have only went last night and saw Havoc and just didn't get to experience an intense house.
8. Afterlife: There is always a dud and Afterlife was it. I feel like it is a true step back from the 3D houses we've done the past few years. Some 3D effects has been improved upon but for the most part it is The In Between but not as intense.
Bill and Ted: Funnier than last year and a lot of jokes at Disney's expense. If you can get behind that than you'll really enjoy it.
-I just have to note this because it was so awesome. I was walking out of my mediocre experience in Afterlife and was over on the wheelchair ramp coming up into the MIB plaza. For those unfamiliar with the area there are hedges on both sides. I literally had a chainsaw thrown in my face and I jumped so hard. Single handedly the best scare I have gotten in a long time. Probably a year or two...and that was opening night. Chainsaws don't even scare me, it just came out of nowhere. It was PERFECT!
-Walker Bombs are nothing short of stellar. I hope everyone who attends gets to see them either unload or load the Walkers back in. Awesome street experience that can be decently scary, but the general public is just going to love.
-Fall of Atlanta/Streets of NY have a little show by the tank where a victim gets attacked every 15ish minutes. If you can see this it is really cool! It however does not work in the day light and looks kind of dumb. I'm hoping they decide to push it to only night time.
-Camp/Kidzone has another scripted show but it is not actor based. In the tent they have a little backlit shadow projection style show where a survivor gets eaten by a zombie. Not scary, but really cool. These are the things that are going to make HHN this year. There was a lot I was not excited about this year but it's there. The event is going to be good and all of you guys are going to really enjoy it.
It's too early for me to pick a favorite house. Right now I have two.
1. Walking Dead (Tie) - I haven't watched the TV show since season one ended but man, is this a good haunted house. You can tell that they took the time to listen to all the complaints from last year and just go through with a check list. Everything I disliked from the house last year; fixed. They then went on to incorporate all the things that have improved HHN houses in the past few years. Huge sets, awesome effects, etc. This is the flagship house and it shows, but on the other side you can tell that it was the corporate house and that is the ONLY reason it is tied. The cast might end up on edging it out or not, this could go either way.
1. American Werewolf in London (Tie): This house, this house. I think Mr. Landis himself put it best, this house was made by passionate geeks and it shows in all the right ways. They've tried to do the puppet thing many times and even try to do it this year and it is not done nearly as well as it is done in this house. There are some things I would change about this house, but overall it is a great house, with an awesome story that brings it overall. It's just a good house, with a lot of heart.
3. La Llorona: The cast, no where near there yet. I don't know if they will be, I don't care if they will be. If HHN was going to give an award for house of the year based purely on the set pieces Llorona would get it. It has some cool scares that are going to get a lot of people, but this house...wow. I can't say enough good things about the visuals in this house. I was blown away come the middle.
4. Cabin In The Woods: I want to like this house more than I do. I'm a huge fan of the movie, but it in all honesty it is just a bit of a lit down. Don't take that as me saying it isn't an awesome house, because it is, but I'm not blown away. It did however go up a few spots on my list from Wednesday to last night. Once you are in the facility though the house is awesome! I know some of you like to find the other house(s) that are good in 3D, CitW is one of them.
5. Evil Dead: This house is good, like really good, like I like it a lot good. As far as straight transportation from silver screen to haunted house this is definitely one of the better movie houses. I would say it probably has more continuity with it's source material than AWiL (AWiL has a lot more heart though). If you liked the movie you are REALLY going to like this house, it might not be your favorite but you will enjoy it, you will have fun, you'll probably get scared. Also the first 3 scenes are awesome in 3D.
6. Resident Evil: I don't dislike this house, if you took this house and put it in a year like 2010 everyone would be saying it was the best house ever. However, up against it's competition it does not stand a chance. It's a really good house, one scene in particular is REALLY stupid though, and that detracts. Some other things are really dumb. There was an addition to the house that wasn't there on Wednesday that added a significant amount and I'm not sure which cast it is (it's the only one I've seen), but they have GROWN so much in the two days of the run. The potential is there and the house is decent enough.
7. Havoc 2: I wanted to like Havoc 2, sets are good enough, but the scares are not there. Havoc was such a successful house because of the high energy involved with it. The cast(s) I have seen have not hit their stride yet. Hopefully they will get better, but there were a fair amount of people who might have only went last night and saw Havoc and just didn't get to experience an intense house.
8. Afterlife: There is always a dud and Afterlife was it. I feel like it is a true step back from the 3D houses we've done the past few years. Some 3D effects has been improved upon but for the most part it is The In Between but not as intense.
Bill and Ted: Funnier than last year and a lot of jokes at Disney's expense. If you can get behind that than you'll really enjoy it.
-I just have to note this because it was so awesome. I was walking out of my mediocre experience in Afterlife and was over on the wheelchair ramp coming up into the MIB plaza. For those unfamiliar with the area there are hedges on both sides. I literally had a chainsaw thrown in my face and I jumped so hard. Single handedly the best scare I have gotten in a long time. Probably a year or two...and that was opening night. Chainsaws don't even scare me, it just came out of nowhere. It was PERFECT!
-Walker Bombs are nothing short of stellar. I hope everyone who attends gets to see them either unload or load the Walkers back in. Awesome street experience that can be decently scary, but the general public is just going to love.
-Fall of Atlanta/Streets of NY have a little show by the tank where a victim gets attacked every 15ish minutes. If you can see this it is really cool! It however does not work in the day light and looks kind of dumb. I'm hoping they decide to push it to only night time.
-Camp/Kidzone has another scripted show but it is not actor based. In the tent they have a little backlit shadow projection style show where a survivor gets eaten by a zombie. Not scary, but really cool. These are the things that are going to make HHN this year. There was a lot I was not excited about this year but it's there. The event is going to be good and all of you guys are going to really enjoy it.
