Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Halloween Horror Nights 30 (UO): Reviews, Photos, & Videos

I’ve more time to reflect, and Bride may be my favorite house. It IMPROVED over last year, and is the only house to multiple real people in a scene.
I think Bride is my favorite house of the year as well. It most certainly improved from last year and the casts were electric. Wicked Growth was really good, but I just enjoyed Bride more most nights.
 
I’ve more time to reflect, and Bride may be my favorite house. It IMPROVED over last year, and is the only house to multiple real people in a scene.
I think Bride is my favorite house of the year as well. It most certainly improved from last year and the casts were electric. Wicked Growth was really good, but I just enjoyed Bride more most nights.
I'm a Hill House betch...and I won't be apologizing

Bride seemed like the worst of the Universal Monster's houses

And Tooth seemed like a diet Scary Tales

to me
 
My final thoughts...

Our nights were 10/20, 21, 22, 24, 26, and 27

Houses:

1. Case Files - The most ambitious and simultaneously most comforting/familiar house this year. It was basically my all-timer (Slaughter Sinema) in serial mystery novel form, with each scene having that distinct flavor leading into it. The mannequin section is admittedly hit-or-miss, but has some cool background effects to salvage it anyways. The amount of sheer detail crammed into every single room is what so many other houses this year were lacking. It's not for everyone, and I can see why some newcomers may have been confused. But even if someone didn't know the storyline (like my friend the first time through), the scenes are fun enough to carry it regardless. I mean, I don't really care for the Legendary Truth mythology in the first place, but the setting of this house was unique and the characters were memorable. Credit to the multiple Borises who tipped their hats to me when I cheered their name.

2/3/4 - Puppet Theatre, Wicked Growth, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Hard to decide between these 3. They were all cases of the cast elevating a house dramatically. Wicked Growth has the most scenery to benefit it's ranking, with familiar setpieces that evoke warm feelings in this central New York heart of mine. The bridge illusion scene is extremely cute with the little floating/walking pumpkin drifting by on one side and the waterfall to the other. The Grim Reaper character is metal af. The goblins are a fun touch. And the pumpkin lord himself was a cool character (at first, I felt a little too humanoid to be effective. But he's still a cool dude). Puppet Theatre had the best collection of characters top-to-bottom. It felt like every role had such distinct personality and relished in hamming it up. One of the best uses of mirror scares in years, for both genuine surprise and comedy value too. The theater/balcony box scene is a work of genius for a tent house. And the noises that baby puppet makes can be genuinely unsettling. TCM overwhelmed my low expectations in spades. The premise and setpieces are simple, but the cast were on-point every single run during our time late in the season. The Leatherfaces were all aggressive, Drayton was poppin off with his plate, and man the Chop Tops were just like seeing my boi in the flesh (one of the best pure masks of the event). Even the pig puppeteers were working their hinds off with what they had. The only thing I would have altered is maybe not making the final scene all Leatherfaces, but instead work your way through each Sawyer clan member saving Bubba for last. The smells in here were distinct and added to the mood too. In conclusion: Dog will hunt!

5. Tooth Fairy - Not a popular one for many people, it seems. But I adored this house and have been anticipating it since it's inception. It gets unfair comparisons to Scary Tales, and maybe slightly more fair but still frustrating comparisons to Knott's Tooth Fairy maze. The Victorian storybook aesthetic is part of what sells this for me. It makes the hyper-outrageous level of gore in the house so much more contradictory, and I wind up loving that contrast. I have a genuine soft spot as a librarian for that facade. The actors really do their best to work around the hindrance of plexiglass here, with the most committed ones reaching under or around it whenever possible. However, most of the scene-stealers are definitely the prop bodies, with the butler being a personal highlight. Grandpa and Grandma or the kitchen staff are other honorable mentions. The father actor's soundbite is one of the most disturbing noises the event's used in the time I've been going. I love it. The only thing lacking in the house is a more memorable and distinct ending scene.

6/7 - SCarey, Beetlejuice - The elephant in the room...SCarey and Beetlejuice both started at the bottom of my anticipation/ranking list. I'm as shocked as I could be that really strong runs with great casts elevated these up to 6 and 7. SCarey consistently had great actors that worked the space they had as well as they could. The Cindy actress was particularly strong. SCarey only loses points for a pretty sparse Hellgate scene that could have been better and Bloodengutz's full mask being probably my least favorite character mask I've seen. The guy just loses some appeal without seeing his eyes and mouth. Highlights are the Meaty Meetz actors, Spawning creature redesigns, Hive vampires, and the whole Orfanage scene. I was one of the biggest detractors of the Beetlejuice house, and I still think the middle is incredibly weak. However, the barker role at the beginning, cute use of the vortex tunnel, and sandworm were just so strong. The waiting room could have used 1 more actor, but I still really liked seeing it in person. Biggest problem here were the hallways of doors. I get what they were going for, but it didn't work for me at all. The carnival carousel-hat 'juice prop scene was also an embarrassing flop, imo. Big missed opportunity not having full shrimp monsters in the dinner table room, but I get the limitations there. By the end of the event, the actors in here had infectious positive energy and I think that helped so much. It's amazing how even a non-scary house can be fun to walk through if the cast is having enough fun too. Our early walkthroughs definitely suffered because of the inverse occurring.

8/9/10 - Hill House, Bride, Icons - I know, I know, sacrilege to say anything negative about HoHH's maze or Bride! And I will admit that Hill House's facade is every bit as captivating in person as I expected it to be. What I think bothers me a little about Hill House is that I expected more detail than there wound up being. I'm glad screens and props were used for Nell because I saw Hollywood's way of presenting her and oof...that did not work great. But the basement ghost costumes weren't that good tbh. The pitch black room doesn't work for me as well as it did in Graveyard Games for some reason. And the biggest sin this house commits is not adapting anything from the funeral parlor. It was missing a larger setpiece like that or the house entrance to really capture the scale that the facade does. The actors mostly do a great job, with the Tall Man being a highlight (I love how he progressively gets "taller" with each scare). More little things like the turning doorknob would have been welcome too. I wish the house didn't end so awkwardly. Remove the goofy face-on-a-stick scare and maybe swap the black hallway with a funeral parlor scene and this would have been top-tier for me. Also think that facemasks hurt this one a little, as so many of the family in the show look similar (understandably so, as they're supposed to be family lol) that it confused my friend a bit on who was supposed to be who. Bride could have been an all-timer for me as it is for others, and it's ranking has little to do with the cast or set-design, both of which were great. We just never got that perfect run through it. I missed the flying Drac bride and the Monster coming to life every time. Plus, this house seemed cursed with bad guests ahead of us on each walkthrough, the worst being a dude messing with props (which I have a particular disdain for). Credit to the awesome plain-clothes staff member who listened when I said something about this guest and proceeded to follow him through the rest of the house to make sure he didn't continue being a jerk. My only other minor gripe about this house is that I don't think the full Drac bride masks looked quite as great as the brides in 2019's Monsters house, but there was no getting around that with Covid being a thing. The double-Drac bride scare is still one of the event's best. Icons was...well...super hindered by the plexi. It saddens me thinking about how intense and wild that first room after the facade could have been without it in the way. Director & Lady Luck's scenes are severely hindered by it as well. Usher and Caretaker probably got the best draws here, though it depended on how aggressive the Usher actors were on your walkthroughs. They tried their best with this, it's just hard to fit so many great characters into a house without someone getting the short end of the straw. We got Storyteller on the throne in walkthrough 1 and Jack every other time lol.
 
Final thoughts continued...


Zones:

1. Lights, Camera, Hacktion - The obvious frontrunner. Every actor was aggressive, in-character, interactive. Eddy got swole wtf. The stages chosen were nice callbacks to zones I wish I had originally been in attendance for. The additional butchered production set props were also really fun to look at. That catering truck was brutal. Loved it.

2. Seek and Destroy - A big gap between #1 and here. This has all the flaws that have been discussed about it. But I still do appreciate what they were going for here. And the cast was consistently high-energy and chasing people around. The Controller herself (are we gendering the Controller with "her"? Not sure what pronouns the AI overlord goes by) was a super cool idea for an interactive stage role.

3. Crypt TV - Great costumes stuck in a horrible location. San Fran needs to stop being a zone, especially if it's going to be a stage only photo-op zone. The crowds here were unbearable but the actors sure tried their best. Birch costume was the only weak one. Which is a shame because the character is usually my favorite CTV one.

4. 30 Years - Blood and Bone were cool to see in person. And the pumpkinface man was working it. Otherwise, forgettable.

5. Gorewood Forest - Only putting this in last because there were no Body Collectors/Gentlemen ANYWHERE at the event. Total fail. May revise this if they get a full return with their own house next year lol. Also, the Terra Queen costume was pretty shoddy, despite having some great actresses playing the part. The Borderlands Spiderant-looking creatures were fun. That's about it. Special dishonorable mention to the jerk park guest who tore off a piece of some foliage prop and started chewing on it. I saw you and you're a strange, horrible man for doing that, sir...

The shows were ok, I guess. Beavis & Butthead levels of fire in the Nightmare Fuel show, so props for that (I now want to exclusively date fire dancers, so thanks) and the Lagoon Show was again a pretty chill use of some downtime if needed.

Had an excellent time even if it cost me all my money and then some, looking forward to/already starting to save for next year! Cabana Bay rocked as usual and all staff plus folks we talked to at the gates/in line were extremely pleasant. Finn's, Cowfish, Ant's, and Bob Marley's were all expectedly delicious.
 
5. Gorewood Forest - Only putting this in last because there were no Body Collectors/Gentlemen ANYWHERE at the event. Total fail. May revise this if they get a full return with their own house next year lol. Also, the Terra Queen costume was pretty shoddy, despite having some great actresses playing the part. The Borderlands Spiderant-looking creatures were fun. That's about it. Special dishonorable mention to the jerk park guest who tore off a piece of some foliage prop and started chewing on it. I saw you and you're a strange, horrible man for doing that, sir...

I don’t know why you’d expect the Gentlemen outside of being featured in HHN 15.
 
I don’t know why you’d expect the Gentlemen outside of being featured in HHN 15.

Perhaps I've always been misinformed about the lore then (not that lore mattered much in some instances this year lol)? I had always figured that once the Gents were lumped in with the Terra Cruentus crowd, that was where they were deemed to reside.

Even if they hadn't been suitable for Gorewood Forest (I personally would have liked them for some variety in characters there), I was very surprised to not see them anywhere. I'd always thought they were fan favorite characters even outside of my own bias towards what I'd seen of them and had noticed their masks in 2018/19 at the Monster Makeup Show.
 
Final rankings and thoughts for the year:

House Rankings:

1. Wicked Growth​
2. Icons​
3. Legendary Truth​
4. Puppet Theatre​
---​
5. Hill House​
6. Bride of Frankenstein​
7. Texas Chainsaw Massacre​
---​
8. Scarey​
9. Tooth Fairy​
10. Beetlejuice​

Scarezone Rankings:

1. Lights, Camera, Hacktion: Eddie's Revenge​
2. Seek and Destroy​
(large gap)​
3. 30 Years, 30 Fears​
4. Gorewood Forest​
5. Crypt TV​

The Really Good:
  • Wicked Growth, Puppet Theater, and Legendary Truth were all great achievements in the original house department.
  • As heavily contested as Icons is, I love it for what it is. Could it be better? Absolutely. But I love the cheesy bits we got and ate it up like the sucker I am.
  • The casts. Y'all were fantastic this year, especially with all of the unique challenges placed before you.

The Really Bad:
  • Beetlejuice is easily one of my least favorite houses ever since first attending in 2009. I love the movie. I love the musical. But what an absolute, heaping pile of nothingness this house was. Just a complete bummer. I'd be less disappointed if they at least took a big swing on something creative and whiffed, but this just feels like it was thrown together at the absolute last second, yet it wasn't! It had been sitting there for a whole year! Whew.
  • The scarezones desperately need help in the near future. We can play the "they've always been bad" game, but they're actively getting worse. They truly are. Crypt TV could've been great. Instead, it's a photo op. Gorewood could've been great. Instead, it kind of just exists. 30 Years, 30 Fears could've been great. But instead, it's absolutely barren with very little actually representing the past 30 years.
  • Nostalgia overkill. I'm a sucker for nostalgia for the past events (see: my Icons ranking), but it doesn't feel like Universal feels the same way. I'm not interested in being pandered to if it's going to be half-baked for easy merch sales. Gorewood was a complete waste of over a decade of build up. 30 Years, 30 Fears made it seem like HHN had no legacy worth celebrating. Etc. The original houses this year were great. At this point, I'd rather get more of that than more pandering for the past if this is how Universal feels about it.
  • Guest costumes. Get it together, Universal. Finally place a family-friendly Halloween event in IOA if you want a place to let everyone dress up safely.
 
Last edited:
Last night was packed!! It died down around 11-12 but before then I was a mad house. People lining up for Nightmare Fule while the earlier show was still going. I was lucky to see it and the performers gave it there all(the RIP your guides even gave it there all before the show). Houses were 45-110 minutes waits(I waited for Puppet that said 45 minutes but actually was 35). Then at 1:50 I was in S&D(SOTY) everyone kneeled for the controller and made a bee line to icons. I didn't kneel as I'm on a ECV but joined Icons for a 55 minute wait at 2:00. That was very overestimated and took more like 15 minutes. Best run though of that house!
 
Final rankings

1. Wicked Growth (all-timer)
2. Brides (fringe of Top 25)
3. Hill House
4. Puppet Theatre
5. Texas Chainsaw
6. Icons
7. Case Files
8. SCarey
9. Tooth Fairy
10. Beetlejuice

Zones

1. Please reset.

Most of House rankings were pretty consistent from Week 1 other than Icons. I think the more runs I went through, the novelty wore off for me and realized its weaknesses.
 
My Final Rankings:
1.) Puppet Theatre
2.) Wicked Growth
3.) Hill House
4.) Case Files
5.) TCM
6.) sCarey
7.)Tooth Fairy
8.) Icons
9.) Brides
10.) Beetlejuice (The only house this year that was disappointing to me)


Zones:
1.) Seek and Destroy
2.) Lights Camera Hacktion
3.) CryptTV
4.) Gorewood Forest
5.) 30 Years 30 Fears

Shows:
1.) Nightmare Fuel
2.) Marathon of Mayhem
 
It's been about a month out since I visited and my rankings have changed a little.

1. The Wicked Growth- after a couple of solo runs I was definitely feeling the tension and fear more than I ever have at HHN. The goblins before the witches' hut were all after me, the barn has a great triple scare, and the skeletons with their elastic fences were always fantastic.
2. Puppet Theater
3. Case Files Unearthed
4. Welcome to Scarey- I still love this with all my heart for the pure fan-service aspects, but the last third is very disjointed and the last room is very disappointing. Great start and love the variety of monsters.
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre- the Leatherfaces here were big and scary, the atmosphere was appropriately grungy, and that ending was the best at the event.
6. The Haunting of Hill House
7. Revenge of the Tooth Fairy
8. HHN Icons: Captured- a cool showcase but about as scary as Beetlejuice, if ppl were really honest this would be lower on everyone's list
9. The Bride of Frankenstein Lives!
10. Beetlejuice
 
10. Welcome to SCarey: Horror in the Heartland - This was our first and second house of the night (we got to run through again with no line after the first). It was fun and had some good scares, I liked the Leave it to Beaver type masks and they got me good a few times. I know this is a mashup of a bunch of houses but it felt super disjointed to me and a lot like any random low budget haunted house any town USA. It was fun, it was kinda scary but something has gotta be last.

9. HHN Icons: Captured - Similar to sCarey I think there were tons of Easter eggs and hidden things in this house that I probably didn't pick up on so it kind of felt just like a random mishmash of different baddies. I think I didn't get the best run through this one and wish I could do it again. I did like Jack on his throne though.

8. The Haunting of Hill House - Huge fan of the show and I re-watched it right before the event so I would catch all the details. I did enjoy this house a lot, but I think rewatching the show my imagination was better than this house ever could be. I'm glad they included the pregnant woman as I thought that would be good and it was there and it had a few cool scares, but I would like to see a bit more.. .Again this was only one run through so I might have missed some key details. Would like to check this one out again.

7. Revenge of The Tooth Fairy - I liked the story here.. How it played out as a book being read and all the tooth related horror. Teeth are painful and all of that mouth trauma was very chilling. My only gripe with this one was the design of the tooth fairy. Great house... the monster... just so/so for me. Wish they took the mask back to the drawing board for the design of the fairy. Would have liked more wicked fairy/witch less weird fly/mutant face.

6.Universal Monsters: The Bride of Frankenstein Lives - I really' liked the overarching story here. I felt like the house did a good job of conveying this and a lot of great screaming scares... Cool costumes and sets. I dug this one but I do have a bit of trouble remembering the details.

5. Case Files Unearthed: Legendary Truth - Very cool and unique idea for a house. Liked the whole private eye theme. Some good scares and cool sets and a neat overarching story. I wish we could have done this twice as well. I wonder what the other legendary truth houses are like.

4. Puppet Theatre: Captive Audience - I love puppets/muppets/dummys etc. So this house I felt was very cool... I felt this house did one of the best jobs of transporting you in a thematic way it really did kind of feel like you were in a run down traveling circus. Loved the gnome and the scares in the theater and from the balcony.. Fantastic sets really fun idea.

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - The only other house we got to run through twice and I"m glad we did... Well on one hand the house smelled absolutely putrid... like almost to the point I felt sick ha ha but I won't hold that against it. The house was rather simple, but there is just something about a hulking leatherface emerging from the darkness with a chainsaw that will always be terrifying. Great scares and great scareactors. Cool pig animatronics as well.

2. Beetlejuice - I felt with this line-up a comedy house much needed and appreciated. I really love this movie... probably in my top 20 of all time and the house was no exception. Great beetlejuice scare actors. Really fun sets and animatronics. and just a very cool overall beetlejuice feel. I will say I felt like there might have been a few actors missing in my house. Is there normal anyone in the dinner scene? Ours was empty.

1. The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin - I owe that guy an apology... this house was great. It just had such a cool fun but simple Halloween atmosphere. Loved the giant pumpkin and just the overall Halloween feel of it . Very fun and transformative. If it wasn't clear across the park we probably would have done it a second time but by that time I was hurting.

Great event! I didn't really notice the masks or the plastic as much as I thought I would felt a lot like old times. Bring it on for next year!
 
Final rankings

1. Wicked Growth (all-timer)
2. Brides (fringe of Top 25)
3. Hill House
4. Puppet Theatre
5. Texas Chainsaw
6. Icons
7. Case Files
8. SCarey
9. Tooth Fairy
10. Beetlejuice

Zones

1. Please reset.

Most of House rankings were pretty consistent from Week 1 other than Icons. I think the more runs I went through, the novelty wore off for me and realized its weaknesses.
I actually agree with your entire list except i'd flip Case Files and Icons.

Also agree on the zones. All someone needs to have done is go to HHN and then SW HoS to realize how absolutely porous the zones are at HHN. It's not any fault of the SA's, it's about design. I do get that HHN is just generally busier, so it's a bit harder. What looks and sounds good on paper or in a presentation may not be good in practice. The entrance zone almost needs to go at this point. The chainsaw hoard back in Springfield was definitely missed and I honestly don't know if that's a contract thing or not, but if it is, put a hoard somewhere else, such as the street where Killer Klownz was.

Next year will be interesting with the FFL theater... not there. I'm assuming Animal Actors will be used, which will only make the KidZone area of the park more packed than it already is.
 
Top