Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Employee Preview | Page 4 | Inside Universal Forums

Halloween Horror Nights 31 (UOR) - Employee Preview

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So Ghoulish (from the choppy video I looked at) looks genuinely phenomenal. Had to wonder if they got people from WDI to help out, given how different it feels compared to Marathon.
 
So Ghoulish (from the choppy video I looked at) looks genuinely phenomenal. Had to wonder if they got people from WDI to help out, given how different it feels compared to Marathon.

It's definitely different compared to the previous MoM's, while it's not as brisk as 2019's MoM, it felt like it moved way faster than Carnage Factory. Either way, I liked what I saw, and it looks like a step up from Carnage Factory which was honestly a disappointment.
 
So obviously this is preview, not everything is ready, people are still getting comfortable, things are subject to change, BUT -- my anecdotal observations from reviewing reactions are:

  • Hellblock Horror may be a dud (awaiting more details, only a few reactions I've seen)
  • Dead Man's Pier is the early favorite
  • Chupacabra is mixed, with many people appreciating the sets and puppets (though criticizing the ratio of villagers to creatures)
  • Halloween is Halloween
  • Spirits of the Coven is trending good but not spectacular
  • Blumhouse is surprising some
  • Bugs is solid, though some debate over whether it's a "comedy" house
  • Descendants of Destruction is solid and perhaps has some of the punchiest scares
  • Monsters is mixed, with some criticizing the ratio of monster appearances
  • The Weeknd is another early favorite with a cool, mood-setting queue
The zones don't look altogether quite ready to me, but part of that I am assuming is the rain that (literally) dampened operations. Lot of promising stuff, however.
 
So obviously this is preview, not everything is ready, people are still getting comfortable, things are subject to change, BUT -- my anecdotal observations from reviewing reactions are:

  • Hellblock Horror may be a dud (awaiting more details, only a few reactions I've seen)
  • Dead Man's Pier is the early favorite
  • Chupacabra is mixed, with many people appreciating the sets and puppets (though criticizing the ratio of villagers to creatures)
  • Halloween is Halloween
  • Spirits of the Coven is trending good but not spectacular
  • Blumhouse is surprising some
  • Bugs is solid, though some debate over whether it's a "comedy" house
  • Descendants of Destruction is solid and perhaps has some of the punchiest scares
  • Monsters is mixed, with some criticizing the ratio of monster appearances
  • The Weeknd is another early favorite with a cool, mood-setting queue
The zones don't look altogether quite ready to me, but part of that I am assuming is the rain that (literally) dampened operations. Lot of promising stuff, however.

While I'm really glad they didn't fully cancel the house
It will be really sad if hellblock turns out really bad.

I wish I we had killer clowns instead
 
Blumhouse is the worst of the 3 so far. Black phone far outshined freaky unfortunately. Felt like a Hollywood house (sorry Hollywood). Weird break in the middle and nothing unique in terms of sets or scares. Freaky really had the potential and felt like they dropped the ball.
 
Monsters is all mummy and seems to be a different ending depending on cast like icons. Loved it but probably biased as mummy is my favorite monster. Did reuse a couple sets from 29 but oh well. Facade was great and scareactor design was strong

You could answer in spoiler, but did they use the dog headed mummy creature? The one in the shirt? Is it Anubis?
 
Halloween - their best Halloween house, very well done.n
Bugs - yeah, some will find this nauseating, also not for those with trypophobia. Really solid house, very intense.
Dead Man's Wharf - definite winner when it comes to set design, everything else was great too, not terribly scary, but very atmospheric.
Hellblock - not bad but not really special either, very kinetic though, so does have good energy.
Coven - was the first house I did, so could be my eyes were not adjusted yet, but found it a tad too dark, which worked against the mood of the house. There is an erotic vibe to the house, but it does not play out that good, and it ends up just being cheap scares.
Legends - I think a lot of actors were missing which did not help. Set design is good but nothing that special, basically just a continuous crypt.
Chupacabra - good set design, good house albeit repetitive.
Descendants of Darkness - awesome house, intense with good scares.

Did not get to do Blumhouse, was 11D when I passed, and did not feel like waiting half an hour for Weekend.

All by all this is going to a great year. Also the scare zone in Hollywood is great.
 
Idk if its just me, or just the videos im seeing, but it seems like the lighting is really subdued in a lot of scarezones once the sun sets compared to other ones in recent years. Could also be a preview night quirk and not everything is set up, but it seems reeeeeally dark in most of them.
 
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Idk if its just me, or just the videos im seeing, but it seems like the lighting is really subdued in a lot of scarezones once the sun sets compared to other ones in recent years. Could also be a preview night quirk and not everything is set up, but it seems reeeeeally dark in most of them.
Was a rainy night, does not help.i like dark scare zones though lol