Halloween Horror Nights 33 (UOR) - Reviews, Photos, & Videos

[MrRoamer]

Current Review after 3 or 4 nights? Overall, something definitely feels off and I'm not sure if it's me, the event, or just some surrounding of the craziness right now is for me. Houses are ok with few exceptions, but most of them share some common themes of I have no idea what is going on. Scarezones are as far from what they used to be as possible in my opinion. It also feels more like a food festival than in the past but instead of being stuff that sounds good it seems to be more all about the Gram. Being severely lactose intolerant doesn't exactly help my case either lol.

Is it still a great event - YES
Am I upset I wasn't able to get the FFP pass for the first time - not really at this point

10) Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines - Thankfully I had someone explain it to us before we went in last time because wow I had no clue the first time through. It could be a really cool concept for a movie or something, but just throwing you into this thing without any understanding is super confusing. We got out the first time trying to figure out why the wolfman had boobs.

9) The Musuem: Deadly Exhibits - Didn't really stand out to me in any way but have only done it once so far

8) Monstrous - Neat house but why do they want to eat the babies?

7) Goblin’s Feast - I really want to like this house a lot more than I do, the sets are really cool, characters are really cool, but it feels more like I'm walking through an exhibit than a house

6) Slaughter Sinema 2 - This one hurts, I LOVED the first one. The good rooms in this house are really fun and good, but that is also its biggest weakness. The scenes are way to short at empty intro poster room, show room and repeat. Would loved to have them be a little longer! at least they found a place to put the Fanta skeleton (Fantaton?) on all the merch

5) Major Sweets Candy Factory - BUTTONS!!!!! Cool idea, great characters, I like the little rat going haywire projected on the wall, but the environment doesn't match the idea

4) Triplets of Terror - I honestly like this house quite a bit, its got a fun vibe to it that is really cool and feels like if you cross House of 1000 Corpses with Halloween. The biggest issue I have with this house is the main characters ages are all over the place and don't make sense, if they just had the 3 of them in each year make sure they were the correct ages it would go a long way

3) A Quiet Place - Great sets, great scares, great movie, well done cast. Over the runs I've noticed most of the monsters are tacky and I hate them, since (as I said in another thread) they feel like reused characters from years past or the aliens in MiB. The extreme hype machine that they put out about using sign language just annoys me. (Insert old man yelling at cloud picture)

2) Insidious: The Further - Great house, scariest out of all of them by far! Very aggressive cast. The only thing keeping it from one of my all time lists is that it just feels like I have done it before.

1) Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - After the first ghostbusters house having such big problems with staffing and the props not working and everything I was worried. This house is one of the absolute best IP houses they have ever done. Not super scary but this property didn't need to be super scary. Was absolutely beside myself with the amount of callbacks and everything they did, seriously great house. Only thing I can knock them on is there needed to be more Walter Peck

 

[HHN Yeti Lover]

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the houses this year. Some of them, like Insidious, Slaughter Sinema, and Ghostbusters, are really great. However, everything else feels either good, decent, or just okay. I still need to go through the houses a few more times to form a solid opinion. This year feels a lot less busy than past years, and I'm not sure if it's because they don't have a big intellectual property like Stranger Things or because of the rain. I plan to come back later in the season to see if I have more concrete feelings, but overall, this year just feels a little off.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the houses this year. Some of them, like Insidious, Slaughter Sinema, and Ghostbusters, are really great. However, everything else feels either good, decent, or just okay. I still need to go through the houses a few more times to form a solid opinion. This year feels a lot less busy than past years, and I'm not sure if it's because they don't have a big intellectual property like Stranger Things or because of the rain. I plan to come back later in the season to see if I have more concrete feelings, but overall, this year just feels a little off.

everyone in here is obviously a fan of hhn. maybe superfans. we follow the clues and updates all year long. we watch the podcast.

but I'm wondering how the general public is feeling on the event. and about the ips.

 

[HHN Maddux]

I don't think cohesion is a problem, the problem is that Universal simply didn't give us enough backstory for Sinist3r & Surr3al. What we do know about them sounds very cool and interesting, but we don't know enough. They would've really benefited from having a full podcast like Oddfellow's last year that tied everything together.

If we had something like that, while of course it wouldn't magically fix everything, I do think it would make the event feel a LOT less disjoined this year.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I don't think cohesion is a problem, the problem is that Universal simply didn't give us enough backstory for Sinist3r & Surr3al. What we do know about them sounds very cool and interesting, but we don't know enough. They would've really benefited from having a full podcast like Oddfellow's last year that tied everything together.

If we had something like that, while of course it wouldn't magically fix everything, I do think it would make the event feel a LOT less disjoined this year.

but it's a little further than that, their looks are a little funny. they kind of fit the scarezones they go to, but kind of not. they are kind of cool icons, but their connection to the event is not as strong as oddfellow, and uni creative could have come up with a better backstory and a better connection to the event, but, thet kind of remind me of FEAR ( and on paper FEAR had a reallyngood storyband connection to the event and the other icons)

 

[Casper Gutman]

but it's a little further than that, their looks are a little funny. they kind of fit the scarezones they go to, but kind of not. they are kind of cool icons, but their connection to the event is not as strong as oddfellow, and uni creative could have come up with a better backstory and a better connection to the event, but, thet kind of remind me of FEAR ( and on paper FEAR had a reallyngood storyband connection to the event and the other icons)

FEAR is an apt comparison. Sinister and Surreal seem likely to join him in the realm of the footnoted and forgotten icons.

The icons work when they fit into easily recognized social types and "borrow" from preexisting cultural products. This allows the casual guest to understand them without much effort and provides creative with a firm foundation on which to individualize and elaborate them with backstory for the more dedicated fans. Jack and Chance are clowns with a heavy debt to Joker and Harley. Oddfellow is a ringmaster and dark magician in the Facilier mode. The Usher, the Storyteller, the Caretaker, the Director - they're instantly understandable. Even Eddie (the slasher) and Cindy (the creepy little girl) work this way. Sinister and Surreal, like FEAR and the Terra Queen, don't.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I don't think cohesion is a problem, the problem is that Universal simply didn't give us enough backstory for Sinist3r & Surr3al.

More lore never helps, they're just not good characters that are poorly executed.

 

[krazyhorrorkid]

More lore never helps, they're just not good characters that are poorly executed.

What is really sad is the idea of two icons that make up kind of the same being is very intriguing, I hope they take another stab at this idea eventually.

They just fumble it so hard here, they look and sound ridiculous.
Their stage presence is made up of screaming and horrible voice modulation.
They are literally scrapped Power Ranger Villians.

How do you go from the charismatic yet powerful sounding Dr Oddfellow to this utter embarrassment…

 

[ReelJustice]

More lore never helps, they're just not good characters that are poorly executed.

“We’ve been working on them for 10 years.”-Lora Sauls

 

[Jake S]

The two genders.

 

[tyro]

Just had 3 nights are the event and had a great time. This was my third year attending (I started with HHN 31 )

House Rankings:

1. Insidious - Enough has be said about this one but even after 3 runs I still get nervous going in. They really nailed the uneasiness feeling throughout the house.

2. Slaughter Sinema 2 - although I do not have the original to reference back to, this was a great house, just really brings out the energy in every scene. And I would be happy with basically any of the shorts getting a full house.

3. Ghostbusters - Just a fun time, great effects and really captures the movie quite well.

4. Sweets Candy Factory- this is a great house that has some fun gags, and I have had some great interactions with the actors in there.

5. Goblins Feast - the sets in the tent really impressed me and I’m excited for the future of these new tents, overall a fun house, and the ending makes me laugh every time for some reason.

6. Monstruos- this house has the potential to be an intense house , but I feel like I missed quite a bit of scares each time I go through. I would’ve rather they followed one monster instead of the 3.

7. Quiet Place - that first tunnel is pretty scary, however I’m not the biggest fan of the movie, and while the puppets/animatronics are impressive however I don’t really find them scary especially after my first run.

8. Triplets of Terror - it’s a fun slasher house, just the story is a little hard to follow and it seems like it just randomly ends as you start getting into the interesting set pieces.

9. Monsters Bloodlines- I normally love the monsters houses, however this one just always felt empty.

10. Museum - I loved the idea on paper, however in execution the house just feels bland with not alot going on that interests me.

 

[Brian G.]

 

[saint.piss]

Night 3 rankings (Standby & Express)

1. Major Sweets Candy Factory 10/10
2. Slaughter Sinema 2 10/10
3. Insidious: The Further 10/10
4. Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines 9/10
5. Ghostbusters Frozen Empire 9/10
6. Triplets of Terror 9/10
7. Goblins Feast 8.5/10
8. A Quiet Place 8/10
9. Monstruos: The Monsters of Latin America 7/10
10. The Museum: Deadly Exhibits 7/10

 

[Bort]

Fun weekend at HHN! Some good, some bad.

Good
Strongwater Tavern (A): If you're pregaming anywhere else, you're missing out. Great drinks, great service, and all the food was phenomenal.

Fans in the Queues (A-): Finally! I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it was to see those fans. They are spaced out enough that you'll pass by a handful in a given queue, and they do seem to circulate the air a little bit.

Nightmare Fuel: Nocturnal Circus (A-): I talked about the show briefly in the show's thread before coming, and I am happy to say that it is better in person than what YouTube can convey. The first time I saw it we were stuck in essentially an obstructed view. The second time, we got in the holding pen about 35 minutes before showtime and snagged good seats near the middle. The small gripe I have is that sometimes there's too much going on within one song/number. Dancers up top, dancers at the bottom, girls doing fire tricks, magic tricks, and sometimes they're happening simultaneously in both the foreground and background. May not surpass 32's rendition, but a great show nonetheless.

Slaughter Sinema 2 (A-): Does a great job making guests smile and scream the same way as its predecessor. I would've liked to see some of the rooms more fleshed out and a stronger finish. Went in with no spoilers, which really made it hilarious when I saw "Mummy Strippers" as a movie.

Goblins (B+): I thought this house had just the right mix of fun and scares. Had the chance to essentially go through this house solo, and man was the cast taking advantage of that opportunity. They were in my face, working together to bounce me around from one scare to the next. The audio lines from this house are great, and King Pussnubber is an all-time HHN name, in my opinion.

New Tents + Setup (B): Yes the walk back there is still not the most fun, but I appreciate that I can do a 2-for-1 there now. Saves 10 minutes of walking. The portable restrooms and beer cart are a good start. Perhaps that area can be expanded upon a little next year and turned into a mini plaza of sorts. The use of the Simpsons queue for Mueum is also a big win. Provides additional cover from the elements.

Bad
The Museum (C-): I get what they were going for, but it was a swing-and-miss for me. Would've liked to see more of a "Night at the Museum" approach where the characters we run into are from all across history. This felt like I was walking through a house that stole last year's Clicker costumes and the Vikings scare zone from a few years back.

Blinky Cup Drinks (C-): Once again, the pre-mixed drinks fail to be worth their cost. The addition of Fanta as a mixer for the drinks was good, but I could've just drank a normal bottle of soda for $9 less.

Ugly
Duality of Fear (F-): The worst excuse of a scare zone that I've seen since I've been attending. There are no props, theming, or really anything at all for the street actors to work with.

Merch/Tribute Store (D): There were 3 pieces of merch that I thought were worth buying -- Mel's t-shirt, House t-shirt, and a charcoal-ish "HHN" shirt with the big logo and artwork on the front. Only bought one shirt because of the lackluster designs, cost, and general fear about how the shirt will shrink this year. I wish they put more of an emphasis on creating merch that is actually wearable outside of a theme park. The store itself was super underwhelming. I guess I get where they were going..just didn't care for it. FWIW, my friends all said "wait, that's the entrance to a store?". Facade did not draw you in the way previous versions had.

Final Rankings
1. Slaughter Sinema 2 (A-) x3
2. Insidious (B+) x1
3. Goblins (B+) x3
4. A Quiet Place (B) x1
5. Ghostbusters (B-) x1
6. Monsturos (B-) x1
7. Major Sweets (C+) x2
8. Triplets (C) x3
9. Monsters (C) x2
10. Museum (D+) x2

1. Nightmare Fuel (A-)
2. Torture Faire (B)
3. Swamp (B-)
4. Demon Queens (C+)
5. Blumhouse (C-)
6. Duality (F-)

 

[EAS]

I had the opportunity to attend Premium Scream Night, and then to go again on Friday the 13th. That night I did Stay and Scream in New York and got Insidious done first, then switched Stay and Scream locations (this is doable, though I had to ask the New York folks to let me out and show my ID when I scanned in again to the World Expo location), and did Goblin’s Feast, Eternal Bloodlines, and Slaughter Sinema 2. Finished with Triplets of Terror before the gates opened, and then did all ten houses with Express.

My final count from these trips—I am going to Hollywood but probably not back to Orlando—is as follows:

A Quiet Place (2 runs)
Goblin’s Feast (4 runs)
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (3 runs)
Insidious: The Further (3 runs)
Major Sweets Candy Factory (3 runs)
Monstruous: The Monsters of Latin America (3 runs)
Museum: Deadly Exhibits (2 runs)
Slaughter Sinema 2 (4 runs)
Triplets of Terror (4 runs)
Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines (4 runs)

I did all scare zones multiple times. I did not do Nightmare Fuel, as that is just not for me.

I would put the houses and scare zones into the following tiers (all alphabetical, so not ranked within tiers).

House Top Tier

Goblin’s Feast: Highly entertaining, great visuals, and a fun mix of whimsical and grotesque. As others have said, the vibe of entering an Irish pub from hell, and the comedy of the goblin barkeep welcoming you before you round a corner and realize that you’re the meat is hilarious. Little details like the goblin eating a human leg the way theme park guests eat a turkey leg are very funny, and the house has a great mix of beautiful fantasy village visuals, great and varied creature design, and comedic gore. This is not a scary house but it is a great, campy experience.

Insidious: The Further: Probably the best possible version of an Insidious house, with great use of the various villains from the franchise, aggressive scares, and maximal use of various HHN tricks like misdirects, mirrors, rooms full of mannequins, and so forth. The only house at this year’s event that I think could be deemed actually scary at parts. There is a part with the Bride in Black making surprise appearances that is super effective, and the design of the Lipstick Face Demon (aka Darth Maul) is top notch.

Slaughter Sinema 2: This house is an embrace of campy B movies, and more than any other house, it feels like a shared party—you, the other guests, and the actors are all in on the joke and having fun together. Inevitably some of the sequences are stronger than others—my favorites were Mardi Gras Murders (great idea for a slasher house), Blood & Chum (the shark is amazing), and Heavy Metal Hell in 3D (rocking out with the skeletons is always a blast)—but this is exactly what it should be.

Triplets of Terror: To me, what makes this house work is that it has a kind of melancholic undertone. You see signs at the exterior of child abuse/neglect, you realize that the triplets are trapped in this cycle, and there are moments of poetry like when you walk outside and see snow falling. It is the house’s subtle sympathy for the killers and their working poor origins that most resembles a Rob Zombie vibe. Setting that aside—I appreciate that this is probably overthinking a slasher house—the kills are gory, the vibe is grimy, and I think this delivers.

House Medium Tier

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire: This house is much better than I would have anticipated given that the movie is mediocre, but—like with Exorcist: The Believer—HHN can do wonders even with so-so source material. The variety of monsters is great, Garraka is rendered very effectively, and I appreciate the callbacks to other materials like Slimer, Vigo, etc. Not a scary house but a lot of fun.

Monstruous: The Monsters of Latin America: This version is inferior to the Hollywood edition in my opinion, and it was hard for me at first to get over things like the weird green lighting (as opposed to the earthy catacombs in Hollywood), the more humanoid redesign of Tlahuelpuchi, etc. Still, I think Monstruous features three excellent monsters and lots of impressive special effects. El Silbón is a very effective horror character, and the giant animatronics in here are so cool, no matter how many times you’ve seen them.

Universal Monsters: Eternal Bloodlines: I get all of the criticism for this house, but I still think it does a wonderful job rendering various beautiful gothic sets (tombs, pyramids, gypsy caravans, castles, and so on), showing lots of different neat monsters, and telling a story. Most houses are scenario-based (get out of X evil place), but this one tries to tell a full three act story with a surprisingly gloomy coda. It isn’t fully successful, but I applaud the narrative ambition.

House Low Tier

A Quiet Place: I don’t love the A Quiet Place movies, so although this is a really strong recreation of those films, it doesn’t do a ton for me subjectively. The monsters are really cool and well-rendered, but the house is a bit drab, the quiet gimmick didn’t work for me so well, etc. Very impressive from a production design perspective, but not the most fun for me personally.

Major Sweets Candy Factory: I like how committed to the zany mix of camp and gore this house is, and it definitely has fun visual gags and interactive elements. For me personally, whereas the camp of Goblin’s Feast hits perfectly, Major Sweets felt a bit more annoying or full of random stuff, and I never felt like the house came together into a perfect, cohesive blend. I think it's awesome that other people gel with this one better, and it's my favorite of the Low Tier just because I think it's got a lot of heart and personality.

Museum: Deadly Exhibits: I like the idea of the Rotting Stone infecting the museum, and there are a number of neat visual tricks as the museum comes alive and the Rotting Stone’s influence grows. I do think, though, that this house ultimately feels the most generic of the ten, and the most like a grab bag of elements and ideas.

Scare Zone Top Tier

None—most of them are fine, but none really stand out as exceptional.

Scare Zone Medium Tier

Demon Queens: This zone had the best costumes and the most aggressive scare actors on both of my visits. I expected not to love it given it seemed like a kind of oddball theme—intergalactic demons—but the character design was solid, the props were appropriately SURR3AL, and the actors interacted with me more than anywhere else. I wish that there were more visuals and props.

Enter the Blumhouse: I agree with all of the criticism that this zone is basically a glorified selfie area and a promo for Blumhouse’s IP, but I always found myself enjoying this one (possibly the most of all five). It’s fun to have pictures with the Grabber, Babyface, the Butcher, M3GAN, etc. It is not much more than a fun IP selfie area, but it is fun for what it is.

Swamp of the Undead: The theming and props in the zone are very good, and the fog was so aggressive in here that it achieved the effect of zombies sometimes appearing out of nowhere, which was cool. I wish that the zone had more bayou flavor, and more variety in the types of scare actors. Despite the cool props it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity.

Torture Faire: This is the biggest zone and many of the props are really cool. I would say I’m #TeamSINIST3R so it is always fun to see her. The plague doctors are great. But the zone for me has a bit of an identity crisis—it is supposed to be this Hellraiser-style torture gauntlet, but the Renaissance faire and goofy actors pleading for help gives it a sort of silly tone. I wish it was more one or the other.

Scare Zone Low Tier

Duality of Fear: Of course, the chainsaw horde with nothing else makes this barely a scare zone, as everyone has said. I love the idea of choosing between SINIST3R and SURR3AL, but that concept really does not exist or play out in the zone.

 

[hunnylvr]

I'm not going to "rank" each house just yet. We are back from our first trip, and we went two nights (we will be back three more times before the event ends, so I know a ranking is pointless right now). However, I just wanted to comment on a few things:

Houses

Insidious was, by far, my favorite because it was the scariest. That being said, I don't really get scared because I've been going to haunts since I was about 10 years old, so that's decades of attending. As a result, it takes a LOT to get me. However, Insidious actually gave me real agita (for you non-Italians - I guess that's anxiety or uneasiness). I think it's the subject matter because I grew up religious (not anymore though, but some stuff just sticks with you). Those demon face masks that pop out and get pretty up your face were enough to get me moving a little faster. I also got a triple attack at one point which left my heart beating a LOT faster than when we first went in. I enjoyed the hell out of this house.

Ghostbusters was an absolute delight and actually had more scares than I was expecting. The cast was more aggressive than I would've predicted for this house. I LOVED it. The little marshmallow men everywhere had me squealing with delight. Terrfic interpretation for sure.

Slaughter Sinema 2 was also right at the top for us. I about peed myself laughing at the 'Mummy Unwrapped" concept. That was just brilliant! HAHHAHAH! I swear, A&D comes up with these B movie ideas whilst sitting around a bar and getting really stupid drunk. LOL!

Goblins was a really different concept, and I loved the whole thing.

Major Sweets was fun, and I was delighted to see the GATs were back.

I enjoyed Bloodlines as well - I think the sets are gorgeous. I do understand the confusion on what the actual story is though. I couldn't really follow the story, so I just enjoyed seeing the different iterations of the monsters.. wasn't expecting a she-wolf. Interested to see how this one plays the longer it goes on.

Monstrous and Museum were just kind of meh for us.

A Quiet Place was just ok - but I'm hoping for better runs as I was really looking foward ot this house.

I hated Triplets. I thought it was just kind of stupid and like a kiddie rip off of Texas Chainsaw or something.

I am reserving comments on scare zones because one of the nights, it rained, and I don't feel I got to spend enough time to comment yet.

Food

We had the s'more with the giant marshmallow, and I loved it. We also got the fish and chips which were DELICIOUS! They were not greasy at all which was surprising. That will likley be the go-to this year. Next trip, I'm going for walking tacos and the beet tostada.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Duality of Fear (F-): The worst excuse of a scare zone that I've seen since I've been attending. There are no props, theming, or really anything at all for the street actors to work with.

Did you go in 2016?

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Did you go in 2016?

If you are referring to A Chance In Hell, that zone at least had decor, a stage for the icon and was tied to the event's aesthetic that year. It' wasn't my favorite, but it at least classified as a zone.

A chainsaw horde, is not a proper scare zone.

Edit: Just for reference, there have been "terrible" zones in the past few years that most people agreed weren't great (The Harvest, Altars of Horror, 30 Years 30 Fears, CryptTV, etc.) ... and yet somehow they managed to beat those.