HHN 27: Scarecrow: The Reaping

[Brian G.]

Discuss

Universal Orlando announces 4 original houses to be featured at Halloween Horror Nights 27 | Inside Universal

 

[Ryan]

In addition to Dead Waters, there will be three additional original content mazes at this year's event. Scarecrow: The Reaping will take visitors to an abandoned, drought-ravaged farm haunted by ornery scarecrows. Universal sent out a casting call seeking skinny guys who are well over six feet tall to don the straw-filled costumes.

Expect more details soon.

 

[ChaseTuff]

"Well over six feet tall"

That...is not a detail I expected.

Pictures looked super cool. Especially that latrine water effect scene.

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

House logo:

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

Since the great dustbowl, an abandoned farmhouse stands in Nebraska. The bountiful fields ravaged by the farmers’ plows have spurred anger in the Land. Scarecrow guardians have risen from the blood soaked soil to seek revenge. The harvest that will be reaped this season is you.

 

[graspthesun]

Too bad there aren't any cornfields in Carey, Ohio.

Overall, I'm pleased with the original offerings this year.

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

Another description:

They’re Taking Back Their Fields
At a long-abandoned Depression-era farm, vengeance takes root. The Land mourned as its bountiful grasslands were laid waste by farmers' plows. Now sorrow has turned to anger and Land and Wind have united to seek revenge. A malevolent dust cloud descends, as vindictive scarecrow guardians rise up from the crust of the earth. The only harvest that will be reaped is you.

 

[JunoSynth]

I'm hoping for a "Dark Night of the Scarecrow" Vide.

Hell they should just do a house based on that movie. It would be scary as hell!

 

[Legacy]

So... all the prop scarecrows I've seen from this house...

Spoiler

... are skeletons.

Make of that what you will.

 

[JunoSynth]

So... all the prop scarecrows I've seen from this house...

Spoiler

... are skeletons.

Make of that what you will.

In scarecrow outfits?

 

[Tobias]

So considering HHNO actually posted a nightvision walkthrough of this house on twitter, I can actually give some thoughts on this! (Naturally due to the nightvision, I have no idea what the lighting is.)

First the downside, it's incredibly one note in terms of scareactors. I don't think it's a spoiler that the scareactors are scarecrows, and I think it'll be benificial if people know that's all there is. There's no humans or victims. Now if you love the theme, that may not be such a issue. But if you're on the fence/don't like the theme, you may be outta' luck there.

Now on the flipside, it certainly looks claustrophobic with a bunch of in your face scares (Along with stuff in face.) Which for me can make up for it being nothing but scarecrows. An' speaking of the scarecrows, some of the designs look pretty bad ass to me. Also, it's got a pretty sweet finale which I will have under spoilers.

Spoiler

Finale looks to be a combination of the "Infinity forest" from 2014's TWD, and the rope/cornstalks used back in 2008's Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare.

All in all, it looks to be a solid house for scares. I can see it ending up in peoples top houses for the event, or somewhere in the middle.

 

[WAJAS]

So considering HHNO actually posted a nightvision walkthrough of this house on twitter, I can actually give some thoughts on this! (Naturally due to the nightvision, I have no idea what the lighting is.)

First the downside, it's incredibly one note in terms of scareactors. I don't think it's a spoiler that the scareactors are scarecrows, and I think it'll be benificial if people know that's all there is. There's no humans or victims. Now if you love the theme, that may not be such a issue. But if you're on the fence/don't like the theme, you may be outta' luck there.

Now on the flipside, it certainly looks claustrophobic with a bunch of in your face scares (Along with stuff in face.) Which for me can make up for it being nothing but scarecrows. An' speaking of the scarecrows, some of the designs look pretty bad ass to me. Also, it's got a pretty sweet finale which I will have under spoilers.

Spoiler

Finale looks to be a combination of the "Infinity forest" from 2014's TWD, and the rope/cornstalks used back in 2008's Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare.

All in all, it looks to be a solid house for scares. I can see it ending up in peoples top houses for the event, or somewhere in the middle.

So far it's my top

 

[biomegaceu]

After doing all the houses tonight. This house is tied for first for me. It will take a few more runs to make a final decision, but damn is this house good.

 

[Lucky Planet]

So considering HHNO actually posted a nightvision walkthrough of this house on twitter, I can actually give some thoughts on this! (Naturally due to the nightvision, I have no idea what the lighting is.)

First the downside, it's incredibly one note in terms of scareactors. I don't think it's a spoiler that the scareactors are scarecrows, and I think it'll be benificial if people know that's all there is. There's no humans or victims. Now if you love the theme, that may not be such a issue. But if you're on the fence/don't like the theme, you may be outta' luck there.

Now on the flipside, it certainly looks claustrophobic with a bunch of in your face scares (Along with stuff in face.) Which for me can make up for it being nothing but scarecrows. An' speaking of the scarecrows, some of the designs look pretty bad ass to me. Also, it's got a pretty sweet finale which I will have under spoilers.

Spoiler

Finale looks to be a combination of the "Infinity forest" from 2014's TWD, and the rope/cornstalks used back in 2008's Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare.

All in all, it looks to be a solid house for scares. I can see it ending up in peoples top houses for the event, or somewhere in the middle.

Where Can I see this night vision video please?

 

[Tobias]

Where Can I see this night vision video please?

Spoiler

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

I'm not sure if this house was hyped up too much and my expectations were set unfairly high or if other guests haven't experienced as many quality houses and their 'bar' is set a little lower, or if maybe I just don't particularly enjoy the "claustrophobic" houses (particularly set in Sprung 1 - Catacombs/Tomb of the Ancients/Scarecrow to name a few) but this one falls a bit flat for me.

I went into this house hearing that it was one of, if not the scariest HHN houses of all time. Unfortunately for me, I disagree pretty strongly. If I took note of my heartrate while walking through this house, I doubt it jumped more than a few bpm tops. I feel no sense of dread, no sense of danger, and no sense of urgency to get out. Many of the actors are much more passive than I had been lead to believe. To be fair, there were a few that were especially aggressive. The two (four) actors in the small room that have one lunging from above and to guests' right coupled with the opposing scare on the ground do a great job in this house. Also, the scarecrows immediately after the outhouse make it their mission to try and scare me each time I go through, which I really appreciate. The finale is decent, but a bit too sparsely populated for my liking.

My small nit to pick... the bird poop room is too large and without any scares happening within this room, it feels like wasted space to me. I would have used this room's space to expand/extend the house's finale.

I had high hopes for this house even before any guests had experienced it. Lots of fuel was added to the fire after reviews started to come in. I really wanted to love this house. I love the theme. I love that they planted and successfully grew corn that mostly withstood a hurricane. But, to be completely honest, I come away disappointed more than anything else when exiting this house. Again, maybe I had set unfair expectations and would enjoy it more had I not hoped and expected it to be something really special. It's by no means a poor haunted house, but to say it's one of the scariest/best of all time (or even in recent memory, for that matter) just doesn't jibe with what I have experienced.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

For those who went to a bunch of the years during the “golden era,” how does this house rank among the all time-greats? The run I had last week was the best run I’ve ever had of an HHN house.

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

For those who went to a bunch of the years during the “golden era,” how does this house rank among the all time-greats? The run I had last week was the best run I’ve ever had of an HHN house.

So, I've now experienced 105 HHN houses over 14 non-consecutive years of attending. Admittedly, I'm not as big of a fan of this house as most seem to be. But, I'd place Scarecrow somewhere between 35th and 40th on my all-time list. Judging by the response I've seen on here and on social media, it won't shock me if many others rank it in their top 20 or even top 10.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So considering HHNO actually posted a nightvision walkthrough of this house on twitter, I can actually give some thoughts on this! (Naturally due to the nightvision, I have no idea what the lighting is.)

First the downside, it's incredibly one note in terms of scareactors. I don't think it's a spoiler that the scareactors are scarecrows, and I think it'll be benificial if people know that's all there is. There's no humans or victims. Now if you love the theme, that may not be such a issue. But if you're on the fence/don't like the theme, you may be outta' luck there.

Now on the flipside, it certainly looks claustrophobic with a bunch of in your face scares (Along with stuff in face.) Which for me can make up for it being nothing but scarecrows. An' speaking of the scarecrows, some of the designs look pretty bad ass to me. Also, it's got a pretty sweet finale which I will have under spoilers.

Spoiler

Finale looks to be a combination of the "Infinity forest" from 2014's TWD, and the rope/cornstalks used back in 2008's Scary Tales: Once Upon a Nightmare.

All in all, it looks to be a solid house for scares. I can see it ending up in peoples top houses for the event, or somewhere in the middle.

Did you just rate this house based on a twitter video?

 

[Tobias]

Did you just rate this house based on a twitter video?

Since I'm not attending the event in person, I can't give it a full-on rating/ranking. But I can give my thoughts on what I can see in whatever videos I can find. I know it's not the same as being there in person, but it does sound like this house is delivering on the scares for those who have gone through it.