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HHN 29: Most Anticipated House

Most Anticipated Haunt

  • Stranger Things

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • Us

    Votes: 8 6.8%
  • Universal Monsters

    Votes: 10 8.5%
  • Ghostbusters

    Votes: 46 39.0%
  • Killer Klowns From Outer Space

    Votes: 5 4.2%
  • House Of 1000 Corpses

    Votes: 11 9.3%
  • Depths Of Fear

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Graveyard Games

    Votes: 16 13.6%
  • Nightingales: Blood Pit

    Votes: 7 5.9%
  • Yeti: Terror Of The Yukon

    Votes: 6 5.1%

  • Total voters
    118
1. Jordan Peele’s Us
2. Nightingales: Blood Pit
3. Stranger Things 2 + 3
4. Graveyard Games
5. Ghostbusters
6. House of 1000 Corpses
7. Depths of Fear
8. Killer Klowns from Outer Space
9. Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
10. Universal Monsters

Us is the house I’m most excited to see translated since I really think Orlando will knock it out of the park. Nightingales is an easy #1 original wise for me and #3-9 are toss ups for me. Universal Monsters does nothing for me, I think it will be good but it just doesn’t excite me.

Mostly Likely Sleeper Hit: House of 1000 Corpses

Most Likely to Rise: Universal Monsters

Most Likely to Fall: Yeti or Depths
 
I don't bother with lists, but Corpses is my favorite horror movie, so that's my number one
 
1) Ghostbusters - One of my all-time favorite movies. I grew up on the franchise - between the toys, the cartoon, and of course, the 2 films. Obviously, this house is going to rely heavily on special FX, and it could be hit or miss - but I don't care. I trust the team at HHN to give us a house that we'll remember for a long time. Will it be scary? Maybe, but I know it'll definitely be fun.
2) Universal Monsters - A Timeless property. They always seem to get the Monsters right (besides Untold, in which I give the team a mulligan).
3) Graveyard Games - Simply based on word of mouth.
4) Nightingales--Blood Pit - I wasn't as high on the first one like many others, but I still thought it was a pretty gruesome and intense house. I'm looking forward to how they bring the gore to the Gladiators.
5) Yeti—Terror of the Yukon - Long live Swamp Yeti! This actually is higher because they usually kill it with Sound Stages. But can one scene translate well into a whole house? I'm cautiously optimistic.
6) Killer Klownz - If this was the first year, it'd be higher. Combined with a pretty strong line-up and that's why it's at 6. Another house that I feel will be fun, no matter the quality.
7) Depths of Fear - It screams like Interstellar Terror underwater, but I think there will be more to it than some have been hypothesizing. Too much unknown is why it's low, but it should feature some neat FX.
8) Stranger Things II - Victim of strong year again. Also dependent on how much of each season they represent. I thought last year's was fine. I expect the same.
9) House of a 1,000 Corpses - Terrible movie. Wonderful content. Dark Horse of the event.
10) Us - Between the late start, and the horror from the movie being "ourselves", I don't know how well it will translate. As Schuck alluded, not a lot of memorable locations. However, I am looking forward to the "F the Police" scene and the soundtrack.
 
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1) Ghostbusters - One of my all-time favorite movies. I grew up on the franchise - between the toys, the cartoon, and of course, the 2 films. Obviously, this house is going to rely heavily on special FX, and it could be hit or miss - but I don't care. I trust the team at HHN to give us a house that we'll remember for a long time. Will it be scary? Maybe, but I know it'll definitely be fun.
2) Universal Monsters - A Timeless property. They always seem to get the Monsters right (besides Untold, in which I give the team a mulligan).
3) Graveyard Games - Simply based on word of mouth.
4) Nightingales--Blood Pit - I wasn't as high on the first one like many others, but I still thought it was a pretty gruesome and intense house. I'm looking forward to how they bring the gore to the Gladiators.
5) Yeti—Terror of the Yukon - Long live Swamp Yeti! This actually is higher because they usually kill it with Sound Stages. But can one scene translate well into a whole house? I'm cautiously optimistic.
6) Killer Klownz - If this was the first year, it'd be higher. Combined with a pretty strong line-up and that's why it's at 6. Another house that I feel will be fun, no matter the quality.
7) Stranger Things II - Victim of strong year again. Also dependent on how much of each season they represent. I thought last year's was fine. I expect the same.
9) House of a 1,000 Corpses - Terrible movie. Wonderful content. Dark Horse of the event.
10) Us - Between the late start, and the horror from the movie being "ourselves", I don't know how well it will translate. As Schuck alluded, not a lot of memorable locations. However, I am looking forward to the "F the Police" scene and the soundtrack.

Sooooo.... Depths is 8 then? :lol:
 
Sooooo.... Depths is 8 then? :lol:

giphy.gif


Fixed. and it's 7... :lol:
 
1. Ghostbusters: By far my most-anticipated. Ghostbusters is probably my favorite horror comedy ever. Even if it's not going to be the absolute scariest house, there's no doubt in my mind it will at least be really cool/really fun. Aiello is also a huge nerd of this so I know he ain't going to screw this up. I think there will still be some cool effects and scares in this one.

2. Graveyard Games: Winter's Night, though I haven't gotten to see it, looked absolutely beautiful. If it's anything remotely like that, I think it will be stellar. Can't wait to see a solid graveyard house.

3. Nightengales: Blood Pit: I've always wanted to see a haunt set in the Roman empire. I think this will be really neat. Plus, I haven't seen the OG Nightengales.

4. Stranger Things: Didn't see last year's house, but it looked really good on YouTube. I'm interested in seeing how they tackles S2 and how they pull off the giant Mind Frayer.

5. Depths of Fear: Knott's did a great job with their Depths house, though it was a little light on scares. It will be cool to see HHNO's approach with their more aggressive scares and immersive scenic.

6. Yeti: Terror of the Yukon:
I think a maze set in the mountains with a giant snow monsters will be fun. I demand two things: 1) It better be cold 2) It better have a working Yeti.

7. Killer Klowns from Outer Space:
I think this will be really fun. Might suck, might not. But I'm sure Aiello will have fun with it.

8. Universal Monsters: Surprisingly, this is at the bottom. Hollywood's was beautiful, but we'll see how this is. Say what you will about Murdy, but at least he really cares about the monsters. I'm not sure if the same sort of passion will apply to this house.

9. Us: At the bottom because of how late in the game it is, but I'm sure it won't be bad as Hollywood's. At least here, they'll make a descent effort at making it good and not just throw black walls in there and call it a day.

10. House of 1000 Corpses: It's probably because I've seen this at HHNH both years it came. Curious to see Florida's take on it but....eh. I'm guess I'm a little worn on it. I'm a little surprised it's the second most-anticipated tbh.
 
1. House of 1,000 Corpses – I think this house is the dark horse of the event, and a lot of people are sleeping on it because they don’t care for the movie. Fair enough, but I think it’s going to turn out to be what I was hoping Carnival Graveyard would be last year; an old-school haunted house/theme park aesthetic but with a much more brutal, grindhouse vibe. Trading in the open spaces for a claustrophobic tent will hopefully up the scare factor as well.

This is exactly how I feel about this house. I'm borderline obsessed with the old school haunted house feel and I can't wait to get into this one. It's not my number one most anticipated because of ghostbusters being one of my favorite movies of all time and me always really being hyped for the originals, but I think (or at least hope) it will end up near the top of my list by the time the event is over.

This year's house lineup is super strong for me. I'm excited for every house so my anticipation list is hard and honestly there is very little difference between my number 1 and 10.

1. Ghostbusters
2. Nightingales
3. Graveyard Games
4. Depths of Fear
5. House of 1000 Corpses
6. Universal Monsters
7. Yeti
8. Killer Clowns
9. Stranger Things
10. Us
 
This is exactly how I feel about this house. I'm borderline obsessed with the old school haunted house feel and I can't wait to get into this one. It's not my number one most anticipated because of ghostbusters being one of my favorite movies of all time and me always really being hyped for the originals, but I think (or at least hope) it will end up near the top of my list by the time the event is over.

This year's house lineup is super strong for me. I'm excited for every house so my anticipation list is hard and honestly there is very little difference between my number 1 and 10.

1. Ghostbusters
2. Nightingales
3. Graveyard Games
4. Depths of Fear
5. House of 1000 Corpses
6. Universal Monsters
7. Yeti
8. Killer Clowns
9. Stranger Things
10. Us
Say that’s exactly how I feel about a house then puts it at #5:grin:
 
:grin: Like I said, my hype for these houses are so close it's not even funny. I was actually getting annoyed at how many people I saw trash talking Us because I really liked the movie and think it has potential to be really good and I still put it at 10.

For me, Us was good but I didn't care much for the overall ending but it will make an AWESOME house!
 
1. Graveyard Games
2. Ghostbusters
3. Universal Monsters
4. Killer Klownz from Outer Space
5. Nightengales: Blood Pit
6. Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
7. Depths of Fear
8. Stranger Things 2
9. US
10. House of 1000 Corpses
 
Graveyard Games - This one I'm reasonably confident in, at least as far as my personal enjoyment goes. Ghosts get me in a way that most monsters don't, and generic humanoid ghosts in an unlit crypt with maybe a surprise or two thrown in as they catch the teenagers sounds like a great, simple, back-to-basics kind of house. All this house needs to do is be dark and spooky and have scare actors on-point with the triggers and timing, and I think I'll have a reasonably great time. No muss, no fuss, just a lot of jumpscares. I don't expect it to win house of the year or tell a great story (unless you use the Facebook chat stuff, I guess) but I expect it to be good at cutting to the chase and making me jump.

Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
- The Swamp Yeti was one of the best scares in the fantastic Slaughter Sinema, and it was a natural choice to sort of break off into its own thing. I'm a little sad we're ditching the 80's b-movie cheese and presenting it as a straight horror maze, but HHN always does really well in making "burly men" threats seem credible by taking 6+ foot tall actors and putting them in platform shoes to make them feel even larger (last year's Swamp Yetis, AVP's Predators, and Freddy Vs Jason's Jasons all vouch for the creative team's ability to make "large guy charging at you" scary). That said, I don't know how much of the premise was what made the Swamp Yeti work versus the design of that particular scare itself, and a lot of how truly great this house ends up is going to depend on how they can build a setting and a world where a giant snow monster is hunting us rather than just repeating "big guy in a fursuit jumps out" scares over and over. Still, even if that's all it brings to the table, I think it's sure to be an okay ride.

House of 1,000 Corpses - Of all the film franchises we have this year, this is probably the one best suited to be turned into an HHN house (and not just because it's already been one in Hollywood). If there's one thing HHN loves it's to adapt popular iconography as literally as possible, and that movie is loaded to the gills with it - whether it's Captain Spaulding's Murder Ride, Tiny busting in on the robbers, the various torture and creep out scenes in the house, or the crypt full of mutant experiments and Dr. Satan himself, it's basically a collection of easily adapted, immediately recognizable, and often iconic horror beats. I don't know if it's going to be the _best_ house this year, but it's one that I feel confident saying will at least be _fine_. The only real knock against it right now is the fact that the rumors place it in the tent behind Men in Black, and that location has sort of notoriously difficult to squeeze good jump scares out of.

Universal Classic Monsters - I really don't know what to expect from this. It's an original house based around the loose idea of a more spooky redesign of the Universal Classic Monsters. We're not getting the Hollywood version and its associated Slash music (as far as I know) which means I don't think we can use that as the basis for what they're doing on this coast. I expect good things (the last time we had a Universal Classic Monsters house, Universal's House of Horrors, the black-and-white themed house was pretty great). But also I have no other information to draw any conclusion on than "There's going to be a house featuring Wolf-Man, Frankenstein, Dracula, etc." I have confidence these monsters will do well (and I expect this is where we'll see the American Werewolf puppets this year, and I love them), but I don't know anything else beyond that.

Stranger Things - I really expected the first house to be one of those "pretty to look at, not particularly scary" houses. To my surprise, though, they leaned hard in on being a straight horror house, and it mostly worked. There were one or two bits that never landed the way they wanted (the lab techs never seemed to get anyone, and it felt like a house design issue) but none of them involved the Demogorgon, which proved actually pretty frightening. Assuming they repeat that horror-focused approach for seasons 2 and 3, I think we could get a lot of scary bits here (especially all the Season 2 demodog stuff and some of Season 3's body horror).

Us - Here we're really starting to get to the houses that could go either way. On one hand, it's a movie that is very much up HHN's ally - lots of iconography, varied yet enclosed settings can be comparatively cheaply mocked up (tethered underground, mirror maze, generic California house, a slightly nicer house, Lost Boys pier at night), and human antagonists that don't require expensive special effects to realize. The house of mirrors bit alone could be worth entry, and if they manage to have that score playing while you're hunted in the dark underground... it could be really memorable. On the other hand the house risks the Halloween 2 problem of throwing more or less the same scare at you over and over. Also, the film's most creepy and iconic image - the Hands Across the America stuff - is both not a jump scare and also expensive to reproduce (as unsettling as it is, they're not going to pay 4+ people to stand in that stance for shifts, and they don't tend to do a ton of mannequin work in that vein for some reason). So if it pops up at all it's gonna be in the "family holds hands, then scatters at you" bit, which is cool, but undersells that lingering image.

Depths of Fear - Another "totally could go either way" house. It sounds like if any of the original houses are comedy houses this year (or at least have a goofy, b-movie sentiment to them) it will be this one. Neon green goo eggs infecting/murdering/transforming scientists deep under the sea sounds like the opportunity for some dank dark corners (cool!), body horror (cool!), and maybe even some deep sea creature inspired makeup/puppets (very cool!). I can picture failing pressurization doors as alarms sound, and power flickering while water (or what you hope is water!) drips from above, and creepy scenes where the mouthbrooders stare back from the dark as a distraction from the real scare that's right next to you. So if the stars align it may be surprisingly great, campy fun. On the other hand, it might be "drippy walk through the halls of the amazing green-zit people - now with extra squirty effects!" At which point... Sure, okay. Whatever.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - This is almost certainly going to be a comedy house (I don't see how it could ever have been anything but). So it's not the lack of scares that concerns me, per se. Mostly I just want it to lean hard into the comedy and absurdism. The entire chase through the ship captures what you could do with a house - an almost cartoon-like space that made no sense and that they seemingly control, being at once funny but also vaguely offputting/threatening. I want them to capture that - the weird surreal cartoon logic that makes Killer Klowns hilarious. I'd really want something closer in tone to Penn & Teller's Nuked Vegas or Asylum in Wonderland. Which also brings me to the conclusion (and this will be wildly unpopular, I'm sure) that this probably should have been a 3D house. Still, if it manages to be a goofy fun comedy house with the occasional light jump scare, I'm game. Really, I just want to laugh or jump, and I just can't shake the nagging feeling that this house is going to be confused about how to do either.

Nightingales: Blood Pit - I am still confused by this. The whole joke with Nightingales was that it was something of a pun on Florence Nightingale - like her, they were nurses, but _unlike_ her, they were secretly monsters that fed off of the dead and dying and became fat and happy during World War 2 as so many injured people rolled in. It played off of fears of war and of doctors and the crudity of old school field triage. But by setting it in the gladiator pit that pun kind of disappears? There are no nurses caring for the wounded in the gladiator pit. The gladiator pit was full of slaves sent to fight and/or die. So the pun is gone. Which leaves us with monsters robbed of their whole gimmicky existence. Now they're just... I guess like vultures, but for human mass deaths? Do they even have/need a disguise anymore? It sounds like a gore-heavy house that doesn't know what to do with its monsters, having robbed them of the only context in which they made sense. I'm willing to be surprised (and maybe I will be!) but this is just so incoherent an idea that I have low expectations for it.

Ghostbusters - I still don't see how this house works given what we've seen in leaks. When they made the announcement, in my head I pictured a 3D or neon black light house - something that was a little bit comedic and playful and let them get away with costumed actors as "ghosts." But that leaked Slimer picture more or less confirms that they are going for a *very* literal recreation of the original film. That represents.... problems. Much like The Shining, the film is set largely in well lit hallways. And worse than The Shining, the monsters are almost all things that necessitate special effects - transparent inhuman looking ghosts, devil dog puppets, giant Stay Puffed Marshmallow Men. The only thing that's basically "person jumping out at you" is either Gozer or maybe Tully jumping out of his apartment thinking Dana's on her way home. The rest (to fit with the aesthetic they're going for) largely have to be Pepper's Ghosts, puppets, giant unmoving setpieces, or some other tricky, hard to pull off technical wizardry. My expectation here is that this falls in with The Shining - a bunch of cool set pieces that let you feel like you're walking through the movie and a decent tribute to fans, but not quite functional as an actual haunted house. That, or the house named "Ghostbusters" is going to be awful light on the ghosts.
 
Nightingales: Blood Pit - I am still confused by this. The whole joke with Nightingales was that it was something of a pun on Florence Nightingale - like her, they were nurses, but _unlike_ her, they were secretly monsters that fed off of the dead and dying and became fat and happy during World War 2 as so many injured people rolled in. It played off of fears of war and of doctors and the crudity of old school field triage. But by setting it in the gladiator pit that pun kind of disappears? There are no nurses caring for the wounded in the gladiator pit. The gladiator pit was full of slaves sent to fight and/or die. So the pun is gone. Which leaves us with monsters robbed of their whole gimmicky existence. Now they're just... I guess like vultures, but for human mass deaths? Do they even have/need a disguise anymore? It sounds like a gore-heavy house that doesn't know what to do with its monsters, having robbed them of the only context in which they made sense. I'm willing to be surprised (and maybe I will be!) but this is just so incoherent an idea that I have low expectations for it.

Philomela - Wikipedia
 
Nightingales: Blood Pit - I am still confused by this. The whole joke with Nightingales was that it was something of a pun on Florence Nightingale - like her, they were nurses, but _unlike_ her, they were secretly monsters that fed off of the dead and dying and became fat and happy during World War 2 as so many injured people rolled in. It played off of fears of war and of doctors and the crudity of old school field triage. But by setting it in the gladiator pit that pun kind of disappears? There are no nurses caring for the wounded in the gladiator pit. The gladiator pit was full of slaves sent to fight and/or die. So the pun is gone. Which leaves us with monsters robbed of their whole gimmicky existence. Now they're just... I guess like vultures, but for human mass deaths? Do they even have/need a disguise anymore? It sounds like a gore-heavy house that doesn't know what to do with its monsters, having robbed them of the only context in which they made sense. I'm willing to be surprised (and maybe I will be!) but this is just so incoherent an idea that I have low expectations for it.

So the entire legitimacy of a house’s quality is called into question because... the name of the creatures isn’t a pun anymore? They obviously didn’t name the creatures in 2011 with an intention of having a sequel where their name wouldn’t connect in that way, but it shouldn’t detract from the logic of having a house where creatures (which have existed since the beginning of time) attack a place of bloodshed and violence in order to feast on the weak and the dying, which is exactly how Blood Prey worked.
 
Depths of Fear - Another "totally could go either way" house. It sounds like if any of the original houses are comedy houses this year (or at least have a goofy, b-movie sentiment to them) it will be this one.

This looks NOTHING like a b-horror house.

Anyways, my top 3 anticipated are pretty set. My 4 and 5 are almost tied, my 6-9 are a jam--I can't really rank them in any particular order--and then my last place is also set, although nothing makes me groan loudly like HoB did last year.

#10--Stranger Things
I like this show. I really do. But fact is, having it shoved in my face turns me off of it as a house. And yeah, it's a family friendly property. More than one is simply put, too many for me, and there's two that I'm more excited about.

#6 (tie)--Graveyard Games
The social media thing is nice, but it kinda just seems like a generic graveyard house--which makes sense, considering they spent a good portion of the development for this house trying to change it to GoT. Most likely to rise.

#6 (tie)--Us
This is probably the most likely to fall--going to be especially cast-dependent I think--but I can't help but be intrigued. As someone sick to death of the lack of originality coming out of studios nowadays (and people supporting said lack), I very much enjoyed the movie and was so happy it did well at the box office.

#6 (tie)--Killer Klownz From Outer Space
Big fan of the movie, but when there's another more...ahem, broad-appeal property ahead of it, it's still just a tad bit too family friendly for me to be truly hyped about it. The cotton candy smell should be nice.

#6 (tie)--Universal Monsters
Here's the thing: my attitude for this house can best be summed up as eating dessert before dinner. You might find it ridiculous, but I just find it REALLY bothersome that they're not saving this for next year. I would be hyped if this were at 30.

#5--Yeti: Terror of the Yukon
Points off for it not being cold, but I like that they're going for a serious vibe unlike in Sinema last year; I do really like the theme.

#4--House of 1000 Corpses
A gory, adult house. I'm kind of a sucker for this type of horror, I actually found the TCM house at 26 to be very scary.

#3--Ghostbusters
Not really horror and yes this is a more family friendly property, BUT this sounds like a true white whale for them. The reports of this being one of the most technologically advanced houses ever have me excited.

#2--Depths of Fear
I've said ad nauseam why I'm psyched for this house, but TL;DR--the story lends itself perfectly to a conga line in creating a sense of panic and trying to get out. This is my #2 overall.

#1--Nightingales: Blood Pit
C'mon, I've been begging for a Nightingales sequel for a while now. You think I would've put anything else at the top? Based off what they've released, I simply adore this story--exactly what draws me to HHN (BTW, here's a little background on what they'll be disguised as). Hoping for a heavy amount of gore as rumored. This is my #1 overall.
 
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First HHN this year but have followed along online for about 10 years.

I am expecting this to change but this is my hype list right now;

Us
HO1C
Depths
Killer Klowns
Ghostbusters
Nightingales
Monsters
Yeti
Stranger Things
Graveyard Games

Also noticing this is the complete opposite to most peoples lists, I’m hopeful for US it’s either going to stay at the top or crash to the bottom.
 
This is my current hype list, I'm really excited about everything up until #8, and then it sharply dies down.
  1. Graveyard Games: If this looks anything like the Highgate Cemetery that the team visited last year I am 100% sold.
  2. Ghostbusters: It's GHOSTBUSTERS. Any other year this would be my #1.
  3. Yeti: This just feels right, especially if this is a spiritual successor to the scene from Slaughter last year.
  4. Killer Klowns: This would be my #3 if it wasn't in Shrek. I'm hopeful that they're able to overcome the space limitations, but I have my doubts.
  5. Nightingales: I just recently got into haunts, so I never saw the first one in person, but the concept is fairly original and I'm excited to see what they come up with.
  6. Stranger Things: Watch season 3 and tell me that there's not some potential in there.
  7. Depths: I was hoping for a bit more of a Lovecraftian bent to it, but the timer countdown sounds like an interesting idea.
  8. HO1C: Not a Rob Zombie fan just in general. This is definitely the best of his movies to make the jump to a house, imo though.
  9. Monsters: I could take it or leave it. Legacy's comment about the Creature scenes took some of the wind out of the sails for me on this one, but we'll see.
  10. Us: I loved this movie but I don't think the time constraint is going to help this house. I think there's potential here but it'll be a crunch to make something cohesive in half the time they'd normally have.

Most likely to rise: Monsters, Depths
Most likely to fall: Yeti, Stranger Things
 
I’m always confused as to why loving a movie/TV show translates to thinking that it will be a phenomenal house. As much as I loved and adored Us, there aren’t a lot of memorable environments for a full haunt (let alone the fact that it’s a last minute replacement house). Conversely, disliking House of 1,000 Corpses as a movie shouldn’t detract from the fact that there are a lot of memorable environments, characters and dialogue that have the potential to translate beautifully (even if you think the movie sucked).
 
I’m always confused as to why loving a movie/TV show translates to thinking that it will be a phenomenal house. As much as I loved and adored Us, there aren’t a lot of memorable environments for a full haunt (let alone the fact that it’s a last minute replacement house). Conversely, disliking House of 1,000 Corpses as a movie shouldn’t detract from the fact that there are a lot of memorable environments, characters and dialogue that have the potential to translate beautifully (even if you think the movie sucked).

Well if you really like Us like to the point where it’s your #1 then you’re not gonna care about that stuff.

Conversely, if you like really really hate Rob Zombie, then you get my point.
 
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