HHN 29: Nightingales: Blood Pit

[OhHaiInternet95]

I have to give a massive thank you to the people from the employee preview who put this house near the bottom of their list because I couldn’t have been more nervous that this house wouldn’t live up to my #1 anticipated spot, but I was completely wrong because it blew me away from start to finish. I’m genuinely confused why this house isn’t getting Scarecrow levels of praise because it’s THAT good.

People were expecting to be on the Coliseum floor, I think. Given the location I was not, but it probably would have been better served in SS24. There's nothing in Us that couldn't have been done in a sprung--though given what it replaced, I can understand why it was where it was.

I still was a fan of this house, but Graveyard Games is without a doubt the original with the best chance of connecting with the GP (just as much as the IPs) the way Scarecrow did.

 

[Legacy]

People need to stop saying "Us should have replaced [sprung house]."

The sprungs were near complete before Us was on the table. Replacing them wasn't an option.

 

[horrornights789]

On my first run through this house let me down but after a couple more I really love this house. It’s bloody as all hell and it’s really scary; and there’s glimpses of the coliseum above throughout the house if you catch them.

As much as I love this house the original is unbeaten. I think this house is fine in Sprung 1 though but following up Blood Prey was a challenge I’m not sure any sequel could live up to.

 

[MrRoamer]

Blood Ruins. Hades. Roanoke. Dracula Untold. The Foresaken (yeah, the most controversial one here). The Fallen (in aesthetics at least). Excepting Scary Tales, I can't think of a good house set before 1800.

Two runs thru Blood Pit did not change my opinion.

Spoiler

Chekov's Gun. You can't promise me the Roman Coliseum in the queue then keep me in tunnels underneath the whole time. Also, not crazy about the redesigned creatures, and it's just them and some victims.

I imagine this will get more scares as the cast learn the room, but I don't know that it ever exceeds forgettably average. Which would be fine except it's a beloved in-house franchise.

I have to agree with this. My only additions are the overwhelming smells, and I really didn't like or understand the redesign.

I feel like they should have just not been branded as Nightingales, not that it would have helped the house much.

 

[hhnholdem]

I see discussions in the Depths of Fear thread about the dog, but is there a complaint about Nightingales that I wasn't aware of? I'm only asking because on opening night the gladiator gave a kick to the head to the prop that is on its knees, whereas on Saturday and Sunday it was a punch to the head.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

I see discussions in the Depths of Fear thread about the dog, but is there a complaint about Nightingales that I wasn't aware of? I'm only asking because on opening night the gladiator gave a kick to the head to the prop that is on its knees, whereas on Saturday and Sunday it was a punch to the head.

I knew that was different! The knee was way more effective!!!

 

[Lucky Planet]

I see discussions in the Depths of Fear thread about the dog, but is there a complaint about Nightingales that I wasn't aware of? I'm only asking because on opening night the gladiator gave a kick to the head to the prop that is on its knees, whereas on Saturday and Sunday it was a punch to the head.

whats the prop?

 

[hhnholdem]

The prop was a mannequin resembling a human on its knees. The gladiator is beating on the human.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

The prop was a mannequin resembling a human on its knees. The gladiator is beating on the human.

when I went in Last night he wasn’t doing anything to the prop

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Spoiler

The very first Nightingale scared the poo out of me tonight.

Is it flawed? Yes. But the cast tonight was on point. Combine with the wonderful amount of gore and old-school style HHN storytelling, it's a strong maze IMO.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Oh my god, this house gave me the first true sense of overwhelming dread and absolute terror I’ve gotten the entire event. Jumpscares are one thing but I don’t think a single thing can top the run I just had tonight.

It was a really slow Wednesday night and the park was about to close in about 15 minutes. I decide to go to Nightingales as that’s the only house I haven’t gone in yet. I also happened to be alone. Friends had left just a little bit earlier but I wanted to hit one last house.

Jesus, was that a mistake going alone in there.

I was the only guy in the entire first half of the house with no idea where anything was coming from, when it would happen or what they would do. It was like wearing a bright red target to a shooting range. I got EVERY scare to the point where eventually I just started ducking and weaving and running until I reached the guy wayyyy in front of me and stuck with him the whole rest of the house.

The entire time I couldn’t tell what was a fake wall, where any of the boo holes were, or even what to really look for to discern Nightingale from any other prop. It was probably the single scariest thing I’ve ever experienced in Horror Nights so far.

Thinking back, I’m really glad I did it the way I did it. That said, I’m definitely bringing a very large group alongside me next time I go.

 

[SeventyOne]

As of last night, cast has definitely stepped up its game. Very aggressive, felt like quicker re-sets as well but that could be in my head. Much improved, tho a bit of a "reverse Gothic" effect where even a good house gets lost in the shuffle of such a strong line-up this year.

 

[Living Dead Dude]

As of last night, cast has definitely stepped up its game. Very aggressive, felt like quicker re-sets as well but that could be in my head. Much improved, tho a bit of a "reverse Gothic" effect where even a good house gets lost in the shuffle of such a strong line-up this year.

I came to say the exact same thing! Cast was killing it last night and could possibly be in my top 3 houses this year!

 

[MrRoamer]

As of last night, cast has definitely stepped up its game. Very aggressive, felt like quicker re-sets as well but that could be in my head. Much improved, tho a bit of a "reverse Gothic" effect where even a good house gets lost in the shuffle of such a strong line-up this year.

The cast we had on Sunday was pretty on point. They were very aggressive, and add that with my "Its not Nightengales" mantra, it felt much much better.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Even if it sucks they re-designed the masks, the backstory of this house is great and fits with the Nightingales—I present it to those who argue they have no storytelling anymore—even if the masks don’t.

 

[sjago13]

The gladiator that kicks is back.

 

[itsabee]

The gladiator that kicks is back.

Cool! Maybe I’ll have to put the smell behind me and do Nightingales again just to see this.

 

[sjago13]

Cool! Maybe I’ll have to put the smell behind me and do Nightingales again just to see this.

Its the first time I've seen it since opening weekend. Not sure if that actor is a reserve or just has been out lately or what.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

It has its flaws (lion puppeteer seemingly wasn't there tonight), but goddamn I am loving this house.

 

[Tobias]

I was pleasantly surprised by this house, both cast's were consistently aggressive on my run throughs so I could rely on this one for a good jolt or three. The Nightingale in the room with the wind always nailed me, same with the mirror trick about midway through.

I also had a really memorable final run where I literally got pinball'd between several of them. Another great moment was my 1st run where one of my friends got such a good scare...his freaked out reaction had the nearby ops holding their hands over their mouth in desperation of trying not to laugh. I've never seen someone get a reaction like that out of ops!