1. Ozzy - obviously my most anticipated. In any other situation, Jack would've been my #1, but sorry, my crazy clown friend - Ozzy takes it all. I know that there are several Ozzy fans in A&D, and I'm positive they will do an incredible tribute to him. I cannot wait to see this since I've been a fan for 46 years! I not only love his music, but I loved the man himself.
2. Jack & Oddfellow - Jack was featured in my second year of HHN way back in 2006. To me, he's always been interchangeable with HHN itself. I love it when he makes an appearance. I also enjoyed the Darkest Deal house with Oddfellow and thought he was a fantastic character. Seeing these two together is a dream!
3. H.R. Bloodengutz - I remember his original house back in 2011. It happened to be the first year I brought my now-wife along. While she isn't as much of an HHN freak as I am, she still talks about that house today. When I told her he was coming back, I was rewarded with the most excitement she's ever had for HHN. LOL Of course, this is the same woman who would never watch Terrifier but spent most of her time last year playing with that damn clown. haha.. I'm thrilled to see H.R.'s comeback and I know this will be such a FUN house. Halloween themed, too? IN!
4. Sinners - the minute after seeing this in the theater, I told my friends, " This HAS to be a HHN next year". Love the movie, adored the music, and, well, it's vampires - also one of my faves.
5. Hellraiser - I'm old, so I saw this movie in the theater when it first released. Back then, everyone was oh-my-godding all over the place because it was very different than the average horror movie of the time. I did re-watch it again in the theater I think last year, and I will admit, I laughed at some of the now cheesey effects. However, that doesn't take away from it's place in horror history nor it's insanely creepy characters. Hoping this house is truly unnerving.
6. Invasion - normally, I'm one of those people who looks forward to the original houses more than the IPs. However, this year, for the first time, it's mostly flipped. I'm not sure about most of these orginals because they don't really align with my taste. Aside from the J&O house, I can't get too excited for these. However, this one sounds like it could be pretty cool based on the setting and the fact it's not intended to be campy? Hoping for some good things here.
7. Madlands - I am putting this here because I"m having trouble deciding the order for the ones I'm least interested in.. I find the concept to be what feels like a thrown together mix of things that really don't go together. I mean - ok, cannibals.. but why in a zoo? I don't get it. I think the talk in spec about a zoo full of animal/human hybrids would've been more intriguing. This just sounds like the result of someone's mushroom trip.
8. Cybergoria - during spec, this house seemed like it was going to be Terminator-ish. While I'm not generally a sci-fi or apocalyptic fan, there are exceptions. I did enjoy Terminator, and I did love The Last of Us (the show, not the house). I just can't get into this concept. I'm glad others are excited, and I'm just hoping to be pleasantly surprised like I was last year with Hatchet & Chains.
9. Evil Dead Burn - I loved the original Evil Dead movies because they were so over the top, but they had some decent scares and loads of camp. These new iterations of the franchise are just not my bag.. pretty much gore for the sake of gore. That's why I skipped the Terrifier movies. However, we LOVED the Terrifier house last year, so who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky again.
10. Stranger Things 5 - so over this. For me, this is ALMOST like the Walking Dead years. They regurgitated WD so much that I actually stopped watching the show and pretty much hate it now. I'm glad ST is offically over, so I don't get to the I-hate-it level. To me, this is the final cash grab for a show that likely poured money into their pockets with merch alone. There are still loads of people still into it - good for them. This will be a one and done for me.. which is fine as it gives me more time to visit my faves.