No scientific reasoning for it, but the best HHNs tend to be followed up immediately by the worst. HHN 15 was iconic—HHN 16 was mid at best. HHN 21 had arguably the best house line-up in history—HHN 22 is universally recognized as the worst of all time. HHN 25 was well-received, HHN 26 was a decided step down. So after a potential GOAT last year, if this year’s HHN proves to be the mixed bag it looks like on paper, it was to be expected. As long as my top four all hit, I’ll be happy.
10) Evil Dead Burn – haven’t seen the movie (like most of the country), and Evil Dead houses at HHN don’t have a great track record. This reeks of a forced synergy house so I expect creatives to do the bare minimum. Likely a one and done for me.
9) Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins – meh. Last season was so laughably bad it retroactively erased my love of the first season. Like season 5 of the show, I doubt we see anything new here. I’m sure 18 months ago this made total sense—one last attempt to bring in all the $$—but Universal bought a lemon with this one.
8) Cybergoria – futuristic (as opposed to steampunk) sci fi never seems to work at the event for me: Interstellar Terror, the Seabase Alpha rip-off, that horrible NY zone… If this ends up delivering on the dieselpunk Metropolis vibes in the logo it might move up in my rankings, but not counting on it.
7) Madlands – if you count TWD, we’ve seemingly had a post-apocalyptic house every year for close to two decades. Like zombies, it’s played out. That said, this is a unique idea for a zoo house, and will ultimately come down to cast. I could see a Havoc or Hive level cast embracing the weirdness here and elevating the house. My dark horse sleeper candidate this year.
6) Invasion—Alien Abduction – farmhouse sets sound promising, but if we end up inside the UFO, see my Cybergoria thoughts. Will probably hinge on the aliens’ design. Hopefully there’s some variety. If not, or if just farm sets, could be very one-note.
5) Hellraiser – the movies are crap, but they are loaded with memorable gory iconography and iconic character designs. I said the same thing about Terrifier last year, and it ended up being my HotY. As one of the last 70s/80s grails, I expect this will have a fair amount of effort and love put into it. Cautiously optimistic it works better as a house than a film.
4) Chaos & Control – I quite liked Oddfellow’s house, and this is the longest Jack has been gone, so I actually started to miss him. You know this will have all the new tricks and effects and Easter eggs packed into it. Expecting a great house, it just shares the stage with the three potential bangers I personally anticipate more.
3) Sinners – favorite movie last year, felt like a perfect IP match for the event. The costuming/make-up and music should do a lot of heavy lifting here, if the cast keeps up could be an all-timer.
2) Ozzy Osbourne: Prince of Darkness – the first album I bought at age 13 was Bark at the Moon. So yeah, been an Ozzy fan for four decades. Hard to imagine iconic music better suited to an HHN house, and I imagine the visuals will be amazing as well. I have every faith this will be a labor of love and a proper tribute. Really looking forward to this one.
1) H.R. Bloodengutz – the original was my HotY in my favorite HHN of all time. Still the greatest dark comedy house ever, arguably the greatest original house ever. My expectations were already sky high. Then adding a Halloween theme with dark comedy based on the holiday’s traditions and iconography? Even higher. I realize the “silly late night horror host” trope was already a ‘memberberry back in 2011—two pop culture generations ago(!)—so I’m not sure anyone under 35 will “get” this house, but I’m pulling for it to be a winner and make new fans on its own. Plus we should get a new video with the original HR! This house alone justifies my FFP.