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HHN2021: Demon City

I've always found it a interesting that the Hollywood event has been very quick to cut things due to backlash (e.g. the infamous Purge barker incident) but zones like this don't get much feedback. It's especially Interesting because Orlando got noise about The Fallen house they did.
 
I've always found it a interesting that the Hollywood event has been very quick to cut things due to backlash (e.g. the infamous Purge barker incident) but zones like this don't get much feedback. It's especially Interesting because Orlando got noise about The Fallen house they did.
Orlando didn’t “get noise.” The angel references were removed before the house was seen by anyone in the public.
 
Orlando didn’t “get noise.” The angel references were removed before the house was seen by anyone in the public.

To his point, though, it seems Orlando has always been more sensitive to religious imagery. The Purge character with the "god" mask had it switched to "dog." Angel references preemptively removed in The Fallen. "God Forgive Us" becomes "Forgive Us" in The Walking Dead.

Hollywood's event had the "god" Purger and "God Forgive Us." They also more frequently utilize twisted Christian/Satanic imagery. I think it speaks to perceived cultural tastes and tolerances - Orlando's team knows they'll get in hot water for religious imagery, so they mostly avoid it except in very specific situations (the fairly agnostic Gothic, the almost reverential opening to La Llorona). Hollywood's issues tend to stem from reactive outcry - Bill & Ted (in fairness, bunch of tasteless jokes that deserved criticism), Purge barker (unfortunate situation that became a platform for civil litigation), and Far East (outright racist character design that I can't believe made it through).
 
I've always found it a interesting that the Hollywood event has been very quick to cut things due to backlash (e.g. the infamous Purge barker incident) but zones like this don't get much feedback. It's especially Interesting because Orlando got noise about The Fallen house they did.
I think since its not really posing the demonic elements in a positive light, there isnt really an argument they could make to remove them.
If im not mistaken in 2015 in Dark Christmas there was a poster for the "Damnation Army" which got removed because of backlash probably due to its obvious reference to the Salvation Army, but aside from that I can't recall any specific even tangentially Christian religious iconography that was removed due to backlash.
 
(Probably derailing the thread...)

Orlando didn’t “get noise.” The angel references were removed before the house was seen by anyone in the public.

Ah, thank you for the correction as my recollection was incorrect. I think the examples above are pretty representative of what I was thinking and I'm just always fascinated by the coastal and creative differences.

I recall walking through Hollywood's Ash vs. Evil Dead maze in 2017 (after attending Orlando's event) and noting the really awkward censoring of a slang term for a woman's genitals. While I don't have any issue with "censorship" (and I dislike that word given that I think haunts can and should change based on cultural values), sometimes the shock value is really the whole point, which is why Orlando often works better than Hollywood (the dog in The Depths, the baby in The Hive, and the aggressive Purge barkers being good examples). I recall that we were not allowed to take pictures of the first two things in that list during the daytime HHN Orlando tour and the guide explicitly made a joke about them, but Murdy even said he regrets the La Llorona scene with the drowned kids and he could never do it again. Arguably, I do go to Halloween events to see them push boundaries, but I'm probably asking too much from a mainstream event.

Hollywood's event had the "god" Purger and "God Forgive Us." They also more frequently utilize twisted Christian/Satanic imagery.

The band Ghost famously said that Hollywood was the only place they were able to hire a choir to do the backing vocals for their songs due to the Satanic themes, so it seems to be relatively consistent.

I do like the direction of the zone and the scenic really seems to have been taken up a notch, so I'm glad to see that's getting some attention.
 
Give me a sick and twisted mind who doesn't let personal feelings get in the way. This is HORROR, man, c'mon!!!
Yet he allowed a dead child in an open coffin in Universal Monsters. Huh.
i mean to be fair, if he did pull something that graphic again it would probably get removed before the run was done.
Never forget the Holidayz roast person.
Bruh, this is Halloween HORROR Nights. I remember back in the glory days when it was GRITTY. Hostel and Saw ‘09 were awesome like that. Now the gore factor is kinda cartoonish and everything feels so watered down. I think the complaining about the “graphic content” is stupid when you signed up for a horror event. It’s supposed to make you feel uneasy.

I just realized that my top two favorite mazes ever involve dead children (Monsters and La Llorona).Coincidence or should I seek help?
 
Yet he allowed a dead child in an open coffin in Universal Monsters. Huh.

Bruh, this is Halloween HORROR Nights. I remember back in the glory days when it was GRITTY. Hostel and Saw ‘09 were awesome like that. Now the gore factor is kinda cartoonish and everything feels so watered down. I think the complaining about the “graphic content” is stupid when you signed up for a horror event. It’s supposed to make you feel uneasy.

I just realized that my top two favorite mazes ever involve dead children (Monsters and La Llorona).Coincidence or should I seek help?
I agree that in general Universal shouldn't buckle to complaints, im just saying even if murdy tried to do something that hardcore again, assuming universal wouldnt change how they react to complaints, it would probably end up shot down.
Frankly I've always had kinda mixed feelings about the whole "it used to be grittier" argument, especially as I attend more and more years. I have trouble really pinning down whether the past was truly grittier, or if the events tropes and feeling as a whole being fresher just made it feel grittier. Like to me, 2013 was a really gritty year, since it was my first and I was still relatively young when I went, but I have my suspicions that people who attended 2013 but had attended several years prior likely wouldn't share in that opinion.
 
(Probably derailing the thread...)



Ah, thank you for the correction as my recollection was incorrect. I think the examples above are pretty representative of what I was thinking and I'm just always fascinated by the coastal and creative differences.

I recall walking through Hollywood's Ash vs. Evil Dead maze in 2017 (after attending Orlando's event) and noting the really awkward censoring of a slang term for a woman's genitals. While I don't have any issue with "censorship" (and I dislike that word given that I think haunts can and should change based on cultural values), sometimes the shock value is really the whole point, which is why Orlando often works better than Hollywood (the dog in The Depths, the baby in The Hive, and the aggressive Purge barkers being good examples). I recall that we were not allowed to take pictures of the first two things in that list during the daytime HHN Orlando tour and the guide explicitly made a joke about them, but Murdy even said he regrets the La Llorona scene with the drowned kids and he could never do it again. Arguably, I do go to Halloween events to see them push boundaries, but I'm probably asking too much from a mainstream event.



The band Ghost famously said that Hollywood was the only place they were able to hire a choir to do the backing vocals for their songs due to the Satanic themes, so it seems to be relatively consistent.

I do like the direction of the zone and the scenic really seems to have been taken up a notch, so I'm glad to see that's getting some attention.
I think (not totally sure) that was the San Fran Gay Men's choir, but yes Cali is much easier when regarding religious satire, parody, and criticism

I also am really excited for this Zone, hopefully they implement new tech as more gp will want to hang out in zones without a mask while waiting for longer lines. I could definitely see changes to the zones as covid rules change (Ala: no actors, full outdoor masks, only stilt walkers, etc)
 
Like to me, 2013 was a really gritty year, since it was my first and I was still relatively young when I went, but I have my suspicions that people who attended 2013 but had attended several years prior likely wouldn't share in that opinion.
It was definitely gritty. El Cucuy was a maze filled with dead kids stuffed with candy or in jail cells forced to wear pumpkins on their heads. Also first year of Insidious which was freakin stellar. Walking Dead had a new great maze and Evil Dead got better as the year went on. Only blunders that year were Black Sabbath and whatever your feelings were for dubstep in the House of Horrors.
 
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