Pre-2016 HHN Hollywood Reviews?

[DTH]

EVIL DEAD
Advertised Wait: 10 minutes
Actual Wait: 2 minutes
In the Maze At: 7:41 PM

Minor fun note: After the tram back, as I passed the Evil Dead exit, I'm PRETTY SURE I saw Fede Alvarez (director of the new Evil Dead) in the control room watching the monitors with a grin on his face.

I am so, so, so, so, so, so, SO... disappointed in this maze. I don't even know where to begin. But because it's weighing HEAVILY on my mind, I'll start with that it is SUPER DUPER dummy heavy to the point that it actually bogged the maze way down. It's like they didn't use a real person for any freakin' thing.

Next, this maze appeared to be unstaffed. Where the hell was everybody? Room after room, I expected something to jump out. What, were you just leaving it up to the dummies? I don't know how long this lasted for opening night, but it really bummed me out since I am a huge Evil Dead fan and this had potential to really BRING IT and be one of the best mazes ever. Instead, it relied on dummies and quite frankly, it freakin' sucked. What the hell is this, Knotts Scary Farm? You're Universal. This is Evil Dead. You're better than that! All this talk of "sparing no expenses" for this property just didn't add up.

(Update: I watched the sharpproductions video of the walkthrough and the maze appeared to be more staffed and there were more scares to be had. But with those scares, not many of them were necessarily scary or carefully put into the design. Plus, the "too many dummies" thing still comes to mind as why this is a major fail.)

Scenic-wise it was okay, but some rooms were way too small. And music? Nothing great. Maybe I'm nitpicking because I had time to notice these things, when I should be yelling from room to room instead. I really wanted to do it again just to see if we hit a REALLY bad run, but I didn't want to head all the way back down the Starway and wait in an hour line for it.

The few scareactors in the maze that were trying, I really thank you. The one or two scares I did get in here were fairly great and saved this from being a dud. Chainsaw dude at the end, good job. Mia cutting her tongue, good job. Mia ramming your chainsaw into the Abomination's throat... why you were licking your lips like chainsawing people in the face is sexy, I don't know, but good job for at least being interactive lol.

As bad as this maze is, I at least recognize it as a scary attraction, where as Sabbath I didn't take seriously. There was a certain mood that the maze did give off, even without constant scares happening, that made me feel a bit on edge.

Queue/Facade - 2. Wow, even worse than Silent Hill. JUST TREES. It could've been worse though. There is a very, very minor scare in the facade. A dummy lights up... ooooh. Go freakin figure.
Set Design - 8. This would've been a 9 if it weren't for the small rooms. The last room, which takes place outside, should've been way bigger.
Sound Design - 6.
Scareactor Design - 7.
Special Props & Design - 5.
Immersion - 6. The more and more I saw dummies, the more I got thrown out of the maze.
Length - 10. It hit all the key scenes and ended when it should've just some scenes should've been bigger in scale.
Scare Level - 4.
Fun Level - 8. It's Evil Dead, so at least I got my giddies up for that.
Story Comprehension - 8. I'm docking this a few points for a reason. If you miss the Book of the Dead tape playing in the queue (which we did), and if you miss the scare in the first cabin scene when they're reading the book (which we basically did), then this maze won't make much sense.
Personal Bias Bonus Points - 10. It's Evil Dead. It has my heart. I just wish it had my voice from making me scream/yell. Maybe next time... please improve. PLEASE. Do everything in your might to IMPROVE.
74 out of 100 'C'

JURASSIC PARK IN THE DARK
On Ride At: 7:58
Yet again, nothing has changed. And the car that falls wasn't working. BOOOOOO!

DINNER AT PANDA EXPRESS
8:15 - 8:50
Having done all of the lower lot and backlot WITHIN AN HOUR, we decided we could use a break since we were so ahead of schedule.

TERROR TRAM: INVADED BY THE WALKING DEAD
Advertised Wait: 40 minutes
Actual Wait: 29 minutes
In the Attraction at: 9:34 PM

After that weird way to enter the Studio Tour area, we made it down the escalators and they've changed the layout of the queue. I'm not sure if the layout actually works - one line is for the first few cars and another line for the back cars. I don't get it. The queue has quite a few roaming walkers as you enter the plaza and actually IN THE QUEUE. This guy was all over the place walking in the lines and scaring people. It was awesome. And the video again was just another commercial with little effort to put us into the story.

The drop off chainsaw chase in is very fun as usual. Putting us between gates also helped with the confinement and scares. The walkers were rocking it in the Bates Motel section. Oh hell, I'll just say it now. EVERYONE WAS ROCKING IT pretty much everywhere. This was the first time in a long time that I could honestly say Terror Tram was one of the best parts of the night.

I love the new scenes they added throughout. There's a traffic jam just before the hill and you get to see some of Micchone's pets again. The hill segment is kinda bare but once you get towards the top, it starts to get more exciting. Then there's the walker pit and all the burnt walkers. Very fun stuff!

One of my favorite moments is a re-worked moment from last year. You may remember cages off to the side that prisoned walkers in and they suddenly bust out. This year, there's survivors clearly trying to contain them in and then they're pushed away by the cages being let loose. SUCH a great scare as the horde comes out to attack. I loved it. One of the survivors was wearing a Stab-a-thon shirt... that made me chuckle.

After the Psycho house, there's survivors attacking over the fence. I don't remember if they were survivors last year, but this made a lot of sense. The War of the Worlds area was crawling with walkers everywhere. At one point, there was nobody and then suddenly, literally a dozen walkers came down the path towards us. That was totally a zombie movie moment that I got to live right there. Had my heart racing!

The ride back up, they play behind the scenes footage from season 4. They play the same footage in queue, so it was repetitive. I wish they would've played a trailer for Curse of Chucky instead or something.

Queue/Video - 7. Actually less informative than last year's video. Oct 14th. Oct 14th. Oct 14th. I'm sorry, that's all I remember after this attraction.
Set Design/Makeover - 10. Every year they add something new to the trail. This year we got the little place before the hill and the walker pit, plus some small things here and there. Maybe if we let TWD do the TT again, they'll just keep adding on?
Sound Design - 9.
Scareactor Design - 10.
Special Props & Design - 7. New walker pit and charred walkers was great. It's like they put as much thought into this as they did the maze, and they made sure to be very different from the maze, which is something they didn't do last year.
Immersion - 7.
Length - 10. I don't understand the complaints to make this longer. It's long enough!
Scare Level - 10. Got so many scares this year and I can honestly say that's a first.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 3. This was supposed to be Woodbury? I never would've got that.
Personal Bias Bonus Points - 10. Terror Tram has returned to its glory. After 2 bad years (10, 11), I no longer need to say "it's fallen off." Terror Tram is back on, that's for sure!
93 out of 100. 'A'-

CIRQUE DE KLOWNZ
No memorable music here and too many Freakz/French St. usual props. Add some saws, this'll be a decent zone. Also... I REALLY do not find these clowns scary at all. Regular clowns are much more frightening, and I don't even think clowns are scary.
6.9 out of 10 'D'+

CURSE OF CHUCKY
Supposedly there's an imprmptu Insult Emporium, but I didn't see it! However, Chucky on a scooter pretty much makes my life. Lots of scareactors carried over from Toyz. The fog was really working this area, unlike Klownz, and the lighting worked well with it, too. Plus I can clearly remember Chucky soundbytes, so something was right here. Although, A VERY SMALL GRIPE... if the zone is based on Curse of Chucky... why were all the faces of the Chucky's stitched like in Bride and Seed of Chucky? Hmmmm.
8.5 out of 10 'B'

 

[DTH]

EL CUCUY: THE BOOGEYMAN
Advertised Wait: 45 minutes
Actual Wait: 40 minutes
In the Maze At: 10:58 PM

After two major disappointments and knowing Universal Monsters Remix was going to be nothing special, this had a lot on the line in being the saving grace for this year. This would have to be on par with Insidious and Walking Dead to make this year worthy. But let's see what happened...

This is the type of maze I expect to see when I go to Horror Nights! Everything about it was awesome, except the scares just weren't quite there yet and it was a bit short. However, this very much reminds me of La Llorona, just without the super creepy factor. It's an all around fun maze and it's very high in quality, but it's missing that certain punch to make it AMAZING. Let's continue.

Unfortunately, the narration by Danny Trejo went completely over my head. I didn't hear him at all in the queue. Then through the maze, his voice was the last thing I was focused on, so I didn't really get the "storytelling" element that I wished.

I got some good scares in the theater; loved the popcorn smell. The movie playing was very silly and I caught Murdy's cameo. The birthday party scene is truly disturbing, but I thought it'd be a bit creepier in tone. Perhaps if it was much more quiet and subdued without the almost "action like" score, it'd work a lot better. The "under the bed" thing was cool, but I feel like I saw that at Knotts in Trick-or-Treat just last year.

The best scene is El Cucuy's lair. Very morbid and awesome, and very Halloween-ish with all the pumpkins. Also, there's something else other than El Cucuy attacking at you in these scenes. The body sacks... now THAT is disturbing. My main gripe is El Cucuy never shapeshifts into anything bigger. I was totally expecting that instead of... well... Mexican Freddy Krueger.

The maze ends kind of abruptly without a major climax. It's missing that something at the end to make you go OH MY GOD and run out of the maze. Hopefully they can work this out later in the run. This really has potential to be up there with the greats of this year (Insidious and Walking Dead) but it'll need some tweaks in the actual design in the maze to get there. With those tweaks, this could be almost as good as La Llorona. Hopefully they go into a major overhaul after this opening weekend.

So with that said, it didn't necessarily save the event, but it didn't push it down in the dumps either. It made the event at least "okay," and saved it from being "bad." In my opinion, there hasn't been a "bad" year at Universal, but this year was DANGEROUSLY close. But it didn't suck, it just wasn't as good as the other years. We'll talk about this more later.

Queue/Facade - 9. Nothing amazing. This would be an 8 but low and behold, another scare in the facade!
Set Design - 10.
Sound Design - 6.
Scareactor Design - 5.
Special Props & Design - 10.
Immersion - 10.
Length - 6. WAY TOO SHORT. Luckily it packed a punch in a short time.
Scare Level - 7. The scares aren't there yet.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 6. The narration isn't clear and precise in the sound mix.
Personal Bias Bonus Points - 10. I really did enjoy this and I think this has a lot of potential.
89 out of 100 'B'+

THE PURGE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT
Since we skipped the opening scaramonies, it took us quite awhile to come back around to this zone. Doesn't seem like we're missing much. There were a few scareactors with small weapons, and with the non-threatening masks (that somehow look less creepy than they did in the movie), these small weaponed scareactors were basically just... more people in the crowd. You would never know this zone was based on the movie. I don't remember hearing any Purge announcements or sirens.
7.4 out of 10 'C'

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS REMIX: RESURRECTION
Advertised Wait: 10 minutes
Actual Wait: 8 minutes
In the Maze At: 11:14 PM

THEY LIED! There was nothing new in here! Three new characters simply replaced characters from last year by serving the same exact function. I'm not even going to review this as this was the same exact maze and my feelings remain exactly the same for it. I even went back and found out after grading it, the points add up to the same dang amount as last year!

Queue/Facade - 5.
Set Design - 5.
Sound Design - 5. The new songs didn't make much of a difference. Point dockage.
Scareactor Design - 5.
Special Props & Design - 5
Immersion - 0.
Length - 3. Honestly, for a maze this stupid, it's too long.
Scare Level - 4. Lots of scareactors in here, gotta give 'em SOME credit.
Fun Level - 5.
Story Comprehension - 0.
Personal Bias Bonus Points - 0. I really did not want this back.
37 out of 100 'F'

THE SIMPSONS
Actual Wait: 18 minutes
On Ride Time: 11:42 PM
I had so much freaking extra time that I even had time for this. Wow. Early access is freakin' amaziiiiing.

BILL AND TED
SHOWING: 12:30 AM
Where the hell... was... "WE WILL ROCK YOU?!" And an opening dance number?! Did you just... FORGET?! Oh, you try to make it up by starting off the show and then going, "oh, haha, we're self aware and funny by mentioning the opening is weak so we SHOULD do a dance number." No, stop. Do the damn opening dance number and THEN start your show. It gets the crowd hyped and ready for fun. When the show started, everyone's faces were blank. In fact, the whole crowd was dead the whole show. My theory??? No opening dance number! I already forgave you for no pre-show this year, now this?!

Hey Bill and Ted, February called and they want their script back. Why were the majority of the jokes based on stuff that happened in Winter 2012 - 2013? The Hobbit? Les Miserables? Even the music at the end felt old -- the worst song finale ever. The stuff that was current seemed shoehorned in -- like "The Fox" song, which is just TOO CURRENT and NOBODY GOT or laughed at except for me. People will get it in maybe... 2 or 3 weeks, but I have a feeling by than, they'll just take the silence as a sign and replace it with something else.

Anyway, right away the show didn't feel like Bill and Ted. It is WAY too fantastical and they had to bend soooo many things to make it make any sense. "I'm Kim Jong Un and I came to Oz AND kidnapped celebrties becaussssseeee........" He might as well have said "because it's convenient for the show's plot." And a lot of elements come into play that never have pay offs later. For example, Gandalf introduces a team that's going to go on this great journey... and they're never seen again.

Another major negative is smack dab in the middle of the show, there's a random Gatsby dance number that serves zero purpose and should be cut -- and that's coming from someone who liked that segment! I predict a 50% change of the show by the middle of the run. In fact, they might as well just start from scratch and use a RELEVANT script
8.0 out of 10 'B'-

FINAL THOUGHTS
I feel odd even reviewing this night. It's so clear that the event wasn't ready. On the other 2 opening nights that I've gone, the scares were softer and not as hammered out, but tonight, stuff just didn't even seem fully functional. If any newbies went tonight, I would not blame them for thinking HHN is "all hype."

Let's talk scarezones: if you walk from The Purge all the way to the Starway then all the way down the Starway to Scarecrowz, that's way too long of a gap for there to be nothing scary happening. That long stretch never bothered me before (after the Western St stopped being a zone), but it really does now. It's way too bland and I forgot I was even at HHN the couple times I made that walk.

I honestly think this year might be in trouble. Everything, even the good mazes, just aren't up to par. However, Terror Tram was amazing, so hopefully they can keep that up. I highly recommend waiting until the middle of the run before coming and they've ironed everything out. It's a half-baked product.

All said and done, this is my least favorite year. Considering I did everything the park had to offer in amazing time, and didn't have to wait in a line longer than 40 minutes, I feel like those people on Yelp who complain that the event sucks because they only got through 2 mazes. But I'm complaining because I got through every maze and they just weren't that good this year! It has potential to be one of the amazing years, but that's ONLY IF they get started tweaking EVERY MAZE and I mean NOW.

RANKINGS
Mazes - AMAZING - Insidious, TWD. GOOD - Cucuy. BAD - ED, BS. WTF - UMR
Scarezones - AMAZING - TWD. GOOD - Chucky. BAD - Purge, Klownz. WTF - Scarecrowz
TT (through the years): AMAZING - 08, 09, 13, 12. OKAY - 07. BAD - 10. WTF - 11
Years (best to least): AMAZING - 08, 12, 10, 09. OKAY - 11, 07, 13


OVERALL EVENT GRADE
'B'-

 

[DTH]

2013 Review - Night Two
Thursday, October 24th

ARRIVAL
We parked at about 6:20 and did a bathroom stop. It was 6:35 when we went through security and the early access area was already cleared. But no fear... as we entered through the gates, we could already hear the chainsaws and see the flames. The park was already OPEN. What? Pretty early, but no complaints. My friend went through Early Access and said he would meet up with us at TWD. (I just re-read my second trip review of last year, and this is literally the identical situation from getting there to the arrival, with my friend in early access and the rest of us getting stuck behind but the park being open early anyway).

THE PURGE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT
Purgers were attacking pretty hard, but my problem is the design on these guys just ain't scary. They've improved greatly since opening night, and have way more tactics, but it's hard to feel threatened by them.

SCARECROWZ
These guys have improved IMMENSELY I was so impressed. They were kicking, jumping, attacking, and running like crazy. It's still the most bare bones and least scary zone ever, but at least it's kinda worthy. Some more fog, other than the one machine by the Evil Dead entrance, would've done some wonders. I love the costumes and I love the energy these guys have; I actually feel like this zone needs a repeat but in a different area and with some non-stilts (keep the stilt guys though). I really love the idea, just gotta give it a location that'll make it work.

THE WALKING DEAD: DEAD ON ARRIVAL
Unfortunately, not as good as my first run through. There was one walker waiting, and I figured they'd do some attack where as we think we're passing by one walker, then a dozen walkers emerge out from behind the containers for a hoard attack or something. But nope -- more walkers did come, just not as ferocious as that opening night when I went. Nobody was really banging on the containers either, which is what gets the scares. Why was the RV covered up? Still my favorite zone despite all that and I LOVED that I got to see it at night this time. The projections in the windows of people being killed was freakin' awesome and is unnoticable during the day. I think this is why two trips are needed to fully experience HHN -- some things are great the first night and the things that lacked at first are great on the second. More on that later.

THE WALKING DEAD: NO SAFE HAVEN
We finally met up with our friend and he already gone through the maze but wanted to go through again with us. There was maybe a 3 minute wait, advertised as 20, and we went through. The walkers in the facade were attacking pretty hard, but without the use of the trigger scares or loud noises plus being able to see them from a mile away makes their scares kinda meh, in comparison to the van scare of last year which I thought was great. Entering, the first half of the maze was a bit bare. C-Block was empty except for one guy somewhere in the cells. Luckily, we went through that section quick, unlike my first run through where we were stuck in it for awhile. The whole maze had a good flow actually. The second half of the maze, I got many more scares.

Repeatability: 8. [Still garners a lot of intensity. My main complaint is no variety in locations, so it's a bit tedious, for me at least.]
Improvement: 5.
Downfalls: -3. [I got the tail end of some scares, including my favorite hoard scare, but that's just how the cookie crumbles at HHN.]

BLACK SABBATH: 13 3D
I don't wanna talk about this maze much. It was a walk on though. There's three giant screens for in queue entertainment now, but of generic Universal horror stuff. Anyway, on to the scores lol

Repeatability: 2 [This maze is very accessible because it's an easy going experience. But since this maze SUCKS so much, I have no desire to do it more than once.]
Improvement: 2 [The scareactors were very much on their game, so I give them credit for that. But the maze design itself hurts them SO much from landing ANY scares. Literally, the best scare I had was some stilt dude after I EXITED the maze in regular light. My girlfriend was even fine with walking on her own without me holding her, which says a lot for how non-scary it is.]
Downfalls: 0.

TRANSFORMERS
Advertised as a 20 minute wait, but it was a walk on. Woo woo!

INSIDIOUS: INTO THE FURTHER
Advertised as a 20 minute wait, but it was more like 10. It was about 8 and they were still giving out Spectral Sightings cards! Snagged one with the codeword "Rocking Horses." I screamed it out maybe 4 times and the bearded guy was like "you have a nice way of being subtle." I got excited, couldn't help it lol. I find this to be the creepiest maze and the creepy didn't let up on this second trip! Some scares didn't land, but luckily I saw it on the first run through when I got every scare. Was it my favorite maze of this particular night? No, but it's still a great maze overall

Repeatability: 9. [I could go through this maze a few more times, but if it comes back, hopefully they change it up. Also some subtle scare changes, so that helps.]
Improvement: 5.
Downfalls: 0.

JURASSIC PARK IN THE DARK
Walk on. Falling car still isn't working. And we stopped for a good minute RIGHT BEFORE the drop. Kinda made the whole "we're going to evacuate your boat" bit seem like a "wait, really?" haha.

THE REVENGE OF THE MUMMY
Said 20 minutes but it was less than a 10 minute wait. There was no sound. WTF? Weirdest ride I've ever had. Very silent. No intensity. I made up my own music for the riders though.

EVIL DEAD: BOOK OF THE DEAD
I was so disappointed by this maze the first time. This time, I LOVED IT. Major kudos to EVERYONE in the maze. You guys were rocking HARD. From the beginning (first Mia in the woods) to end (guy outside the maze), everyone was on FIRE. I really cannot praise them enough. However, there are still some problems with this maze that I can't boogie with, and that's the dummies. Dear lord, even when the cast is great, they really throw me out. Like the figure with the thing coming out of her mouth by the tree Mia... how hard would that have been to make a real scareactor? I mean, c'mon. And as great as the cast was, and forgetting about the dummies, there's something about this maze that keeps it from being one of the greats, and I think it's the design or lighting, or SOMETHING. It just doesn't capture the feel of the movie for me. Why does the maze look better in still pictures in regular light? I also loved the KANDA part in the cabin -- I don't think I saw that the first time. Although some scareactors could pop out from the windows or something instead of banging on the walls and being behind scrims. That scare just needs to be more in your face to work to be a truly WHOA moment, but I guess the sound and lighting change is effective to a degree.

Repeatability: 10. [Easily the best and most improved repeat of the night. We went through it again in the same night (more on that later) and I won't let that experience take away from this one experience, because I think repeating twice in the same night is something for me that personally doesn't work. But it was a night and day change from my first trip -- way more intense and aggressive. I just think the design of the maze needs some work, which is funny considering I praised the hell out of the construction pix -- I don't know what it is (other than the dummies, I can pinpoint that easily) but there's something not working here.]
Improvement: 8. [scareactors, literally ALL of you, you're great. What needed to be improved was some of the moments with the dummies and sets, as I've listed already.]
Downfalls: 0.

TERROR TRAM: INVADED "BUY THE WALKING DEAD"
A very great walk through, all the walkers were on their game tonight. Loved everyone at the Bates Motel scene. One of Michonne's pets got me pretty good -- he just looked so fake for a moment, then lunged at me. I knew he was real, but somehow, it still made me jump. There was a laying down charred up walker by the pits that got us GOOD. Our entire group jumped UP and to the side once he came to life, it was awesome. We stopped for the Psycho photo-op since we had so much time. The only part that was kind of dead was WOTW -- kinda empty.

Repeatability: 8. [i love the Terror Tram, it's always a bash, and I love being on the lot.]
Improvement: 5. [New scare tactics, such as the charred walker, and Michonne's pets staying still as oppose to before they'd kinda rock back and forth.]
Downfalls: -1. [Empty WOTW set. Although the baby eating lady was still there!]

 

[DTH]

EL CUCUY: THE BOOGEYMAN
Like Evil Dead, I was disappointed in this maze. It had all the potential in the world but fell flat. This time, WOW. Scariest maze of the night, easily. There was a Cucuy in the projector room off to the right that scared me so good, my leg went up. And the Cucuy in the backyard scared me from a room away, and then scared me again when in that room. He was AWESOME. The Usher scare got my group pretty good, too. I got to pay attention to some of the details in Cucuy's lair -- didn't notice there were dead kids off to the side. Makes it all the more disturbing. And the final guy right before the squirt scare came out when I least expected it -- I don't know if I remember that being there. Had me running out of the maze. God I love some of the designs in this maze, BUT there are a few stretches of nothing that I can't ignore. Also, the lack of a major BIG SHAPE SHIFTING scare almost ruins this from being a CLASSIC.

Repeatability: 10. [Wow, wow, wow. So glad I got to go through this again while it was kicking ASS. Wouldn't mind to see it get the La Llorona repeat treatment with 50% new stuff.]
Improvement: 10. [Again, DAMN. From having some soft scares on opening night to having the HARDEST scares of the night makes this extremely improved. Also, the maze seemed way more populated.]
Downfalls: 0. [None, almsot a perfect maze. But the facade scare was missing? Weird.]

CIRQUE DE KLOWNZ
Clown outside the maze was doing great getting people. The clowns here have definitely improved since opening night. Unfortunately, the fog wasn't very thick in this section or Chucky's, but the scareactors have improved so much better, it's hard to even complain. There is one clown I want to highlight though -- as we were waiting for some friends to get out of Cucuy, this one clown stared down our group and looked at us each as if he was deciding which one to pick off first. He had an axe in hand, I don't really know how to describe his mask and attire though. I then pretended to be scared and he singled me out -- for fun, I offered him my girlfriend to kill first. He then chased me in a tiny circle and stared me down for about 5 minutes. Finally, he asked "what are you waiting for?" I wasn't sure what he meant, so I just babbled and offered to let him chop off my leg, until I realized he was talking about why were we just standing outside the maze. I told him we were waiting for some friends to get out and that we were then gonna hit UMR. With nothing left to say, I asked if he was having fun killing people, and he said "yes" slyly and walked away. 5 minutes later, he returned and watched me from across the street, standing still. Our friends finally came out and he ran off to terrorize some more people. Bravo to this guy!!!! I love how Chucky scooters by sometimes, and one of the clowns will chase after him.

CURSE OF CHUCKY
Charles Lee Ray was pretty awesome. Chuckys were more intimidating than they were before. I still love this zone. All of the scareactors attacked our group at some point while going down the street. Again, I didn't see Insult Emporium. Oh well.

UNIVERSAL MONSTERS REMIX: RESURRECTION
Small wait. This maze sucks, but I did get a few great scares. Nosferatu got me in the beginning and he was teaming with someone else in a double scare across the way. The Chucky room was great. The Strangers were AWESOME. First with the axe, we thought it was over, then 2 or 3 others came out of random corners pinballing us down the hall.

Repeatability: 8. [it's the HoH, it's just naturally repeatable.]
Improvement: 6. [Great job from the scareactors I noted.]
Downfalls: -4. [The very fact that UMR is still around bugs me and I would love a better overlay, but for now, it's okay -- I just hope for something more ambitious next time with design.]

THE SIMPSONS
35 minutes advertised wait. More like... 5 minutes. Well, with all the pre-shows, it was probably 15 minutes, but it went by super quick since hardly anybody was in line.

BACK TO THE LOWER LOT!!!!
And then we did something I've never done in the 7 years and 10 trips I've had to HHN... return to the lower lot! It was 1 AM and Scarecrowz was still doing pretty good with their limited space. And then we did Evil Dead again since we loved it so much the first time. I have come to realize that I am NOT a repeat maze person -- at least not in the same night. I did this once back for La Llorona in '11 and the intensity is just stripped away completely. Gotta cleanse the palette with a day in between maze repeats or something. I still dig the maze a lot more though. Also did one more trip on Transformers to end the night.

CHAINSAW CHASE OUT
Got some good scares from Purgers near the radio area, since we weren't expecting them. Then we did the walk down the middle of the chainsaws... a very slow walk too... and they never started up. We sat down to watch the action... maybe for a whole 2 minutes, and they finally revved away. Kinda disappointing, I wanted to be in that mess. Tighter intervals with the chainsaw action, boys.

OVERALL
For a sold out night, the park seemed practically empty in comparison to how I've seen it before. I loved this trip. This was in my top 5 trips, if not my most favorite. I was personally targeted quite a lot of times when usually I'm ignored. But NO BILL AND TED makes me so furious. That show would've made the night even better. Damn you, Universal. Anyway, can't wait for next year. I mean, I do want to make sure this is said, but like some of us are saying here -- the mazes need to get more innovative with their scares instead of the usual distraction, trigger scare. I can forgive repeat sets and props, but some new scare tactics are desperately needed to keep things fresh.

With ED and Cucuy's improvements, that makes this year have FOUR high quality mazes, good scarezones for the ones we did have, and a great TT. Lack of more Scarezones, a sucky B&T even when we had one, BS:13-3D, still no new scare tactics are the only things pushing this year back. All of these can be easily fixed though, which is the good news.

With that said, this is no longer my least favorite year. In fact, this is now among the AMAZING years, in my opinion. The only thing pushing it down from overthrowing '10 or '08 or '12 is the themes aren't my all time favorite, no B&T or show of any kind, and SLIGHT reduction in quality in SOME of the mazes. So yay, this is no longer the worst year in my mind! That dishonor goes to '11 (only 2 good mazes for me) and '07 (great back than, but the event is so much better now). But even those years I would consider "okay" and not "bad." So with '13 out of the "bad" category, this still makes HHN the top dog and blowing away the competition.

Here's my revised ranking:

MAZES --
AMAZING - Insidious, TWD, Cucuy, ED.
GOOD - None.
BAD - BS:13-3D.
WTF - UMR.

SCAREZONES --
AMAZING - TWD
GOOD - Chucky, Klownz
OKAY - Purge
BAD - Scarecrowz
WTF - None.

YEARS (best to least) -- [Have done some thinking since my last trip and have changed the order some]
AMAZING - 09, 12, 08, 10, 13
GOOD - None.
OKAY - 11, 07
BAD - None.
WTF - None.

 

[DTH]

DTH's Reign Till Dawn vs. An American In the Flesh in 3-Peat-D (2014 Review)
September 20th, 2014

[Prologue]
For the last 3 years, I've attended Opening Night of HHN and have been greatly disappointed with the quality of the event only to find on my second trip that the product would be vastly superior toward the end of the run. So I opted for SECOND NIGHT instead to let things get into their groove a bit better. This year also has a maze that I never thought I'd see and is my most anticipated out of any maze ever since doing Haunts for 15 years: ALIEN VS. PREDATOR. So here... we... GO.

[Early Access]
We got in the Early Access line at 5:50 PM and it was already pretty packed. All the maps were already gone (I found one on the ground like I always do though, thankfully). Honestly, I think there were more people here than the regular entrance. So if you plan on doing Early Access this year (which you should), be sure to be there extra early, unless Opening Weekend is a special case. We slowly inched forward until they stopped us again near Shrek. At 6:45 PM, they finally let us go. 30% of the crowd went towards Terror Tram, but majority went to the backlot.

[Skullz scarezone]
I love being able to see the fog rise up from the escalators and to see the daunting stilt walkers head for us. I give it up to these guys, as this was miles better than Scarecrowz last year, talent-wise. Environmentally it's still lame as all hell, but there were a good amount of scareactors and they were all pretty ferocious. Best scarezone on the lower lot since Reaperz in 2011. They really need to bring back chainsaws down here though, because it feels pretty dead without the screams.
'C'-

[Walk to the Backlot]
This year, instead of a tram that takes you to the backlot, you have to walk it. I liked the 2 banners to and fro to keep things interesting, but they should play some music or SOMETHING. Walkers on the path would be nice also. Anyway, I like how you get an option to do the Walking Dead scarezone. You have to purposely go out of your way to see it.

[The Walking Dead: Welcome to Terminus scarezone]
By the time we actually got over here, it was 7, which shows how dumb and long this walk is. Same exact set up as last year, just with less. There was one lady who was cooking that then said, "welcome to Terminus" and that was essentially as themed as this zone gets. The scareactors were great, but scenic-wise, there could've been so much more. Still a good zone, but I wish they wouldn't get lazy with this Walking Dead stuff.

[AVP: Alien Vs. Predator]
Advertised Wait: 10 minutes
In Line At: 7:00 PM
Actual Wait: 11 minutes
In Maze At: 7:11 PM

I wanted to do the Walking Dead maze first, but literally everyone was going to AVP, so I figured we do that before the line got longer. Quickly, I have to say... why are there go-go dancers in line? This would've been PERFECTLY suited for From Dusk Till Dawn. I mean... Go-Gos and loud rock music in line for a freakin' sci-fi franchise doesn't mesh well and kinda ruins the mood. Whatever. Decent entertainment, just out of place. And I find it even odder that there's screens projecting them onto the walls so you can see them from EVERYWHERE. I just... don't understand. I looked back at the line just before getting in and the entire first half of the line was practically full already. I also saw Larry Bones exiting the maze as I was about to enter. The excitement was building so high... and then, we went in...

WOW. OMG. This maze is JAW-ON-THE-FLOOR, WE'RE-NOT-WORTHY amazing! It is pretty much everything I hoped for. Don't let that hype you up too much though, because I'm a HUGE fan of the Alien series, I was still fanboygasming all over those rooms despite what was going on (even though I'm pretty sure it was good either way). As soon as I walked in, that crashed spaceship took my breath away, it was so beautiful. I think a scare should be placed in here since you have to zig zag walk up to it though. Once we entered, the scares were awesome and on point. Timing was pretty decent too, because if you see one scare, another one pops out elsewhere for the group behind them. It was often literally like you get either a Predator or Alien scare, as if they're battling for "who can get the best scare?"

And the sets... these are the best sets that HHN has ever done, by far. Every room was littered with something. I especially loved the alien eggs and I'm glad they found a way to do some facehugger scares. My girlfriend is terrified of those things and she RAN OUT of that room with her head down. Even when there were eggs off to the side, she was bolting out of fear they were going to open up. I do think some of the eggs could've pulsated or something to look more alive.

My favorite sets are the outside scenes, particularly the one with the cop car. I watched a video for Orlando and they used a screen to do the invisible Predator effect, and I think Hollywood should do something similar other than the laser scope pointing around. Cool idea, just needs some more umph. I loved the idea of going into homes and seeing the havoc these two caused. I don't think I saw the scare in the room with the chestbursters though -- it looked like 2 alien hosts were missing and the one guy didn't do anything as I walked through. I felt like I was walking slowly enough that I should've been able to see it, but never heard a scare from before or after I went through, so maybe there was some problems.

This is also the ONLY maze this year I cannot think of one flaw in the design of. Every maze, IMO, has one glaringly fatal and unforgivable flaw, and this one is gloriously perfect from top to bottom. And those costumes -- those WERE actual Predators! I am convinced! Some of the aliens weren't great, but a good majority of them were convincing! Only one of them had the "second mouth," and from what I could tell, none of their jaws moved, just stayed open. I loved the "bed scene," and as for the finale -- prepare to be in awe.

I could go on all day about this maze, but I'll just stop there. Is it the best maze ever? Some of the scares and puppeteering could be a bit more fluid (which it will be, I'm sure later). However, this is in my top 3 of all time, DEFINITELY. If it improves double by the end of the run, this may turn into my favorite maze ever. But for now, they need to amp up the scary, turn down the lights on the finale, and I need to see every room completely on. I walked out of the maze clapping my hands because I thought it was so dang cool. Even if you don't think the maze is scary, you'll still love all the technical aspects of it.

Facade - 10.
Set Design - 10.
Sound Design - 10.
Scareactor Design - 10.
Special Props & Design - 10.
Immersion - 8. I'm just amazed at how they pulled this off, so I got zapped out a bit because I was in disbelief. I was so immersed that I got un-immersed haha.
Length - 10. It ended like a moment too soon, but I think it was needed for the space required of the final scene which was... a dream come true.
Scare Level - 9. I think I got the hardest scares of the night in here, but I think it could've been a bit scarier.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 10.
Personal Bias Points - 10.

107 out of 100. 'A'+

 

[DTH]

[The Walking Dead: End of the Line]
Advertised Wait: 25 minutes
In Line At: 7:19 PM
Actual Wait: 13 minutes
In Maze At: 7:32 PM

This is where I first encountered the new TICKET SYSTEM. Is this really necessary? You're given a ticket to avoid cutting, or something, I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's so you can go to the bathroom or something, I don't know, but it was annoying having to dig back into my pocket and finding it just so I can go in the maze.

TWD is a very strong property and it seems to get great scares. In my humble opinion, The Walking Dead still gots it! We were kinda held up in the gates before entering the prison, which kinda made it awkward to have these walkers thrash onto the fence trying to scare us, but I mean... it's not scary when you see them plain as day. I noticed tiny chunks of human meat on the fence, which was a nice detail. I also noticed a lot of the new sets out front, such as the dinner table and tiny farm with the pig. Oh, and the tank. How could I forget that? I think there should've been some smoke coming from the tank and the guard tower, as well as some sounds of a battle or something with more bullet holes. I don't know, the facade didn't fully convey "there was a war here" to me.

Most of the beginning is the same, including Cell Block C. Once exiting that scene, things get a bit different. However, why did it seem so short? There were maybe 3 or 4 scenes after that, and it was done! I remember last year's maze being twice as long. The new scenes that I was looking forward to were pulled off well in terms of the look and some of the scares, but they seemed short-sided instead of living up to their full potential. For example, only ONE hanging walker in the store? C'mon. I could live with the "size" of this scene, but there should've been more going on for such an iconic and cool scene in the show. And why was the tunnel scene so BRIGHT and QUICK? I was looking forward to this moment the most, and it was like 3 rows and that was it. That part should've been doubled. Every walker was way too visible in there and it was clear which ones were real (to me, at least).

The scenes were good, they just weren't amazing like they could've been. The ending scare is a re-hash of one of my favorite scares from last year, but I'm not sure exactly what it's trying to say story-wise in the maze about what happened on this journey. I know a lot of people are tired of this property, but I'm not entirely just yet. However, I do think it's time to let it go just so we can get something new like AMERICAN HORROR STORY. If this was the last time we get TWD, it could've been given more justice, but for now, it was at least decent enough.

Facade - 8.
Set Design - 9. Lighting was a bit too bright in some scenes.
Sound Design - 9.
Scareactor Design - 9.
Special Props & Design - 9.
Immersion - 6. At some point, I was really thrown out of the action because I began to critique and trying to find differences between this one and last year, instead of being fully engrossed in it.
Length - 7. They should've nixed the prison completely, it brought nothing new or special.
Scare Level - 8. I got some good scares in here, especially ones that would double up with the charred walkers. Great teamwork.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 7. I'm not sure if it makes sense that we leave the prison and we know where we're going or why. Only reason I know is because I watch the show, but I feel like it's not fully conveyed here.
Personal Bias Points - 8. I love TWD and its return could've been a bit better, but I give them props for still making a solid maze.

90 out of 100. 'A'-


[From Dusk Till Dawn]
Advertised Wait: 25 minutes
In Line At: 7:35 PM
Actual Wait: 13 minutes
In Maze At: 7:48 PM

With Early Access, I was fully expecting to be on the lower lot by now. It was SUPER crowded and all the lines on the backlot were getting longer, except for this one, so we quickly did it. Got the card from the Doorman as he was walking by with the codeword. He was very cool in our quick chat. Richie and Seth were arguing outside, but I didn't get to hear much of their conversation, and I didn't care much to see inside Richie's book, so I didn't tell him the codeword.

Entered the maze, and I felt like the scareactors were very on their game and it seemed like a huge cast -- but the maze itself isn't scary. I didn't get a sense of dread going from one room to the next. I want to fully emphasize that the cast was rocking, getting very in our faces, and seemed to be enjoying their roles -- but it was almost a stroll through the park in the design. Another problem in all the mazes this year, is they're all too dang bright, especially this one for its entirety.

I loved the use of the song for the first scene. Santanico was fairly good looking as well, so she works as a good distraction for a few of the scares in here. I think the snake around her body could be puppeteered somehow though, because it just seems really fake. I love the "girl behind the curtain" scene, as it's so simple but effective. It was around this point of the maze that I was disappointed in the design of all the scareactors. None of them LOOKED scary, in fact, they were kinda boring and might as well have been regular people until they opened their mouths to reveal fangs.

The second time through the main room is fun, but you can easily see every scare coming. And a certain gag from Evil Dead's maze last year is oddly placed, repurposed, and in my opinion, doesn't fit. Shortly after this, the maze is over and once you're out, it's merely something you can shrug off and continue on with your day. The only time I wanted to leave a room is when they used "open buttcheeks" smell. Not poop, or a fart... but a butt, open wide. We now joke, "it smells like the Twister/From Dusk Till Dawn" whenever it smells bad.

It was a decent maze, but one of my least favorites of the night. Unless you're terrified of vampires or a huge fan of the show, I can't imagine this being a favorite of many people. Ofcourse, it'll have its fans, but I definitely would've preferred so many other properties over this one. However, I must say, for this to be one of my least favorites is a sign of how good HHN is this year.

Facade - 9. I'm taking a point off for not saying Titty. It's an adult event. I mean, C'MON.
Set Design - 6. The sets themselves looked great, but I don't know... just wasn't scared by them. Could use something with variety or maybe lower the light... I don't know.
Sound Design - 6. I heard a lot of stuff from the show, but it wasn't scary stuff. Not a lot worked in this maze's favor for being scary. For example, the "giant people juicer" line just sounds freakin' dumb and they really could do without it.
Scareactor Design - 7. Nothing stood out for me. A lot of the vampires had the snake like teeth, but they didn't look very snake-y other than that. Meh, none of them scared me.
Special Props & Design - 5.
Immersion - 4.
Length - 10.
Scare Level - 8.
Fun Level - 8.
Story Comprehension - 10.
Personal Bias Points - 3. I would've preferred so many other things over this. And my only love for this property is from the movie, but it all felt very much like the show and I couldn't boogey with it.
76 out of 100. 'C'

[Transformers]
After trekking back to the park, Transformers said NO WAIT! So we did it anddddd there was actually a wait. I wanna say this put a pretty big wrench into our plans since I was counting on that sign being accurate. I think during this time, AWIL went from 40 - 70 minutes. If I would've known it'd actually be 10 minutes, I would've skipped it since we were pressed for time already since it was 8:15.

[Clowns 3D: Music by Slash]
Advertised Wait: 40 minutes
In Line At: 8:21 PM
Actual Wait: 21 minutes
In Maze At: 8:42 PM

.... I don't even wanna talk about this. I am so sorry... but this is the worst maze in the history of HHN. Even worse than the HOH overlays and UMR. Absolutely NOTHING worked. No scares landed. The music was too loud. Lighting was too bright. Scareactors were meh and looked bored as hell with no energy. And the actual "scare design" just flat out sucked. I swear to God, I thought I was at Knotts at one point.

Quickly, I just want to say the beginning 1/3 of the maze is terrible. 3 or 4 mirrors, okay -- but this section went on forever with very little pay off and I think maybe 1 or 2 scares. It started off on the wrong foot from the get go and just pissed me off more and more as I went in. If they shut this maze down for the rest of the run, I wouldn't even care. It doesn't help that I'm not scared of clowns, I dislike most 3D mazes, I've hated all the musician mazes, and a huge peeve of mine is bright mazes -- so this was an all around fail for me from beginning to end.

Facade - 7. This is maybe actually only a 3 of a facade, but since they gave this location an actual facade, I give them extra points.
Set Design - 1. Knotts-quality sets. It had that funky, bubbly look to it that Knotts clown mazes always have. HHN could've done so much better than this. It's a damn shame. Not to mention, practically everything was re-used from past mazes.
Sound Design - 3. I honestly wasn't even paying attention, just in shock the whole time.
Scareactor Design - 6. I liked a few of the characters.
Special Props & Design - 3. I liked the clown car.
Immersion - 0.
Length - 8. I wanted it over quicker, honestly.
Scare Level - 0. Nothing. Not a single hiccup from me or anyone I was with.
Fun Level - 0. This made me so depressed. At Knotts, I could deal with this, but I expect so much more from HHN.
Story Comprehension - 3. Who the hell knows, really? All I know was it was an ice cream factory.
Personal Bias Points - 0. UGH. Waste of a perfectly good original maze slot.

31 out of 100. 'F'

 

[pumpkinbot343]

I heard the Bill and Ted 2013 show was horrible but from your description it seems quite tame; just another parody show. Granted maybe there’s something I’m forgetting but still, what could have possibly happened that Uni canceled it for not only 2013 but for EVERY YEAR SINCE? Licensing issues? IDK

There’s also a rumor about HHN 2013 I heard about but have no idea if it’s true….

 

[DTH]

[American Werewolf in London]
Advertised Wait: 70 minutes
In Line At: 8:50 PM
Actual Wait: 70 minutes
In Maze At: 10:00 PM

I really wanted to like this maze... but the werewolves didn't do it for me. There's some really good parts though and I applaud them for trying, but there's so many flaws that I can't ignore. I think for them to especially use footage from Orlando's maze in the trailers with the werewolf attacks, I was expecting them to be more similar. There's a good few rooms that didn't have any scares and I felt like the dread wasn't there. I wasn't nervous walking through, although some surprises and jolts did occur.

Werewolf-wise, it felt inconsisent. Some looked real, but most looked pretty dang fake. Not only that, they weren't hidden well enough in the darkness. Some were out clear as day (darken these mazes this year, dammit!) and they would move as if it was supposed to be a scare or something. The full sized one moves but stays fairly static and that ruined the effect also. Another bad effect is I could clearly see the puppeteer handles attached behind or below them. Not only that, there was a wolf that didn't seem to be working and was limp, as I saw the hands operating it from behind struggling to make it move.

In my opinion, the only GREAT scene in the maze is the nightmare sequence. Everything else fell kinda flat. Especially the transformation scene, which has NO SCARES for 2 or 3 rooms. It was a good maze, but I feel like it's overhyped because people love the property so much. And I hate to bring it up, but from YouTube, Orlando's version looked a helluva lot better, especially the wolves. They just seemed way more mobile, with more control and expressions. I enjoyed it, but relying too much on those wolves was a bit of a mistake if they weren't going to make them better. Also, the subway section was a complete fail as there aren't any scares in there and was pointless... unless you count the lame "subway car coming at you" thing as scary, which it WOULD be if you couldn't clearly see it when walking into that room.

Funny moment in the maze though, my friend thought she got blood on her leg and was freaking out the whole time until we left. It's funny how bitter we are about old tricks but they work perfectly on newcomers.

Facade - 8.
Set Design - 7. It's a shame because the transitions are so HORRIBLE. Every time you exit a scene, it's a dark hallway.
Sound Design - 10.
Scareactor Design - 10. Other than the wolves, they looked pretty great. Like the morphing effect looked pretty good.
Special Props & Design - 6. The wolves... but I'm sorry. "Meh" at best.
Immersion - 7. I would be fully into it until I saw a wolf just sitting there and waiting for it's cue.
Length - 10.
Scare Level - 7.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 6.
Personal Bias Points - 7.

88 out of 100. 'B'+

[Mask-A-Raid scarezone]
Great design in here, easily French street's best designed street since ever. However, the scareactors were okay, but I just didn't find them intimidating. I mean, they were attacking, but it didn't get me good enough. The Mad Hatter ran through here at one point and it was so genius and it actually kinda fit into the zone. I think this could easily be an A the next time I walk through here after some improvements, but for now it's a --

'B'

[Dinner at Mel's Cafe]
The line wasn't too long and we had about 30 minutes to eat before we were running behind. As we were eating, a monster (I think from Dracula) poked his head by the window and gave us a random startle/laugh, so that was fun.

[Terror Tram: Invaded by the Walking Dead]
In Line At: 11:00 PM
Advertised Wait: NO WAIT!
Actual Wait: 5 minute walk on.
On Tram At: 11:05 PM

After some dinner, luckily TT went down to NO WAIT! We walked on over, but the escalator was broken. At the bottom, some charred up walkers were kicking major ass and scaring everyone in sight, to the point I got left behind by my group. Getting on the tram, this was probably the worst of the video packages they've done for Terror Tram, trying to sell very little story at all. Oh well.

As for the actual attraction itself, out of the three Terror Trams they've done for The Walking Dead, this was probably the worst one. I REALLY liked the last two though. However, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this year's version and it's at the upper end of the scale of my night. Every scareactor was on point and the cast was SO huge. Getting off the tram, we got attacked by the employees with chainsaws as usual. Some people fell down, so that was funny. And a few walkers blended in with the fence and actually got me pretty good.

It is NOT the same as last year as some people have said, since things were missing and there was stuff added elsewhere. It has changed just as much as every other TT incarnation set-wise. There was a super creepy walker just waiting at the bottom of the hill, staring at everybody, that then attacked the group behind me. I loved the part with fake walkers going up the hill and I thought it worked pretty well.

One walker at the top of the hill did talk to me for a moment though, and even though it was funny, I do gotta say "tsk tsk." I was saying "oh no" over and over again, and then she mocked me and said "oh no." We all had a good laugh, but I mean... you're a walker? You can't talk!

I LOVED the fence part, those guys were on point and were making some loud sounds. The WOTW part was pretty good also, with the usual annual appearance of the BABY EATING WOMAN. I swear, she's there every year. The chainsaw guys at the end targeted my friends after a failed chainsaw start up, but once it got going, they screamed their way to get back to the tram. It was fun, no complaints from me. One of my friends liked this experience better than the maze and I actually gotta agree, as this was a more visceral experience.

'A'-

[Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood]
In Line At: 11:40 PM
Advertised Wait: 50 minutes
Actual Wait: 45 minutes
In Maze At: 12:25 AM

I couldn't hear any of the narration or story or even music about the maze, so I didn't get much of a set up to the situation. I like how the facade is barely lit, so it's hard to see while in line as to where you're about to go. And okay... you got me. I did a lot of trash talking about this maze but I'm currently eating an entire buffet of crow. I was very surprised by this maze. I don't think anyone expected this to be one of the scariest of the night! The beginning was very claustrophobic, amplifying the amount of dread. There was alot of boo-holes, so it was hard to tell where someone was going to come from. We also got double teamed alot, which was great. I also loved the bats effect.

I dug the village scene, but the fake fire screen has got to go. I think I saw the witch, I'm not sure, since we were rushing from one section to the next from getting such good scares. Also, some burnt villagers (that look like the charred walkers) looked like dummies so they got the group in front of us GOOD.

The final section of the maze LOOKED really bad with just DRAPES/CURTAINS, but this is probably where I got the most scares. I mean, for having such a good first half of the maze, I can't complain too much. And the final scene, whatever the hell happened in there, had me running out and I didn't stick around to find out what was going on. I still have no idea what happens in the movie or what to expect from it.

As much as I loved this maze (yes, loved), I still can't help but feel... "this was basically the House of Horrors." Seriously, the catacombs and the end half was just so HOH. For tonight, this was my second favorite, but I think after some improvements with the other mazes, it'll be a bit lower down my list because the "home haunt" feel at the end will be a deal breaker, unless AWIL doesn't get their stuff together and if FDTD somehow doesn't improve. Good job to all the scareactors in here who proved all the non-believers (including myself) wrong!

Facade - 5. Kinda boring, but it looked decent.
Set Design - 6. Everything looked great except for the drapes.
Sound Design - 9.
Scareactor Design - 8. I don't remember what anything looked like... probably because I was running away from them each time they came out.
Special Props & Design - 10.
Immersion - 8.
Length - 10.
Scare Level - 9.
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 10.
Personal Bias Points - 10. Ya know, for surprising me so dang well, I give it the full amount here.

95 out of 100 'A'

 

[DTH]

[The Purge: Anarchy scarezone]
These guys were ferocious. Much better than last year. Although, by design, I still don't think they're at all scary. I didn't hear the barker at all - they really need to turn up her volume or maybe she needs to talk a lot more. Also, it totally should've been an old lady, that would've been much more great. While waiting in line for Face Off, the guy with the mask that looks kinda like a fencing mask with the bottom cut off HISSED in my ear really loud and actually got me pretty good, even though I didn't have much of a reaction.
'B'+

[Face Off: In the Flesh]
In Line At: 12:34 AM
Advertised Wait: 40 minutes
Actual Wait: 26 minutes
In Maze At: 1:00 AM

In the queue, on the TV screens, they showed the transitions from person to monster, which was pretty cool. Already kinda dreading this maze, as soon as I walked in, I realized... this is the best HOH overlay since Vampyre. I was so surprised by how great this was. A lot of the sets were re-dressed and the things that were all Universal Monster were completely scrubbed away (including Chucky), so that was what made me most happy. Now, as much as I hate the dubstep, a lot of the scares were on point and the Face Off creations were great and terrifying. I felt like there was some new scare positions, too.

My favorite stuff had to be the pumpkins near the end, which really helped bring back the Halloween feel to Halloween Horror Nights. The Mad Hatter as the DJ was pretty funny, as he died doing out set, then slowly came back to life due to the music. This was oddly one of my highlights. I don't even think there were any dead sections in the maze as everyone was trying their hardest and got some really good scares. And Axe Girlfriend came out of a surprising corner at the end, and the chainsaw person outside the maze was great. They've just made it 5 times harder to let go of the House of Horrors once it closes. I think I'll do this one maybe 2 times on my final visit to bid it farewell, especially since it's such a good maze in general.

Facade - 5.
Set Design - 10. For the HOH, they sure did change a lot.
Sound Design - 4. Okay, could we get rid of the dubstep? This maze so didn't need that. It would've been legitimately terrifying with a regular soundtrack.
Scareactor Design - 10. These were so great and cool to see, so unique!
Special Props & Design - 5.
Immersion - 5.
Length - 10.
Scare Level - 9. The scares were coming out of everywhere in this maze, I loved it!
Fun Level - 10.
Story Comprehension - 0. Uh...
Personal Bias Points - 10. Goodbye HOH, you went out with a bang.

78 out of 100 'C'+

[Dark Christmas scarezone]
OMG... I live for this scarezone! This is one of my favorites EVER! Everyone was ON FIRE! The design is beautiful. I can't even put it into words. Just... just... I can't. This may be the best scarezone of all time. Please make this a maze, for the love of Krampus! This zone is a lot of fun, as I noticed the fog got very thick here. Lots of elves, dirty old Santas, and Christmas music playing -- it's so awesomely macabre, I loved everything about it!

'A'+

[American Werewolf Once More!]
I wanted to do AVP one more time, but nobody wanted to do that walk again. Anyway, it said 20 minutes but was only 14. I believe we entered at 2:04. Apart of me wished I would've just waited until now instead of the 70 minute wait I had to endure earlier, but ofcourse, there was no guarantee I'd be able to get back down here again. I was hoping the run through we had earlier was just bad timing or something. However, I quickly learned, nope, the maze just isn't ready yet. They still have a lot to tweak, lighting on the wolves being the main thing. If they're going to be that well lit, they need to look REAL and right now, they seem like puppets. The ones in the Orlando videos looked AS REAL AS PUPPETS could get. If these are the same ones, then they've worn out or tumbled around too much in the plane. I like the maze and it's fun, but I just want it to be better so I'm being harsh on it. OH, and do whatever the hell you gotta do to FIX THE TRANSITIONS. That is just UNACCEPTABLE. There were some scareactors missing on this walkthrough also, so that kinda ruined a scene with a werewolf just sitting there with nobody beneath it being attacked (very first attack scene). Anyway, with some easy fixes and some not so easy fixes, this could be a much better maze. We all left, unimpressed compared to our first time through the maze.

[Overall]
This was a top notch year and maybe even my favorite! There's only ONE maze that I don't like AT ALL. If basically every maze out of 7 is at least good, plus improved scarezones, and a decent Terror Tram, then that's a great track record. I even think the mazes that were just "good" will improve over the run and become "great" later on. And who knows, maybe even Clowns will win me over at some point. So far, a lot of the problems are aesthetics and design tweaking. They'll get there, I hope. As far as the Second Night thing goes, I think the extra day helped casts groove into their roles a bit and I'll forever stay away from Opening Night from now on. I absolutely cannot wait to do AVP again!!! I'll probably be watching that one on YouTube a thousand times. I definitely believe this year is a must-see and there's something for everyone. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, slashers, witches, holiday madness, and other creatures lurk the night at this year's event. Be sure to go on a weeknight or a cheap night to get the least amount of lines so you can for sure see everything. And as always, DO EARLY ACCESS.

RANKINGS --

Mazes:
AMAZING - AVP: Alien Vs. Predator
GOOD - Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood, The Walking Dead: The End of the Line, American Werewolf in London, Face Off: In the Flesh
AVERAGE - From Dusk Till Dawn
WTF - Clowns 3D: Music By Slash

Scarezones:
AMAZING - Dark Christmas
GOOD - Mask-A-Raid, The Purge: Anarchy, The Walking Dead
OKAY - Skullz

Overall Years:
AMAZING - 08, 12, 14, 10, 13, 09.
GOOD - 11
OKAY - 07

 

[DTH]

I heard the Bill and Ted 2013 show was horrible but from your description it seems quite tame; just another parody show. Granted maybe there’s something I’m forgetting but still, what could have possibly happened that Uni canceled it for not only 2013 but for EVERY YEAR SINCE? Licensing issues? IDK

There’s also a rumor about HHN 2013 I heard about but have no idea if it’s true….

It was canceled because Superman was gay and Bill & Ted acted "homophobic" toward him. It was honestly maybe 2 or 3 quick lines and that's it, wasn't a major plot point at all. And the jokes about him being gay really weren't that crude or insensitive -- my guy friends that are gay were the MOST upset about the show being canceled over it, to be quite honest -- because in their words, "it is the ONLY place at HHN to see hot half naked guys dancing around" (remember this was back in the time of go-go dancers still being a thing). However, word at some point got out that it "the show was homophobic" and someone wrote a blog post (I think on GLAAD) and basically called for a boycott of the show. Mind you, the person who wrote the blog post and all the people commenting on it for its cancelation HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN THE SHOW -- they simply only HEARD about it. I believe the show was canceled within a week of that.

For optics, Universal opted for no show at all the next year. I don't remember how it went down in Orlando, but they also had a farewell show, and they never came back over there either. I don't think it was licensing, I think corporate was just scared of being sued. At this time, a lot of HHN was coming under fire from social justice warriors. I consider myself fairly "woke" and liberal, but I 100% think all of the complaints were a reach. Then after that, they hired Jabbawockeez -- to which they have been there ever since. Bill and Ted had a show the next year at an improv comedy venue, starring a lot of the same people who used to do the show at Universal. I believe Zombieman from the HNN forums went and recorded the sound for it. I don't think they've done a revival show like that since.

The whole situation was really annoying and frankly upsetting because the show was a legitimate joy, even when it was bad. There was always re-writes, and while that year's script was OVERALL bad -- aside from the Superman situation -- it simply just needed a re-write to move on from the whole thing. Maybe reviews in general were so terrible that they realized they'd have to scrap the whole thing and figured they'd get some brownie points by virtue signaling with a cancelation.

What was the rumor you heard?

 

[pumpkinbot343]

It was canceled because Superman was gay and Bill & Ted acted "homophobic" toward him. It was honestly maybe 2 or 3 quick lines and that's it, wasn't a major plot point at all. And the jokes about him being gay really weren't that crude or insensitive -- my guy friends that are gay were the MOST upset about the show being canceled over it, to be quite honest -- because in their words, "it is the ONLY place at HHN to see hot half naked guys dancing around" (remember this was back in the time of go-go dancers still being a thing). However, word at some point got out that it "the show was homophobic" and someone wrote a blog post (I think on GLAAD) and basically called for a boycott of the show. Mind you, the person who wrote the blog post and all the people commenting on it for its cancelation HAD NEVER EVEN SEEN THE SHOW -- they simply only HEARD about it. I believe the show was canceled within a week of that.

For optics, Universal opted for no show at all the next year. I don't remember how it went down in Orlando, but they also had a farewell show, and they never came back over there either. I don't think it was licensing, I think corporate was just scared of being sued. At this time, a lot of HHN was coming under fire from social justice warriors. I consider myself fairly "woke" and liberal, but I 100% think all of the complaints were a reach. Then after that, they hired Jabbawockeez -- to which they have been there ever since. Bill and Ted had a show the next year at an improv comedy venue, starring a lot of the same people who used to do the show at Universal. I believe Zombieman from the HNN forums went and recorded the sound for it. I don't think they've done a revival show like that since.

The whole situation was really annoying and frankly upsetting because the show was a legitimate joy, even when it was bad. There was always re-writes, and while that year's script was OVERALL bad -- aside from the Superman situation -- it simply just needed a re-write to move on from the whole thing. Maybe reviews in general were so terrible that they realized they'd have to scrap the whole thing and figured they'd get some brownie points by virtue signaling with a cancelation.

What was the rumor you heard?

Politics aside; I find incredibly lazy of Uni’s behalf to just cancel it outright. Why not put the effort into learning from their mistakes and creating better shows. It’s not a Splash Mountain style situation. Again, I think maybe whoever licensed Bill and Ted was pissed at Hollywood so that’s why they canned it.

So, El Cucuy had a theater scene and a scare from the boogeyman dressed as an usher. I think I read somewhere from HNN (I think @Legacy posted it?) that John Murdy planned to have a character from Orlando’s event show up in the event that year. Julian Browning, the vengeful Usher who HATES it when people breaks the rules at his beloved theater. I believe it was either Usher takes over the Terror Tram or there was going to be a house that year based on the Classic Monsters but with Usher being some sort of Cryptkeeper-style host. I think because execs pressed on expanding TWD house that those plans were scrapped.

 

[Horror Lover]

Politics aside; I find incredibly lazy of Uni’s behalf to just cancel it outright. Why not put the effort into learning from their mistakes and creating better shows. It’s not a Splash Mountain style situation. Again, I think maybe whoever licensed Bill and Ted was pissed at Hollywood so that’s why they canned it.

So, El Cucuy had a theater scene and a scare from the boogeyman dressed as an usher. I think I read somewhere from HNN (I think @Legacy posted it?) that John Murdy planned to have a character from Orlando’s event show up in the event that year. Julian Browning, the vengeful Usher who HATES it when people breaks the rules at his beloved theater. I believe it was either Usher takes over the Terror Tram or there was going to be a house that year based on the Classic Monsters but with Usher being some sort of Cryptkeeper-style host. I think because execs pressed on expanding TWD house that those plans were scrapped.

I remember The Usher being a huge rumor that year as well..

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Gonna do something more simple and have rankings for 2010 and 2012 respectively from past thoughts.

2010
1: Friday The 13th - Kill Jason Kill
2: House of 1,000 Corpses (The 3D really works well with how they tackled it then. Wish the other 3D houses adopted this style of 3D)
3: Nightmare on Elm Street
4: Chucky's Revenge (La Llorona, man..)
5: Vampyr
6: Saw Game On

2012:
1: La Llorona (GOAT Then, GOAT now)
2: Alice Cooper Goes To Hell (I loved how they explored the layers and levels of hell that was in place, and how the music resonated)
3: TCM - Saw Is The Law (Terrifying as hell house)
4: The Walking Dead over at Wild Wild West Ampitheater (A genuinely fantastic representation of how the story was handled)
5: Silent Hill (Really good memories when I went through it with my father)
6: Universal Monsters Remix (...Well, it was something)
7: TWD Tram

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Well HorrorNightNightmares just brought back and archived their Hollywood forum so the reviews are all back. But thanks anyway for posting them here, it’s been a blast.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Question to those who attended the early years from 2006 onwards, anyone know if the carnival games section played prettt much the entire soundtrack from the Elephant Man?

 

[Freakenstein]

I still think nothing beats HHN 2010-2014.