A long time ago, on the west coast in a theme park not-so-far far away...

The night sky turned dark, fog filled the streets and monsters started to creep from the shadows. Fanboys waited outside the gates anxiously awaiting the most terrifying thing of all- ridiculously long wait times & overpriced food/merchandise! For those keeping count, 2016 marks the 17th year of Universal Hollywood's annual "Fright Nights" event known as Halloween Horror Nights. As much as I'd like to tell you there was an icon... a ringmaster of sorts... to bring all of the nightmares to life, sadly there was not even an overall theme to tie it all together... only a tagline- "Beyond Your Wildest Screams!"

This year's line up was to die for... And it gave me so much nostalgia for Orlando's 2007 HHN event with its "Carnival of Carnage" theme (which was also the same theme for Hollywood that year). You had the iconic slashers Freddy, Jason, & Leatherface along with an assortment of five other houses ("mazes" for those on the west coast), two of which were IP based & the other three being "original" concepts. Hollywood's event however only featured a maze for each of the big 3 & then their permanent "House of Horrors" attraction, along with the Terror Tram. This year however, would add Michael Myers to the terrifying trio. As for the similarities with 2007's Orlando line-up & this year.... There was an xmas themed maze based on the film "Krampus". In 2007, Orlando had an original xmas themed house titled "PsychoScareapy: Home for the Holidays". Then there was the icon house, "Jack's Funhouse in Clown-O-Vision", now while we didn't get a clown themed 3D maze here in Hollywood this year, our Terror Tram was themed to an original clown concept. While Orlando had a creepy puppet themed house based on "Dead Silence" and an assimilating alien themed maze based on "The Thing" in 2007, we got mazes based on "The Exorcist" & "American Horror Story" instead. They had an original nightclub themed maze concept "Vampyr: Bloodbath", we have a new permanent "Walking Dead" attraction (womp womp). To round out this year's line up, we got "The Purge: Election Year" in the form of an outdoor maze & 3 scarezones. Unfortunately, unlike 2007 which featured four shows (one of which was of course "Bill & Ted") on both coasts, we only had one show this year. All that was missing (besides B&T) was an iconic figure to bring it all together in one overall theme.
 

So when it comes to the operations side of HHN Hollywood & Orlando, they are drastically different. I'm always amused when someone, especially a team member, asks me which event is better or do I like better. They both have their upsides & downsides. One of my major annoyances with Hollywood's park is that if you buy the "Frequent Fear Pass", they “can't” give you a physical ticket. You have to use the paper ticket you printed out at home... EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. I had a fun time with guest services about that crap. I pointed out that Orlando, Japan & Singapore all have physical tickets for their FFP. "Yea, we don't do that". THAT IS THE PROBLEM!!! They also tried telling me that they couldn't do it because "its only for select nights". Of course I pointed out that the annual passes with blackout dates are ALSO ONLY FOR SELECT DAYS! Yea, they didn't have a response for that one.  The guest services inside the park at least tried because they completely understood why/what I was wanting. Guest services outside the park were dumb twats. Its stupid to sell an HHN lanyard if you're not going to provide a ticket for guests to put in it, especially those with a FFP. I was not the only FFP-holder to be highly annoyed by this asinine ticketless crap. I ended up cutting out the barcode to scan & putting it in the lanyard. It was so lame.

If that shit wasn't enough, it gets even better! As those on the east coast know, the smart thing to do is get into the park before it closes for daytime guests and do 'Stay-n-Scream' to avoid the nightmare that is the arches/front gates. Its one of the major perks to having an annual pass. Well here in Hollywood, they don't like to make it that easy. They'd rather do the least logical thing possible. If you're an annual passholder and have an HHN ticket (one night or FFP), they require you to EXIT THE PARK and go through the security check AGAIN, only to wait in line at the gates until they let in for "Early Entry". Yes, you read that correct. I made sure to be very vocal about the ridiculousness of how their operations were and of course totally named dropped Orlando's superior handling of park entrance/HHN procedures. It was such a pain in the ass if you were there early enough to have time in the park because you basically had to be outside the park gates by 4pm so you could be one of the first in for early entry. They didn’t let in until 5pm, although they started letting people in as early as 4:30pm about halfway through the event to help with crowds.

The ONLY people that are allowed to stay in the park are those who have a "Day/Night HHN Combo" ticket. Once they enter, they are given a wristband so its easier for team members to know who should be in the park and who shouldn't. Considering an AP & FFP is basically the same thing as having a Day/Night ticket, you'd think they'd give you a wristband as well. Unfortunately that is not the case. As I mentioned above, you have to exit, go through security AGAIN, only to wait at the gates until they let in. Once they let in, then they give you a wristband.

Early Entry pretty much saved my ass this year in being able to do everything. Of course, having a "Guest Assistance Pass" (GAP) also helped most nights (Yes Orlando, we still have them). I finally got around to getting it after the first weekend. I always ended up saving it for the later half of the night. Anyway, early entry was great. However, they don't close the park to daytime guests until 6pm!!! Personally, I feel they need to do what Orlando does and close the park at 5pm, in order to sweep the park. They can still let us in around 5pm for Early Entry, but kick everyone else out. Of course, the lack of having a "Stay & Scream" area is just dumb. Hollywood knows how to have a pretty great event, they just don't know how to handle the transition from day-to-night.

In chronological order.

Scarezone- Honestly as great as the Gauntlet of fear it felt empty this year I still don't get why we can't have a SZ in the lower lot. I don't know if it was just because it was the last weekend but the New York street felt empty. 

Grade: D

The Exorcist- Not the best but was pretty good considering the source material not too much to say but it was okay. The coolest part was the facade. Also all the static seemed like an odd choice

Facade: A+

Scares: C

Environment: C

Overall: C+

Halloween: Hell Comes To Haddonfield- Honestly tied for best maze of the night, I wasn't a fan of the last two mazes especially last year's and I never really been afraid of Michael Myers even though I love the Halloween series but the Michaels in the maze were intimidating and several got me pretty good. Funny seeing Murdy on the TV in the first room. Loved that they based it off the second movie and got to the jacuzzi kill. The surreal parts at end with floating pumpkins and inside the faint one was a cool touch loved it!

Facade: C+

Scares: A+

Environment: A-

Overall: A

Freddy Vs Jason- The other tied for best maze. So good and nostalgic to see the original Freddy and Jason back. This maze could of been longer but it didn't take away at all all the liberties were great but I kinda wish they had a video or voice to give a back story but again didn't take away but would of been appreciated the scrim gage where the room turned into the boiler room was amazing. Also those all black rooms with the tunnel light really f'ed my shit up good job.

Facade: B

Scares: A-

Environment: A

overall: A

American Horror Story- I feel wierd on the choices of seasons but it was a decent maze, had no idea what was going on in the hotel section but didn't hurt. Got some great scares though. And for thinking Twisty is a dumb character the guys playing him here were great loved the transitions and the maze had to been the best looking maze this year. That being said the facade was really weak. This might come back I got a gut feeling.

Facade: F

Scares: B+

Environment: A+

Overall: B

Krampus- Exactly what I wanted! Was a really cool maze but I missed a lot of scares so I can't judge but was a great maze in all other aspects just minus the Krampus reindeer. So bummed they didn't do the password last night though. 

Facade- A

Scares- ?

Environment-A

Overall B+/A-

Gauntlet of Fear- not sure how to judge this but I loved it felt like a full maze hope to see this used again but with a different theme. 

TWD- since this is year round I won't grade but as much as I love Walking Dead I'm glad this is just a normal attraction plus it felt super short.

Terror Tram - this year was so meh and idk why felt super short everything just felt half assed the only cool thing was the video and the tram drop off other then that I really felt like this was a flop. 

Overall: F

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers- I'm under the impression now that original Leatherface just does not do it for me the talent was great but it was a boring maze in my opinion but at least no black walls. 

Facade: C

Scares: C

Environment: B

oberall: C

so overall great year but just left me wanting more really excited for next year! 

As always, this is a very detailed review. By it's nature, spoilers are abound. This is for people who have already gone and want a refresher, for people who will never be able to go and want perspective outside of just watching walkthroughs, and for people who don't mind spoilers and want to just get more excited.

[ARRIVAL]
Arrived in the ET parking lot at 4 PM and walked around for about an hour and a half, took a look at the merch, some of our group ate, etc.. Made our way through security, which was really fast but they made me throw away my brand new pack of gum!!!

The early entry felt really confusing this year because it was too simple and felt like a trick. Basically, the regular entrance is the early entry. Essentially, they just let EVERYONE in instead of a cool little secret thing like it used to be (I don't know if they'll change this but keep in mind this is an opening night review). We lined up at 5:30 and just sat there for a very long time, as I assumed we'd be going in at this point.

They started letting the herd in at 6:00 PM and we got wristbanded. We made our way down the starway and I looked down, there was already a huge line forming for The Exorcist. As we were heading to the backlot, they stopped the mass of people for a moment, and we just stayed idle in front of the Exorcist facade and just held us up there for a good five to ten minutes, for like no reason, as there were no cars driving through or anything. At 6:30ish, they finally let us keep going.

[THE PURGE: ROUTE 666 SCAREZONE]
The music was thumping and the scareactors are in close distance. They were rocking the two times we went through here and energetic the whole time. I liked Walking Dead in this tunnel more, as it was more ominous. This zone felt more "fun" than anything.

[THE PURGE: BACKLOT SCAREZONE]
This is the "Party in the USA" section, but since it was still daylight, the lit up car wasn't shining yet. Bummer, as this was oddly something I was looking forward to the most out of the Purge this year. When we went through, it didn't seem full of scareactors yet, as years before, this zone always seemed to be swarmed with talent hitting on the containers, but there wasn't much of that going on. The chainsaw crew at the end of the zone were in full effect though.

[AMERICAN HORROR STORY]
Advertised Wait: 10
In Line At: 6:42 PM
In Maze At: 6:45 PM
Actual Wait: 3 minutes

Coming onto the backlot and seeing every maze already open and only be 10 minutes each felt like Christmas, errr... Krampus ;). But I knew AHS was the most popular, so we quickly ran to this one. Entering the maze, the stage is quickly set via the sound design as you're being introduced to the Murder House, which I think is a neat touch. Although, it would've been better to get the facade and just have that playing on the outside, but perhaps they didn't wanna confuse guests into thinking it's solely a Murder House maze. The first 1/3 of the maze felt very lackluster because the scareactors were attacking us but their sound triggers weren't going off! Unfortunately, it's opening night and at this point, if they're reliant on the triggers, I don't blame them. But if this happens later in the run, the scareactors need to learn to be more aggressive with their scares if they're going to get any reaction. Also, the trigger produces a light, so when they popped out, I half didn't even realize a scareactor was coming for me because they weren't going ARGH or anything. Again, the aggression needs to pick up for the first 1/3. At the end of the section, I think in the basement, the trigger actually went off and gave me a jolt because I wasn't expecting it at that point (or is that purposely the design of the scares here?)

Freak Show segment is hands down THE BEST part of the maze in every level. The scares, the characters, the sounds, the smells - I WAS THERE in the show. Luckily, their triggers were working and got many scares in this section. I loved the Twistys, as they all had his "movement" down. The whole cast was going for it the hardest in here and I applaud them.

Hotel I was mainly just trying to piece together what the hell was going on, considering I hadn't seen the season. I was slightly confused but still got some scares in here. The best scare I got in the entire maze though was a camoflauged scareactor hiding in some drapes which dang near had me run out of the maze. I think this really works here, as oppose to other years that tried this like in Crimson Peak, because this wasn't EXPECTED and was right at the end when you thought it was over.

Facade - 7. To grade this one for the outside of the maze wouldn't be fair. It's an anthology maze, so I'll judge it based on each section. There's a Freak Show and Hotel facade (although a small one) inside that I think would be more fair to judge this by. With that said, the Freak Show one is FANTASTIC. Hotel is whatever. The actual facade to get in the whole maze really isn't that bad. There have been some mazes with literally NO facade (Evil Dead), so I can't even be that mad. I think for the concept, this works. It would've been a LOT better to have been the Murder House, since that's where we start, but my guess is they were trying to save some money haha.
Set Design - 8. For some reason, Murder House didn't seem distinguished as it was in the show. The Freak Show section was definitely on point and the best part of the maze as a whole, look-wise because I think they had the most ambiance to work with. Hotel, not having seen the season, was pretty good too and had a nice creepy vibe.
Sound Design - 8. This I loved, especially in the beginning being introduced to the Murder House. Again, the Freak Show section benefited the most from it's soundtrack and really put us in the environment. However, I gotta dock this 2 points because of the sound trigger issue for most of Murder House.
Scareactor Design - 10. The scary characters in Murder House kinda went over my head, since it's been so long since I've seen that season, but they looked creepy. Freak Show's characters were awesome, especially Twisty. Hotel had some good characters as well. Make-up, overall, resembled the show very closely.
Cast Performance - 9. I felt like everyone was on their game, but they were inhibited without their sound triggers in the first 1/3.
Special Effects - 7. This maze isn't heavy on special effects, since it's not really relying on them
Length - 10. The longest maze of the night and I really enjoyed it, as it never felt too long because the sections were vastly different.
Scare Level - 7. I didn't run out of any rooms screaming, aside from the one camoflauge thing that got me. I think this will hopefully improve the next time I go.
Story Comprehension - 10. As an anthology maze, this really worked, as I was worried the story would be sloppy. However, there were clear distinctions as to which season you were in and those specific story lines with each one.
Personal Bias Points - 8. I've long waited for AHS to come to Horror Nights and it finally delivered. I would've preferred Asylum over Hotel, but hopefully that'll be next year.
84 out of 100. 'B'

[KRAMPUS]
Advertised Wait: 10
In Line At: 6:52 PM
In Maze At: 6:58 PM
Actual Wait: 6 minutes

FvJ still had a 10 minute wait also, so we figured it didn't matter which order we did everything in at this point (I was wrong haha but more on that in a bit). I didn't have high expectations for this maze but just walking up to the facade had me giddy. We figured out the password for tonight, "Gingerbread," and literally waved the postal man down. He ran all the way from where he was at the other end of the queue just as we were about to enter the maze and he quickly gave us a card when we gave the password. Thanks for your postal service, guy, you rock! Walking in, we were quickly hit with a cloud of FOG which had me overjoyed. The sets in here were AMAZING. The maze is a bit repetitive as you go through the living room over and over again, but I didn't mind too much since each time was vastly different. I pretty much loved everything about this maze and it wasn't comical, like I thought it would be. The only part that was kinda funny was the gingerbread man scene, but it was FILLED with detail that I'll have to look for something new each time I go back. One of the best scares I got was from a Krampus in the chimney, which I just didn't expect for some reason. Only part I think was a dud was the moving snowmen, which barely moved (unless I just didn't see the scare here). Walking out, I was VERY surprised that the maze was actually scary. I knew it'd have great sets, some of the best HHN has ever done, but I didn't imagine this would be one of the best mazes of the night. This line I don't think ever reached an hour long (while AHS, FvJ and Exorcist were a constant 2 hours+), so be sure to hit Krampus, it's worth it!

Facade - 10. I wish I could've seen it at night, but it was gorgeous even during the day.
Set Design - 10. Again, some of the best sets HHN has ever done.
Sound Design - 9. I loved the music and the chaos the soundtrack brought, but there weren't any memorable sections.
Scareactor Design - 10. Krampus was AMAZING and everything else looked great too.
Cast Performance - 7. As of now, the scares could've been more aggressive, as this maze mainly relies on it's settings, which luckily actually really works for the most part. I think they'll improve in the run, however.
Special Effects - 9. There was some great stuff in here, especially that damn chimney Krampus. Also, smothered in fog!
Length - 9. The maze was just the right length, but I felt they could've added a bit more orignality since it seemed all the other mazes were about that this year. Straying from the movie and doing something unexpected would've been great.
Scare Level - 8. Wasn't the scariest maze of the night but I was scared more than I expected.
Story Comprehension - 9. I felt like I got the maze very well, considering I saw the movie, but some in my group who hadn't were still confused as to who Krampus was or why and blah blah blah. *shrug*
Personal Bias Points - 9. I had been waiting for the creator of Trick 'r Treat to come to Horror Nights and it lived up to my expectations. But with that now said, and since the maze knocked it out of the park, GIVE US TrT!!!
90 out of 100 'A'-

[FREDDY VS. JASON]
Advertised Wait: 25
In Line At: 7:02 PM
In Maze At: 7:43 PM
Actual Wait: 41 minutes

The line jumped up an extra 15 minutes, which I didn't think was that bad, but it was longer than advertised. So if I were you, after AHS, I would run for this maze and do Krampus last, since it's sadly the least popular on the backlot. Walking in, I felt somewhat as if I was living a new movie featuring my favorite slashers and that's the best feeling I could've had. This maze is completely different from the film and was VERY original and that's what I loved the most about it. It did it's own thing, as if Murdy had his own script in mind before the movie came out and wanted to go with that. I also loved the aspect that this maze "took it's time" and built up to the climax, with first showing us Freddy's journey and then Jason's, and then showed us them fighting. A lot of people said "I forgot what maze I was in until Jason popped up" and I think that works in this maze's favor, as it's really driving home STORY. This maze is very Freddy-centric, which I think really worked, and literally it's him terrorizing Jason the whole time. My favorite scene is the Freddy snake EATING A LITTLE KID JASON. I just imagined a random victim for that scene, but that extra layer of awesomeness really sold that moment and I was very surprised. Which made the ending where Freddy wins all the more sad for Jason haha. In my mind, that's the only ending there should be, since that's the one that makes sense considering everything we saw in the maze. If Jason wins, since it's the last scene, you wouldn't get to see his glory of overcoming such a great foe. But with Freddy winning (which is the version I saw, if you couldn't tell by now), it's like he strived the whole maze to do it and that last scene is like "success!" Anyway, some of the best stuff in here is what worked in AVP so well. There are scares from both sides, as if the two are fighting. There's an AWESOME room where the walls fade away to reveal the slashers right next to you, which we saw last year in Insidious and it works well again here. Also, the scares were very aggressive from both Freddy and Jason, making this -- AGAIN -- one of the most surprising mazes of the night. I expected this maze to mostly just be "cool," not scary.

Facade - 10. Not one of my favorites, but since it's in tribute to the late great Wes Craven, it automatically gets a 10 (otherwise I'd say it's like a 7 or 8)
Set Design - 9. Greatly designed maze and felt like I was on Elm Street and Camp Crystal Lake. This only loses a few points because the other mazes this year (even one of the other slasher ones) have sets that are phenomenal.
Sound Design - 10. Like El Cucuy, you'll greatly benefit from listening to Freddy talk while going through the maze. As where that was a companion, this time it's almost essential to know what's going on. And that really drove home the story for this maze.
Scareactor Design - 10. The Freddys and Jasons looked on point, and the victims looked great, too. I'm convinced the Freddy girls outside of the Elm Street house were actual kids haha.
Cast Performance - 10. They were so aggressive and rocking it, coming out of two places at once often times.
Special Effects - 8. Other than the Freddy Snake, which is an old hat at this point, there wasn't much new and innovative, but there is some cool things in here, just not much you haven't seen before.
Length - 10. The story was fully told in it's length, plus it was completely original in doing so, and I couldn't ask for more from it in that regard.
Scare Level - 9. Some great scares in here that'll be only more aggressive later in the month, which I can't wait for.
Story Comprehension - 10. Again, the story here is FANTASTIC. I would love to see this version of the story filmed.
Personal Bias Points - 10. I just loved the hell out of this maze, more than I was expecting to. These are my favorite two icons and they really deliver and it was so cool to see them in one maze finally.
96 out of 100 'A'

[HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD]
Advertised Wait: 40
In Line At: 8:02
In Maze At: 8:53
Actual Wait: 51

We walked into line for Exorcist since it didn't seem that bad. We kept walking and realized there was zigzags super far out and quickly jumped out to see it was actually 90 minutes but Halloween was sporting a 40 minute wait, so we opted for that instead. We got in line and there was a hold up for quite some time, but then it finally started moving.

I was oppose to them doing a Halloween 2 maze. I don't know why, I just simply didn't want it haha and would've preferred a whole franchise run through but this is what we got instead. With that said, again, I was VERY SURPRISED by this maze. It worked, a lot of it, and I liked this way better than last year's Halloween maze. This felt very fresh and different and I applaud them for continuing the story. This genuinely seemed like a sequel (unlike another maze, which we'll get to later). The maze literally takes place where the last maze left off, with Loomis shooting Michael. I expected a bit more originality in the kills department for this one but they actually went with the ones in the film, which I thought were pretty tame. Here, they work, aside from the syringe one. Michael attacking with a syringe is just... not scary. You could barely tell he was holding anything. I think they should re-work that, but that's just me. The Halloween 3 reference in here works way more than it has in the past. I also like that they included my favorite part of the movie, with the little kid who bit into the razor blade. I also liked the Laurie Strode they cast, as I thought she looked very close to Jamie Lee. Michael bloody, swinging his blade around blindly, was pretty scary too.

Now, where the real fun begins because I wasn't expecting this ending AT ALL. If you don't want to be spoiled on this, even though this is a spoiler heavy review, skip to the next review. Anyway, in my opinion, this is the best part of ANY maze this year and one of the best segments in HHN history. Not only was I surprised by the originality and innovation, it was a very hauntingly beautiful moment. With the distorted "Mr. Sandman" playing as we walked through this gorgeous nightmare, I was in complete awe as to what was going on before me. The first pumpkin segment with pumpkins just everywhere, and some of them being actual people with pumpkin heads, was brilliant. I thought the maze was over there, but then you travel into a giant pumpkin where Michael roams. This was brilliant and reminded me of Sleepy Hollow Mountain's ending at Knotts Scary Farm at first, but that's where the similiarties stop. Think El Cucuy's lair, just made entirely of pumpkin. How Murdy or any of the creators thought of this to be tacked onto the ending of Halloween 2, I have no idea, but it was BRILLIANT. Even if it was like "oh, we ran out of movie and we have all this space in the maze left, what should we do?" Well, you succeeded in doing something that was so good, I really would love to see a maze based on solely THAT ending. It was very WTF but in such a good way. Bravo.

Facade - 8. A basic house and not much going on outside of it other than some gunshots. In my opinion, going over the ending of the first Halloween wasn't necessary, but that's just me.
Set Design - 10. The hospital looked great, but most of these points are mainly for the ending. If it weren't for that, I'd say it's like an 8 or a 9. But that ending really took this maze to the next freakin' level.
Sound Design - 10. Again, everything is fine, but that ending's soundtrack was PHENOMENAL. A friend asked me what song it was, and sadly, all I know is it was a mix of "Mr. Sandman." I would love to download it myself.
Scareactor Desin - 9. The Michael's looked really great this year, I thought! I mainly dock a point here because all the victims were dummies.
Cast Performance - 10. Aggressive Michael's, as there should be. Great Loomis and a great Laurie, who I don't think we've seen done as well in a maze before. Usually it would just be a generic blondish chick, but this girl looked just like her.
Special Effects - 9. That ending with the pumpkins had such great lighting. I'm also surprised they pulled off the tub kill with actual water, as I expected them to substitute it somehow.
Length - 10. The tacked on ending was great, because the maze felt fully realized of Halloween 2, but this was great. In my "what we expect" thread, Murdy really pulled off not just doing the same thing he did last year like I expected. He outdid himself in every way.
Scare Level - 9. I thought this was a great 7, but once we got to the ending where we had no idea what was going on, it rose up quite a bit.
Story Comprehension - 10. They retold the end of part 1, told all of part 2 that made sense, and then throw you into a nightmare.
Personal Bias Points - 10. If the rest of this maze was nearly as creative as the ending, this would've been the best maze of the night. However, I'm just glad this was better than last year's maze as I had zero expectations for this and it took it to the freakin' moon and back.
95 out of 100. 'A'

[JURASSIC PARK IN THE DARK]
Advertised Wait: 10
In Line At: 9:17
In Maze At: 9:27
Actual Wait: 10 minutes

I go on this every year in hopes they secretly did something different. They didn't lol. Lots of dinosaurs missing and car isn't falling. Sadness.

[ELI ROTH PRESENTS: TERROR TRAM]
Advertised Wait: 40
In Line At: 9:58
In Maze At: 10:32
Actual Wait: 34 minutes

The long line of death where you just walk in zig zags forever! For the love of God, FIX THIS by monitoring it better because this has happened every year since 2011. Anyway, they played some short films on the screens in line, which were really fun to watch. Had nothing to do with Eli Roth or clowns, but oh well. The story starts getting sold once you're on the tram, with a video that I thought was pretty good. The clown with balloons waiting for you as you get off the tram is FREAKY AS HELL. Great touch. They really should've opened up Whoville so you could see it though, it is clowns after all and they could've done so much with that part. Bates Motel segment seemed like every other Terror Tram, just with clowns. The real change is in the WotW area. But this is my biggest gripe... there is literally another line smack dab in the middle of the Tram which ruins ALL the momentum. As for what's presented inside and after, it's all great. I loved every single bit of it. But the practicality of throwing that many people into a small container was a very dumb idea and I have to be bitchy about it because it's like the damn people who make this invent never attend it during normal operating hours. This is obviously a very stupid idea and all the adrenaline that was pumping was subsided by this dang line. Anyway, kudos to the cast and the set design, it's the best Terror Tram has been since 2009, in my opinion. They finally did something innovative, just at the cost of being really stupid with the planning of it. As for Eli Roth, he's nowhere to be seen in the video before or after, and I didn't really feel his touch on the project, which makes me wonder exactly what it is he was involved in with this. Maybe it was all his idea, but none of that really shows. Anyway, I dug it, I just hope to go on a day less jam packed with people so I could stroll through the experience much better, but I doubt that'll happen.
'A'

[TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: BLOOD BROTHERS]
Advertised Wait: 35
In Line At: 11:28 PM
In Maze At: 12:10 AM
Actual Wait: 42 minutes

This line was moving God-forsakenly SLOWWWWW. They were letting in way too many FOL people at once and they pulsed the maze, which is why. At this point in the night, I just wanna make sure I get all the other attractions in. Anyway, we were promised a sequel to the first movie, but not a direct recreation of TCM 2. So this was supposed to be a TCM 1.5, if you will. Well, WRONG. This maze IS the first TCM all over again! They have some new stuff in here, no doubt about it, but they have the Franklin kill, they have the dinner scene, they have the graveyard, the girl on the hook! I was so mad!!! What the hell was the point of doing this maze just to do most of the first movie all over again? WITH THAT ASIDE, was the maze good? I mean, sure. Better than "Saw is the Law?" Eh, about the same. The scares were pretty good and the set design seemed more grim, more towards BIB (just nowhere near as good, obviously). But if you're looking for a cool new story based in the TCM universe like FvJ or the ending of H2, you're in for a sad awakening. Just for being tricked/conned, I almost want to say this maze sucked, but it surprisingly had some good scares so I can't be as bitter as I want to be. Anyway, this was a lot of my group's favorite, but they're not as versed in HHN history so this was mostly new to them. The maze IS good though, it's just the weakest of the bunch FOR ME. But considering this is the weakest, that means this year is beyond your WILDEST SCREAMS!!!

Facade - 8. Kinda basic, but I liked the music out there.
Set Design - 9. It had the feel of the first movie, just a darker version.
Sound Design - 9. The trigger scares were pretty good and loud, I'll give it that.
Scareactor Design - 8. Some of the dummies actually looked pretty bad, but anyway, you got Leatherface and clan.
Cast Performance - 8. They could've been more aggressive, in my opinion, but they'll be more rocking toward the end of the year.
Special Effects - 8. Not much going on in here.
Length - 10. This maze ended exactly where my bitterness reached it's peak, so I guess that's good.
Scare Level - 9. There's some jolts in here, no doubt about it.
Story Comprehension - 6. Is it part 1? Is it part 2? Is it like an alternate reality? Who the hell knows. Fuck this concept bahaha.
Personal Bias Points - 5. I'm just bitter. Don't mind me.
80 out of 100 'B'-

[JABBAWOCKEEZ]
Was gonna do Walking Dead, which sported a 10 minute line as we were in line for TCM, but as soon as we walked out of the maze, it jumped up to 60. WHAT?! We decided we could miss it and wanted to rest for awhile, so we caught the 12:30 AM showing. The show is similar in concept to last year, just with new routines and music. Personally, I love this stuff but I know most of you don't. As for the horror bit, it's only in the beginning, which I think was kinda in last year's show, too. It's a fun show and a good detour for 30 minutes, but only see it if you have the time and don't want to repeat any mazes.
'B'+

[THE PURGE: GAUNTLET OF FEAR]
I really loved this zone more than I thought I would. The beginning was empty of talent and I thought that spelled bad news, but as soon as we got to the courtyard, things really picked up. The bushmen were INCREDIBLE and they got me at every turn! For some reason, those always scare the crap out of me. Considering this almost has an outside maze feel, I really think they should throw in some triggers into this zone to really amp up the scares. Just be a lowkey, outside maze, Terror Tram hybrid and I think that would really take this to the next level. I was walking around Baker Street and the stilt guy got me SOOOOO good. He was hiding behind something and I just did not notice him at ALLLL. Great job.

'A'

[THE EXORCIST]
Advertised Wait: 95
In Line At: 1:19 AM
In Maze At: 1:30 AM
Actual Wait: 11 minutes

At this point, we were gonna do the Mummy and hit Exorcist dead last like right at 1:50 to get the shortest wait. However, I was on the Starway and noticed the line was VERY SHORT. Has the wait times been lying all damn night for this thing?! At one point I saw it at 150 minutes for this maze! So we decided, maybe we could do this maze fast enough and still get Walking Dead in, which we did! So we jumped in line and I heard so many bad things about this maze... alot of what you've heard is true. It's all mannequins and puppets and animatronics... BUT...

THIS IS THE SCARIEST MAZE I WENT THROUGH LAST NIGHT. Maybe the scariest I've been through since Back in Business in 07 and 08. I had high expectations, I just molded those with the bad reviews of what I heard already so I was already accepting this maze for what it could be. And boy... I'm trying to gather my thoughts. Okay, here we go. Entering the maze, you see that subliminal dude on a wall and I already thought that was cool. You see the Spider Walk on the stairs, which is creepy in itself. Is it suppose to move? I didn't see it happen, but it was a nice reference.

Anyway, I was first ahead of my group and there was NOBODY in front of me. I didn't catch up to the group ahead of us until like the last scene. So maybe this maze being so great was just my VERY special experience, what the creators get when going through and feeling completely alone. I asked some of my group that were behind me what they thought and they thought it was good, but not as great as I did, because they were shuffling and crammed into the maze apparently, going slow. I feel like I got the intended product of this maze and it worked like a freakin' charm on me. And maybe I'll never experience this maze like this ever again on my next few trips, but I'm just so glad I got to experience this maze like this at least once, and on my first trip through which made it all the better. EVERY - SINGLE - SCARE was directed at me and they all hit me HARD.

By design, this maze isn't great, but I think that works in this maze's BENEFIT. I'll explain. You walk into the house. Then dark hallways. You kinda start to expect the scares to be in the dark hallways. You have to go through those hanging curtains. But after those curtains, there's a scare. So now, by response, you know every time you open that damn curtain, something is going to come out at you and that always terrified me each time as I was going into a dark hallway. In my opinion, that made this maze genius, as oppose to the dark hallways of say AWIL, which just had those dark hallways as transitions. These dark hallways are USED for the main scares, as there aren't many in the other theatrical rooms. There's some real people, there's some puppets, and there's some other effects, but mainly, those scares are when you're completely in the dark and sometimes in areas you're not expecting them. I screamed OH FUCK at least 5 times, and when I scream "oh fuck," that means I'm GENUINELY being scared. I was shaking half way through the maze, eyes watering, not wanting to go into the next room, squirming, terrified to see what else this maze had to deliver as they just kept getting crazier and crazier. Even the FEEL of the maze just worked and felt so uncomfortable, especially with those hanging invisible threads that touch you each time you're in the darkness to make you squirm all the more.

In the theatrical rooms, it really felt like the movie, which I thought was so cool. The Reagan mask was great and I wasn't even bothered by most of the dummies/animatronics of her like I thought I would be. I feel like they're more warranted than the Mia's in Evil Dead which easily could've been a real person while these couldn't have. The priest mask, however, looked really stupid. Luckily I didn't look at him much, since my eyes were on Reagan, but please change those dang priest masks. The only scene that was a bit of a dud was the statue toward the end, as the guy just wasn't that still and even when he moved to scared, he was so big and clunky, it was almost comical. Overall, MY FAVORITE MAZE EXPERIENCE EVER. I know the maze won't be this good for me the next time, and I know it sucked for a lot of other people, but if I somehow get the same experiences on my next two trips, this will be my favorite maze IN GENERAL. Yes, Back in Business was great in every single aspect and can't be outdone, but the EXPERIENCE that I had in this maze was one of a kind and I'm sad I just may never have it again. With that in mind, I didn't go through this maze like everyone else did or will, but I was very fortunate to get more scared than I have ever been in a maze and I go through most mazes STONE FACED, but this had me looking like a little bitch. JOB WELL DONE.

Facade - 10. The music, the light, the fog! It was perfect.
Set Design - 6. The rooms recreated were fantastic. The dark rooms, although by design I think do work, are afterall - dark rooms, so I can't be too generous on this one.
Sound Design - 10. "DO YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DID?!" This was classic.
Scareactor Design - 9. Docking a point for the main priest HORRIBLE mask. Everything else was A+.
Cast Performance - 10. The people that WERE real in here must've had a personal vendetta on me, because this was the most aggressive cast I've ever seen in my life. They were trying to MURDER ME and I was targeted every single damn time for every single scare and they ALL got me SO GOOD.
Special Effects - 10. I was very surprised this didn't look extremely fake like I was expecting. It works for this maze.
Length - 10. I literally wanted to get out as soon as possible because I was so frightened. The fact that I had to keep going and it was only the middle is what Horror Nightmares are made of.
Scare Level - 15. Literally, I gotta give 5 extra points. Scariest experience ever. No exaggeration. Again, this will NOT be the same for other people. Unless you're in the front of your group and there's nobody in front of you and you don't see the scares coming and all the scares are directed at you. If you had/have the same conditions as me, I guarantee this maze will deliever shrieks.
Story Comprehension - 10. I loved the aspect of us being possessed, and the banned trailer aspects, and also witnessing the possession of Reagan.
Personal Bias Points - 10. One of, if not, MY MOST favorite maze I've ever been in.
100 out of 100. 'A'+

[THE WALKING DEAD ATTRACTION]
After Exorcist, we realized we had maybe 15 minutes left in the night and figured hell, we should just do The Walking Dead since it's on the way out instead of The Mummy so we can officially have completed every maze. We ran in, not even checking the wait time, but we waited maybe 5 minutes at the most. With that said, I won't review this as if it's apart of the actual line up because it's just not. However, it was my first time going through and I really dug it alot. I'm overjoyed this is a permanent, year round attraction and I can't wait to randomly stroll in on a random day in March. A lot of the walkers seemed to be out of action, which I guess is fair considering I went through at closing time. I was also the last one in my group and I saw a lot of the scareactors in their booholes waiting to come out, and I never saw them attack anyone ahead of me since I was so far behind. Basically, they lost a lot of good scare opportunities on me when they could've been coming on quicker intervals to make sure the whole group is being targeted. I was scared at first, because I was last and there wasn't anyone behind me at all, but that quickly went away when they just weren't going for the kill. Standouts were the guy at the burning cabin, a guy in the prison, and a guy randomly in the forest somewhere -- thanks for trying on me! Overall, I think this is a good replacement for the House of Horrors. Even though I do miss it, Universal has to stick with the times and I don't blame them.

'C'+

[LEAVING]
It was 2:02 and the guy working TWD was saying "last call" for people to get in, props to you for keeping our nightmares going! Anyway, walked through chainsaw chase out and they started just as I walked out. I feel this always happens to me

[OVERALL]
I love this year SO MUCH. There isn't a single weak maze and there's SO MANY strong ones that are among my all time favorites. I definitely will be revisiting multiple times and if you weren't planning on going, I urge you to see this year, you will not regret it. Quite simply, this is what Horror Nights has been progressing to be after a few weak years. There's been so many great years hindered with at least one bad maze and this year, to finally get EVERYTHING RIGHT, is lovely. Years before, I'd say "if you had to miss one," but you really can't miss ANYTHING this year. You have to be there early or get FOL and you HAVE TO SEE EVERYTHING. Even the Terror Tram is a must see and that NEVER happens! Given I am VERY bitter about TCM, I even have to say that maze is pretty damn good still. Also, it's nice to say the Behind the Mummy maze location is back to greatness after subpar mazes since 2011. Cheers to Murdy, the scareactors, the designers and everyone involved. YOU DID IT. THE GREAT WHITE BUFFALO. IT HAS HAPPENED. THE PERFECT YEAR.

'A'+

RANKINGS --

Mazes:
AMAZING - The Exorcist, Freddy vs. Jason, Halloween
GREAT - Krampus
GOOD - American Horror Story, Texas Chainsaw Massacre
AVERAGE - The Walking Dead
OKAY - N/A
BAD - N/A
WTF - N/A

Scarezones:
The Purge Gauntlet of Fear
Backlot
Entrance
Route 666

Terror Tram (through the years):
AMAZING - 08, 09
GREAT - 16, 13, 12
GOOD - 14
AVERAGE - 07
OKAY - 15
BAD - 11
WTF - 10

Overall Years:
*PERFECT* - 16
AMAZING - 14, 08, 12, 10, 13, 09
GREAT - 15
GOOD - 11
AVERAGE - 07

This is when I entered every attraction (to help with your game planning and for scareactors/Universal to know when I went through):
Early Entry - 6:00 PM
AHS - 6:45 PM
Krampus - 6:58 PM
FvJ - 7:43 PM
Halloween - 8:53 PM
JP - 9:27 PM
TT - 10:32 PM
TCM - 12:10 AM
Jabba - 12:30 AM
Exorcist - 1:30 AM
TWD - 1:55 AM

I was very much looking forward to this year because Mr. John Murdy said it was the year for the fans! We have been practically begging him to do these properties such as The Exorcist, Freddy vs Jason, Krampus (closest thing to a dark Christmas maze), and American horror story just to name a few. Plus there's no 3D mazes and an actual attempt to change up the terror tram! When Murdy said this was for the fans he wasn't kidding, so it's almost impossible to say that I'm not excited for 2016. But then I started doing some thinking. What if this is just a cash grab year and these mazes are just trying to grab a lot of people's attention? Did John Murdy just give up and just obeyed Universal and tried to get as much people as possible to come to the event? And as a result, could we get half-assed mazes based on the most iconic and fan-requested properties and end up having the most disappointing year of HHN ever?? After I thought about that, I lowered my expectations and tried to remind myself that not all of the mazes would be great.

And now thanks to my low expectations, I loved this year more than I should have! I am truly not kidding when I say this...this is in my opinion the best year of HHN so far!!! Not a single maze sucked and I actually thought the scare zones were pretty decent! I loved this year's event and it was so awesome and scary, and that's exactly what Halloween Horror Nights is supposed to be! Just like my review for 2015 I will rank the mazes, discuss the scare zones, and talk about the terror tram. So without further ado, let's get right into this!

7. The Walking Dead Attraction: 

After four years of being a haunted attraction during HHN, it's finally made into a daytime permanent attraction in Universal Studios Hollywood. And during HHN hours the amount of walkers double! I wasn't really looking forward to this because well...it's the walking dead. The first thing I want to talk about is how much detail was put into this attraction. The amount of detail was insane from the trash on the floor to the blood splatter filled with brains and hair. Now this attraction is different from an HHN maze in many ways. The sets have a bigger scale, the makeup and prosthetics are better, it uses animatronics instead of puppets, and it has state of the art special effects! I was expecting it to be as long as house of horrors but it was actually shorter. This would've never happened if that fucking Starbucks wasn't there! Very unfair, man. The best way I can describe this attraction is that it believes in style over substance. It's very enormous and visually impressive but it doesn't help the direction it's going for when it comes to scares. To be honest I thought this was the least scariest Walking Dead maze I've walked through during HHN. I mean the areas where the walkers pop out are pretty well placed but the actual scares were kind of weak. I guess it's because I was in such gargantuan environments and not in enclosed or claustrophobic spaces. Despite its weak scares and unscary vibe, the sets and detail in each room were unbelievable and I like how put their hard work into this attraction. This is a pretty good replacement for House of Horrors in my opinion and I recommend going through this at a regular Universal trip just to get a taste of HHN in the daytime.

C+

6. American Horror Story: 

After HHN 2015, we wondered what other television shows can be turned into a maze. We had From Dusk Till Dawn back in 2014 but it was based on a movie and the maze itself was pretty forgettable. Fans of both HHN and AHS have always wanted to see what it would be like to step into the world of Murderhouse, Asylum, and all the other seasons from the award-winning series. Now we get to experience some of the best scenes and come face to face with the most iconic characters from Murderhouse, Freakshow, and Hotel. And I gotta say, after all the years we've waited, it barely did not disappoint. Let's just start off with the facade. I'm just gonna say it...it was garbage. I personally did not like it because it's just so boring and not creative at all. It's just a big wall with red curtains and cardboard cutouts of three of the characters from each season and it says "American Horror Story". It makes me so mad that they literally put the name of the maze as if people don't know what maze they're gonna go through (I think I'm having Crimson Peak flashbacks)! They could've done so much more with the facade and I was pretty bitter about it. First we head into the infamous Murderhouse to survive horrifying encounters with Rubberman, Infantana, the Piggyman, and many more spirits that are trapped in there. The Murderhouse section was okay, I quite enjoyed it. They paid tribute to the first season pretty well and I got all giddy when I recognized the scenes from it. The sets looked like the environments from the show but not as much as the upcoming two other seasons. The scares were very average in this one. Half of them didn't have any triggers and just came out as awkward. The costumes and makeup were pretty good and very identical to the series. Now in the end of the Murderhouse section there's a character that was supposed to be in the actual show but was entirely cut out from it. Now we finally get to see the character in action and the design for him definitely looks like something out of AHS. As we escape the Murderhouse we now head to Jupiter, Florida to attend the local freak show and see strange oddities such as The Siamese Sisters, Pepper the Pinhead, and Chester and his puppet Marjorie. But it's Halloween night and we must escape Edward Mordrake and other spirits including Twisty the Clown. Freakshow is by far the best section of this maze! Everything from the scares, to the sets, to the costumes made me feel like I was in the actual show. I only wished I saw more of this season because it was so good and it made me wish for a whole maze just based on Freakshow. The facade was awesome and the banner scares were clever. I've been through this maze twice; once in employee preview and the second time on last night. On the second night, my mom was with me and every single Twisty was all up on her and I just laughed. After the cymbal monkey from the opening credits popped out, we go back to Los Angeles to check into the Hotel Cortez and witness the terrifying acts of James Patrick March, the Countess, and the rape demon just to name a few. I have to say that this was probably the weakest section of the maze. The sets were quite impressive and the characters looked like they jumped out of the tv screen, but other than that I really thought Hotel kind of fell flat for me. It also resulted in an underwhelming ending. I was hoping the final room would be a culmination of all the three seasons featured in the maze but it was just a random scene from the Hotel. That to me was kind of awkward and left me confused and made me want more. So overall, the entire maze was above average in my opinion. It paid tribute to the show more than I thought it would. Hell, it pays more tribute here than in any Walking Dead maze! If you're a hardcore fan of AHS this will totally be your favorite maze of the year. In my honest opinion I thought this was the weakest house due to its trashy facade, awkward scares, and so many missed opportunities. But I still had fun walking through this and it is a good addition to the rest of the lineup.

Final Grade: B 

5. The Exorcist: 

Ever since John Murdy became the creative director of horror nights he had always wanted to do a haunted maze based off the scariest horror film in cinema, The Exorcist. After 11 years he finally got the rights for it and now we have it this year. Despite my low expectations for the event, I was still really anticipating this one but when I walked through this house on employee preview night, I was very disappointed. But as of right now, I thought this maze kept getting better and better the more I walked through it. On Oct. 20 I've been through the exorcist twice and my third walkthrough was definitely the best. The facade was absolutely outstanding and it looked just like the movie poster with the fog and green lighting and Father Merrin standing in front of it. In the living room, you see subliminal images of "Captain Howdy" next to the moving ouija board and Regan climbing down the stairs. You could also smell a horrible stench in that room, not puke but something just as gross. I'm guessing it's Regan's body odor because she can't just be like, "Oh I'm just gonna take a quick shower break from being possessed!" Lol! After that, it's nothing but darkness AKA black transition walls. There's nothing that triggers me in HHN more than dark transition hallways because they're just there and they're just a lazy excuse to get from one scene to the other. But in this maze, the only scares are actually in the transitions. I think that works for a maze like this because if they scare you in pitch black darkness, that adds extra suspense and dread since you don't know when the next scare is coming up and as a result you end up feeling actual fear. And that's exactly what The Exorcist maze is supposed to be. Next, you enter Regan's bedroom where you see Damien Karras interviewing the demon while everything is moving by itself and the whole room comes alive. I enjoyed this room a lot, mostly because of the effects in there. I think the best aspect about the maze in my opinion are the effects because it's what makes the house have an exorcist vibe to it, as the actual film was very FX heavy. As we head into another black hallway, we come face to face with the actual demon itself, Pazuzu! As I said before, my third run through this maze was my best run. On that run, after Pazuzu scared one of the people in my group I can see him through the darkness and he's just pointing at me with a creepy grin on his face. It was that moment that made me thought, "This is The Exorcist!" As we head back to the bedroom, we see Father Merrin try to rid the evil spirit. The smell of the vomit was disgusting in that room! Of course Regan turns her head 180 degrees around and throws up all over everyone. I once again bring up my third run into this and during the puke scene, the head and vomit kept turning towards me and my group! The vomit followed us! I don't know if it's just me or not, but did the water that sprayed out feel warm? Just wondering. After that, we see Regan levitate in the form of a cross and the exorcist is throwing holy water as he says the iconic line, "The power of Christ compels you!" The Father Merrin mask that the actor was wearing was ridiculous. Dick Smith made groundbreaking old age makeup for the film and this was just an embarrassment to his work. The way they pulled off the levitation was pretty impressive and I give them props for that. As we walked further to the end, we experience a triple scare which I quite enjoyed that featured two Pazuzus and a cross formed Regan. Then, we see Merrin laying dead on the bed as Regan looks at us with her serpent tongue sticking out. All of a sudden, we see the statue form of Pazuzu from Iraq behind a scrim wall and Regan just panicks and reaches her arms up. That was a great moment in the maze as well. After we see possessed Karras sacrifice himself, sort of, we see the Pazuzu statue once again and this time it comes alive and scares you. Out of all the scares in this house I would have to say that's the weakest one. After a better scare, we just see Regan on the bed laughing at us. Hearing her maniacal and sinister laugh and the main theme song of the movie gave me chills. It was a very unsettling moment and it captured the spirit of the film very well. Here are my final thoughts on this maze: it was a good one. The scares, effects, and overall experience got better and better the more I walked through it. I just wish they could've done a little more and did something a little more original, but they did pretty well with the material they were given. 

Final Grade: B+

4. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers: 

Back in Business was considered to be the scariest maze John Murdy has ever made. In 2012, we received a TCM maze based on the 1974 original film but it was supposed to be An American Werewolf in London, and it ended up being a total rush job. This year we were supposed to have The Conjuring as a maze, but something happened with the rights and now we have another last minute Texas Chainsaw house. To make sure that it doesn't seem like another rush job, John Murdy made a complex and original story for it. If I found out that it was supposed to be a conjuring house after I walked through Blood Brothers, I wouldn't believe it because this was a very well designed maze. Let's begin with the facade; the BBQ/gas station. It was really neat and very detailed. The first room was full of detail as well, with plates of delicious human flesh and a banner that says "Welcome Home ChopTop!" and even a picture of the hitchhiker from the first film, RIP. It even has a human barbecue smell in there. But the one thing that really stole the show was the actor who played Drayton Sawyer. He was so awesome and you could tell he had fun with his role! When I walked in, he was eating some "special homemade" food. So I asked him if I could try some of it and he responded by saying, "Well why don't you open your mouth wide open so I can shove a nice big bone in there?! Open up!" So I said never mind and he said, "THAT'S A GOOD BOY! HAHAHAAA!" I also like how he tells Leatherface to kill the victims and he pops out with his big chainsaw. That's what I call teamwork! This guy deserves a medal for having so much energy. After that, a random ChopTop scare comes out and we see a guy being roasted like a pig. We also see Leatherface cutting up a guy in pieces and blood squirts out of him. It squirted all over my hands when I  went in and I was all grossed out! After that, we walk through a meat locker filled with hanging dead pigs and skinned corpses while ChopTop tells Leatherface to get everyone. I just want to say that this maze has the best audio! John Murdy does ChopTop's voice and the things he says are creepy and weird, just like ChopTop. "GET EM BOY! GET EM LEATHERFACE!!" "WE GONNA SKIN Y'ALL LIKE DUMB ASS PIGS!!" "FRANKLIN! WE COMING TO GET YOU FRANKLIN!" It was so awesome! The Leatherface meat locker scare was unexpected and pretty good, despite the actor always having trouble trying to reach out to everyone. Then we head to the graveyard and it's pretty much just black walls with vines and trees with the smell of dirt. Next, we go inside a cave labeled 'Sawyer' and the dirt smell gets a little stronger. The Christmas lights were a nice touch since they're from TCM 2. Then we step in the Sawyer residence and go inside ChopTop's room. I thought the sets in this maze, especially this room, were kind of lackluster in my opinion. This room only has a bunch of hippie posters, a peace symbol made of bones, a skeleton lamp, a severed head to hold ChopTop's wig, a record player, and Nubbins. That's it. But I have to admit, seeing Nubbins was pretty cool! That room smelled like straight up butt! If someone were to stick their fingers in their asscrack, that's what it would smell like. We then go inside Leatherface's room. Ever since I attended the Midsummer Scream panel for HHN, I thought his room would be really detailed as John Murdy explained it to be, but to be honest it was as weak as ChopTop's room. So then we're in the sledgehammer kill scene room from the first film for some weird reason and after that, we're in the kitchen which was a pretty good room with a pretty good scare. Then we see ChopTop with Grandpa killing somebody with a sledgehammer. This is a great distraction for a Leatherface scare on the other side of the room. And finally we head to the chicken coop filled with decaying bodies and I got scared so good in that room. That room also smelled so horrible with the rotting corpse stench. To me, rotting corpse smells like intense gingivitis breath! I don't why!  Lol! I mentioned before that this maze had the best audio design this year. Another thing that supports that is The Heart of Texas song. I fucking love that song now! It's so catchy and I should have it as a ringtone. This house was really good and it was better than I expected it to be. Despite it's weak set pieces, I quite enjoyed the scares and the nasty smells made the atmosphere even better. But the best aspect about this maze were the costumes and masks. It definitely added the realism that I was actually inside an Texas chainsaw massacre movie. This was one rush job that I had fun walking through. 

Final Grade: B+ 

3. Krampus: 

In 2014, a Dark Christmas scare zone was created for HHN and it was considered to be the best scare zone ever (kind of overrated IMO). Fans of HHN have wanted an original maze based on that zone but that never happened. Instead we got a Krampus maze based on the 2015 film by Michael Doughtery. To be honest, I wasn't 100% on board with the idea of having a Krampus house in HHN. But despite my doubts, this maze was sooo good! The facade was visually awesome and it definitely set up the tone for the maze. The frozen delivery guy was a pretty nice touch, too. But unfortunately, when I told him the secret password he said, "Unfortunately I have run out of special packages. But you have a merry Christmas!" Bummer. The first room was so detailed and I loved Howie Jr's legs dangling from the chimney. You take two steps in there and already you have an evil elf pop out on you. All the actors, except for Krampus, had a lot of energy and they were really hyper. I can imagine that Krampus's minions drank all of his Red Bull and now he's just slow without any energy in his system. I guess the actors wanted to recreate his movements and actions and if that's what they were going for, then they did a pretty good job. Then we head to the kitchen to see the gingerbread men attack! The detail in this room was spot on as well and of course the smell of gingerbread is pumping through the air. The detail was crazy in the entire house, every room was filled with snow and little nooks and crannies from the film. Even the hallways have pictures of the Engel family and piles of snow on the corners. As we step into the attic, we see the toys attack and the jack in the box clown is devouring a little kid. Again, the detail was awesome and the design for the toys looked very identical to the movie. A great value Adam Scott came up to me with a teddy bear gnawing on his arm and I was really impressed with that. We then go back to the living room and Krampus comes out of the chimney and that got me so good. Next we go outside to escape the mayhem in the Engel residence and a gust of cold air blows out and that was pretty good. The snowmen scares were really good as well and I jump every time they get me. Then we're in the middle of the climax where little Max tries to sacrifice himself as he's going down to Hell. This room is honestly the least detailed because it's just black walls with snow and trees. And believe or not, we see a reused technique from This Is The End! We are being raptured to a perfect Christmas with a lovely tree, nicely wrapped presents, and the scent of peppermint. That is until we find out that we're inside a snow globe and Christmas is celebrated for an eternity! That final scare from Krampus was kind of awkward and it could've been handled a little better. Krampus was a great house with amazing sets, great scares, and a fun vibe! Now all we need is a Trick or Treat maze so HHN fans can feel complete. 

Final Grade: A- 

2. Freddy vs Jason: 

In 2007 and 2008, we received two mazes based on two of the most iconic horror movie characters in pop culture, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. In 2010, they came back, but their mazes were based off the remakes. In 2015, Universal Orlando made Freddy vs Jason and HHN Hollywood fans were quite disappointed that it wasn't a shared IP. But this year, Freddy and Jason battle it out in the west coast and now Southern Californians are caught in the crossfire! I was really anticipating this house because it has two of the most famous slashers from the horror movie genre in one maze. If I had one word to describe this house, it would be...AWESOME! This was one of the coolest mazes I've ever walked through! Everything about it was amazing and I loved every single room! I think what the movie it was loosely based on did so well, despite it being kind of bad, was that it reminded us why we love the Nightmare franchise and the Friday franchise so much. And that's exactly what this maze did as well. It was a great experience and it's a must-do for this year. The facade for this one was simply beautiful because it has a very touching nod to Wes Craven. RIP. When you walk into the boiler factory, the audio was pretty disturbing with all the children wailing in pain. Then we see a dead crispy Freddy corpse doing a sexy looking pose (being classy like always). Next we see Freddy behind little Jason trying to put the "little freak" out of his misery. Then we witness one of the mind blowing moments of the maze, Freddy snake eating little Jason! It was really awesome and I liked what Freddy said when he was doing his thing, "I EAT LITTLE KIDS LIKE YOU FOR LUNCH!" Hahaa! Then we come face to face with the snake while he squirts out water in the dark. Next we get raptured (yes again) to Camp Crystal Lake where we see Mama Voorhees telling Jason to wake up and kill again. After that, we see an unmasked Jason pop out and wield his machete at us. The sculpt for his mask was inspired by New Blood and it was pretty cool recognizing him. As we continue walking through, we head into Jason's cabin filled with wet, moldy corpses and a lovely memorial for his mother in the tub. If you try to get a closer look, Freddy pops out of the wall on the other side. And after that, you're just in an intense showdown between Freddy and Jason with hanging bodies everywhere and it just feels very "at your face" and I like that. Then we're once again raptured (I'm get real sick and tired of this rapture shit but as long as the transitions have something in them, it's all good) to see ourselves transported into Springwood to go inside  1428 Elm St. Outside of the Krueger house facade, you see a little girl with no eyes that has suffered from Freddy's wrath. That was awesome and what made it extra awesome was her singing the Freddy nursery! When you walk into the house, it's only Freddy and Jason coming out of mirrors and walls and it's a whole zigzag maze full of them. Then we're in one of the best rooms of the house with the two of the best scares. It's just a regular mesh hallway but when the lights turn on, it reveals Freddy looking like his demon form from the movie and Jason on the other side. And right before you walk out of that room, Freddy, Jason, or both come out of the wall and reach out at you! As we get closer and closer to seeing who the winner is, we see them battle it out and the scares are just like AVP with the opponents on opposite sides of the room and you're right in the middle. Again, it's such an intense moment when you are literally in the middle of the action. Finally, we get to see the one who wins it all, and who is it? Both of them! I went inside this maze four times; twice on employee preview and twice on Oct. 20. I saw Freddy win three times and Jason win once. The ending changes every time they do a cast change. It either ends with Freddy holding Jason's head with his decapitated body coming alive, or Jason holding Freddy's head with his decapitated body coming alive. To me that's a total game changer for HHN! I hope to see the multiple ending technique used again later in the future. Another game changer was that it was the first maze to have a curse word: "WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE, BITCH!" I was all surprised when I heard that! I loved this house so much! It had great scares, great effects, great set pieces, and a talented cast! I had a wonderful experience. Fans of both Freddy and Jason will cream their pants while walking through this one. 

Final Grade: A 

1. Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield: 

Oh my god! Just when I thought Michael Myers Comes Home couldn't get any better, this maze surprised the Hell out of me! In 2009, The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers was considered to be a great maze. When it came back in 2015, fans were divisive, saying it was either better or slightly not as good as 2009. Hell Comes to Haddonfield was the least anticipated maze for pretty much everyone this year because the rest of the lineup was so good. And as a result, this was the most surprising house of the year! Let's just begin with the facade. It's pretty much the Doyle house from the movie and it's a nice facade but nothing special. The first room feels very ominous just like the first room from 2015 so I'm already digging the vibe. The only scene that's repeated from last year was the Loomis shooting scene and it was handled much better this year with the closet where Michael Myers tried to attack Laurie and there's a Laurie static dummy on her knees crying. We then head outside on our way to the Haddonfield memorial hospital where Laurie currently is. When you're outside you see a patch of grass with Michael outline on it and I always smiled every time I saw it.  The trick-or-treater scare literally made me jump because it was so unexpected! Speaking of trick or treaters, I thought the little kid that bit the razor blade apple sitting there in the maze was a nice touch. Once you go inside the hospital, you get to witness all the kill scenes from Halloween II like the hammer scene, the syringe scene, and even the hot tub scene. I was pleasantly surprised how they pulled the hot tub scene off. To be honest I didn't think they were gonna have actual water. The first time I went through that room the other night, it was just water. But on the second time, it had "steam" coming out of it. That was insane and that aesthetic was pretty good! The scares in this house were the best out of all the other mazes this year, including the trick or treater scare I mentioned before. The best one would have to be the one with the Michael dummy behind a curtain and then a real Michael pops out of a door next to it. That got me really good on employee preview night! I genuinely thought the dummy was real because he's hiding from us and we can see him from behind the curtain but they don't make it too obvious. I especially enjoyed John Murdy's cameo as Robert Mundy on the TV and after he did his own thing, the Silver Shamrock commercial makes its return! The scene with Laurie shooting Michael in the eyes was very epic. I noticed on my last run through it, I saw a door that was demolished by Michael when he went into the surgery room. I chuckled a little when I saw that! So it's at this point of the maze where I felt like this deserved like a solid A-, but then we head to the ending. This ending, man. This is definitely the best ending to an HHN maze that John Murdy and Chris Williams ever created since the alien queen sequence in AVP! It was so original and it definitely felt like I was transported into another realm. You see a bunch jack o lanterns shaped like the one from the poster art and they're just everywhere! Some of them are live actors trying to scare you but you can't tell the difference. Just when I thought this scene couldn't get any better, it does! You get to go inside a giant pumpkin and it was at that point where I tried to gather my thoughts on what was going on. It was so bizarre but that's what makes it so beautifully grim. You see the actual insides of a pumpkin and of course you also smell it in the air. And to top it off just right, a soothing yet haunting version of Mr. Sandman plays over and over again. I guess what it represented was the festival of Samhain and how it could be so frightening yet celebrated by all! It's also the time of year where the infamous Michael Myers takes innocent lives because he's just pure evil. I absolutely loved this entire maze! It had amazing scares, incredible sets, eerie vibe, and a jaw dropping finale that you'll never forget. 

Final Grade: A+

Eli Roth presents: Terror Tram: 

For years we have always had a weak terror tram and we wanted to see something different. This year's tram had an actual original backstory and the involvement with Mr. Eli Roth caught a lot of people's attention. I have not been to the tram on employee preview but I heard that it was the best one in years, so that raised my expectations a little bit for me. The backstory was really good and it didn't feel like a Walking Dead commercial or a random Purge commencement. It does get a little confusing when you try to explain it to someone but overall it was great. Hollywood Harry standing there with his balloons was a really creepy moment and that got me hyped for what's about to come. But as of right now as I'm writing this review, I think this year's tram was kind of overrated! I did enjoy it and I got a couple of good scares but it's not as good as people said it was. The design for the clowns and freaks were really awesome. The pimp, firefighters, lizard boy, and Hollywood Harry himself were my favorite characters in the tram. Another cool character I quite enjoyed was the clown who flashing his guts to everyone, it's so perverted yet hilarious. I also like the music, it felt very circusy and evil at the same time. I was actually looking forward to this year's route because we would have to do less walking and more scaring. This route was short, in fact a little too short. I took the clown mouth road and I thought it would be longer but when I was finished with the whole thing, I literally said to myself, "That's it?!" I wanted to see more of Hollywood Harry and his evil clown minions. Maybe we could possibly get a Klowntasm maze later in the future. If that happens, I'm down to see it! So out of all the three terror trams I've been through, I would have to say 2016's was the strongest one but still kind of lagging. I wanted this one to be great but it just came out as average and I was a little disappointed. And on a side note, I didn't take a picture with Norman Bates this year. Another bummer.

Final Grade: C+

The Purge: Election Year scare zones: 

In 2013, the Purge had made its debut to HHN as the New York street scare zone. In 2015, it was a terror tram based on the first film and the Anarchy film but that didn't really do so well. This year, all of the scare zones are Purge-themed and for the first time ever we will have a gauntlet of fear. I was really tired of seeing the Purge in HHN. I honestly thought this was gonna be the next Walking Dead because it's "a property that doesn't know when to die!" But in all honesty, I liked all of the zones this year. I usually don't give a shit about them because they were always so weak, but this year was a total exception. My favorite scare zone was the gauntlet of fear! It had a lot of energy and it was very intense on employee preview night. I don't what happened the other night, I guess there was a cast change because I saw a couple of Purgers walking outside, but the gauntlet was extremely weak. That wasn't the gauntlet that I experienced the last time. And they changed the route even though I have no idea why! But I still managed to get a scare that got me so good from one of the moss guys with the shakers. Before I went inside the tunnel where you enter the backlot, all I saw was strobe lights and all I heard was dubstep (I think I'm having Face Off: In The Flesh flashbacks). But the Purge or Die tunnel was really fun. The strobe lights really played a big role in this zone because it's dark for one second and when the lights go on again, a Purger is in your face. I got good scares in that scare zone as well. The backlot zone was pretty much the same thing as last year's except the bling girls were there. I honestly thought they weren't gonna be blasting Party in the USA but they did and that was awesome! So overall, I actually had real fun with the scare zones this year and I was surprised that it was pulled off so well.

NY scare zone: B 

Gauntlet of Fear: A 

Purge or Die tunnel: A-

Backlot: B+ 

Jabbawockeez: I have not seen the show this year because I really did not want to watch it. I was so tired and I wanted to do some of the rides and I knew I wasn't gonna make it to the last show. I bet they haven't changed anything anyway. 

Final Grade: N/A

The entire event was a blast and I'm not sure if John Murdy is gonna top this year, ever! Every year there's usually a maze or two that doesn't do so well but every single house this year was a huge success! I usually don't care for the scare zones and the Purge is definitely dead, but it resurrected into a fantastic gauntlet and memorable zones. Despite the terror tram always being lame as fuck, it's definitely something to check out and I don't doubt that Hollywood Harry will come back next year. Halloween Horror Nights is a one of a kind experience and even though I've never been to other haunts such as Knott's Scary Farm or Dark Harbor, I still believe that horror nights is the absolute best. It's not just a bunch of haunted houses that have a 5 dollar budget that you just run through and waste your money on, it's definitely more than that. The staff puts all their hard work and effort into making these mazes and I thank them for that and I love the final results. And that's why I became a member of this site, so I can share my thoughts and opinions and thank everyone who puts the event all together. 2016 is totally the best year of HHN so far and I can't wait for what's in store for 2017! 

HHN Hollywood 2016 gets an A++!

Thanks for reading my review for this year and I hope you guys have a great day!

There may be spoilers in this, so be forwarned. For my rundown and early entry plan of attack, see my posts in the

Once again we went in with the game plan and we were successful at getting everything done even with repeats! Boo yah!

Let me start off by saying hell to the yeah

for using some of the "standards"/classics, and a big two thumbs up to all you scare actors and folks working the mazes and props!

Scare actors were balls on!!

We did early entry and had AHS, FVJ, and Krampus all knocked out by 5:50PM.....that's the good news, the bad is it was still daylight so one, our eyes had a hard time adjusting from the outside to the seemingly pitch black interiors, so it was hard to admire the elaborate sets but on the plus side we got the crap scared out of us because we couldn't see anything until it was already on us.

AHS

I loved this one!

Sets were well done, especially the characters from Freakshow and some good scares, we definitely got to appreciate it more when we returned to repeat it in the dark later at 645PM

Walking down the Hotel hallway and commenting how well they nailed the sets from the show and right when I said they should have someone come out of one of these doors....pow! Got me haha shoulda known!

FVJ

Probably our favorite overall

We loved the facade, the sets were well done, the smells, a few good creepy moments and scares.

Worm Freddie eating little Jason! Omg awesome!

I think we just loved it because it's familiar territory, who doesn't love Freddy??? Of course we had to cheer for the razor gloved one at the kill scene in the end.....and he ate it up with a give me more gesture and a hand to the ear! Thanks for playing along!

KRAMPUS

We had read some mixed reviews ahead of time so for some reason I went in with no big expectations. But....I had a blast on this one! Nailed the movie 100%!

We had gotten the "secret word" and whispered it to the frozen delivery man......that was a cool added touch, the facade is very well done.

I really love the way these facades and set designs really set you up and put you right into the story before you ever even enter the maze....something that other scary place needs to figure out fast or get left behind (yes I'm talking to you executives at Knotts!!!!)

OK, sets great, smells holy cow, scares were on!!!! I really dug the hell out of it!......the first time. Actually the second time the the snowmen were really aggressive so plus on that.

The Exorcist

I really wanted to love this immensely, I liked it, it had some good set designs and a few things pulled off well, and maybe part of it was how much daylight was filtering into the maze due to how early it was (?) But it was missing something, not sure what, maybe the very mechanical almost too fake looking effects (spider walk up the stairs, levitating over the bed via forklift) made it feel corny? Again not trying to bag on it, we got a few jump scares out of it, and the live actors did a hell of a job.

HOLLOWEEN

Really good job with set design and capturing the essence of the sequels!

Got a kick out of walking through the inside of a pumpkin and actually smelling the scent of the guts of a pumpkin haha, and again, great job by the actors, likedrink it but didn't have the same punch as last year's Holloween.

Terror Tram

Did I miss something? Is it just me or did this thing almost suck??

Sorry, but to me this is a skip it (unless you're looking forward to the photo up with Norman out in front of the Bates house.)

Our wait was not long at all, maybe just under 15, I already expected there to be plenty of walking, but where are the scares?  There were way too many dead spots with nothing really going on, the few scare actors that we did see were ok, Twisty the clown was creepy and we egged him on to slit his victims throat (better her than me right?) But really not enough scares and not enough variety to make it worth it.....felt like an underwhelming, too long scare zone that needed to be rethink.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 

Our longest wait of the night, an hour.

It was worth the wait, and we think the maze was even better than the movie!

Good scares, good design, and holy crap, great use of live scare actors!

This one we liked better than Exorcist and not because of the theme, but design and level of scares.

The Walking Dead

Oh boy.....a huge fan of the show.

You guys decided to make this a permanent attraction so it benefits from a more elaborate facade and more detailed sets. So plus points for some if the great "right out of show" feel for the set designs while in que.

It just didn't have I don't know.......oomph, balls, heart, somwthing... the zombies jump out and ok, surprise.....but they get right up on you so fast and then walk away it was almost comical....there was no sense of fear or danger.....it was just "oh look' that looks good," or "good job with the make up" but we got better scares and adrenaline pumping on the other mazes....and with a 45 minute to an hour wait......you have to consider if it's worth it especially since you can catch it any other time of the year.

OVERALL RATING, FEELINGS,OBSERVATIONS 

We still love Universal's HHN

and we will be back again next year.

I think they do the best when it comes to authentic set designs, costumes and make up ,(then again, woukd you expect anything less from a Hollywood movie studio?)

We still are impressed with overall maze designs and use of themes etc

Scare actors, behind the scenes people, props operators, scare zone actors, park staff etc....you guys are awesome! You rock, and everyone from the ticket taker, to the line attendant to the guy making the snowman move, made our experience a no hassle, welcomed guest, flat out good time!

This is still the standard to measure up to and with a little planning and playing it smart, you can knock out every single maze in one night.

Here's where Universal needs to be careful.......

1) Crowd control/traffic flow through the mazes.

Last year, we were impressed with the fact that Universal kept track of groups going through the mazes and cutting line at the right points to prevent overcrowding in the mazes (something KSF didn't do in the past).

This year, there was still some line management, but there were several times in a few different mazes where we either ended up stalled "bumper to bumper" just standing still, or almost worse....the group in front of us got the scare and by the time we walk up to that point the scare actors hadn't barely gothe back in his hole to "reset" so we just got dead space.

Trust me, no matter how awesome a maze is or how talented the scare actor...nothing kills the experience more than waking through several dead spots with no scares just because the timing is off! 

2) overuse of the same scare tactics and gags over, and over, and over again.

In fact, the same scare used multiple times over in the same maze and then repeated multiple times in all the other mazes....change it up, variety...don't get lazy.

Now I realize in certain situations there's only so many ways you can jump out at someone. But when there's a dark black corridor, hallway, corner etc we all know that somebody's popping out of a "hidden" curtain or sliding panel and "boo". Ok the first time, not the fourth time and not when every maze copied the same thing.

Well there you have it, it's still a top flight haunt and if you do early entry on a not oversold night and the prices don't get out of hand it will stil be worth it to go out of your way to make it happen.

And if Universal keeps the standard high and doesn't let it slip, they will still be THE haunt to beat in the future.

There may be spoilers in this, so be forwarned. For my rundown and early entry plan of attack, see my posts in the

Once again we went in with the game plan and we were successful at getting everything done even with repeats! Boo yah!

Let me start off by saying hell to the yeah

for using some of the "standards"/classics, and a big two thumbs up to all you scare actors and folks working the mazes and props!

Scare actors were balls on!!

We did early entry and had AHS, FVJ, and Krampus all knocked out by 5:50PM.....that's the good news, the bad is it was still daylight so one, our eyes had a hard time adjusting from the outside to the seemingly pitch black interiors, so it was hard to admire the elaborate sets but on the plus side we got the crap scared out of us because we couldn't see anything until it was already on us.

AHS

I loved this one!

Sets were well done, especially the characters from Freakshow and some good scares, we definitely got to appreciate it more when we returned to repeat it in the dark later at 645PM

Walking down the Hotel hallway and commenting how well they nailed the sets from the show and right when I said they should have someone come out of one of these doors....pow! Got me haha shoulda known!

FVJ

Probably our favorite overall

We loved the facade, the sets were well done, the smells, a few good creepy moments and scares.

Worm Freddie eating little Jason! Omg awesome!

I think we just loved it because it's familiar territory, who doesn't love Freddy??? Of course we had to cheer for the razor gloved one at the kill scene in the end.....and he ate it up with a give me more gesture and a hand to the ear! Thanks for playing along!

KRAMPUS

We had read some mixed reviews ahead of time so for some reason I went in with no big expectations. But....I had a blast on this one! Nailed the movie 100%!

We had gotten the "secret word" and whispered it to the frozen delivery man......that was a cool added touch, the facade is very well done.

I really love the way these facades and set designs really set you up and put you right into the story before you ever even enter the maze....something that other scary place needs to figure out fast or get left behind (yes I'm talking to you executives at Knotts!!!!)

OK, sets great, smells holy cow, scares were on!!!! I really dug the hell out of it!......the first time. Actually the second time the the snowmen were really aggressive so plus on that.

The Exorcist

I really wanted to love this immensely, I liked it, it had some good set designs and a few things pulled off well, and maybe part of it was how much daylight was filtering into the maze due to how early it was (?) But it was missing something, not sure what, maybe the very mechanical almost too fake looking effects (spider walk up the stairs, levitating over the bed via forklift) made it feel corny? Again not trying to bag on it, we got a few jump scares out of it, and the live actors did a hell of a job.

HOLLOWEEN

Really good job with set design and capturing the essence of the sequels!

Got a kick out of walking through the inside of a pumpkin and actually smelling the scent of the guts of a pumpkin haha, and again, great job by the actors, likedrink it but didn't have the same punch as last year's Holloween.

Terror Tram

Did I miss something? Is it just me or did this thing almost suck??

Sorry, but to me this is a skip it (unless you're looking forward to the photo up with Norman out in front of the Bates house.)

Our wait was not long at all, maybe just under 15, I already expected there to be plenty of walking, but where are the scares?  There were way too many dead spots with nothing really going on, the few scare actors that we did see were ok, Twisty the clown was creepy and we egged him on to slit his victims throat (better her than me right?) But really not enough scares and not enough variety to make it worth it.....felt like an underwhelming, too long scare zone that needed to be rethink.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 

Our longest wait of the night, an hour.

It was worth the wait, and we think the maze was even better than the movie!

Good scares, good design, and holy crap, great use of live scare actors!

This one we liked better than Exorcist and not because of the theme, but design and level of scares.

The Walking Dead

Oh boy.....a huge fan of the show.

You guys decided to make this a permanent attraction so it benefits from a more elaborate facade and more detailed sets. So plus points for some if the great "right out of show" feel for the set designs while in que.

It just didn't have I don't know.......oomph, balls, heart, somwthing... the zombies jump out and ok, surprise.....but they get right up on you so fast and then walk away it was almost comical....there was no sense of fear or danger.....it was just "oh look' that looks good," or "good job with the make up" but we got better scares and adrenaline pumping on the other mazes....and with a 45 minute to an hour wait......you have to consider if it's worth it especially since you can catch it any other time of the year.

OVERALL RATING, FEELINGS,OBSERVATIONS 

We still love Universal's HHN

and we will be back again next year.

I think they do the best when it comes to authentic set designs, costumes and make up ,(then again, woukd you expect anything less from a Hollywood movie studio?)

We still are impressed with overall maze designs and use of themes etc

Scare actors, behind the scenes people, props operators, scare zone actors, park staff etc....you guys are awesome! You rock, and everyone from the ticket taker, to the line attendant to the guy making the snowman move, made our experience a no hassle, welcomed guest, flat out good time!

This is still the standard to measure up to and with a little planning and playing it smart, you can knock out every single maze in one night.

Here's where Universal needs to be careful.......

1) Crowd control/traffic flow through the mazes.

Last year, we were impressed with the fact that Universal kept track of groups going through the mazes and cutting line at the right points to prevent overcrowding in the mazes (something KSF didn't do in the past).

This year, there was still some line management, but there were several times in a few different mazes where we either ended up stalled "bumper to bumper" just standing still, or almost worse....the group in front of us got the scare and by the time we walk up to that point the scare actors hadn't barely gothe back in his hole to "reset" so we just got dead space.

Trust me, no matter how awesome a maze is or how talented the scare actor...nothing kills the experience more than waking through several dead spots with no scares just because the timing is off! 

2) overuse of the same scare tactics and gags over, and over, and over again.

In fact, the same scare used multiple times over in the same maze and then repeated multiple times in all the other mazes....change it up, variety...don't get lazy.

Now I realize in certain situations there's only so many ways you can jump out at someone. But when there's a dark black corridor, hallway, corner etc we all know that somebody's popping out of a "hidden" curtain or sliding panel and "boo". Ok the first time, not the fourth time and not when every maze copied the same thing.

Well there you have it, it's still a top flight haunt and if you do early entry on a not oversold night and the prices don't get out of hand it will stil be worth it to go out of your way to make it happen.

And if Universal keeps the standard high and doesn't let it slip, they will still be THE haunt to beat in the future.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE MAZES IF YOU HAVEN'T BEEN, BE WARNED.

Halloween Horror Nights 2016, Sunday, October 2nd

Beginning of the night/Early Entry

I had entered the park during the day with my group using my annual pass. They all had Day/Night combos and received a wristband, however when I attempted to ask Guest Relations if I could get a wristband or have some way of staying within the park, they told me I just had to walk over to the gate and get my ticket scanned. I asked if I had to leave and re-enter, and they told me probably not (Warning sign that I didn't listen to). Come around 5 PM I find I have to exit, re-enter security, then wait in line for early entry. Wouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for the fact that Early Entry is WIDELY advertised now, and makes it almost appear to be general entry at this point. The last few years Early Entry felt like a real early entry since not many people used it. But now that capacities are hitting maximum, I think USH is trying to get people in whenever they can. The crowd was almost like general entry and took me nearly 40 minutes to get back in the park. Probably one of the only major gripes of the night, but it didn't really ruin my momentum! I made a quick dash to catch up with my group and we went to the back lot to start the night!

The Main Course

American Horror Story

• Advertised Wait-time: 10 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: 10 minutes

This was the first maze I hit for the night since I knew the lines were going to get immense by the end of the night, and I didn't think I would have time nor the stamina to drag my group back to the backlot. The maze was practically a walk-on when it opened up around 5:45 PM. First thing I noticed is the facade to the place, it looked a little cheesy to me with just the cut outs of the characters. But, it didn't deter me too much. Entering the red curtains made it very interesting since it felt like I was entering a movie or screen and made the immersion into a show pretty interesting. The facades for each part were awesome, and I appreciated the fact that you got to hear the theme song and saw the intro in the little screens. Again, it continued to make me feel like I was entering the show itself through a television. Murder House was interesting, and I thought the scares were pretty good. I enjoyed seeing the Piggy murderer, and the Vinyl suit, and even Larry and his burnt household. However, I missed the doctor operating since the curtain was unfortunately closed the whole time I passed it (They just closed it too!). Entering into Freakshow was awesome, and I enjoyed the Twisty's in the woods. The Twisty right before the actual Freakshow tent looked a little slim for the character, but he had a good energy scaring the girl in front of me! The Dandy inside the tent had an awesome presence, and it made it recognizable for me that it was supposed to be him. Definitely my favorite part of the maze like everyone. I especially enjoyed the cymbal monkey at the end. Hotel dropped off a bit for me, I didn't really enjoy the season that much so that might have added. The scareactors were still fantastic and the Lady Gaga actresses particularly liked attacking me. There was a strange room that was completely empty right before entering the hallway with the Infected Hotel guests, so I'm wondering if there was somebody that just happened to be missing there. Overall, the energy was great, and it did a good job condensing 3 seasons into one maze. Unfortunately I was squeezed between two groups (not my own) that got scared more than me, so they were targeted more than myself. As a result, I missed a lot of scares, so it dropped the grade a bit for me.

• Grade: B

Krampus

• Advertised Wait-time: 30 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: 15 minutes

This maze was probably my favorite of the night. I just enjoy the idea of a twisted Christmas, or Christmas gone horribly wrong. Something about the juxtaposition of holiday cheer and horror really delights me. Anyways the facade is simply gorgeous. I got into it during the day, so it wasn't completely lit up, but passing by it at night after FvJ made it look 100 times more amazing. The frozen delivery guy was great, and gave me a present when I whispered the secret code to him :). The first room, while a little barren, really set-up the climax of the movie when Krampus basically invades the house. The kid's feet in the chimney got me with a good laugh, and the elf in that room got me good since I was paying more attention to the fire place. The gingerbread room was awesome, and while I wish there were more scares there, the design was simply superb. I had the most enjoyment out of the attic scene with all the demented toys. The actors being attacked did a great job of conveying their own fear, and that last doll, even though I was ready for it because I could see it, still caught me off guard with the timing since it appeared like I wouldn't trigger it until the last minute when I did! The gust of cold while entering the outside was awesome, and I enjoyed the snowmen attacking me. I personally didn't expect the whole thing to move so that made me jump a little bit when I thought it was going to fall on me! The only thing I wished the outside scene had was a way to represent the monster that's hidden in the snow that eats everyone in the movie! The scene with Krampus was cool, and the elves again got me since I was so fixated on the hell hole! The hall before the last scene totally left me unnerved because I simply didn't know what was going to happen and walking through it was difficult. The final scene was just icing on the cake, and I enjoyed the smells and final scare of the room. Really great way to end the maze. I really enjoyed the movie, so I knew I would enjoy this maze a lot. Other than it feeling a little barren in places, the set design and monster design gave this maze my title of favorite of the year.  

• Grade: A+

Freddy Vs. Jason

• Advertised Wait-time: 50 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: 35 minutes

The wait times in the backlot were giving me hope that the rest of the night would be super smooth (Boy I was wrong, but more on that later). The facade for this maze was simply awesome, and it definitely made me feel like I was about to enter one Freddy's nightmares. I have to say, the actors in this maze did a good job, especially considering the temperatures of some of these rooms. So major props to any of them. I enjoyed the little Freddy at the beginning lying on the floor trying to be sexy. I had seen the FvJ movie, so I was glad to find while it felt like some of the stuff in their mental battle from the movie was there, it felt like it was still original like Murdy had intended it to be. I got a hoot out of Freddy saying "BITCH" a lot for some reason. Must be due to the parody of him from Rick and Morty. Anyways, him torturing poor little Jason made me feel for the Machete slasher himself, but it really setup for the next scenes. Getting to Camp Crystal Lake was awesome, and Jason's menacing appearance and constant attacks kept me on my toes. Even the scene with his mother, and him without his mask got me good. Who knew a screaming old lady with a shovel would make a 24-year-old man jump a little! The boiler room scenes were intense (And quite warm), and I really enjoyed the use of the disappearing walls. The final fights with them swinging at me was cool the first time, then it seemed a little repetitive. But I enjoyed it nonetheless! The finale was great, and it ended with Jason being the winner. Apparently according to other people in my group, the body of Freddy got up and chased them out. I missed it though since I was leading the charge. Overall, great maze, and I think it captured the essence of these two characters very well. The only problems I had was a little repetition of the scares didn't set well completely with me.

• Grade: A-

Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield

• Advertised Wait-time: 60 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: ~140 minutes

Unfortunately, this maze was the decline in getting things done efficiently and with plenty of time to spare. The advertised wait we got upon entering the maze was about 60 minutes. Little did we know it must have not been updated recently and this became the longest wait of the night. I don't know what happened, but by golly this wait almost ruined all my plans for my group that night! Anyways, a little foresight about the maze from my perspective: I haven't been able to watch Halloween 2 (I intend this Halloween season), so my friend was the master in explaining things that happen in this maze. Regardless, the facade was cool despite it being essentially a repeat of last year's. However, I won't knock it too much since like Halloween 2, it is a direct sequel to the previous maze and has it take place on the same night. I thought the scenes in the alley were cool, I only wish the police weren't behind the fence and that we could actually see them. But it made sense. The kid that received a razor apple was also cool, I only wished it was an actual actor that walked up to you! The hospital scenes were great, and the Michael actors were really on top of being this man who is pure evil! The first scene got me good with him coming out from behind rather than right in your front. I enjoyed the ones that made me have to look over my shoulder and turn fast. The water room scene was awesome, and my friend that loved the movie got a hoot remembering that scene. The final scenes with the pumpkins were amazing. I just loved the overall look and feel of the scene with Mr. Sandman playing in the background. The final scenes were intense and I think the Giant Skull pumpkin is the first time I've just went "WOW" in a maze. This would probably be my 2nd favorite maze of the night, and would probably be my first if I had watched the movie prior.

• Grade: A+

Eli Roth Presents: Terror Tram

• Advertised Wait-time: 50 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: ~42 minutes

The time it took for us to get on the tram and back, gave me a little more hope that the rest of the night was going to go great and that we had a possibility to make it through the rest of the mazes. I enjoyed the story behind this, and the drive there was kind of fun since I enjoyed the spooky song they had playing as you rode there. The actors at the start were great, and really enjoyed attacking me. I don't know what it was, but they really liked me this time, despite not getting a super big reaction! The Bates Motel part was great, and I liked the effort they went to making this a stronger terror tram. The victim was a cool part, and I thought it would have been cooler if she was in a USH jacket or shirt or something to represent the guides going missing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed that portion. The flasher was also great, and a good character to have up the hill. However, I got stuck with the extra path with nothing really on it, and felt like I missed a lot. It got us through faster, but I felt pretty annoyed I didn't have a choice. In the end, we hit all the paths that had practically nothing on it. Luckily the energy of the actors made up a bit for it. Felt much better than before, but still wasn't SUPER IMPRESSIVE. However, if they continue in the direction like this, I can see it getting much better.

• Grade: C+

The Exorcist

• Advertised Wait-time: 140 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: ~50 minutes

After the Terror Tram, the time was around 11. And with the current wait-times for The Exorcist and TCM, we had to make a choice whether we wanted to do The Exorcist or TCM, because we would probably not be able to make both. My group unanimously decided on The Exorcist. We got in line, and surprisingly it wasn't too far back, and it moved super quickly. First thing's first, the facade was probably the best next to Krampus for me. It really captured the iconic scene of the Priest's arrival. Upon entering the house, I was assaulted with a smell from another dimension. It was horrible, and honestly the only maze throughout the night to have a truly horrible smell. The spider walk was pretty dang cool, but I didn't get to see it in action as I missed it actually descending the stairs as I entered the next room. Now, the black spaces were annoying to have, but I liked the scares in them. While it got super predictable that there would be scares in them, they made up for it with intensity, and guessing who would pop out. Whether it was Pazuzu/Captain Howdy, or Regan, it kept me on my toes because of how uncomfortable I felt being the presence of those things. The actual scenes of the bedroom were great, and the puke spraying was pretty cool. The priests looked a bit funny since they had like a mask to make them look older, but it was cool nonetheless. I was got pretty good when a Pazuzu actor attacked me from my left, and then the possessed Regan flew at me immediately after that. It was a great 1-2 punch and I enjoyed that a lot. The final scene with the Pazuzu statue was pretty cool, but he wouldn't move for me :(. I again enjoyed the use of the disappearing walls that Pazuzu was behind, and the final scare was a great way to end the maze. It was pretty much the favorite for my entire group, and while it wasn't my FAVORITE, I enjoyed it very much. Despite the initial reaction, I'm pleased to say it has really shaped up to be an awesome maze. My only problems were the predictability of the scares in the black rooms and the black rooms in general.

• Grade: B+

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers

• Advertised Wait-time: 60/70 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: ~110 minutes

Again, another unfortunate event where the advertised times were completely changed once we entered the actual queue. It happens, but it just sucked since my group and I were pretty dead by the time we got into it. We lost a lot of spirit upon entering the Waterworld part of the line. It was probably a bad sign when the signs around USH was 60 minutes but the one outside was 70 minutes. Again, the energy for the actors here were AMAZING. Especially at this point in the night. Major kudos to this maze's actors. Anyways, upon entering the maze, I thought the facade was neat, it felt cool because there was no true "entrance" or sign before the facade, so it really felt like it was in it's own little world. The first actor that played who I'm assuming is the Old Man/Drayton, did a good job of mocking us upon Leatherface scaring the crap out of my tired group. Most of us definitely woke up for the rest of the maze. I have to say the claustrophobia of this maze impressed me. I felt way too close to things, and it was definitely adding to the tension and fear. The first scene of Leatherface sawing up the actor on the table was awesome because I felt so close to the action and it didn't feel like a little set-piece I was viewing from off-stage but I felt like I was on-stage with the actors! The rest of the maze was intense with Leatherface's random attacks, and even different masks. I really enjoyed the scene with the Chop Top and the Grandpa was great, and I enjoyed the actors dancing around. I joined them a bit, but the grandfather started swatting at me with his hammer. Must have hated me! The weird trippy scene with Chop Top was pretty cool, and I didn't mind the Neon/3D type paintings at all. If anything it added to the atmosphere of that room specifically. Overall, the maze was great, and I thought an improvement over Saw is the Law which I enjoyed in 2012 a lot! This is coming from someone who did not get to experience Back in Business, but I gotta say this TCM maze was top notch. If I had hit it earlier in the night I feel like I might have enjoyed it a bit more.

• Grade: A

The Leftovers

The Purge Scarezones

Overall, I enjoyed the Scarezones this year. Party in the USA being blasted in the backlot portion was hilarious, and the actors were very strong down there. The Gauntlet was definitely my favorite, and I liked the overall length and feel of it. My favorite character in there was definitely the Chainsaw-wielding Bunny. Finally, the Entrance scarezone was cool, but didn't feel super impressive. Overall, I enjoyed the scarezones, but I wished they still kept variety in and didn't keep it solely to The Purge.

• Grade: B-

The Walking Dead Attraction

• Advertised Wait-time: 5 minutes
• Actual Wait-time: ~10 minutes

I didn't get to go on this during the actual event, so I decided to just add in the final section of my review. I went into this maze right before I had to leave to do Early Entry. Since I started coming to HHN at the time they first started doing The Walking Dead mazes, I enjoyed seeing their evolution. While it had its ups and downs it was always awesome to walk through that world I enjoyed in the comics and TV show. I could tell they took the best pieces from the older mazes and incorporated some new elements and characters. Overall, it was a fun little romp, but nothing too impressive and it had a very "Been there, done that" vibe.

• Grade: C

Closing Thoughts

For the last 5 years, I have enjoyed coming to Halloween Horror Nights. As soon as mazes started getting announced in the year, I couldn't stop counting the days until I set foot into these damned grounds again. I usually went with a friend who always came along, but since he moved to Taiwan, this was the first year I went without him! It felt weird in that sense and it bummed me out a lot that he honestly missed probably my favorite year I've been so far. Each year always had a "Meh" maze for me, but I never left any of these mazes feeling that. I felt like each maze was done so well, and with so much care and attention to details, that I felt like it was probably the best year yet. It still isn't perfect by any means, but perfection is never achievable, and if it was, that would get boring! I like to see it get better and better each year. I can't wait to see what's in store in the future. As I said in the beginning, it might be my last time going to USH for a while, since I'm trying to get a job in Japan. So if I get that I'll be missing it next year, hopefully I can try to go to the one there in Japan. Regardless, this was an awesome year, and probably the first time I've considered buying another ticket on a different night to go again!

Final grade: A

I hope you enjoyed reading my review as much as I enjoyed writing it :). Hope everyone's spooky season continues to dish out the scares and haunts!

American Horror Story: Don't care about the show, but I understand how the show works. Sets were pretty cool and I liked the transitions with the video screen archways. The boo holes seemed to have the same problem with FDTD in 2014 in that you could see where the actors would pop out from a distance as soon as you entered the room. I didn't really get any great scares in here. Maybe next time I'll get a better run-through, but for now, it's the weakest house of the event for me. Not TiTE bad, but could be better. Again, sets were good and had some small jumps at least. Overall: C

Krampus: I like how a lot of the rooms gave you the impression that you were inside of a house. There were some pretty good scares in here for me. Some scares you could easily see from the other end of the room which was annoying, but I at least liked some of the more unique scares in there like the snowman and the giant doll trying to scare you. Although not as bad as AHS, I didn't like that some of the scares you could see when entering the scene. Overall: B

Freddy Vs. Jason: Too bad this didn't make it into 747, but I don't think it would have made a difference anyway. I think this house had the best set design in any of the houses and the best scares. There were some really cool FX in there like the disappearing wall that turned into the boiler room. The only thing I really didn't like about the house was how the "twisting" lighting effect that was used in TiTE and Krampus was used twice in here. I get that it's a good transition tool, but something better cold have been done. Well, aside from that, this was the best house of the event for me. Great scares, well-done sets, and cool effects. Oh, and I liked this better than Orlando's rendition last year. I just wished that they could've included the underwater scene from Orlando's. That was great. Overall: A

The Exorcist: I knew that there was absolutely no way that this maze would meet the hype after all of the talk of this being Murdy's possible magnum opus. I mean, he's been wanting to do this for over a decade so there's no way it will fail, right? EP night reviews set my expectations low, but I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I could see why people would hate this since more than half the maze is all black walls. Although I usually hate the black walls, I'm willing go easy on that aspect since the whole point of it was to "feel demon possessed" and take inspiration from the banned trailer. The room where everything was moving everywhere had some neat effects. I liked it more than I thought I would. Pretty good. Overall: B

Halloween: Hell Comes to Hattonfield: This is a close second for my favorite house. Got some great scares from Michael and the sets were great. I really felt like I was walking through the neighborhood and through the hospital. The ending was amazing. Don't have much else to say except that it was great. Overall: A

Eli Roth Presents: Terror Tram: Every. Single. Year. The Terror Tram SUCKS. It sucked less last year, but before it was always bloody terrible. It felt like they weren't even trying. This year I thought it was actually….okay. I got one really good scare, but I feel like I would have liked it more if I had a more pleasant experience, which I'll get to soon. They actually changed things up, which I'm really happy to see. The containers helped to deliver more scares and allowed for a few props to make things feel different. Now for the rant: The alternate paths are helpful to disperse the crowds when it gets packed, but when I went, it was light. Would not have made much difference where you would go. What really pissed me off is that they FORCED me to take the lame extra path they set up with nothing there. I wanted to go inside the clown mouth, but the attendant wouldn't allow me to go in there even if there was only SIX PEOPLE GOING THROUGH AND I WAS BY MYSELF. C'mon. If there's no one around, you SHOULD be allowed to pick where you can go. That's so stupid. I appreciate how they changed this up, but that stupid experience ruined it for me. Overall: C

The Walking Dead: Didn't bother. Line was too long. Just the same with more walkers anyway.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers: After the abysmal TCM: Saw is the Law in '12, I didn't have very high expectations. This was the underdog for me. The guy at the beginning was AWESOME. He really delivered it for his acting. The whole house was very tight-spaced and in-your-face, allowing for great scares. Sets were not bad either. I doubt this was as good as Back in Business (Which I never saw) but was way better than '12. Very good. Overall: B

The Purge: Gauntlet of Fear: This was such a nice bonus for me when lines got too long. Scareactors were great and was really cool. The only thing is….what the heck is up with the Mummy props in there? Overall: B

Jabawockeez: I'll see it on my return visit next week.

Overall: I think this is my favorite event content wise. While there were a couple of things that were just good at best (TT and AHS), everything else was great. Very solid year. Oh, and I loved the mac and cheese bacon grilled cheese sandwich. Look forward to trying the tater tot nachos and the smores sandwich. I look forward to my future returns. 

The Purge: Gauntlet of Fear-
This thing is seriously so cool! And I have a feeling as the event goes on it'll only get better. I went through three times and two of the three times an Anarchy guy at the start wanted to steal my shoes... well alright then. 

The Walking Dead Attraction-
This was my first time ever doing the attraction and I can honestly agree with everyone else that it's just eh. The effects are cool, it's fun looking for Easter eggs, I love the queue, but that's really all it has going for it. 

The Exorcist-
I get scared each year, just usual jump scares, but this maze is the first maze to terrify me. But I absolutely loved it. The subliminal imagery carried over from the movie to the maze, all of the effects looked really good and it exceeded my expectations. I usually hate the black hallways but these ones worked for the mazes advantage. Whenever a black hallway came up I was scared to go in and rightly so. Nearly every scare whether it came from Regan or Pazuzu or Karras got me and they got me good, then another one would get me they were everywhere! The scenes being recreate from the movie looked absolutely awesome and I loved them all. My favorite memory from this maze came from my second run through of it, Father Karras had just splashed me with holy water and blessed me, then I told my sister and we just said "bless up!" Then Pazuzu jumped out of nowhere scared the crap out of me and hit the dab. It was funny and scary at the same time. 
Grade- A+

Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield-
Last years Halloween maze was my favorite maze of all time, and while this maze was good it didn't recreate the atmosphere of last years for me. It was still a really good maze but I didn't enjoy it as much as last years. I loved seeing all of the kills from the movie. All of the sets were really good. The ending was freaky but really cool. I loved the pumpkins and the giant pumpkin head was a very unique scene. Loved the smell though, took me back to El Cucuy. 
Grade- A

Purge or Die-
I couldn't see crap in the tunnel! But it was nice to have the tunnel themed during the walk. The continuation of it on the backlot was really cool but I don't think it was as good as last year. Last year had a lot of fog and I couldn't see the actors at all now they're easily seen. I did love the chainsaws at the end of it though. 

Krampus-
My group and I were debating about waiting in line or using our front of the line passes and when we were debating Chris Williams walked into the front of the line line, but we didn't follow. Until 5 minutes later when we finally decided to use front of the line. I got my post card and went in. Off the bat this facade is amazing. This maze was a lot scarier than I expected. The elves were creepy, Krampus was literally everywhere even places I wouldn't have expected him. The sets are beautiful and the smells are absolutely amazing. I love the gingerbread men scene because that's just something those mischievous gingerbread men would do if they took reign over the kitchen. The attic scene was really well done however when I went through it was a cast change and there was nobody in the jack in the box. The rapture tunnel effect was used really well and while I wish there would've been a little more for the final scare it was still really good. 
Grade- A+

Freddy Vs. Jason-
I loved this maze. From the facade to everything inside it was just everything and more than what I hoped. The sets were amazing. I loved seeing Freddy terrorize Jason. The snake looked really good and actually scared me. I loved the rapture tunnel effects in this maze to help serve as transitions. The camp crystal lake scenes were really cool and creepy, I like Freddy more than Jason so I was partially biased to favor the Freddy portion. But once they got fighting that was when the maze excelled. I loved seeing the Alien Vs. Predator style versus scenes as well as the disappearing wall scene where they would pop out right when the wall disappeared. Unfortunately Jason was the victor of this run through. 
Grade- A+

American Horror Story-
The facade is really underwhelming. I'm not a huge fan of the show so I'm just kind of meh about the maze. I watched Murder House but couldn't force myself to watch Freak Show or Hotel. The maze was good, the sets looked really good and there were some scares. Obviously the Freak Show section is gonna be one of the coolest sections even though it is unfortunately very short. But fans of the show will love it, I'm just not a fan of the show. 
Grade- B 

What happened after American Horror Story was a great experience for a HHN geek like myself. I walk out and right in front of me are John Murdy and Chris Williams. I've met John 4 times now but never have I met Chris so it was really something else to meet them both. I got a picture with them both, and had them both sign the map for this year. 

Terror Tram-
Hearing great things about it I was excited, but I was let down. The solution to the traffic jams was adding another path to the right of the clown mouth entrance. I'm sure if I got the clown mouth entrance I would've loved it but I was unfortunately shoved into the right (wrong!) path and it simply felt like the usual terror tram. The characters were cool, the story was cool, but I wasn't able to get anything great out of it except finally fulfilling my quest to find Log Bunny! I'll probably watch a video to see what the other scenes look like but my experience sucked. 
Grade- C

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers-
I was expecting an original sequel not original scenes with a lot of scenes from the first movie tied in. With that aside this maze was still really good. The smells were strong as was the cast. They were on fire and I was able to get a lot of good scares from the maze. It definitely felt a lot longer than I expected it would be. While I only saw half of Saw is The Law (I chickened out before the dinner table scene I was a wuss my first year) I can say that I did like this maze more than that one. But this was by no means the best maze of the year. 
Grade- A

Jabbawockeez-
I enjoyed last years show and I enjoyed this years show. While I enjoy it I don't necessarily like it at Halloween Horror Nights. It doesn't really belong but it eats up crowds so I'm okay with it. I got some good laughs from it and the dancing was good. That's about all I have to say about that. 

My group and I were able to repeat The Exorcist, Halloween, and The Walking Dead, but nothing else. Although we could've repeated Krampus as we had an hour and twenty minutes before closing and the line was only half an hour, then twenty minutes by the time we made it up the star way, then ten minutes by the time I bought my shirt and lanyard. Nobody listens to the HHN expert in my family (me). 

All in all I can definitely say that this was the best year I've ever seen in my 5 years of attendance. I don't have a clue how they'll top it which kind of scares me but we'll see how next year goes. This year gave me three new favorite mazes and memories that I will never forget. 

House Ranking:
The Exorcist
Krampus
Freddy Vs. Jason
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers
Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield
American Horror Story
The Walking Dead Attraction

This matches perfectly with my list of anticipation which is surprising for me. I loved this year and it is my new favorite year.  

Hi, I have posted on here before but haven't been active in a long time, but I feel compelled to write a detailed review of this year's event.  I attended the event this past Friday, September 23rd,with General Admission and was able to do every HHN-exclusive attraction twice except for TCM, Exorcist, Terror Tram, and Jabbawockeez (did not see it once).  I will be reviewing everything in the order I did them, and will be rating them on a scale of 1-10 in the categories of: Scares, Sets, Personal Experience, Effects, and Overall.

Opening Ceremony

I arrived at about 6:20 and was able to get through security and the gates in only 5 minutes.  Upon entering, we were handed blue wristbands for early entry, but we opted to watch the scare-a-monies instead.  We were corralled in front of TCM, and then guided to were the opening would happen.  Being in the very front row was so awesome, and I really liked the opening this year.

Purge: Gauntlet of Fear

I will rate this like a maze even though it really wasn't, but regardless, I still really liked this.  The first section was a little tame, but the next section on French Street was insane.  The fog was so thick, and there must have been about 20 scare actors in this section alone.  I also really liked the section in the courtyard that was supposed to be like the "hunting grounds" from anarchy, and I love the bushmen, they always get me good.  I really like this set up of an outdoor maze/pulsed scare zone, and I think it should be kept because the courtyard is just too awkward of a venue for a proper maze, but worked perfectly for this.  I would love to see this set-up in future years slighly more expanded in the plaza area and with a different IP.

Scares: 7/10

Sets: 6/10

Effects: 5/10

Personal Experience: 9/10

Overall: 7/10

The Walking Dead Attraction

We decided to just get this over with since it had no wait, and the entrance was right where the exit of the Gauntlet was.  I had been in this over the summer, and while the added scare actors help, this is still a very lukewarm attraction that is just way too short.  Sets and effects are pretty cool though.

Scares: 5/10

Sets: 9/10

Effects: 8/10

Personal Experience: 5/10

Overall: 6/10

Eli Roth presents Terror Tram: Klowntasm

Despite having nothing to do with Eli Roth, this was by far the best terror tram I have experienced since attending since 2011.  This was mostly due to the fact that we were placed in the first cart, and led the pack, getting all the scares.  The image of pulling up to the drop off with the one clown with the balloons was SO creepy and a nice change from all the chainsaw guys just being out in the open.  I also loved the more maze-like sets in the shipping containers, and the scare actors were AGGRESSIVE - they were swinging their "weapons" SO close to everyone's face.  Someone who is a scare actor please reply telling me how you train to do this without injuring people its genuinely very impressive.

Scares: 8/10

Sets: 6/10

Effects: 6/10

Personal Experience: 9.5/10

Overall: 8/10

Halloween II: Hell Comes to Haddonfield

We then made it down the starway and went straight to Halloween.  The entrance claimed a 30 minute wait but it was more like 10.  I have to be honest here, I was SO excited for the 2015 maze based off of the original and it was very disappointing.  This maze however, was amazing.  I loved how we got to see the ending of the first maze revisited before going to the hospital.  The scares were great in here, all the Michaels were on fire, and I really liked the murder scenes despite the victims all being dummies.  The final "real-life" scene was very well executed as well: the girl looked very similar to Jamie Lee, and the Michael swinging the scalpel while blinded was awesome.  However the highlight of this maze comes in the last 3 rooms.  First you enter a pitch-black hallway while a very cool slowed, and dream-like rendition of Mr. Sandman plays while a blue-lit Michael waits for you at the end of the hallway.  Is he a dummy, is he an actor?  Well he was an actor and I have no idea how they stay that still but wow.  The jack-o-lantern room was hauntingly beautiful - not something I would ever think to call a temporary maze at a halloween event.  It was such a creative and bizarre ending, I loved it SO much.  This maze was also equally good both runs we did it.

Scares: 9/10

Sets: 9/10

Effects: 9/10

Personal Experience: 10/10 (huge Halloween fan)

Overall: 9.5/10

The Exorcist

Wait time said 80, but was more like 20.  We must have gotten very lucky.  The facade on this one was SO perfect, even with the priest dummy.  I really liked the first room with the ouija board, and then the spider crawl looked surprisingly good.  This does get pretty obviously repetitive but the scares in the dark hallways are pretty good.  The priest masks are laughable, but the Reagan's all looked good.  I was especially impressed by the levitation scene.  I do wish our version went a little bit more like Orlando's did with the hallway of mattresses covered in vomit, but this was overall not bad, just a little disappointing.  Also the last Pazuzu scene was more funny than scary and this deserved a much better finale.  Highlight of this maze was the priest splashing holy water on me.  This maze also suffered from something which many mazes did, which was that way too many people were being let in at a time.  

Scares: 7/10

Sets: 7/10

Effects: 8/10 

Personal Experience: 6/10

Overall: 6.5/10

Krampus

This is probably the best facade HHNH has ever had for a maze.  Period.  It is so cool, combined with the smell of cinnamon coming from the maze, and the Christmas music playing.  The sets were all incredible in here, and the scares were on fire for the most part.  The first room is so foggy, and the mailman outside of the maze was an incredible actor.  The attic scene was very well done except the first run of this maze, there was no victim in the Jack-In-The-Boxe's mouth, but the second time there was.  I must say I love this effect.  The angel scare was also highly effective.

Scares: 8/10

Sets: 10/10

Effects: 9/10

Personal Experience: 7/10

Overall: 8.5/10

American Horror Story

This is where we got extremely lucky.  A woman with a small child had 5 of those one-time use FOL coupons, and gave them to us because she was going to leave with her son because he was too scared.  Yep, that really happened.  So we then used one for AHS which was posted at having a 90 minute wait.  This was by far my most anticipated maze, and while the facade was very underwhelming, everything else was very well done.  This was a long maze, which worked favorably for it.  The scares were all very aggressive, especially in the FreakShow section.  I really liked the transitions between seasons, and the audio queues throughout the maze.  The Twisty scare actors were all great, they really mastered his mannerisms.  I also got the best scare of the entire night in here from the last scare in the FreakShow section, the monkey with the cymbals.  He got me so bad, I fell to the floor.  I really liked how they used characters from the opening credits like that.  Freakshow Facade looked insanely awesome too.  Also another shoutout to the gimp suit man in one of the hallway scares for coming right for me.  Also shout out to the people at the entrance of this maze, you did a great job of pulsing the line, seriously.

Scares: 10/10

Sets: 9.5/10

Effects: 10/10

Personal Experience: 10/10

Overall: 10/10

Freddy Vs. Jason

My expectations were pretty high for this since I love both Freddy and Jason and heard great things about the Orlando maze last year.  However this maze suffered from the worst backup all night.  In the first hallway with the rapture lighting, we were stopped for a solid 3 minutes.  That should not happen.  The second time was better in terms of pulsing the line.  Regardless the sets were awesome and the scares were pretty great too.  I loved that there was a clear story here, and the use of the Freddy snake.  I wish I could have seen both endings, but both times I went through this, Jason won.

Scares: 8/10

Sets: 9/10

Effects: 8/10

Personal Experience: 6/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers

I could tell this would have been a great maze if there weren't way too many people being let in at a time.  The scares would have been great had we gotten them.  I remember the 2012 maze being great in terms of scares, but lacking in sets.  The sets are better here.  Also, I tried to follow the story Murdy was trying to convey, but I just couldn't get it.  I hope to return and experience this maze in its full glory with a better experience, because I really want to like it.

Scares: 7/10

Sets: 8/10

Effects: 7/10

Personal Experience: 6/10

Overall: 7/10

Scarezones

I really liked the Gauntlet and the Backlot Scarezone, but I wish there would have been more actors in the main entrance scare zone.  Also while the Purge worked, I wish we could have had a variety of themes.

Overall Review of the Event

This is such a great year, definitely the best that I have been too.  There is not one maze that is a dud, everything is pretty strong, even terror tram.  Didn't see Jabbawockeez, but I really don't care to be honest.  However, even though this is a great year content-wise, there are some things that could be better.  The rapture lighting effect was cool, but it seemed it wasn't used to its full potential.  This would be a GREAT opputunity for scares since the guests are literally blinded.  Also I wish that the scare zones were a little more elaborate, but I loved the gauntlet.  Another thing I miss is a barker at the entrance scare zone, that was always a highlight, and a missed opputunity this year to not have the Candy Bar Girl/Kiss Me mask girl as the barker.  The biggest problem this year is the amount of people they let in to the mazes at once.  The only maze that was really good about this was AHS, but for a few others we got lucky.  I understand wanting to keep the line moving, but the maze just isn't scary if there are too many people in it at once.  One thing I wish they would do is maybe taking from Knott's a little and using the Skeleton Key room idea a little.  Like letting about 15 people into a room at a time with a little preshow kinda thing for each maze to keep a gap.  I think that would help, but it may make lines move slower.  Still, the event this year is amazing, and not to be missed.  I would rate the overall event a 10/10, Murdy really outdid himself this year.  I would like to go on record on saying that Halloween II and AHS are not only the best mazes this year, but some of the best mazes I've ever been through at this event, or any Halloween event anywhere.

NON-SPOILER Quick Review

Opening night!

AMERICAN HORROR STORY
This was the first maze we hit with basically no wait thanks to Early Entry, and I don't think the maze was fully "on" yet. From what I could tell, the trigger scares weren't working during the Murder House sequence, which made the scares fall flat for the first 1/3 of the maze. The best part is the Freak Show section, from the sets to the costumes and the scares. If you're a fan of Twisty, he's all over the place in here. I'm less familiar with the Hotel season to compare to it, but that was a decent section too and I actually got the biggest scare in the whole maze right at the end. If you're a fan, don't miss it, but in my opinion, this was a good maze but there's much better ones this year.
'B'

KRAMPUS
Another maze with no wait during Early Entry. Don't forget to give the Twitter password to the mailman out front for a special postcard. The facade and sets of this maze are hands down the best this year, with so much attention to detail, plus a lot of cool scareactor designs from Krampus himself and other creatures. There's scenes choked in fog and delightfully macabre imagery throughout, so if you like Halloween and Christmas mashed together, this is a great maze with some pretty big scares, plus the only maze heavy on the "creature feature" element. The whole night, this line sported the shortest wait, which is a shame but hopefully this catches on through word of mouth to be a lot of fun.
'A'-

FREDDY VS. JASON
If you love these two slashers, you're in for a treat as this is an original take on the match up between these two icons as it doesn't follow the movie, which was my favorite element. Making this an original story helped immerse my fanboy brain even further and to pay attention more to story elements, which ofcourse, got bigger scares out of me. With scenes that have scares coming from both sides as you're literally at points caught in the middle of their fight, this is not to be missed if you're a fan of either franchise, especially Nightmare on Elm Street since the maze is mainly Freddy-centric. P.S. The maze has two different endings, and I got the Freddy one, which I feel is more true to the story of the maze considering he's terrorizing Jason the whole way through haha.
'A'

HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD
One of the night's biggest surprises was this maze as I wasn't expecting much from it. The scares are pretty consistent and strong, plus it replicates the second movie pretty well, which I find to be one of the weaker entries to the franchise but if you're a fan of it, it has everything you'd probably want to see. However, the best part is the finale, which completely veers off and does something completely original which I won't spoil but let's just say it's really random, weird, and hauntingly beautiful for a Michael Myers maze. Everyone said "WTF," half in awe and the other half too confused to like it, but I loved it and it made the maze much better since I felt it was fairly standard at first, a B+ at most, but that end jumped it up to a --
'A'

ELI ROTH PRESENTS: TERROR TRAM
Now if you're a fan of Eli Roth, I don't know how much you'll get from this since I'm not sure what his touch on the tram exactly was. He's not in any of the videos and from what I know, he didn't direct or write any of them either. With that said, I think this is the best the Terror Tram has been since 2009, since it's very original and innovative in comparison to what it's been for the last half a decade. With many show scenes and set pieces, this gory clown trail is very entertaining but it gets bogged down by Universal not knowing how to operate the damn thing. With so many people crammed in all at once, this causes major back ups and at one point, there's literally a line in the middle of the thing just to get to the next portion, which ruins all the momentum and adrenaline the attraction built up. However, this is a really fun and freaky trip that only Horror Nights in Hollywood can provide while being on the backlot of a major motion picture studio on some of the world's most famous sets.
'A'

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: BLOOD BROTHERS
This was supposedly an "original sequel" to the movie that doesn't replicate the actual sequel to the franchise, but don't get too excited for that. This is actually just part 1 all over again, just reconfigured to be a bit scarier and darker than the maze in 2014 was (but nowhere near as good as the maze based on the remake was in '07 & '08 - which I consider the best maze of all time). With that aside, even though there's some good scares in here, this was my least favorite of the night but a lot of my group loved it the most. I just personally think there's more creative offerings in the other mazes.
'B'-

THE PURGE: GAUNTLET OF FEAR SCAREZONE
Do not forget to visit this little area as it's pretty awesome and will have no line to go through, but it's actually very much like an outside maze or like the Terror Tram. I got some major scares in here from the bushmen and a damn dude on stilts who somehow came out of nowhere. If lines are too long and you want a boost of adrenaline while on the upper lot, just run through this really quick (it's located in Universal Plaza, across from Shrek).

JABBAWOCKEEZ
I'm a fan of this kind of stuff, so my opinion is bias. So if you love dance crews and loud thumping music, this is a crowd pleasing detour to rest your feet for half an hour. It's similar to last year if you saw that one, almost too similar for my tastes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Only see this late into the night if you've hit all the mazes or only have one left. Plan accordingly, as I said, it is a thirty minute show and can take a huge chunk of your time if you're trying to hit all the mazes.

THE EXORCIST
We decided to hit this right before closing because the line was long all night and figured we should do it last to ensure a short wait and we were right... it sported a 90 minute wait but was more like 10. As for the maze itself, it's going to be divisive. I've heard people say it's the worst, while others, myself included, will say it's hands down the best. It's easily my favorite of the year and maybe my second favorite of all time, while definitely the SCARIEST of all time, for me at least. I screamed "oh fuck" so many times and usually I'm very composed when going through mazes but I was practically shaking half way through. I had a very special experience though since nobody was in front of me and none of the scares were spoiled and I felt all alone for most of the way, getting targeted for every single scare. Design-wise, the maze is pretty lackluster - it's mostly dark rooms, animatronics/puppets/dummies and Reagan's room over and over again, but I think that works in this maze's benefit. Definitely do not miss this maze to get your own opinion on it as you may walk out like I did, terrified beyond belief... or you may hate it, but give it a shot haha.
'A'+

THE WALKING DEAD ATTRACTION
Luckily, we had time left over and we ran back up to the upper lot to hit this JUST as the park was about to close. I hadn't gone through this since it opened in July so I was fairly excited to go through. Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of walkers were missing for the first 1/3 of the maze and I didn't get targeted for many of the scares. However, I thought set design-wise, the maze is pretty awesome. With that said, if you have to miss something, miss this since it's open year round and you can do it anytime.
'C'+

OVERALL
In my opinion, this is the best year Horror Nights has ever put together. ALL of the mazes are very strong and are all "can't miss" worthy. There's no weak ones in the batch and that's very exciting since a lot of good years were ruined by a bad egg (This Is The End maze last year, Clowns 3D the year before that). I will be heading back at least two more times, so do yourself a favor and make sure you experience it. If you've never gone before, this is the year to go. Keep in mind, the lines have been INSANE for opening weekend so you'll need to follow a very strict game plan and hustle from one maze to the next. I was VERY fortunate to see everything, including a show and go on a ride, and never have to wait more than 50 minutes but I know many others that can't say the same (I saw Exorcist had a wait time of 3 hours and 5 minutes at one point while FvJ and AHS were both 2 hours+). I have tips and secrets on the most effective game plan, but even that might not save you if Universal keeps overselling their event. See you in the fog!
'A'+

Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood 2016 (9/17) Review:

Early Entry: 

So we arrived just a little bit early around 3pm and decided to hang out. They then let us in at 4pm. We decided we would just go get our Front of the Line Credentials and go eat. Waited in line to go to the backlot around 5pm. They let us in at 6pm. We did the everything in this order American Horror Story - Krampus - Freddy Vs Jason - The Exorcist - Halloween Hell Comes To Haddonfield - Eli Roth Presents Terror Tram - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Blood Brothers - Jabbawockeez - The Purge Gaunlet of Fear - The Walking Dead - Then Left. Got everything done with Front of the Line by 9:40pm. Okay so let's start. (Keep in mind also I will be rating this mazes in best to worst even if I loved each and every one of this mazes which I did I still feel as though giving a grade is apporiate).

Mazes (Best To Least):

1. "The Exorcist" - So yeah I do very share a unpopular Opinion. But I think the negative reviews from employee preview night was because it wasn't opening. People will be very diversed on this maze. For me this was the best of the maze of the night and let me tell you why. I just loved every second of it. From the opening room to the last room it was fantastic. This truly has some of the best scares in my entire life and I don't consider myself a screamer but man it was terrifying! The Costume Design was fantastic! Pazuzu looked exactly like from the film. A lot of the bedroom scenes were great. Also it was also good that all of the effects were working when I went in. The Set Design is also really Amazing! Although it does have a lot of black walls I don't mind them if they are used in a good way and not randomly. Overall I really did love Exorcist it was a fantastic house and I can't wait to see what everyone else thinks of it! 

Maze Design: 5 Out Of 5                             

Costume Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 5 Out of 5

Grade: A+

2. "Freddy Vs Jason" - If I had one word to describe it would be energetic. This maze has a lot of energy. It is a very much fun maze with great scare actors. The Friday the 13th bit of the maze was really great! But I really just loved the "Nightmare on Elm Street" Portion of the maze. That was great! As I was saying it was energetic there are a ton of scare actors in the maze. Speaking of Scares the Scares in here absolutely Great! There is more of a Freddy maze than a Jason maze which I loved. The Sets are incredible! And look directly from the film. And the costumes is the icing on the top which are fantastic. These next few mazes may not deserve this grades but I had too much fun in this Maze!

Maze Design: 5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Grade: A+

3. "Halloween Hell Comes To Haddonfield" - Let me tell you I was not expecting it to top last year's maze but it did! There are so many great moments in this maze that it is unbelievable. First off all of the Kills from "Halloween 2" are in the maze. All of them are Great! The Scares are off the charts as usual the scares are fantastic! The Set Design was really Amazing and it exactly like the film. The Costume Design doesn't look exactly like the Michael Myers Mask but it looks good! What really sells this maze to me is the ending. The Ending is amazing and the best from this year. The first room has all these neon pumpkins and has a slow motion version playing of "Mr Sandman" which was great! Then you enter a pumpkin and encounter Michael Myers one last time before exiting. The Smell of the maze is great which at the end smelt great because it smelt like Pumpkin Spice. Overall "Halloween Hell Comes To Haddonfield" is a achievement in Mazes and will be loved for the reminder of the event!

Maze Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 4.5 Out of 5

Grade: A+

4. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Blood Brothers" - Hearing about the rumors of "The Conjuring" originally suppose to be in this venue and got changed last minute by Tcm really worried me about the maze. But thankfully I was proven wrong. The Maze is Amazing! The Scares in here are absolutely Fantastic! While I didn't get scared it was quite entertaining to watch the group in front of us scream at every Scare. The Costume Design was also really fantastic as well! The Maze Design is really great! Although at a few scenes it didn't look the greatest it was good! But what sells this maze to me is the soundtrack. It has this weird trippy Soundtrack that really helps with the tone of the maze and is great! Overall "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Blood Brothers" was really fantastic!

Maze Design: 4 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 5 Out of 5

Grade: A+

5. "Krampus" - Krampus was really amazing! But isn't one of the best or a favorite of mine but I still loved. With myself loving "Dark Christmas" Scare Zone I would wonder what they would do next with "Krampus" and so they decided to do a maze on the really good film. The Costume Design is amazing and looks directly from the film! The Maze Design is absolutely amazing as well and probably one of the visually best mazes this year! And the scares were Meh people didn't get scared and I didn't either. Overall "Krampus" isn't really all that Scary but everything kind of makes up for it.

Maze Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 3 Out of 5

Costume Design: 5 Out of 5

Grade: A 

6. "American Horror Story" - Look I love "American Horror Story" and these maze has great moments but was one of the more weaker ones. If you are a fan of the show you will love this maze because it has scenes you remember and little easter eggs that are cool to seek. The Maze Design is also one of the best this year it is fantastic! The Costume Design is also really Amazing as well. The Scares are good not great but good. However the flaws I have are 2 the facade which is the most lazy and frustrating facades I have ever seen in my entire life. And the Freak Show segment being the best one but also being way too short. Overall "American Horror Story" was amazing and was a great maze but has its flaws.

Maze Design: 5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 4 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 3.5 Out of 5

Grade: A-

7. "The Walking Dead" - Yes I am including this and I know this is kind of a easy target but I really do like this Maze and I think it is good. It's kind of the same old and same old with new scares and darker lighting. It was a nice addition to the attraction making the scares pretty great! The Costume Design looks good at times and also looks kind of poor at times. The Set Design is pretty amazing! It still does face the issue of being short and compared to the other mazes it doesn't hold up. But Overall "The Walking Dead" is still a great maze that is worth checking out!

Maze Design: 4 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 4 Out of 5

Costume Design: 3 Out of 5

Grade: B+

Scare Zone:

The Purge Election Year - At the start I had high hopes for this Scare Zone since all the other Purge Scare Zones in the past have been getting better each and every year. And to be honest this is basically a very large park round "Dark Christmas" Quality Scare Zone. Really it was astounding! The Costume Design was Fantastic! With a lot of creativity put into the costumes! The Scares Rating is really amazing all of the scare actors are great! The Set Design is really also Amazing! Same with Costumes a lot of creativity was put into this props and sets. They even had a short mini maze in the Parsian Courtyard titled "The Purge Gaunlet of Fear" which is kind of a preview of what "The Purge" would look like as a maze. Which was fantastic and was more of a mixture between the first film and "Anarchy" than all three films. So yes I'm very happy to say that the Scare zone was amazing! And Overall "The Purge Election Year" is amazing!

Set Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 5 Out of 5

Grade: A+

Show:

"Jabbawockeez" - Say what you will about last year's show but I was one of the few that I actually liked it. It has flaws and isn't great. But was pretty good last year as a first year show. This year beats last year's show a lot and is pretty great! I'm happy to say that they were able to improve what they could! The Show is a bit more horror based at the start but loses it quickly unfortunately but glad it was there. The Soundtrack and Songs were a lot better than last year with none of them bothering me. The Plot is a bit more straightforward but again loses track every once and a while also unfortunately. But actually had some pretty cool narration going on this year. There was actually more humor in this year's show and to my surprise a lot of it was crude humor! I was really happy to see Crude Humor at HHN again because we haven't seen it since 2013. You have to realize that they are slowly growing at HHN so yeah it will have some flaws. So Overall "Jabbawockeez" was pretty Great and was an improvement over last year's show!

Grade: A-

Terror Tram:

"Eli Roth Presents Terror Tram" - So we can say that the Terror Tram for 2011 - 2015 wasn't a good time for HHN. Having no plot, no real changes, and no scares made the terror tram stale in those years. I'm happy to say that trend didn't continue to this year and Terror Tram was pretty Fantastic. The Scares are Really Great! The Costume Design had creativity and was amazing! The Set Design was also Amazing! This year had a much more straight forward plot with some really interesting things happening. The Small Scenes of Scare actors doing things to people (which I believe started last year) improved greatly! The Terror Tram avoided the dirt tram making it more short but different. My only flaw is that there are some scenes that are quite dull or stale. But Overall "Eli Roth Presents Terror Tram" was pretty Fantastic and a massive improvement over previous years!

Set Design: 5 Out of 5

Scare Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Costume Design: 4.5 Out of 5

Grade: A

Overall Review: So Overall this is probably the best year of HHN I have ever been to! With every single house being on a scale of "Great - Masterpiece" there was something pretty for everyone. I loved HHN 2016 and it truly cannot be missed! It may not deserve this grade but in my books it does.

Grade: A+

Another year another HHN. This year we got FOL passes and thankfully so the lines seemed to be really bad this year, a few of them reaching a whopping 140 Minutes!!!. Thank you Universal for not having Harry Potter open! 

We got to USH later than usual around 5 and did our traditional eat at Camacho's Cantina which was very busy at the time we got there, not that any of you care lol. Afterwards we lined up and went thru the new security area they have which i think is great. We line up get in......and no opening scareamony? I was confused we got in 15 before 7 and they handed us a red wristband i have no idea why because they had people corralled up in another area I'm assuming for early entry? Yeah just a confusing moment but we headed towards Walking Dead and was pleasantly surprised about the Purge Gauntlet we will go through afterwards

The Walking Dead

We stayed in line for a good 10 minutes waiting for it to open. Yes its boring ol walking dead we seen this for half a decade at HHN and now we will see this attraction for the next couple years I'm assuming. My GF is a huge walking dead fan and this was her favorite attraction but for me it was decent. I thought the scene where the house was on fire was pretty epic but other than that it was all scenes I've seen before in past mazes and its a little bit from each season they touch on. The attraction is based on the first 4 seasons I'm assuming but it seems to be way too short than what it should be. Not enough scareactors in here either. 

Grade: C

Purge Gauntlet

This was something we didn't expect. It was kinda a mini maze/scarezone. Nothing much to it you just walk through and theres purgers that jump out and scare you. Theres no wait at all and its nothing really special. I won't grade it because i feel its not something to be graded.

Jabbawockees

I thought i read that the show was "horror related" somewhere on the forum. It wasn't. Us hardcores don't really care much for the Jabbawockees but i watch the show anyways because its included with the price of admission. Its not my thing to be honest but they are talented at what they do and it takes a lot of stamina to put on those shows. I would have to say it was better than last years show. No grade for this either.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers

Finally almost 2 hours in we get to do a HHN exclusive maze. This was the maze i was looking forward to the most out of everything because I'm a big TCM fan and its an original concept and I'm all for original concepts. The facade was a bbq restaurant which went with the theme of the story and throughout the maze we got a mix of restaurant scenes and scenes similar to the 2014 TCM maze such as the dinner scene and of course various forms of Leatherface scaring us andhacking people up. Chop Tops room was pretty cool I'm jealous of the posters. I loved this maze and the scare actors were on point got plenty of scares. People complained that there was a lot of blank hallways in the 2014 maze but i didn't notice any for this one. You might ask why give TCM a great grade? Well there was never a dull moment in this maze it was on fire!!! Don't miss this one

Grade: A

Terror Tram

Well, Well, Well........ Everyones favorite attraction. The only reason why we went on the terror tram was because some people who went to employee preview night said this was the best terror tram they had in a while. Well.....sorta. There was a decent original background story to the maze and it was creepy to pull up in front of whoville (i think thats what its called) to see Hollywood Harry standing there with balloons waiting for us. Also if you remember 2011 and they tried to have a walk through whatever you want to call it in front of bates motel they did it again this year except they put effort into it. Also John Murdy said they rerouted the maze and no more dirt hill. Yeah no more dirt hill but you still have to walk up hill on pavement going towards the psycho house (photo ops available). Once on top of the hill you go through a lot of storage trailers and you also see sweet licks ice cream truck! Then war of the worlds area and back home. Im not gonna like i didn't hate the Terror Tram this year and i appreciate that they tried to spice it up a little bit. There is probably a little to much storage containers to go through and it does create a lot of congestion which is always a drag.

Grade C

Halloween: Hell Comes To Haddonfield

Halloween was one of the better mazes last year. When they announced that Halloween was coming back this year but based off of the sequel i was really excited about it not because Michael Myers is an icon but they are basing this off the sequel. The maze starts out at the end of halloween and you end up in the hospital just like the movie and thats where a good chunk of the maze takes place. There were a lot of cool scenes a few good scares. It was going pretty good.....but then things got a little strange. Without giving away any spoilers what you would think the end of the maze would be is kinda cool then you get to the real end and its.....just.....weird. I came out of the maze saying "ok wtf was that?". Other than the ending the maze was cool very solid.

Grade B

The Exorcist

The most anticipated maze in HHN history has finally arrived!!!!! A lot of people have been asking for The Exorcist at HHN and we finally got it, but was it worth it? Look, The Exorcist was gonna be a very tough maze to create because most of the scary scenes take place in a bedroom so are we gonna get a bunch of scenes in a bedroom? You bet we are and we are also gonna get a bunch of black hallways! like a lot of black hallways, no one likes black hallways right? But don't be too disappointed things actually happen in those black hallways unlike some mazes we get where there is nothing going on and i got a few good scares in those hallways but still they are black hallways and i don't pay to see black hallways. There is a very intense scene in the maze as well where everything is going apes*** in the room and the other non black hallway scenes are ok. The Exorcist wasn't the best maze at the event but they took a stab at making the maze and it wasn't as terrible as some have people said. It looked as though they really really really wanted this maze to be good and tried their hardest to not have any dull moments but sorry i don't think you can make this into a good maze.

Grade C

Walk to the Backlot

Yes we have to talk to the backlot this year which sucks but they can't provide tram service due to the fact that AHS is in the way. 2 years ago we wanted something going on during the walk in the tunnel to make things more interesting. We got it and it sucked. I don't know about everyone else but those flashing lights messed up my eyes not only in the tunnel but also in the Jabbawockee show. We then get another scare zone going to the backlot maze area where it seems to be a lot of she purgers. Its the same ol like any other year

Krampus

When they announced this maze i thought we shouldve had this last year well we didn't and we got it this year. I have a feeling this maze may be a dark horse of the event i can see a lot of people liking this maze. The facade is spectacular and so is the maze design. A little bit too much fog in the entrance room they can cut down on but the design of the maze as a whole was great with The attic and snowman scenes were my favorite. The only downside of this maze is that i didn't get any scares but it was really fun going through it. If there were a lot more scares when i went through this could've gotten an A

Grade B

Grilled Cheese Food Cart

The serviced sucked but in all fairness they did say their ticket machine went down several times and they ran out of cheese. But OMG the mac and cheese with bacon was AMAZING! The truck is located by Krampus. 

American Horror Story

This was gonna be an interesting maze. This one is based off of a tv series (you probably already know that) but its an anthology series with every season being different I only seen The Murder House season, half of The Freak Show season and i started the current season to me the series is so-so. With 6 seasons the maze covered 3 which the maze covered in the order of The Murder House, Freak Show, Hotel. It seemed like the majority of the maze took place in the murder house which was outstanding. I got hit really hard on the shoulder by a guy looking like the gimp but he waved his hand in apology but ouch this was suppose to be fun. The Freak Show part wasn't scary at all and it seemed to be a "blink and you'll pass it" moment in  the maze. It looked really cool but no scares just scareactors  standing around (i am enjoying the freak show season though). The hotel part was better than the freak show part scare wise but not as good as the murder house part. They did an amazing job with the maze design which maybe was the best of the event and it did a lot to enhance the maze experience. A lot of people don't like the facade but i think its appropriate. I didn't think i would like this maze but i liked it a lot

Grade A

Freddy vs Jason  

Last maze of the night! Orlando got this last year and we didn't and i did not like that we didn't but knew we would get it this year. I seen a lot of high praise about this from employee preview night and I'm a HUGE F13 fan and i do like NOES but not as much as other series. From my understanding they didn't base this off of the movie and they went with their own concept which ok cool the movie wasn't great anyways. I have to say though that this maze was half good and half not so good. Walking out this guy behind us said "that wasn't worth the 2 hour wait". I wish they split Freddy and Jason up and gave them their own mazes this year but it would be even more redundant with TCM and Halloween being at the event. There were plenty of scareactors in the maze and they made a good effort at scaring .  The cool part of the maze is the victor of the FvJ battle changes at the last scene every so often....damn straight Jason won when i went through.

Grade C

Merch

This is the part where i wish i was a rich man, especially this year. Out of all of the years of HHN i would have to say this is the best year for merchandise. I got the Texas Chainsaw Massacre shirt but i also wanted the Titans of Terror shirt, All of the lunch boxes, The Freddy Vs Jason shirt, All of the playing cards, and pretty much everything else. But much of this stuff is pricy ($10 for playing cards) but you have a lot of great merch to choose from.

Closing thoughts

This HHN was for the fans and did it satisfy the fans? Well it did satisfy me. I thought this year was one of the best years and it could be THE best year i been to and I've been going since 2009. We finally got The Exorcist and NO 3D MAZES!!!!!! They even attempted to make the Terror Tram a little better! and the merch is incredible!!!! The one thing that caught my eye (maybe i never noticed) is that the maze designs for every maze were incredible and it really enhances the experiences. This is definitely the year to go though.

Rankings

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2. American Horror Story

3. Krampus

4. Halloween

5. Freddy vs Jason

6. Exorcist

7. Walking Dead

8. Terror Tram