DarthSpielberg
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Posts posted by DarthSpielberg
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This maze. Scary as hell, especially if your eyes haven't adjusted and it becomes hard to see what the hell is going on. The actors really give it their all, and the setting is just wonderful. It's Tomb of the Ancients set to 11.
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I really really dig this house. I think it has some mild scare issues, but the sets are great, and I am astounding about certain scenes they managed to do justice to. It's a fantastic adaptation, and blows The Exorcist out of the water.
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Super pumped they are back, because the show last year was fantastic and a blast to watch (and was cool as a film guy too, very cinematic when filmed)
Also looking forward to a dope soundtrack.
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1 minute ago, criticalanalysis said:
HHN is amazing. "Let's take existing content and revamp it slightly and call it new."
HHN 27: The Recycled Year
Not to knock you but that's most every year. Halloween events tend to reuse similar themes and concepts over and over again, because that is the nature of the beast.
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23 hours ago, UsherBscary said:
Woah there
I think they'll be able to make it pretty funny. They've been building up to this for YEARS now so they should have something good in store for us
but the joke hasn't been funny since the first time they did it. It's just them beating a big dead horse for several years in a row. Now they are bringing the horse back to life just to beat it again. No thanks.
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Even the infographic on the website for Skoolhouse had nods to Trick R Treat. It was clearly an inspiration. (Edit: beaten to the point by mere seconds)
I'd LOVE Trick R Treat to come to the event in any shape or form, but a scarezone filled with Jack O'Lanterns would be super great.
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I am curious to see how dreadfully unfunny their reaction to Pandora actually opening will be.
I hate this goddamn show now.
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Ugh, I hate Saw so much. I wish that rumor wasn't as persistent as it is, because it means it's probably true. I'd rather another Walking Dead than Saw, tbh (and hey we may get both, what a terrible timeline. Win some, lose some, I guess.)
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The logo and website frame are goddamn sexy as hell. I know the site will never return to it's glory of the old days, but this is, as someone said, very nostalgic.
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9 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:
I think Eddie sucks as a character.
I like don't mind Eddie in small, small doses (Like his brief appearance at in Icons a few years ago for one weekend.) but I don't want him to ever be the main Icon. He's not all that intriguing as a character.
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So we all took a chance and Halloween Horror Nights came and went with the seasons, and now at the end, I am left with several thoughts. The easiest way to sum them up is that I did not enjoy this year nearly as much as last overall, but it had so many little things working for it that I still had a blast. I went over 20 times thanks to my Frequent Fear Pass (and Universal being generous in the wake of a hurricane) and I think overall, it was a good year, not great.
Houses
1. Tomb of the Ancients - a solid favorite from the start of the event all the way through the finish. The amount of excellent runs I had through this house were in the dozens. The casts, both of them, were always on point, and the setting and story really fired my imagination. It was my favorite original house of the years that I've been attending. The room with the light up heiroglypics was one of the coolest things I've seen Universal do in a non-soundstage house.
2. Halloween: Hell Comes to Haddonfield - I loved the first Halloween house they did, so I was bound to enjoy this one, but I expected it to fall short of expectations. It didn't really do that. It captured the essence of Halloween II in a house, and has some clever scares, finding new ways to make Michael a scary, startling figure. Obviously the Michael in the Dumpster was a crowd favorite, but I also really enjoyed the Micheal with the Hammer. A worthy sequel house.
3. Ghost Town: Curse of Lightning Gulch - What an amazing looking house. Some say it lacked scares, and I admit on some run throughs the actors felt like they were there for looks more than anything, but other times, they were in my face, shouting their memorable quotes and firing guns left and right. The energy of this house always made me smile, and the giant set piece in the center of the house is breathtaking.
4. American Horror Story - I wasn't expecting to like this house nearly as much as I did. I enjoy Freak Show and Hotel, but goddamn, this house was wonderful. It was huge, full of interesting twists and turns, not to mention some genuinely good scares. I got spooked pretty good on many occasions throughout this house. I do think the ending falls a bit flat, but this year, it's clear the budget got cut in several places, and the end of this house is one area where it's most evident. I am not super keen on having a multi-year franchise again, but if one has to stick around, I'd rather it be AHS.
5. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - This house got under my skin, no pun intended. Leatherface really unnerves me, not because of the chainsaws, but rather because of how big he is and how intent he is on killing people. The house smelled like the haunts I used to work in back in New England, so I felt quite at home, then got scared out of my wits. This was a good adaptation of the original film, and it'd be interesting to see them do something with this Leatherface in the future.
6. Krampus - Short but sweet. This tiny house was not what I expected it, but it grew on me quickly and I love the playfulness of the house. It isn't nearly as meanspirited as the movie it's based on, except maybe in the attic scene. The lack of unique scares is kind of a problem, but the house found it's footing with some very playful scareactors who embraced their weird goofy little haunt.
7. The Exorcist - I am mixed on this house. I had good runs, but I also had bad runs. It also feels heavily hit by budget cuts. A lot of wasted space (random noodle hallway that is not nearly as cool as it was in Insidious last year just leaves me baffled every time) Once they got a good bunch of scareactors as Regan, the house clicked a bit more, but in the end, I feel this wasn't nearly as cool as past "classic horror movie" house tributes. It fell a bit flat in the end.
8. Lunatic's Playground: You Won't Stand a Chance - I thought I liked this house upon my first and second walkthrough, but after a while it wore on me and I realized just how unoriginal the damn thing is. It's basically the same 3D house as last year with Chance and her inmates slapped in place of the Alice in Wonderland characters. It had some interesting set design (the power plant-esq room was something I enjoyed) but the scares were lacking, and the whole concept of switching between Chance's mind and the real world was super half-baked. A big disappointment, especially with it being the icon house.
9. The Walking Dead - A weird byproduct of ignoring a haunted house for most of the event dates is that when you do decide to pay it a second visit, it can actually lead to some good startle scares. I went through TWD on preview night and then not again until a few weeks ago when I got bored and it had a short wait. Those scares are the nicest things I can point about about the damn thing. The house is uninspired and lacks any sort of originality that even some of the earlier TWD houses had. It's a re-hash because they had those props and sets. So done with Walking Dead. So done.
Scare Zones
1. Vamp 55. I am blown away by Vamp 55. This zone took me by complete surprise. I was expecting garbage, and i got one of the best haunt street experiences I've ever had. The cast, both sets, were phemonemal, creating full blown characters who filled the streets with humor, charm, and screams too. If Vamp 55 doesn't get a house in the future, I will be shocked. It's that good.
2. A Chance in Hell - First few times I went to the event, I was so disappointed in this zone. The sets are so lacking, not anything worthy of what I was expecting when I saw concept art and the storyline of the zone, but you know what, the residents of this scarezone won me over. They all had defined personalities, and were a blast to hang around with. The Chance stage gave them a unique way of blending into the crowd to get scares (or even just a few laughs) It also helped that the people playing Chance eventually began to find ways to find humor and scares in the perpetual meet and greet state they were forced into.
3. Survive or Die - I was never fully on board with this zone, but the storyline eventually won me over for how in depth it was, and it was certainly an immersive area that made you feel the storyline as well as see it unfold. It had a few kinks, and it was clearly a product of changed ideas and budget cuts, but the actors made it work, and the music choices were great. Not a great horror zone, but a great themed area, for sure.
Tie: Dead Man's Wharf/Lair of the Banshee. Both of these zones are creative and fun to look at, but the cramped quarters, while good for certain scares, made me avoid them if I could. Banshee is the same as that zone is most years, foresty type stuff, and Dead Man's Wharf was a beautiful set that was just way too small and placed in the wrong section of the park. Had it been closer to where Beetlejuice used to be (an empty area now that they don't have a house entering there) it might have worked better. These zones weren't bad, but could have worked a lot better given their unique props and looks.
Shows
Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure - Ugh. I hated this show. I saw it twice and neither time did it manage to get more than a mild chuckle out of me. There is a difference between satire and simply referencing something and hoping to get a guffaw from the crowd, and Bill and Ted has overtime leaned more towards the latter, which is so sad. I kind of enjoyed last year's show to a point, but this year it just fell flat from every angle. Even the dance party at the end wasn't all that entertaining.
Academy of Villains: House of Fear - Holy shit, this was great. I was expecting to hate this (because god, most famous dance troups make me mad, like the Jabawoceez) but these guys delivered a high energy, heart pumping, fun show. The dancing was great, the stunts were fun, and the cast of performers were so charming that they really just connected with their audience. This show was a huge hit and I expect to see AoV back again, possibly working with Universal to intergrate some characters into it, which would be amazing.
The event was not overall as fun as 25, but it's still wonderful that I get to spend September and October just roaming these realms of fear and fright. I know this means my reviews may come off as a bit soft as I tend to see a lot of everything and form my opinions based on multiple viewings rather than one or two trips. I look forward to HHN 27 and hope we keep up the Icon thing. I like having Icons in the park, it makes the event feel a bit more real and way more fun.
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On 11/2/2016 at 1:54 PM, criticalanalysis said:
If they're going to whore out movies and shows at least bring back The Usher. He was very cool.
Legitimate wish: H.R. Bloodngutz as the icon.
Legitimate wish: No zombie / action-horror houses.
Legitimate wish: Nothing related to inmates, Jack/Chance
Dream houses:
1. Catacombs 2: Start in crypt, end up on streets of France, enter Notre Dame, "die" by being tossed out of the stained glass.
2. H.R. Bloodngutz 2: Different seasons
3. Serial killer house: include famous serial killers over time
4. A take on a funeral parlor a la Zombie Mortuary over at HOS
5. An "Underwater" house, non-mythical house. Show sunken boats, sunken houses, sunken cars, sunken ships.
6. Vamp 1955 house.
Can't think of others now..will get more in a bit.
You did good, critical. I think these are all solid ideas. H.R. Bloodngutz would be a fine icon, but I don't know if marketing would know how to use him.
And as much as I love Jack and Chance, they need a break. We've had our fill of Lunatics and Maniacs.
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There is a dubstep style song in the preshow of Academy of Villains that I can't find. It's not Dopeness or No Gravity, but something else, but Siri couldn't identify it when I tried to "name this song"
It's also not The Joker.
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On 10/12/2016 at 8:04 PM, Psycho_Bates said:
Cool quick question. With FNAF do you know which games are going to be shown in the maze?
In my head, it was the first two games, with hints at Sister Location as a possible future maze for another year.
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That was pretty fun. 50 dollars worth of fun is where I am having issues, but I don't regret doing it. I felt like the "haunt" aspect should have had a bigger role in the whole thing. Escape rooms and VR are fantastic and fun, but the concept of mixing them with haunt actors was what had me intrigued, and while there was some excellent interactions and I loved the physical aspects of it, I felt like there could be more. there was a section where we did a lot of walking towards the VR segement down a long hallway split into segements and I was like "They could have had actors in here trying to stop you from moving." and having an actor or two hidden in the finale to distract you from the task would have been terrifying.
Still, I love the creativity behind it, and the cast of the house was doing some great work. I specifically loved the scientist in her labratory (she grabbed me by the face) and the young lady at the end who poses for photos.
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When I am planning stay and scream I try to figure out what houses they funnel you into when they let you out. This year, Finnegans lets out into Walking Dead (and Exorcist sometimes. the one time I did it, it was Exorcist), Lucy/Hello Kitty lets out into American Horror Story (which is a huge time saver to get that done and out of the way before the crowds arrive), and Simpsons lets out to Halloween/Tomb of the Ancients.
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4 hours ago, fijiwaterdog said:
from what i heard they turned off the butt rock blasting throughout the park and now it's a more creepy piano theme with chance occasionally laughing!! i'm really excited if this is a permanent thing because the music is what was ruining it for me
It seems they made some changes based on feedback of last weekend. They for sure toned down the rock/electro (there was still some but not as much, and not nearly as much of the Chance butting in. She's still there from time to time)
They also brought out the blood bag jello shots which were replaced last week with regular shots in test tubes. The girls still wear more clown like attire, but now have the carts of blood bags. I guess that was a huge complaint last week.
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Some area wide music I've noticed
Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy
Five Hours (Don't Hold Me Back) - Deorro, DyCy (not to be confused with Five More Hours also by Deorro, which is the same song with different lyrics)
Rock the Party - Original Instrumental Mix - Deorro
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This house really improved from preview night to opening night. A lot more actors makes the house feel scarier. I was scared that this house was just going to rely on props and dummies because of how many scenes featured them without actors on opening night. Now I'd rank this house as pretty great.
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On 9/15/2016 at 1:30 PM, Jediwhit82 said:
even worse then last year?
No. It has some scares that work. Last year was the least scary haunted house I've ever been through. So it has it's bright sides this year. Just not enough to justify itself beyond $$$$
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I get the feeling this is going to be given poor marks for not being all that scary (Although the funniest and most embarassing scare I got on preview night came towards the exit of the house) but I just love this house. The sets are the best I've ever seen, and the effects are super great. I just want this to evolve into a scary house too. I hope it does.
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This area always has a similar feel (and I much prefer the traditional Halloween stuff here, but that's just me) but I love the sets this year. This zone doesnt usually get as intricate set pieces as some of the others, and they went all out. the atmosphere is great when the sun goes down and the lighting and fog really kick in.
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This zone was not something I was excited about. The idea sounded kind of half baked when they first shared it, but now that the event is here and I have seen it, the zone may walk away with the entire event. This zone is just immensely fun and inventive. The characters are well defined, which is so rare for a scarezone, and while it has a very campy attitude about it, the scares are not lacking. I see myself spending A LOT of time here throughout the season.
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So on preview night I thought this zone was the most lacking. I love Chance and I love that she is right there, ready to interact with everyone. It's a great set up, even more fun than Icons last year, but the rest of the stages are stationary with some lighting effects and on preview night the actors were not as noticeable. the zone felt, for lack of a better word, empty.
Last night, however, the zone was great. The inmate characters were clearly having a blast and were interacting with Chance and using her as a distraction to get some great scares. Visually the zone still lacks umph, but the actors are great, and Chance herself is a real treat to listen to and watch. I am marking this one to watch closely to see how it improves over the season.
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American Horror Story: Asylum, Coven and Roanoke
in Haunted Houses
Posted
As with last year I am impressed at how long the house and how detailed it is. I don't care for any of the seasons featured (and didn't even watch Roanoke) but I do enjoy the atmosphere they managed to get out of the various hodgepodge themes.