Mae

For some reason a house filled with mole rats just came to mind...they're those hairless rats...but they all look like the one from Kim Possible. Which is more phallic than zombie-esque, but still vaguely alarming. Mae

I LOVE that idea!!! Mae

I feel like I've done this before... But I love talking about HHN, so I'll do it, again! I have a difficult time deciding what is my favorite house. Frankenstein had some of the most amazing costumes, make-up, and sets I've ever seen and the actors were so good. Their timing was flawless every trip through. I loved the steampunk feel and the continuity to the story. My scares were intense, one time causing me to run straight into a wall...which I'd never actually done before. I had to sort of 'hold on' to it for a few seconds to get my bearings...it was that good. Dracula was gorgeous and those brides made me scream so damn much on one visith that I lost my voice! It was never where I expected, either; I never got the up scare, but the one just after that...every time. The Wolf Man was much scarier than I had anticipated. The forest scene was tremendous with growls and howls coming from everywhere and you never knew where the Wolf Man actually was; it made for a great first scare. The sets were beautiful again, with fun trivia thrown in for good measure (thanks Unmasking the Horror tour; though I do still wish we'd been able to take photos). Silver Screams was great fun and had the BEST facade, ever. EVER. I could have stood there and watched that for an hour. I somehow always got scared by the My Blood Valentine scene, even though I never once thought the movie was all that scary. (I only watched the remake for Jensen Ackles) and I was so in love with the Phantom at the beginning I felt like a groupie. (Why hasn't The Phantom ever had a house, I wonder?) Although I enjoyed the other houses; Leave It to Cleaver was great fun and the Child's Play house had one of my all-time, top 10 scares, they were weren't as much fun as those top four. I declined Saw and Spawning on my last few visits. I LOVED War of the Dead. Again with the scareactors...they even got me in broad daylight! I loved the set pieces and the costumes and it was fascinating to be in that zone. The sound and lighting effects were awesome, especially for an outdoor venue. It was where I started my night every time, cutting through there to get to Horrorwood and Silver Screams. The Horrorwood Die-In is, I think, quintessential HHN. The atmosphere was fantastic, down to the popcorn stand and the cheesy 70's 'make-out' van. The shift changes were almost as fun as the previous year's Skoolhouse changes (almost). Lights, Camera, Hacktion! never failed to amuse and entertain and I do love the smell of metal, oil and gasoline. Containment and Apocolypse didn't start out so good in my opinion, but they both improved tremendously and by the last weekend they were in fine, fine shape. I didn't think much of the Cirque du Freak, perhaps it was just too crowded. I liked HHN 19, but it did have some things that weren't my cup of tea. It started as a bit of a disappointment after the previous year, but there was still lots to enjoy. I'll have to add more later. Time to go home! Mae

I loved the incorporation of the rides into HHN 10. I don't remember much more than Jack in the Jaws ride, but Earthquake (Dark Torment) and the Kongfrontation walk through (Nightmare Creatures ) were just cool. Dark Torment was especially neat because you went through the 'scary' part of the Earthquake attraction, then had to leave through the haunted house. It was genius. The queue for Nightmare Creatures had creatures in it, too. I remember one of them sneaking around a pillar to scare the group in front of us while we were waiting. Loved it. I've wished for that sort of interaction at HHN ever since. I would be very happy to see it, again! Mae

That would be AWESOME. Mae

I loved those extra large scarezones, but I confess to only seeing Field of Screams and Fright Yard in 04. In 05 Jack's Rat Race was closed due to inclement weather (Hurricane Wanda), more's the pity. I loved loved LOVED the 'tunnel' in 2004. It was only lighting and fog, but it was spooky and when the cast changes went through it was a completely unique experience. You never knew what was happening in there. The more I think about it,the more there seems to be a lot of interesting places USO could use for scaring that go to waste. I'm still bitter about missing 2002. Between that, 2004 Howloscream lost to Jeanne, and HHN 15 to Wanda in 2005, I missed too much and now it is a moral imperative to go multiple times a year. I've bought FFPs religiously since then. Mae

Weeelll.....3 major players and 1 minor player in each. The best part of HHN at IOA was the textural differences in the locations of the houses. Poseidon's Fury was an awesome house location and I liked the Ripsaw Falls queue for Ship of Screams (I didn't get to see ST2). There were so many little differences that were just neat when you were used to the old park. Mae

Librarians do not write or create, merely present what has already been written. If s\he chooses to present the works of Poe, or Stevenson, or any number of other authors, those worlds would envelope us and we would be forced to follow the paths set in those pages. S\He would be more like the Usher than the Director or the Storyteller; a keeper or steward that holds those things safely until they are needed. It would be a far-reaching idea that could encompass more than just one year. When you start using words like 'anti-Christ', people get crazy. Public relations would more than likely (probably already have) nixed anything leaning in that direction. Although that Westboro nutcase sure does beg to be 'HHN-ed'...in the bloodiest way possible. Mae

Initially, I was unimpressed with the event, as a whole. The houses were excellent; Dead Silence and Nightmare on Elm Street are still two of the best and most extravagant houses I've ever been in and and the remaining houses were pretty consistantly scary and fun. Even the lamentable Vampyr: Bloodbath managed to make me scream a few times. The streets were just not what I was used to; truth be told. I wanted scarezones. Lots of scarezones. From the press releases and word of mouth I was expecting scares everywhere; but there were no scares, save Troupe Macabre. While it still ranks as one of my favorite 'zones ever, it was still a bit disappointing. As my visits increased and the month wore on, though, I found myself deeply, deeply in love with its atmosphere. Especially on those few days of smaller crowds, when you could just hear the music and the wind blowing in the trees. Every so often, a sinister laugh would come from a darkened corner. It reminded me of the 'good ol' days' when the whole park was dark, with simple, eerie red lighting and sound effects piped in from behind doors and windows. 'Safe spots' were few and far between; a drill team or horde could simply appear and wreak havoc. While the danger was not evident in 2007, the haunting and spooky was and it made wandering those dark crossways and sidewalks so much more...Halloween. The only time they've matched it since was the Pumpkin Patch/Skoolhouse zone in 2008. I still love me some scarezones, but those? They're magic. Mae

Oh, and don't forget that Amazing Stories set in WW2 with the cartoonist trapped in the gunner under the plane! I think it was called The Mission, and it had Keifer Sutherland and Kevin Costner. Not horror, per se, but remarkable and defininitely inspiring. Mae

Come to my house, and meet my daughter!! I like the idea of the librarian. How much fun could that be? Someone dies and gets a big red "WITHDRAWN" stamped on their forehead. Or, maybe something like this: And then there's this awesome link: I want this job. Mae

I heard a rumor! Not that it's all that much news, but still, a rumor!! 3-D house for 2011? Mae

I don't know where you store all that info, Dr Jimmy. Can I get an upgrade to match yours? That is fascinating! I don't know why exactly, but it's thrilling. Thrilling in that the references are there AND that you found them out. Can I grow up to be just like you????? Mae

Oh, I think Tommyknockers would work quite well. Salem's Lot, The Shining, Desperation & The Regulators, even Rose Madder all have some ideas that would be super in a haunted maze. Cell, Dreamcatcher, and, the Dome one - City Under the Dome or Under the Dome? - all have themes that HHN has already dealt with, in fact. Draping them in King's stories would be realtively simple and a thrill for any King fan. I would rather Poe, personally, as that's where I found my love for the macabre (as have countless others!). Plus, I love period haunts, but you can probably blame too many Roger Corman movies on that preference. Mae

Excellent! Mae

I've already said it but will repeat: I absolutely love the idea of a literature based HHN. They've actually had a few literary themes lately and I think they were mostly successful. HHN 18 was especially steeped in classic lit and the two most popular houses in HHN 19 were taken more from the novels than the films (Frankenstein and Dracula) so maybe a year with Poe or Lovecraft (or Blackwood or Bierce!) is due. Poe was so visual in his writing that I think he would be more adaptable for an entire event. He used color and texture more effectively than most horror/dark fantasy writers do even today! Or, perhaps a library comes to life, spilling it's monsters into the real world, giving us houses from each of our favorites. It could be one of those 'arcs' that were discussed by A&D a few years ago. They could do it chronologically; pre-20th Century would include; Poe, Blackwood, Bierce, Hugo, Baudelaire, Stevenson and Wells - no Shelly or Stoker as they've been done, but other authors who are equally (or moreso) responsible for horror as we know it. HHN 22 could be early 20th Century and give us Lovecraft, Howard, Bradbury, Orwell, Huxley, Matheson, Levin, Bloch, maybe even Kafka. HHN 23 would be mid-20th century and up; King, Rice, Barker, Blatty, Collins, Simmons, Koontz, Brite, and perhaps some graphic novelists like Moore and Gaiman. I think, once, there was a discussion of a librarian as the icon, which I also think is a grand idea. For the three years of the arc, the librarian becomes more and more powerful and and the end of the arc the 'library' is destroyed. Oh, yeah, still wishing. I'm sure it will have nothing to do with any of this. Sigh. Mae

Oh, it is fiction. The site is all about fictional haunted houses, down to the Overlook and Collinwood. It's a neat site, tho, and makes for excellent goofing off fodder. Belasco is a huge fan, indeed! My first comment to him was in response to his name, back on The Vault. I love that book, too; it's my favorite from Matheson and possibly my all time favorite haunted house story (Shirley Jackson and Henry James being the main competitors). I believe a house from that story in particular would be an excellent choice for any haunted attraction; there's drugs, sex, murder, and a couple of truly terrifying moments in those pages, what else do you need??? Mae

It's not working for me either way. Poop. Mae

Beggin' yer pardon, Dr, but 'extreme' houses have been urban legends all over the country for decades; Universal did not come up with the idea. Also, Universal has proven over the last few years that crowds are not a concern and will do what they think will net the most cash. If they find a way to make more money by charging for an individual house, they'll go for it. Mae

What an ending! And, lastly, let us not forget that many people cite "I Am Legend," as the inspiration for Romero's original "Night of the Living Dead." Maybe there's a zombie tie-in after all? It's a brilliant book that never fails to give chills. I've turned most of my friends onto Matheson over the years. The first of his novels I read was The Legend of Hell House and I still think it would make one killer (Hah!) haunted house. Not Legendary Truth-like, but Hell House-like. I guess you'd have to read the story to know what I mean. That last bit did cross my mind, as the vampires in I Am Legend were more akin to what we consider zombies nowadays. Oh, hey, he did that Trilogy of Terror story with the Zuni fetish, too. But I like Bob the Icon more. Mae