peculia

I don't think it was his criticism of the event that got him banned, annoying as many of us found it. I think it was his criticism of attendees and forum members. Remember last year's "Why do you all have such terrible ideas that will hurt the event? No really, I honestly want to know, I'm not just being a needlessly provocative ass"? Not to mention his passionate plea to raise ticket prices to keep the riffraff out of the event. Yeah, good times.

I was partly right-- there was indeed a SyFy series based on the film Legion. It just wasn't the same name. The TV show was called Dominion, and ran for a couple of seasons a couple of years back.

Dang, no classic horror fans here? What about White Zombie and I Walked With a Zombie? Both are amazing, but Dead Waters will look NOTHING like them, I'm pretty sure.

Wasn't there also a Legion TV series on SyFy, or am I confusing it with something else? Anyway, my top pick for angel battle movies would be The Prophecy with Christopher Walken, which also features Viggo Mortensen as Satan (!). However, that movie has zero gothic aesthetic. The pics from the Fallen house look more like Hellraiser than any actual angels & demons stuff I've seen.

I think the gold standard for scarecrow horror is supposed to be an 80's movie called Scarecrows, which I haven't seen but plan to watch before I go. I also really like Husk.

Jesus, how do corporate types have the time to follow the forums at work? When I'm at work, I'm busy, you know, WORKING. And I'm sure you all get paid far better than I do... Anyway, I'm sure this came up on the general horror thread, but RIP Tobe Hooper. We've already lost Romero this year; I'm starting to feel absolutely bruised. But the reason I'm bringing it up is the recent rise in "mash-up" houses, with the Blumhouse announcement and the AHS megahouses. I know it's never gonna happen, but I wish they would consider doing mash-up houses based on one director's work. That way, you could pay tribute to a lot of lesser-known films by masters in the genre. I would LOVE to see a Hooper house with Fun House, Eaten Alive, and Poltergeist. Or, let another year go by to rid us of residual zombie fatigue, and do a George Romero house with scenes from ALL the Dead movies. Or, a Carpenter house with Prince of Darkness, They Live, In the Mouth of Madness, etc. I know in most cases it would be a rights nightmare to try to incorporate different properties, which might not have the same rights holders. I just love the idea of using a mash-up to showcase properties that have some great material, but not enough to sustain a house, or not enough stand-alone awareness with the GP.

OMG, if they did that I hope they would play the Fall's "Hip Priest" in the basement scenes. That track has a shambling menace that helped cement my obsessive love for Silence of the Lambs AND the Fall. That said, I would rather see a maze based on Hannibal, but I don't see that happening.

Fright Rags is my hands-down favorite, but I agree that Redbubble is pretty great. I can also recommend TeePublic (nice shirts, TERRIBLE search engine). For more horror-specific sites, I also like November Fire and Rotten Cotton, and for general Halloween images, Sinister Visions. Yes, I own a LOT of t-shirts. Happy shopping!

Well, I'm pretty much steeped in horror entertainment year 'round; I read Rue Morgue, listen to spooky music (dark roots/gothic country, horror punk, psychobilly, etc.), see every horror movie I think has a chance of not being garbage, attend horror-centric film festivals, theater, conventions, and so on. But the one thing that really scratches my itch for HHN, whether it's February and there's nothin' out there or it's August and time for the countdown to haunt season, is watching documentaries on haunts. I have a whole collection I watch at least once a year. The Art of the Scare is the first one I watch, of course, but Season of Screams (about Knott's Scary Farm) and Halloween: the Happy Haunting of America are essentials as well. There's a great one on the Witch's Dungeon classic monster museum, and a number of cheap but entertaining docs about home haunters (the best one, American Scream, was sadly dropped from Netflix but is still on Amazon, I think). Also, I loved Travel Channel's Making Monsters series about the Distortions prop & animatronics business, and there's a web series about a famous Chicagoland haunt co-run by John La Flamboy ( I think the series might be called Days of the Dead?) that's run into numerous seasons (haven't watched all of them). Nothing else eases the pain OR gets me amped for the season like watching a good behind-the scenes haunt doc.

This grown-ass woman CRIED with joy over this announcement. If I had the money and living space, I would decorate an entire room in my house as a tribute to Texas Chainsaw, bone furniture and all. No live chicken, though. Looks like I may have to try and book the UTH tour this year... See y'all there, BITCH HOGS!

Regarding Bone Tomahawk: Personally, I thought it was a great movie. However, it's a Western (albeit a bloody one) for the first hour and 45 minutes, and a horror film for the last 30 minutes. Not great material for a house. Also, Zahn McClarnon's character is basically a distraction to justify wiping out an entire Native tribe, soooo... kinda racist, too. Still, I could see them cherry-picking some elements to fit into an original Western concept (if this happens I will WEEP with joy).

Okay, full disclosure-- I thought OTHER people might get tired of classic monsters if we see them too often, and I don't want to hear the whining. We can have 'em every year as far as I'm concerned, and I would LOVE for them to have a stronger presence in the park year-round (especially now that Beetlejuice is leaving). Please forgive me! I even have a Bride of Frankenstein tattoo!

Though I agree to a certain extent with others who feel we had an awful lot of the classic Universal monsters this year and that it might be best not to see them again so soon, there's one thing I would love to see: Phantom of the Opera should get his own house. I imagine that many don't find him all that frightening, but in the book and the Chaney film, he kills a LOT of people-- drowning, strangling, dropping a massive chandelier during a performance-- and ends with trapping the heroes in a mirrored torture chamber and nearly blowing up the opera house. Also, he could appear masked, unmasked, and in his Red Death masquerade costume, so it wouldn't get monotonous. The sets would be stunning, reminiscent of Nevermore and Gothic, and I could imagine many great theatrical effects suggested by the Phantom's skill with illusions and secret passages. Ideally, they would bring back the Usher as the event icon and really utilize him properly, and this house, based on his favorite movie, would be a "feature presentation". Maybe someday...

I would love to see Bloodengutz and Nightingales come back, but my number one wish would be Ghost Town. 2004 was my first year attending, and that may have been the first house I went in, so it made quite an impression. Besides, the "weird Western" genre is a favorite of mine, and very underutilized east of the Mississippi (though I believe quite a few haunts in the Western and Southwestern regions feature Western horror).

Personally, I'm not so much offended by serial killers as I am doubtful of their entertainment value. Generally speaking, they are average-looking people who commit crimes in banal settings. A scarezone themed to Gacy's stomping grounds? Believe me, I look at suburban Chicagoland every day and it is NOT visually compelling. Nor would either rural or urban Wisconsin, as far as I can recall, be any more exciting. I love historically-based houses, don't get me wrong, but it's best when history is just a jumping-off point. Too much realism would spoil the magic, I think.

;Oh, how I miss you all... It's hard to single out just a few of you, but here goes: -- Both A and B cast Phantoms in Monsters & Mayhem, 10/1 through 10/4: Please know that you made me vibrate with glee every time I stepped through that curtain and got hit with a blast of air and an accusatory gesture. Which was almost every time I went through the house. I thank you. -- Clown saws outside Moe's, maybe 8:30-9:00 Sunday 10/4, who pressed themselves against the door and DARED us to try and leave. -- Friday 10/2, waiting in line for Monsters & Mayhem (not sure of the time), saw the cast change for Scary Tales; the incoming Little Boy Blue made a detour to flick my nose. In general, I felt the casts of Scary Tales were real masters of personal harassment (saw one of them make a guy spill half his Dippin' Dots on Sunday 10/4, and yes, I laughed). --Saturday 10/3: Again, I apologize for being uncertain of the time, so I don't know if this was A or B cast, but I came upon RUN with NO ONE in line ahead of me and the incoming cast change filing in as I was entering, so I got EVERY SINGLE SCARE and you guys did NOT hold back. It was amazing. -- Finally, though my love runs strong for ALL the street scareactors this year-- best streets since 2008, in my opinion-- nearest to my heart are the b/w All Nite Die-In cast. I could have watched you for hours, and cumulatively between 10/1 and 10/4, I did. Just sat on a bench and watched. During one of these idylls, on Friday 10/2, the blonde vampire bride came over to a little girl on the adjacent bench for a picture; she then proceeded to herd several other scareactors over to her as well, to the little girl's apparent delight, and just before cast change, the vampire bride gave her a hug on her way out. Congratulations, budding Monster Kid! How I would have loved that when I was your age! Or my current age! And lastly, to the one who truly stole my heart this year: more than the Phantom, more than the Usher, more than Ardath Bey, did you delight me, dear Dr. Frankenstein. You were perfection, and I will remember you fondly until memory itself fails me.

Majority says no, I say yes. The series picks up the Mesoamerican mythology just hinted at in the film and really runs with it, making it the central plot. For those who didn't like the series, that would be all the "extra stuff that wasn't in the movie". Also, the vampires in the series are pretty different from the movie vamps, so I think it would be helpful to know a little background. I enjoyed the series enough to watch it twice, but as I said, I'm in the minority.

Gosh, and I spent all those weekends in my youth attending a movie I actually LIKED and DIDN'T think of as a complete suckfest. Call me crazy. It certainly supports my theory that the mean-spirited nature of much of the audience participation arises from a sense of superiority to the film, which, as I've stated, I don't share. Though no masterpiece of filmmaking, the broad performances and cheap campiness are entirely deliberate and meant to poke affectionate fun at the horror & scifi films of the past decades. I guess that's why I stopped attending RHPS screenings a long time ago; I used to think we were all fans of the film, but that's clearly not the case. Lesson learned.

Look, I'm not at all pro-censorship, and I personally have a viciously nasty mouth, but I am THRILLED to attend a Rocky show without having to listen to callbacks I have long found tedious, unfunny, and vulgar. Maybe my understanding is skewed, but I've always thought of the show as a tribute to the film itself, and not a mini-version of the whole RHPS experience (which I understand you can get at Citywalk, if you're so inclined). For those who think the movie is nothing without the fan participation... I just don't agree, and I didn't feel that way even back in my RHPS-obsessed youth. But if it's going to cause so much rancor, then I would love to see them try a different horror-based musical show and end Rocky after this year. More shows folks want to see=marginally less waiting in house lines for me.

I don't really get all the hate for the series-- I enjoyed it immensely, minus a few nitpicks, and I felt the mythology and the characters were expanded upon very successfully. Regardless, as others have noted, the quality of the source material is no reliable indicator of the quality of a house, and even if I had no interest in FDTD per se, I would still be pretty excited about snake vampires and ancient Mexican temples. I love it when HHN tackles mythology, history, and/or folklore, so I'm looking forward to this one.

JDW: I agree. I find myself completely confused. It seems like the past couple of years, eventually someone will come up with the most plausible solution, and most people will fall in line. This year, I don't think we have a true consensus on ANYTHING, but some people think we DO, which makes my brain hurt. Have I missed something? Is there a single house or zone that most everyone agrees will happen, based on the SAME clue or set of clues? Okay, now I sound peevish... Sorry, just a little frustrated. I 've pretty much decided to stop trying to figure anything out, and just read along and wait for reveals, so best of luck, puzzle people! I will continue to follow this discussion with interest, but greater detachment.

Depends on which version you mean. The original novel, and the Lon Chaney film, have a lot more horror and a bit less romance than many subsequent versions, especially the Andrew LLoyd Webber incarnation. Still, I would probably classify the original story as gothic melodrama. I would still consider that horror, though some would not.

Regarding Sleepy Hollow-- in my original post, I was really only considering it a possibility as an IP based on the current Fox series. You could, of course, do a house based on the original story, but it's pretty well-tread ground. The show, on the other hand, takes the kernel of the story and expands it far beyond the scope of the legend, establishing its own mythology much like Buffy, Angel, Supernatural, etc. The look of the show and the creature designs are very impressive, and if they wanted to put that much money & effort into such a new, relatively unproven property, it could be a phenomenal house. Also, I don't know how any of this works, but if AHS is coming, could that make Sleepy Hollow the IP more likely, since FOX and FX are sister companies? That was one of the factors that got me thinking about it as a contender.

Okay... the Revolutionary War, horses (Whoa Nellie!), throwing (pumpkin?) pie, "ahead"... If this turns out to be Sleepy Hollow, I will squirm, SQUIRM I tell you, with glee. Not that I'm convinced that it is, indeed, Sleepy Hollow (the series, to make my meaning clear)... just throwin' it out there.

I'll be there with a friend Oct 3 & Oct 5, and solo Oct 6. Wearing my HNN shirt on at least one night.