Nightcrawler

A lot of you would be great to go with, but one who sticks out is Drummanmatt, so I can help show him around for his first HHN!

I know how you feel. I vacation in Canada every summer, and that disgusting creation is like a treasured national dish up there. But, hey, if they like it, it's all good. I'd also have to echo the comments by some here: The Countdown proved to be the world's biggest letdown, but we can get comfort from knowing that a Marketing failure does not mean that the Creative department will fail to create a really fun event this year. Do I wish we could have had the kinds of awesome websites we had in 2008 and 2009? Of course! But, even if those year's websites were crap, that wouldn't change how good the Houses those year were (Most of them, anyway).

Anyone know how I can watch 'Ash vs. the Evil Dead?' It's not on Netflix.

I'd say that's a little harsh for 'NOES 5.' Yeah, it's one of the poorer entries (Though far from the worst, COUGHCOUGHFreddy'sDeadCOUGH) and made the least in the box office, but it had some good parts. The visual effects and set designs (Especially for the M.C. Escher scene in the climax) look great, and the death scenes are all pretty memorable (Especially Greta's grisly end). I just wished they'd killed off Yvonne and had Mark (A far more likable character) survive instead.

I personally thought it was just okay. It was intense, and had some disturbing moments, but my main problem with the movie was I found the main characters very hard to root for. I mean, the main girl goes along with a plot to rob a blind war veteran just so she and her daughter can have enough money to move to California. Am I supposed to cheer her on for that?

You'll love it! It'll be a great exercise in courage for you just like it always is for me, and tons of fun! I have a couple bits of advice for you as well, to keep you from getting too scared and thus lessen the likelihood of pants- wetting: 1) In Houses, always stay in the center of the path, DO NOT get too close to the walls on either side. Scareactors often hide in secret passages and hidden alcoves in the walls, known as "Boo- holes," and if you get too close to a wall where one of those is, then for the Scareactor inside it's like thrusting a steak in front of a starving man. 2) Also in Houses, be aware of your surroundings. They love using tactics like distraction (i.e. getting your attention to one spot with a Scareactor or special effect, so they can then nail you from behind with another Scareactor or effect) and camouflage (i.e. Dressing in special costumes to blend into the wall or decorations in order to then pop out at people) to nail unsuspecting visitors.

Man, I have some good/ funny Scareactor moments I can recall: 1) 2007, I was walking along Central Park with a freshly purchased frozen lemonade. A clown Scareactor jumped me from behind, causing me to nearly drop it (Fortunately, I didn't). In a rather annoyed tone, I said something like "You know, there should be a rule against allowing you guys to scare people while they're holding food or drinks they paid for." He said, still fully in character, something like, "Well, there isn't! Deal with it!" 2) A Scareactor got me really good in 2008's 'Scary Tales.' In the Alice room, Alice looked me dead in the eye and started creepily muttering to me. It freaked me out so much, I found myself backing up against the wall. Just then, the Mad Hatter popped out maybe six inches from me and said "CARE TO JOIN US?" I flat- out screamed and got out of that room as quickly as I could. 3) Kind of along the same lines, in the same year, one night in the 'Fractured Tales' Scarezone, the one playing I think Little Bo Peep kept asking me to eat some of the slaughtered lamb that she had in her basket, saying things like "Come on, it's really good!" 4) In 2009, in one of my visits to the 'Leave it to Cleaver' House, I at one point asked a Scareactress in a Meetz Meats mask who had just lunged at me what the "Z" stands for, and she perkily responded "Quality!" 5) The same year, in the 'Silver Screams' House, at one point, the Usher popped out at me and I screamed, and he responded by calmly shaking his head and putting his finger to his lips (As in, "Be quiet while the film is playing"), so then I immediately shushed up. That was just perfectly in character for the Usher! 6) In 2015, I at one point came across a Scareactress who was part of the female Roaming Horde that year. She was slowly and quietly walking towards me with her chainsaw. Nervously, I said, "Um, heh heh heh, hey there." She said "Hey there" back and abruptly revved her chainsaw! I did what could only be described as a little dance of fear, stumbling back to get away from her!

Glad you like it! What you described could be cool, if they could pull such an effect off with a scareactor. I envisioned him wielding an axe or something similar, but now that you mention it, I could also see him becoming so insane that he believes he is his character, and if that character happens to be a predatory creature, hooo boy!

1. 'Fear Factor 2.' 2. 'The Walking Dead: It Never Gets Old'

Hey, Here's an idea I've had for quite a while on what could be the "Scary/ Funny" House one year. I remember one year, while waiting in line for a House in which the line took us through the kiddie section, I couldn't help noticing that the Barney statue in that section of the park looked rather spooky at night. That gave me a House idea: The House has us going through a TV station which is used for filming a 'Barney and Friends'- esque kids' tv show. Problem is, the people in charge of casting didn't do a good enough job with the psychological screenings/ background checks for applicants, and thus unwittingly hired a deeply mentally disturbed man to play the main character on the show. One day, the day we are taking a tour of the station, he finally snaps and goes on a homicidal rampage throughout the studio. We pass through one section of the studio/ set after another, beholding all kinds of creepily funny carnage and dodging the demented main actor. An idea I had for a neat detail to the House to make it more scary is that, while the psychotic main actor is in his "Character" costume throughout his rampage, each successive room of the House has his costume looking more ragged and battle- damaged (i.e. The first room has his costume perfectly intact other than possibly a bloodstain, the second room there's a noticeable tear in it, and by the final room it's in tatters). What do you guys think?

About a month ago, my girlfriend actually proposed to me a 'Zombies Ate My Neighbors' House, and certainly the chainsaw guys would be a perfect fit for a House!

btw, since we're kind of on the subject of Blumhouse, I'll be having a month of free Netflix, do you think I should watch 'Sinister 2' in preparation for the House?

Ah, I was just thinking about that movie, I'll probably be revisiting it in the next couple weeks! I thought both the original and the 2011 remake were awesome (Yes, I consider the 2011 remake to be one of the best horror remakes I've ever seen), and either one could make for a good House.

'Trick 'r Treat' rules! Ever since it first got its direct to DVD release in 2009 (I remember it taking me three full days, a lot of searching, and a lot of luck to find a store that wasn't sold out of it), it's been traditional Halloween viewing for me. Even if they don't make anything out of it this year (And if they do, I'll spontaneously break out into a Happy Dance wherever I'm at when I read the official confirmation of it), it's an awesome movie that you need to see. I think it's on Netflix, but I could be mistaken. If not, most stores that sell DVDs have it for a very reasonable price, or you could buy a used copy on Amazon (Trust me, it's worth the investment).

The first idea sounds a little too much like Saws 'n Steam, but if done right, it could be cool. How would a severe weather House work? My only thought is maybe elemental monsters/ demons that each embody some kind of severe weather. Giant creatures, if done in the right area and in a way that'll be safe, could be very cool. The closest I could recall to them doing that in the past were 1) Creatures in 2008 (Though the giant creatures in that were quickly removed for safety reasons), and 2) the Minotaur in 2010's 'Hades' House (I recall that Scareactor being huge). Now, as for the rest of you, I can't tell what's worse: The whining about the delays and lack of info (Which admittedly is understandable; I can still remember the giddy excitement I had in the summers of 2008 and 2009 as I saw the website slowly updating), or the childish bickering that's suddenly broken out. Can't we all agree that HHN is awesome, and while the Marketing Dept. has really dropped the ball this summer, I still think this year has a lot of potential.

Hate to nitpick, but Years 5 and 6 DID have an Icon: The Cryptkeeper.

I signed up for it a couple days ago, and still haven't gotten the email from them.

Yeah, I think the fact that it's the Kubrick version of 'The Shining' means that King has no say over it, as he signed over the rights in that regard to the movie studio. However, if he ever were to have a change of heart regarding letting his property be used for Haunts, I'd ADORE the idea of an 'It' House. It's my favorite of his books that I've read, and the various environments (i.e. the Barrens, the town dump, the house on Neibolt Street, and of course the sewers) and monsters in it would fit perfectly into a House!

Agreed. A 'Shining' House, if done right, could be magnificent. 'Gothicombs,' if it comes through, sounds great too. I went through the 'Catacombs' House in 2010, and liked it. Sadly, my only experience with 'Gothic' was the room of it in the '25 Years' House, but I've heard it was awesome, so a House that combines the two could be amazing!

I personally thought it was really good, from what I remembered of it. It had quite a few really good scares. I liked that it right away showed what happened to the remaining survivors of the movie.

Here's what I can recall about it. Again, dislikes first: 1. 'Vampyr: Bloodbath.' The very first House I hit, and I'm glad, because I thought it was really dumb. I saw very little theme to it, just not interesting at all. 2. No official Scarezones, just random areas where certain groups of Scareactors would hang out. 3. This might be just a minor quibble, but I thought one part of the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' House kind of lapsed in logic. I mean, at one point near the end, a Leatherface pops out at us from behind a fence, and then less than 30 seconds later, lunges at you from a completely different angle! If it were a more mystical baddie like Freddy, that might work, but since Leatherface is a completely human psycho, it doesn't work. Now, for what I liked best: 1. The live show 'Jack's Carnival of Carnage' was loads of fun, lots of great laughs, and first introduced Chance. It also made for a pretty good magic show. 2. 'Dead Silence: The Curse of Mary Shaw.' This proved to be a very scary House which made me loudly scream at least once! It also used a lot of very diverse settings from the movie, and made the most of them. 3. 'Nightmare on Elm Street: Dreamwalkers.' Loved the film series, and loved what they did with the House. It had a good intro/ story behind it (As shown in the preview video they showed in the queue line), plenty of scares, and just really fit well. 4. 'Psychoscareapy: Home for the Holidays.' Funny, scary, and I could tell the Scareactors were having a ball in it! Oh, and yes, your avatar photo IS cute!

I certainly wish I could time travel back to 2007 myself. It was my very first HHN, and I only hit each House once that year. Want to know my thoughts on THAT year?

I personally liked that year A LOT. First, the negatives, just to get those out of the way: 1. The Usher wasn't as impressive of an Icon as some of the others (i.e. Jack, Bloody Mary). 2. I wasn't particularly fond of the 'Saw' House, partly because I'm not particularly fond of those movies in general. 3. In the 'Dracula' House, the titular vampire only appears I think twice, it's mainly just his Brides through most of the House. 4. Maybe this is just a problem of timing, but in the 'Chucky' House, it seemed like the Scareactor in the "Barrel of Monkeys" room rarely showed up. Also, in that House, the only appearance that fan- favorite character Tiffany made was as a drawing on one of the walls. Having a 'Chucky' House without Tiffany definitely disappointed some fans, myself included. Now, what I liked: 1. The 'Frankenstein' House was pulled off excellently, I thought. In all the many versions of 'Frankenstein' I've seen, I've never seen the Monster look as scary as he did in that House. 2. 'Leave it to Cleaver' was a fan- favorite House, the ultimate epitome of a "Scary/ funny" House done right. 3. The general theme of the event, with each House or Scarezone meant to symbolize a movie (With the exception of Silver Screams, which focused on the Universal Palace Theater itself and some memorable films it screened), was handled very well. 4. The 'Wolf- Man' House was awesome. It actually proved to be better than the then- upcoming movie it was meant to drum up publicity for. 5. Other than the aforementioned problems, the 'Chucky' House was good, and creative. 6. 'Silver Screams' was amazing. Great sets, great characters, great diverse scares, just another reason why the Parade Building has always been my favorite House location, every House it's held that I've been to has been solid gold.

5'11" to 6'5" slender build males strikes me as possibly being some of the baddies from the Blumhouse mashup House, since those seem like ideal body dimensions for playing Lipstick Demon from 'Insidious' or Bughuul from 'Sinister.'

I have disabilities too, and was never bothered by that, knowing that there is a difference between the mentally disabled and the insane/ psychotic. About the only thing in that regard that I find offensive is when "Comedy" shows and movies try to use mean- spirited "Laugh at the retard"- type jokes and characters (i.e. Warren from 'There's Something About Mary,').