agalloch

Yes, because if you don't then necessary constructive criticism isn't received (after all, we see things differently than the creators can) and then the event continues in the general trend we have today.

That's all you can say? Well, the actual "prison" was nowhere near where the truck was. Second, and admittedly I didn't see the show, but do they just let the zombies out like they did in the event? And then not fight back? If so, they should not include the truck as it is dumb. There was nothing menacing about it - they move SLOW. And even if they followed the source content 100%, doesn't mean that content was a good thing for the event. Here, the scare zones SEVERELY missed the ball.

Then the team didn't do enough of a creative job. When your primary element of the house is completely visible down a hallway they simply didn't hide it well. You're right it lunged extremely violently and I loved it to death, but if you see a scare a mile away it's not a scare anymore. As for the bar, I see your guess, but the issue is we never saw the rescue of David so ultimately it's an assumption. The first two rooms of the house (bar/moores) felt shockingly devoid of interaction and it took me back initially. The theater wasn't full, you're right, but there were multiple actors in the scene and, what, maybe two in our haunt? I should have been more clear. Meh, if the movie didn't end well they should take some sort of liberty and have a better closing. My point is though while it was clearly the best house this year, it is not void of imperfections.

Funny enough, I thought they were all garbage.

Thanks. The only one I could POSSIBLY be intriuged by is if they did Castlevania in the style of Symphony of the Night. Elaborate, colorful, religious, unique monsters. But do NOT call it Castlevania. Call it a sequel to Castle Vampyr.

I do not want Jack whatsoever. Bring back the underused Director. Bring back the Caretaker. Bring back the Usher. Those are fantastic icons to have and would help BRING the event together. Jack had a billion appearances and was NEVER scary, never creepy, nothing. Hell, go watch Director & Caretakers' commercials, THOSE are eerie things.

Is it hard to not go on you personally? Like do you feel you're missing out on things? I still go, but the FREQUENCY that i go back is WAY down and I haven't bought merch in years because of how things are going lately. Great point though on AHS, I just fear it being another IP heavy year next year and it'll destroy me.

This is a very fair point man! I still wonder why they didn't use an actor. What decision went into that? "Well, we need a man to look frantic, panicked, and hopefully interact. Let's use a still dummy." Thanks for being cool with my criticism. I agreed with a lot of your points and you opened my eyes with what you posted here. Thanks for posting the review, too!

Lights, Camera, Hacktion (or whatever it was called) are chainsaws done well. The chainsaw drill team is dumb and at this point pathetic. Staple of the event or not, sometimes they have to progress and holding onto old things that aren't great is a bad idea. Chainsaws are generic, they are audible from a mile away, and because of that they don't startle you (since it isn't a real threat and it doesnt' startle you what's the point?), the actors using them are terrible, it's a scapegoat for a lack of creativity. I'm still wondering why there were no fights against the fake looking, boring zombies this year.

Woah, you like them?! Chainsaws simply are not scary. You hear them from a mile away. It's really silly.

If you could do that it'd be sick.

How about none of them?

The "scarezones" this year are dull, lack atmosphere, have poor set pieces, aren't "involving", are even (and I would NEVER list this as a criticism if it wasn't so bad) barely a photo op, have generic zombies with pitiful makeup, and I never feel threatened, more annoyed, walking. There needs a notable bump in the atmosphere (a la HHN 14/15) and in the creativity (a la HHN 18's scare zones) departments. We also need more conversational scare actors, no chainsaws (seriously, no chainsaws, they are done), etc.

Yep. It just felt stale. The set, in my opinion, looked really fake, too.

And guess what, you know what their most houses tend to be each year? The original stuff. If they bring Black Sabbath or Insidious next year I'm honestly going to be very pissed off and will be the first time I will NOT go to the event. Go read the Facebook page of the event and watch people complain about how disappointed they are in a lot of the things the event is doing. And it is not necessarily "good business" to run shitty, unoriginal things. Instead of going 3x this year, I went 2x. Next year, if it's IP stuff again, instead of 2x I will probably go 1x. Now combine that to a party of 4 and then less money is spent. The creative team isn't happy - and I hear this indirectly. There is no creativity if what you have to do is copy and paste items from a movie set over. These minds aren't meant to be restricted whatsoever. Seriously, why even have a creative team if they aren't doing anything creative? Even the QUALITY of most of the stuff this year was down. Nearly all the masks were atrocious, none of the houses (except AWIL) were THAT stellar, and the original (bad choices for originals, by the way) were watered down, horribly done houses. There needs to be less circle-jerking about how the event is and more receptiveness to how generic it is becoming. It's been this way for years. Most people on this forum went to Orlando's event a few years, maybe 3, and they don't see how AMAZING it was back around HHN 12, 13, 14, and 15. Those four years did more for the event than anything else - and guess what, it was creative. Even Demon Cantina from HHN 15 was an indirect use of From Dusk Till Dawn, except it was still original, and they nailed it.

HOW ABOUT NO IPS? SERIOUSLY WHY DO YOU WANT UNORIGINAL CONTENT?

How about we hope for all original content next year instead of generic stuff?

Agreed. It is worth it. Though I hope next year I can see some effects in action. David is great!

Talk about one hell of a generic year.

Preface: I've attended the event since HHN 14. Each year has its positives and negatives, however my opinion is that the event has gone down overall since its mid-teen years. This year, early rumors intruiged me, the marketing early on had me interested in seeing where they would go with it, and I thought the year would be a solid return to form. However, when the website went up, houses were revealed, and "scare zones" shown, I was cautiously disappointed. Overall: The event was simply not that good in my opinion. I won't get into specifics here, but let's talk about the overall trend. Increasing IP usage severely limits creativity - even in the best houses this year (AWIL). The trend to have no overarching theme, no cohesive story, and massive disconnect from marketing and the event itself is horrible. Even the commercials weren't original and seemed completely generic. Shared or borrowed content from HHN Hollywood is not greate because of a taming in its overall intensity and content comparatively. Its terribly clear that the creative minds behind the event are being severely cut off by management and marketing. And, no icon, again. Actors need to be more interactive with guests and the theme needs to be more adult. Ambience: Where was it? Where are the fantastic first sections of the park older attendees loved? I remember walking into HHN 14 seeing the massive tesla coils, lasers, huge stilt walkers, and memorable music and it setting the mood for the event. I remember seeing Path of the Wicked, the Terra Queen, etc and loving everything I saw. Even the pumpkins, which even though used a lot, are now gone. From the ENTIRE event I honestly don't remember a single piece of music except for "Blue Moon" from AWIL - otherwise, the ambience delivered by Midnight Syndicate / Nox Arcana is gone. There was no sense of unease - how could there be? Beer stands everywhere, nurses walking around near scare zones, slow zombies every single place, etc. I remember wakling in Islands of Fear between scare zones and they intentionally had music playing that was unsettling, even when nothing was going on. The event felt real, it felt genuine, it felt unnerving. Oh, where are the videos projected for each house? Where are the actors waiting outside of the house inviting you in (a la Dungeon of Terror: Retold)? No entrance gate ambience besides some fake looking roots? Give me the amazing ambiance from HHN 19's entrance with the ushers, video screen, light from their flashlights, etc. Houses: Improved from last year, but that's not saying much as last year's houses (besides Dead End and Gothic) were horrific. Please, stop using IPs. At this point the event really does not need an IP to draw crowds in because it is so well established. The Walking Dead needs to go - zombies are overdone, especially this year. American Werewolf in London: 8/10 - Excellent house, worthy of being titled an HHN house, and probably the only one this year that I adored. The wolf puppets, needless to say, were extremely well done and had movement that impressed me. However, they were VERY visible when walking down a hall - I know the limitations of why they had to be like that, but it removed the anxiety of where it was. Sets and music were all great in all but two areas. 1) When in the "moores" you could see the "forest" was short, fake looking, and you could see the black carpet behind it. Give it depth. 2) Piccadilly Circus - not much was going on, the bus looked terribly fake, etc. Nonetheless, extremely memorable, mostly well done, and a near perfect execution of an IP (and I hate IPs for the most part). Cabin in the Woods: 7/10 - Pretty good house. The sets the first half were fantastic. I loved the wide open first cabin room, but then the transition into the facility was horrible. It came out of nowhere, the entire facility looked completely cheap (especially the room with Jack and Caretaker), and did NOT have enough scare actors in the blood room nor cheap looking room. The fishman was terribly fake looking and did not feel like a threat - something about that room felt useless and should have appeared more "techy". Like in other houses, the AATs (actor activated triggers) need to have TWO sounds that rotate because some actors used their sound in quick succession that you knew it felt fake. I admire the costumes, intensity, etc but at no point did I feel threatened. By the way, I loved the actor who ran down the hallway with an axe. Again, what happened to the huge opportunities the second half presented that fell flat on its face? Evil Dead: 6/10 - I wanted to love it, but my god did it fall short. First, I loved the massive "EVIL DEAD" logo in blood red. Amazing way to set the stage. But, why did we have to walk into the massive soundstage that far of a distance just to see it? The pages hanging in the air, well, I guess I knew what they were going for - to set up the reading of the book and get you ready, but it seemed a bit ridiculous. Then when we saw the prop of the guy reading the book? Fell HORRIBLY short. That NEEDED someone to be panicy, to have sounds randomly that caught his attention and made him panic, it needed the urgency that we saw in the remake as he read it. Then after that it became ridiculous - random corridors of woods, a poorly executed tree rape scene, random entry back into the cabin, etc. The level of gore needed to go much higher like Hollywood. The burning cabin and "blood rain"? Terribly fake looking. There needed to be some real rainfall, not just wind, with actors that were VERY well hidden. I'm sorry, but they had a great opportunity to knock it out of the park but it just fell short. And, with TWO cabins in the same event, it didn't work. La Llorona: 5/10 - Average, in fact disappointing. The facade was quite nice! But, the audio and projection was not easily comprehendable. I did NOT like we'd be stealing from Hollywood, but if they are to do it, I thought I could expect Orlando to do it well with its generally more thematic elements. Wow, did it fall short. Everything past the white-water-tunnel, so what they came up with, was horrible (and really? Transition into her mind using the tunnel? Terribly done. If you have to explain what it is on a tour then they didn't do a good job whatsoever of creating it). The second half were borring corridors and a terribly anti-climatic ending. The first half was enjoyable, sort of. If I recall, I enjoyed hearing the creepy sounds of children weeping! But the sets needed to be more colorful and less dark - just like they should have looked in the media photos. The scale of the rooms were SMALL, too. The lack of the Hollywood monster is extremely disappointing. The mirror room was very well done, though, and I like the subtle details that I saw on the tour. Unlike Howl-o-Scream, any mannequins were very, very obvious and that needs to be fixed because a rooms' effectiveness. Like Nemesis in Resident Evil, why was she standing at the top of stairs so fake looking? Gah. Resident Evil: 4/10 - Gorgeous sets cannot make up for horrible costumes, lack of intensity, and a lack of actors. Wow, probably the best sets this year. Wide open, detailed, amazing. However, the cartoony feel was extremely stupid. The monsters were terribly done. Why was Nemesis not menacing just like Frankenstein was a few years ago? Where was the amazing finish the way you feel when completing a game? I would have even argued it would be cool to see Leon struggle through monsters and then, at the end, "defeat" the Nemesis and (for a change) let the good guys win. Not much else to say, maybe except for having IPs are generally dumb. Havoc 2: 4/10 - The "masculine" feel of the house was cool. However, there was literally ONE actor in the house that did a good job - one of the earlier ones who "ripped" off the table. I loved that sound, it felt brutal, it felt real, it felt angry. However, the rest of the actors were oddly off-limits / distanced from the guests. This house would have been GREAT if they did it more like Saws & Steam, or Run 2 - dark, gory, masculine. Except, while the post-train filp (lol) sets were oddly maze like - in a good way, the guns were dumb. None of that felt like a threat. The simultaneous pop out was silly. Did not hold a candle to its above-average original. And, if you are going to bring back an original house for a sequel - really do it, like PsychoScarepy: Home for the Holidays did. Walking Dead: 3/10 - Just, bad. The front gate looked dumb. Zombies absolutely need to go. The prison section was the only cool set, and it was at the end? Not much else to say, extremely dull. Afterlife: 1/10 - Seriously, besides People under the Stairs, the absolute worst house they've done. The 3D was extremely terrible. The random costumes (demon costume, what?) were dumb. Actors were extremely visible. It was not scary. Very short. No threat. Dull. Did not take advantage of the cool story behind it. The only reason I gave it a point at ALL was because of the part where the prisoner was stabbed. I dug that. But really, we did this once because it was horrible. Scarezones: They were there? Having tea-pees of woods is not scary. Having a forest you walk through with slow moving, terrible looking zombies isn't scary. Having dull costumes is not scary. Having set pieces designed for PICTURES AND NO INTERACTION is extremely dumb (eg: deer, the actor never moved off of it). Having the single best piece of all the scare zones - the cabin with half cut zombie in the back - relatively "hidden" or requiring effort to see is not a great idea. Having no worthy ambience is not great. The survivor camp was ridiculously dumb. New York was atrocious - one piece, a tank, that literally was not interacted with. Having no battles of the zombies and any survivors was not intelligent. Was Sting Alley even used? The only two pieces was the legless zombie - GREAT actor and visual, and (I'm hesitant to say I enjoyed it) the truck that would let zombies out - again, they should have "broke" out and then had actors shoot and fight the zombies off. Have some choreography, if need be.

But each idea is completely different. No two of the houses were the same.

There was not one repeated idea in 23 years from their original content. They're already repeating The Walking Dead to a massive level - within two years.

Yes, I can come up with plenty that are more original than what they've put out this year. Considering nearly EVERYTHING will come DIRECTLY from the sources (as in, exact scenes will be replicated so little work has to be done) this year is lazy, lazy, lazy. Let's see, what's better? Just using recent houses, The Forsaken, Catacombs, Gothic, Dead End or Evil Dead, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Cabin in the Woods? I'm not even talking about classics, or extremely underrated houses like Psychoscarepy: Home for the Holidays, Leave it to Cleaver, Dungeon of Terror: Retold, and H.R. Bloodengutz Or absolute classics such as Ghost Town, Castle Vampyr, Body Collectors, Scream House, Scary Tales, All Nite Die In.

I mean, let's be frank, besides a few hits here and there, the event has slowly gone downhill. There's just too much involvement from management/marketing. Too many partnerships. I've gone since HHN 14 and the event is ONLY as popular as it is today because of those prime years that boosted it to a national level. Jack is stale, zombies are stale, even I would say the chainsaw drill team is stale. There is a reason why on the website their "Gallery" shows their more creative efforts as of late.

HOS is simply much better than HHN right now. Every house is so much more intense.