somebody85

So the Universal Monsters concept wasn't recycled for years at the beginning of the event and still is to this day? Also: Pitch Black Cold Blind Terror Dungeon Of Terror (3 Times) Crypt Keepers Dungeon Of Terror Dungeon Of Terror: Retold Scary Tales (Terror Land: Nightmare Alley) Scary Tales II Scary Tales: Once Upon A Nightmare Scream House Scream House: Revisited The Fearhouse Funhouse Of Fear Jacks Funhouse Psychoscareapy Psychoscareapy: Maximum Madness Psychoscareapy: Home For The Holidays Psychoscareapy: Echoes Of Shadybrook All Night Die In All Night Die In: Take 2 Body Collectors Body Collectors: Collections Of The Past RUN RUN: Hostile Territory People Under The Stairs People Under The Stairs: Under Construction The Skool The Orfanage: Ashes To Ashes Ship Of Screams The Forsaken Scream House Scream House: Resurrection Vampyre Vampyre: Blood Bath Horror Nights: Nightmares Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past ...Not one original idea ever repeated huh? lol (and this wasn't even some other ideas throughout the years that shared similiarities but really there is only so much you can do but I'm just trying to prove a point..because thats a pretty bold statement to make).

I've done most of those, and would still take Evil Dead, The Walking Dead, Resident Evil, Cabin in the Woods. Body Collectors would be cool to see again though somewhere down the line.

Sorry I strongly disagree. The first few years they were and then they started to reuse the same concept over and over again. Example: The Vampire House in the bumper cars area had the exact same layout as the year before but was just blacked out The house with the flying prisoners (Death Row?) never really changed. The best house ever there was the Doctor one (where the monorail station is) which eventually became Nightshade Toy Factory which didn't go away for years later. Even the new houses hardly feel like there are new elements incorporated. The houses are definitely longer at Howl O Scream but most feel the same. Been there, done that. I don't like paying a lot of money to only see 1 or 2 new things...which is why every year, I roll my eyes at the Howl O Scream lineup after this extremely well done commercial is put out. Even the Lady Luck year at HHN had more inventive ideas. The set design for The Thing house that year was sick too.

This. Long time lurker here and this is pretty much exactly how I feel. Halloween Horror Nights does not scare me, and really never has. I go to see the detail in the sets and to get the experience of walking through a horror movie. I don't think the way the event is shifting towards IP's is a bad thing, but then again I find a lot of the original ideas and houses pretty forgettable. So I guess I'm biased. The first HHN I attended was V with the introduction of the Cryptkeeper as a kid. I was 10 at the time and got lost in that Carnival so that was pretty wild..but anyways I've attended a lot of years where it's been just originals but never really got anything out of it. I always enjoy the IP houses the most because I'm a huge horror movie fan. A lot of people raved about Gothic and Dead End last year, and I just didn't see it. I thought the sets were well constructed but far from anything I haven't seen before there and elsewhere. In Gothic I thought the "up high" effect was done way better in Dead Silence and thought the flying Gargoyle was cheesy. And I can't remember a thing about Dead End right now unless I go back and watch the maze walk throughs on youtube. I thought the Christmas Lights scene in Penn & Taylor was the coolest effect I saw at the event last year. To the Walking Dead returning, I could have guessed it was coming back in January. Universal would have been crazy not to bring it back. Last year I went on a Thursday Night in early October in the pouring rain and people were still running to the park. Even with the weather, lines were still 2-3 hours long. I have mixed feelings about the actual TWD house though. The first time I went in, I didn't enjoy it due to the lack of walkers and atmosphere (and this was at night). The second time I went through it, there were way more walkers in the store scene and it felt a lot more immersive except for the end which I found a huge dissapointment both times until you walked outside into the horde. Leading up to that it felt like you were walking in a que line and completely took you out of the experience. Judging by videos from Hollywood, their house was better all around from the facade, the scenes chosen, and the makeup. I hope that's not the case this year, but from what I'm hearing it kind of sounds like Hollywood is going to do it better. I will leave what I hope is in the new house in the "Houses" section but I think all the criticism will make this one a lot better at least. But back to the event "selling out" and not giving "true fans" what they want...I disagree. I don't think "true fans" can distinguish what every person wants to get out of Halloween Horror Nights. Ever since I started going, I always imagined with it being a Universal event that there would be movie tie in's. The original stuff is cool, but there really are very few actual houses I can remember in all of my years of attending without an IP attatched. One was the Storyteller house "Where Evil Hides" because of how amazing the set design was . I think that was the one time I remember actually climbing stairs in a haunted house. I loved how they snuck Michael Myers in one of the opening hallway scenes too. The Skool was good that year, but the facade was way better then the actual house. The Body Collectors house was definitely great and did actually get me. Can't remember the others..other then the night we went, there was a tropical storm going on and we were half way in line for I think Cold Blooded Terror and it started pouring. We had already waited an hour and a half and were not getting out of line lol. The year that a lot of people claim to have some of the best houses ever (XX) I once again can't remember a single one except for Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past. Legendary Truth had an extremely cool facade but once again thought Nightmare On Elm St. did it way better. I loved the custom video made outside of that house and thought they nailed it all around. Dreamwalkers might be my favorite house ever at HHN right down to the entrance and how they incorporated all the different movies into it. Anyway my point is not everyone enjoys the original stuff as much as you guys (and apparently the posters at orlandounted) do. I do miss how Universal used to make the video presentations outside of those houses though and know that a few houses still have them (Blood N Gutz) and this years Cabin In The Woods but back then it felt like every house had them in the actual studios. It doesn't really make sense, since it seems like the budget has just increased through the years. I'm sure the new TWD house will have a video showing a mash up of Season 3 like last years had a recap of Season 1 and 2. The icon also doesn't make a difference to me. I live 20 minutes away from Howl O Scream and pretty much force myself to go if I'm going to... it's just the same houses recycled over and over again with maybe a new one thrown in. The variations on the actual houses really doesn't change much from year to year. And even the new house doesn't really have elements that haven't been done before. It was great to see those ideas when they first started but then they just stayed around for years and years. You could walk through Nightshade Toy Factory and expect the same layout as the year before. I don't care how cheap the event is (and it's really not), that's really lame. The most memorable thing I remember from the last time I atteneded Howl O Scream was some dude leaving a house, being messed up on something and trying to do a flip. He faceplanted right on the pavement in front of Gwazi. It was absolutely hillarious and I nearly fell down laughing. It was dead that night too, so it's not like there were "conga lines" in any house. Still didn't do anything for me to make me want to rush back, and I went into every one multiple times. So yes Howl O Scream has some cool icons, and a commercial that makes the event out a lot better then it actually is if you have attended it before (and I've attended many years). But that's just my opinion. The level of detail that you see along with the IP's you can only see at Universal. Being a huge fan of EDM & a regular attendee at Ultra, I don't think that comparison is fair either. The difference between this and Ultra, is you can't see those producers/DJs playing the same set everywhere they go. And it definitely is way more expensive (as you said especially this year). This comes around once a year and only here. You can go to most festivals in the US, and get the same experience you'll get at Ultra elsewhere. That can't be said for Halloween Horror Nights. I can't wait to experience the event this year. I fucking loved Cabin In The Woods and think there is so much potential for Walking Dead, Evil Dead, and Resident Evil too. I'm extremely excited and think all of the houses will be great if licensing will give A&D the freedom it needs. And with that, hello and thanks for reading this rant haha (if you read it).