Cody

From my understanding, there are 3 factions: * Dominion: Traditional post-apocalyptic outfits with gas masks, pieced-together metal and leather clothing, and a platform with flamethrowers. Control the Sting Alley side of New York. * Artifice: Cult-like faction led by Mother. Mostly wear robes and face paint. Control the Mummy/park side of New York. * Hounds: Wear furs and carry chainsaws (our favorite wheelchair is back), with their leader driving around in a buggy. Circle the zone repeatedly. They're still trying to figure out exactly how to balance the scares with the non-scare interactions. They do make serious attempts to convince passersby and the people watching their spiels to pledge allegiance and perform hand signals to show their support. It's a really neat concept, but the energy needs an increase to actually get scares out of it.

Agreed. I've been attending since 2006 and I can't think of a single show that I enjoyed more than this one. Academy of Villains is an extremely talented dance troupe, and they pull off some incredible choreography. The Dream Machine segment is one of the highlights; it's absolutely beautiful.

Yeah, it was honestly the smoothest I've ever been through security. They did have a huge issue with profiling in the past, with young men being vigorously searched down to checking our waistbands while older women like my mother didn't get a single check even if they set off the metal detector, or people having their bags checked deeper depending on their age group. The X-ray machines search bags very quickly while you're getting wanded, and there's no longer giant lines stretching from the Universal arch.

If you went in while it's still light outside, you would have had no night acclimation and been blind in almost any house.

They could potentially be talking about guest survey responses as to what property the guests were most excited to see at the event, and seeing that TWD was chosen the most often. I still maintain the exact same opinion of this house as I did of all its predecessors: it's an average zombie house that rides on replicating a popular TV show instead of any of its own real merits.

I've currently found 3 projection windows: 1. Above the food truck, visible from the burning gazebo when looking toward the lagoon. 2. Above the Mummy merchandise store. 3. Across from the Blues Brothers stage. Keep in mind that there are also scareactors along that street, with the Blues Brothers stage and police car, and even actors next to Transformers. They also added a water spray to the apple bobbing victim to finally give the endless selfie takers something they deserve.

He posted on Facebook that some girls tried to pull the "WHAT ARE THOOOOOOSE" meme on him, only to slowly realize to their horror that he didn't have those.

The Crystal Lake Camp Counselor from this zone also quit. I've heard of at least 7 actors who have quit early this year because of the harassment. Speaking as a 2 year scareactor, I refuse to return to working at HHN until it becomes safer. The amount of violence we get subjected to is unfathomable and our ability to avoid being hurt is extremely limited.

The best way I can describe going through AWIL 2015 is when you're having a dream that takes place in your own home, and you expect to walk into a room and see something in particular...and it's not there. Or it's there, but isn't the same size or place as usual. Or you go up to your roommate and their features don't perfectly match what they're supposed to look like.

Kane Hodder was only about 6'2 at his peak. I'm 6'2 and I was the second shortest Cast A Beast back in 2012.

In terms of size, the house is actually virtually identical to the original. According to a Fake Productions worker I spoke to, the house was simply disassembled and stored away in warehouses after 2013 to be put back together this year. The biggest change to the basic framework was Piccadilly Circus, which has had the police box removed and I believe the far wall (where the box used to be) moved in closer to the path. As a scareactor from the 2013 house, walking through is incredibly surreal. Everything is instinctively familiar, but none of it truly feels the same. It's kinda like having a dream, where you walk through a familiar house but stuff just isn't quite right.

The proper way to handle photos is to make them quick, stay in character intimidating the person taking the photo, and then immediately break into a scare after it's taken. My usual option was to rush the photographer after they lower the phone, then immediately bounce to more scares. Since I was a Beast, I also let myself act like I was only barely restraining myself from eating the subject of the photo and growling louder with every second that the photographer took to fumble with their phone. Problems come when you let yourself get bogged down, taking every picture that's asked for and standing around after it's done to let other people get in for a shot. The core component of any zone is scares, and unless your role is specifically a showman and photo role (like the actors on the stages in Psychoscarepy this year) pictures should always be viewed as a temporary distraction.

Cindy can have a chainsaw as long as she remains so excited to have it.

This scarezone area will likely be limited in scale and theme as long as the parade continues during the day. While the old zones could fill New York with creative and complex props, the necessity to clear the streets for a parade means any set dressing must be able to be rapidly wheeled in by forklifts and Yamaha Rhinos in the short time between the official closing of the daytime hours and the opening of the HHN gates. Hence why every year since has had the main set pieces (like the Atlanta tank and this year's burning gazebo, plus all the vehicles each year) set off the main street, while the stuff in the parade route is just simple rolling stages.

The garage should be two rooms after what used to be Casey's living room. It's got some of the general structure and set dressing (like bicycles on the walls) but has been redecorated with stuff like the fridge to your left when you enter. You exit from that room into what looks like an outside yard between houses, which is the transition into the Scream 2 finale. I'm guessing that scene wouldn't have had the screen at all. I could see them wanting to incorporate some of the effects from the film (like the paper mache fire or the falling sandbags). If we're still going by the films, I think the "PROM QUEEN" bedroom later in the house may have been from Scream 1 where Billy is attacked by Ghostface.

I saw this myself on my first run, so I can confirm that this is a legit part of the house. I went through last night specifically looking for Scream content and it's really obvious what this house used to be. Obviously Casey's kitchen is virtually intact (complete with Jiffy Pop on the counter and the glass patio doors). It looks like you move on from there to the garage from the first film eventually, which has been redecorated and had the garage door removed. The scene with the Roman columns and giant screen that doesn't match the Purge at all is the final scene from Scream 2, as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9FnPtqrbv8

I think there's also a bit of an issue in that the original AWIL succeeded in part thanks to its cast. We all came out with injuries of some sort from our aggressive scaring, and more than one of us got moved around due to scaring or performing so aggressively that we could no longer perform our original roles from the strain, like the Cast A Bus Victim who would fling herself out the window so hard that she bruised her stomach on preview night. I started as nothing but Transforming David and I acted my heart out until the muscle strain of my thrashing forced me out of the role. The current Transforming David I've seen seems barely into it, which doesn't help the room at all when its actual scare has been removed altogether. Great puppets and nostalgia for the film are the muscles, but cast quality is the backbone. Yes, aggressive and constant scares are exhausting and painful at times. But it's often a necessity to actually make the house work.

Except for the dances, virtually none of the content of this show actually felt like it was done with care or finesse. Way too many of the jokes were "Hey audience, remember this pop culture from 2015?" or "Your show sucked!" or just having a character do something out-of-character. After the "Making a show based on a 25-year-old movie" line and reaction, the Christian Grey scene was the only part that actually seemed legitimately funny to me, and even then I would never have guessed who Christian Grey was if his name wasn't outright said in the script; the actor only looks a little like the character and little to none of his behavior matches in a way that makes him recognizable. It was just....bleh. I'm getting the feeling that this particular writer's run (starting in 2012) is becoming more and more reliant on having a dedicated fanbase that unconditionally loves Bill & Ted, rather than needing to actually write something really funny. I'm not saying Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure needs to have deep multilayered satire or anything, but it needs to make jokes. Bringing out a character so you can say "Nobody saw your movie!" isn't a joke.

Big props to the girl playing Carrie for being a serious method actor.

There's also a Drew Barrymore mannequin (minus a leg) thrown into the big set dressing in Screampunk.

I've been having some good runs of this house so far. The casts are pretty on point most of the time and there's a lot of really nice creepy aesthetics.

Based on one run through this house, it's....okay. It's better than last year, but TWD overstayed its welcome about 2 years ago. I reiterate my criticisms of the past houses: they're usually just mediocre zombie houses little different in scare content from every generic zombie house of the past 25 years, but they have "Hey Walking Dead fans, remember this cool scene from your favorite TV show?" eye candy that lets them actually appeal to people. Without the fan appeal, they'd be average at best. The water scene is incredibly underwhelming, and I get the feeling that A&D's ideas may have outstripped practicality. The walkers are simply standing in large tubs of water next to the line, which are visibly sudsy and smell very strongly of chlorine. It doesn't look like "flooded room" as much as "zombies got stuck in some baths nearby."

I went through last night at 12:30 and if they keep up this momentum, they can easily win House of the Year. I can't remember the last time I saw a cast that was so incredibly aggressive. I was able to see every single scare in one go-through (several of them multiple times) because they would seriously only wait a few seconds between jumping out again.

I think The In-Between worked best because out of every house on that list, it was one of the very few to actually have a purpose in a serious horror house beyond a gimmick. Most of the houses have been funhouse or otherwise relatively comedic, especially with clowns. The In-Between and After Life are really the only two I can definitively say were trying to use 3D for a serious horror purpose rather than a gimmick. Asylum in Wonderland isn't very funny, but it also doesn't really use the 3D to enhance the setting or horror. In-Between and After Life required 3D to achieve the otherworldly dimension they were trying to portray, but Asylum uses it to make the scenes trippy and add a small amount of disorientation.

There used to be a Decayed Jack in the transformation scene to act as a scare while Transforming David distracted you, and there used to be a victim in the double-decker bus who used the last window in the bus as her boohole. Jack's two doors are still present but appear to be permanently wedged partially shut and the window is no longer broken for an actor to enter. The One-Armed Bobby also used to be behind a police box, and now he comes out from between the wall and the front of the crashed bus. His new spot has less lighting and more fog, making him harder to see when he scares. They also appear to have slightly lengthened the alley at the end so the final werewolf puppet is no longer directly in line with guests as they leave. Other changes include adding a werewolf puppet, adding David to the living room dream sequence, changing the position of the two living room Nazi Demons, and removing the knife-wielding Nazi Demon's two extra booholes because that spot is now taken up by the machine gunner.