boogeyman13

Don't worry, I thought it too. "This house doesn't have gore. But what it does have is a very particular set of skills; skills it has acquired over a very long career of HHN's."

I wouldn't chalk it up to anything but marketing strategy. They most likely just chose pictures that put the event in the best light, and showed the greatest variety of monsters and scares. I seriously, seriously doubt there are any clues there as to this year's content.

Maybe we'll get little kid versions of all the icons. Like the Muppet Babies, only 100% more homicidal.

Just to give us some context for all the clues this year, I thought I'd remind everyone what Dr. Jimmy's clues were last year, and what they lined up with. Dr. Jimmy began this year saying those were too easy, and has stepped up his game. Therefore, I think we may still be thinking a bit too literally. Just something to consider whilst we reflect on this year's Cryptic Clues. Cryptic Clues 1.0 1) "Vincent is an interesting name." - Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare 2) "I drink Dr. Pepper and I'm proud." - American Werewolf in London 3) "Winnebago" - The Walking Dead 4) "Sometimes when I'm joking, I'm quite serious." - P&T New'kd Las Vegas 5) "Waterspouts" - Gothic 6) "19th Century" - Dead End 7) "Twins" - Chupacabra house (originally clue about a South American mythology house) Cryptic Clues 2.0 1) "Pyramids" - Welcome to Silent Hill (replacement for AWiL) 2) "Photograph" - House of Horrors (Dead Exposure with monsters; replacement for the Chupacabra house) Cryptic Clues 3 "Eight cryptic statements" 1) "Free falling" - Vampires/Strengoit 2) "I've seen shit that'll turn you white." - Ghosts/Iniquitus (was some confusion from sources on this one) 3) "Apparently there hasn't been any room in hell for some time" - Zombies/Kerezan 4) "Lampy swore he saw one" - Dragon Warriors/Baccanoid 5) "Be seeing you" - Prisoners/Maschorians (two descriptions of same thing) 6) "School's out for summer, but it comes back in the fall" - Trick or Treaters/Morphans 7) "Sometimes when I'm serious, I'm really joking." - Clowns with chainsaws (were either scrapped, or referenced something else) 8) "Lollipop" - Female Chainsaw Team/Maschorians (two descriptions of same thing)

It will be. They sent out a similar tweet today: "@UORHHN: We know what you want - the #HHN23 event dates. Soon we'll be able to share. Get ready." Looks like we'll know pretty soon how many nights the event will run for, and if it'll extend into November.

Before we go too far down this rabbit hole, it's very possible you're seeing artifacts of the Ifrit's shopping list, or "Things to do" from earlier. I wouldn't put too much stock in these extra characters.

I think there's some precedence for that. Both Doomsday and Dead Silence were featured at HHN, and they didn't have a huge following. At least, not that I'm aware of. Going along with Surname being some sort of zombie house, what about Zombieland? It's got zombies, it's got a pilot for the series premiering on Amazon Prime, and it's a pretty well known brand name. It also blends comedy and horror fairly well, with the rules being a unique angle. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=v_7Zc7PuAVU

Per Dr. Jimmy's April 1st video, R.I.P.D. What do you think? I could honestly see it as the comedy house.

Okay, that was AMAZING! The level of interactivity there, and the show-like performances in the scarezones, just wow. And those projections were really good. Would love to see some of that make its way over here.

Interesting theory, and the execution could lend to some cool visuals, but it just feels a little too much like Buffy Season 4 for my personal tastes (I hated The Initiative with a passion). That being said, could be fun.

I mentioned it in the FB group, but I could also see surname being for H.R. Bloodengutz. A stretch to be sure, and probably not the case, but it's one of the only surnames I could think of that was tied to a house, save for Madness of Poe. And doing a sequel house for him seems even more unlikely, due to the use of his most famous stories the first time around.

To all the newcomers, welcome to the FB group!

Having never done a Psycho house, I definitely wouldn't mind this. And if they do go with a 100 Years of Universal Horror theme, it fits in perfectly.

You want to talk about pushing the envelope, that'd probably do it.

As a third Illinoisan, I concur. As a fan, I want dark, intense, bloody, and scary as hell. However, as a marketer, given the area, I can understand why it is the way it is. If it helps at all, just think of it like this: HHN is where you get the production value, huge sets, and wonderful theming. Local is where you go for the more intense stuff. Speaking of which, interested in a Round 2 at Reaper's Realm this year?

Even though it's not Orlando, I still kind of want to enter. How cool would it be to see one of your creations terrorizing park guests?

That seems very possible. I'm not familiar with Grad Bash at all. Do they do theming for it?

Very interesting... Seems pretty early for HHN, but what else could it be? Maybe they're doing some testing? I'd be sure it's for something else, but that corrosive sign is odd.

Would have loved to see that Silver Screams house.

Maybe the words will be Occult House? Curious to see what the next clue will be.

Easy answer! Usher costume or the Universal Palace facade.

What panel are they referring to?

So, just going to throw this out there. One of the monsters on the whiteboard in Cabin in the Woods... is named Kevin. According to the visual companion, he enjoyed dismembering people. If CitW turned out to be a house, I'd be very happy. It would be a nice substitute for Evil Dead, complete with molesting tree.

So to get in a bit more of straight wishful thinking before all the hardcore speculation for the year consumes our time, I was listening to my Halloween playlist on the way to class last night, and came across a song for an IP that could be a fun house. It's not owned by Universal so far as I know, but would be fun in a 100 years of horror theme: The Blob. I'm thinking the queue line could play the song from the 50's version with a queue video showing scenes from it, and then you get hit with visuals from the much gorier 80's version in the house. Scareactors could be half melted victims, you could use blob animatronics or prosthetics. Put in scenes like the sewer, movie theater, church, doctor's office, and crash site, and it could be a pretty cool house. You could even make the last room look like you've been absorbed into the blob, which various pieces of debris, bones, remains, and other stuff. Pump in acrid odors and use squishing and slushing noises, purple lights, all that good stuff. It could be an interesting house. The theme song for the 50's version: The trailer for the 80's version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyuWJ-7jeGY

I agree, which is why I'm thinking clowns, circuses, and the like are the wrong direction. Wasn't his clue for Gothic last year waterspouts? I'd be very surprised if it was the obvious answer.