F.U.B.A.R.

Oh man, just the thought of a Psychoscrapy street has me salivating. I have been hoping for more original concepts this year than the rehash idea, but this is one that I could live with. Just imagine the madness with 15-20 (per set)criminally insane people chasing you down, the chance to listen to all the priceless banter being thrown about and who knows, maybe some excrement. Lol! I think this would work beautifally and it would certainly be a fun area to go thru again and again. That is the thing that made those houses were all the different characterizations. One second you have someone convulsing to your left and then you have a cackling or screaming person to your right. Actors have to have a blast working Psychoscarapy.

I would be so happy if this were true. I embrace everything that HHN has done in the past and appreciate each year that they create something new and original. When the Shadows of the Past scarezone was unveiled last year and the talk was that this was going to be a teaser of HHN20, I was a bit let down. I thought it was great as a treat to the fans and I really appreciated a new scare zone for the last few nights, but for HHN20, I did not want to see a rehash of HHN16. The wedding rumor that we have all heard over the year is the last thing that I would want to see happen. Ideally I want to see an homage to the past and a movement to the future. With rumors of a Greek mythology house I have hopes, but now with the event dubbed as "20 years of Fear" I'm a bit wooried it will be a rehash. I really enjoyed HHN16, but we have seen that already.

Discuss; Supposedly from the permits Permits still have power Scene names make it online Posted by Chad on 9-6-2010 9:39 am Permits are a tricky thing. They have to go through a rather large approval process, when this happens, things are exposed. In this case we were able to get a few scene names for a couple houses. Although it isn't much information, this may be considered a spoiler, so beware! SS22 0.Facade SS23: 5. Medusa/Gorgon 7.Army of Hades Sprung 1: 9. Museum Hallway Sprung 2: 0.Facade 3. Observation Deck. Parade Building 1. Vortex 9. Rat Lady Corridor It looks like SS23 is some sort of Greek house? Sprung 1 could possibly be a lot of things... No clue one Sprung 2 but the Parade building appears to be a HHN History type house using the vortex to take us "back in time" - Don't they have a DeLorean they aren't using? Sadly that's it for now. Thanks to Nick for the tip. ****Update**** It also looks like they are having some issues with the size of the Stairs at scene 1 entry of SS22 - could this be the entrace of 1428 Elm Street? Its a stretch but if you remember the entrance to that house the stairs were right at the front.

MZ, I'm gonna have to connect with you about this at another time as I have a lot of video from years going back as far back as 2003. The most of it is on my hard drive of my current camera, but I have some on MIni DV and also some for analog that I want to convert. We will have to connect on this in the future. I'm interested to see what you plan on doing with it.

So this would be in hopes of some new stuff at this year's event and not just all repeat houses from the past; Ok, I had a cool idea for a HHN house and hope someone reads this and runs with it. I would absolutely love to see the video game Dante's Inferno made into an HHN house. It has all the darkest, most creepy imagery and demonic beasties you could ask for and an awesome backstory too. Travel through the 9 circles of Hell and experience true horror in the abyss in settings like; Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery. The soundtrack is beautifully haunting and just screams HHN. Someone please make it happen! Hey they make more and more house based on films so why not video games? They gross just as much as films really so why not. I would love to see this as a double sized soundstage house that takes you like 8-10 minutes to walk thru. I would love for Uni to take me to Hell with Dante's Inferno. Your thoughts? Cheers!!! F.U.B.A.R.

Thanks man! I am looking forward to seeing what they do next year and I really hope they give the scarezones the attention they deserve. We will surely have another incredible time any way it all comes together. Cheers!!! F.U.B.A.R.

F.U.B.A.R.’S HHN19 Ripped From the Silver Screen Review Hey there, It is once again time for me to give my usual long ass review for this year’s HHN. This year I will not neccessarily be doing a room by room, turn by turn look at the houses as I normally do, however some of the houses I will. I’ll be more focused on what worked and what did not. I will be highlighting some areas of each house though from time to time. I sometimes will refer to particular scareactors or people for special reasons, but in general I will try not to make this a shout out fest. I will however try to offer criticism without bashing and offer alternate takes of what I am critiquing. I tend to be hyper critical of things I am passionate about and just want to try to be respectful in doing so. I had the opportunity to visit the Palace Theater and the twisted world of Julienne Browning a total of 9 nights this year and I had one awesome time! I generally visit HHN during the second half of the run to let the actors get into their roles, let Uni creative make changes and so I can get the best experience I can. Sometimes props get mauled and such, but I did not hear much of that this year thankfully. I had some reservations with the theme to this year when it was announced as I really enjoy Universal Creative’s original themes, characters and stories and don’t really get into the movie tie in houses. I have to say that overall the all movie event that was Ripped From the Silver Screen was well done and had enough originality and true HHN feel to keep me very interested. I was disappointed in the website this year and I feel that our icon never really got the full treatment. I liked the back story of The Usher Julienne Browning and the Universal Palace Theater and felt it was appropriate and creepy, but did not even compare to what we got last year in Bloody Mary. That said, I was prepared to experience the event for less the story and more the houses and scare zones as the stars. Seeing I experienced almost every night starting off doing Stay and Scream, I never got to experience the front of the park movie screen and Usher characters scaring guests as they entered. I came in late on one evening and stood and watched the screen and a bit of scaring but feel that I missed out a bit on this. The make up looked good, but the actors were just standing around for the most part, but it was nearing 10pm at this point. The movie screen was well done and effective per usual. I’ll move on to reviewing the houses from this year which I really feel were the stars of the show. No other year can I say that there was not a stinker in the whole bunch of 8 houses. Every one had it’s strengths and were solid. None approached the rankings of best house ever, but they were all pretty good. Even the worst of them would have been middle of the pack perhaps in an average year. I will grade the houses on a 5 skull scale. 5 being the best and working down from there. So here we go…. #1 -5 Skulls- Dracula: Legacy in Blood I know a lot of people will bash me for picking this as my favorite, but it is a personal taste thing here for this one. I have always enjoyed the vampire bride mythos and it was great to finally see it portrayed in a house. I really wonder if I would have liked Dracula as much as I did if I did not go on the Unmasking the Horrors tour. They did an excellent job in delivering the back story and I fell for it hook, line and sinker. I will refer to the tour now and again to help illustrate the back story. The whole premise of “The Calling”, a night when Dracula is summoning brides to come to him and give themselves and their souls over to him in exchange for immortality. I thought was just gothic and horrifically beautiful in vampire lore. Or course all men will be impaled on pikes outside the castle, but women will have the honor of becoming one of Vlad’s true brides who enjoy immortality and everlasting vitality or a feral bride who only gets the immortality. They will have the lovely honor of having a body that will continue to degrade through time, rotting and becoming skeletal until they are dust. This story brought me to a great starting point every time a entered the castle. The façade, with the castle walls and tower and numerous pikes holding the bodies and heads of men whom Vlad the Impaler has triumphed. A dining table sits among the carnage for Vlad to survey his work (depicted from an ancient wood carving). The lights and fog were beautiful and helped to set up the feeling of dread and horror. Very well done. As you enter the castle, the brides in beautiful wedding dresses splattered around the bodice with blood, are very aggressive in making you a victim, hissing and lunging. Stone statues seem to come to life as you turn a corner. You enter a library and a bride floats above you, pausing and drifting away. This was one of the best effects in the house. Very creepy! The sight of seeing her above you and then the fluidity of her drifting away just sent chills down my spine. Very effective. Out onto the tower and the feral bride reaches down to you from above in the “dog house”. Nice use of levels here and scares coming from above and ground level. The “fluffy” room with Renfield squirting you was cool as the design made you want to look into the cell and look at the animals. Just when you see Renfield you realize that it is too late and you get sprayed in the face or if you are running away you got it down the back. The characterization here was very Bram Stoker and I liked the make up and costume. The cage on the face effect was nice and seemed to echo Coppola and maybe 13 Ghosts. The coffin room had a nice winding path to it and I recall getting many hisses coming at me from all angles. I think this is also were I saw my first Dracula.I had heard that there were three versions of him in the house and I only fully saw when he was kind of batlike. Very dark here so I can’t say I saw a lot. I had heard on the tour that the coffins in this room have all been used. Hmm, that is creepy. And the chandelier hanging above is almost completely made of bones, many of which are real human bones. I loved the archway area with the mirrors. It had great depth and shadow. The creepy brides just hung back in the shadows and that is when you got a nice hiss in the ear from the other side. The further you go in the house you see more and more of the decaying feral brides and they are very aggressive. I liked the corner where a feral bride is entangled between two dead bodies, lunging out as you pass. I noticed a female body with the brain hanging out of the top of the head. I wonder if this was the same prop used for Dorothy in Scary Tales 3 last year? The last room is a treat as you come to an open room with a contraption of some kind in the middle. There are spikes that are dripping blood and the level beneath this that has crushed body parts on it. It seems that the dark prince has taken a small bit of pity on the feral brides and has devised this method of giving them a tiny bit of relief for their thirst for blood. On the tour it was told that the creative team dubbed this contraption “the squeezinart”. Good humor from the guys on a dark subject. As you can tell I really enjoyed Dracula: Legacy of Blood. I do want to mention some of the problems with this house too. Firstly, just like Body Collectors; Collections of the Past last year, this house suffered from issues in the early evening when the sun was still out. Your eyes could not adjust until halfway through the house, maybe around the coffin room, and this was a major issue. I wonder it there is anything that Uni can do to fix this issue. Maybe adjust lighting levels a bit and as the sun falls adjust them back. I don’t have an answer but it is a major flaw of the house. Another flaw is also one of my main reasons for liking the house. That is the back story. I really wonder how much the average guest picks up as they go through and without doing the tour, how much I would have gotten from it. Back story is a great thing and I love that Uni creative goes to the levels they do, but I wish there was some better way, maybe in the map, to deliver these wonderful, detailed stories to the guests. Overall, I feel that this was the best house this year. Fun Memory; Getting a “bite” on the neck or some fun call out from vampy bride Amanda almost every time through. #2- 4 3/4 Skulls- Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned I had some early doubts about this one as I am not a big Frankenstein fan in terms of from how scary the character is. The story is quite tragic and I just felt it may not translate well to HHN. Universal Creative did a fantastic job in modernizing the story and characters and making it a top notch spectacle. The ruins of Dr Frankenstein’s castle beckon you forth. The smell of burning wood is thick in the air and the embers glow around the edges of the castle. Dr Frankenstein has been busy rebuilding his lair and he intends on bringing forth all new abominations from his lab. The style used in this house is fresh and new with walls being stitched up and all kinds of experiments and electrical structures being used. The steam punk style is prevalent and effective in the monsters and décor. I really liked the use of the green lights on the Alphas. I like what they did with the look of the monsters and how they named them after the Greek alphabet. The effects used in the opening hallway with the projection of the monster grabbing a person and mauling them was well done and just the kind of effects that separate HHN from most of all the others in the haunt industry. This projection served not only as a cool show to look at, but a great distraction. As guests watched the monster mayhem, a tall alpha comes at you from the right. I saw many people jump a mile here. The good doctor’s lab with the recording playing in the background and all of his experiments spread around the room including an ape arm and body spread out for research, felt authentic and real. Another strength of this house was the proper recycling of old props. From the leg sawing scene to the use of the Fly pods, everything seemed to fit here. The old stoves/ furnaces were cleverly used to hide an ambushing monster. Old props from “random acts of terror” were used for lab scenes featuring The Bride. Not too sure I liked the look of her though. I really liked the room on the right with all of the limbs hanging. It was very gory and with that sliding body rig made for some great loud scares. The heart rip scene played out nicely and got a big reaction with guests. Poor Fritz, he never had a chance! The finale played out nicely with some pretty aggressive acting and ping pong scares. The good doctor hanging from above as he received his just reward for creating life when he should have not delved where man should not. Ironic ending as his own creations kill him off. I would list this house extremely close to the top and found it to be very solid in every way. I actually can not find anything wrong with it other than I prefer the Vampire storyline better. Well done! Fun Memories ; Having on numerous occasions friends working in this house give some extreme attention to me and either go forehead to forehead with me, grunting my name “FUBAR!!!” or in the case of CD at the end, bear hugging me and practically pick me up two feet off the ground to the dismay of the teenage girls behind me as I hammed it up screaming. I recall the girls crying out “THEY BETTER NOT TOUCH ME!!!” Good times! #3- 4 1/2 Skulls- Leave It to Cleaver Oh the twisted depravity of Leave It to Cleaver! What sick fun for the whole family! I just loved the dark and fun theme of this house. As one of the Fangoria houses this was set up beautifully by the queue video of the brilliant Mike Aiello and young cannibal Caden, you just knew you were in for a treat visiting Meetz Meats! I had a blast watching those public service style messages. “Your meat and you!” Classic! The outside facade of the meat packing plant had a nice authentic feel with the loading dock and Meetz Meats sign with the sadistic smiling face, the old fifties style bike and other props set around the entrance. Onward into the front office area where I made sure to punch in every time through. The portrayal of the characters with their happy masks and the “Gee Golly” tone is what made this one. It feels so wrong but it is so fun. The little tikes in the school area with the slaughtered pig hanging like a play thing and then the room with the stacked cans of product shows things are about to go bizarre. What could possibly be in those cans? Take a few more steps around the corner and you see hanging torsos of a female form. Hmmm, how about that arm in the garbage disposal? Great effect that received a number of reactions from laughs to screams. Excellent gore in the conveyor belt scene and the pens of victims. Loved the guy in the ice cream man suit hanging with the marks on him like a side of beef. Shank, flank, brisket? Mr. smiling worker is ready to cut you off a fresh filet with his trusty electric knife. The room with the pile of processed meat on the ground and the lady on the conveyor belt split into three parts was so gross and put a smile on my face due to the amount of gore here. The cold storage scene with the sounds of chainsaws and the splatter of blood on the curtains was a nice effect as you expected the forms of human shapes to come out and get you. The ending was so unexpected with the store front and the final product waiting for purchase. And the smiling face of Samuel Meetz himself. Nice touch and reverse ending from what you might expect. Out the door you go and there is Big Boy with his large bladed chainsaw. Great climax and build up in tension. The best thing of this house was the interaction between the guest and the actors. You could walk through and talk to each and every worker of the meat packing plant and they would ad lib and come up with some extremely funny remarks. Unfortunately, I found that the two cast were very different and this did not occur all the time. I think that it was cast A that was always game for the interaction. The sets and progression of this house and overall dark tone of the humor was very reminiscent of Psychoscrapy which I commend. This style of house break up the monotony of things and gives you an unexpected laugh, if you are twisted enough to find cannibalism funny that is. Leave It to Cleaver was simply the funniest house this year and extremely well done. Fun memory- This could be long if I started listing all of the memories of the interactions I had in this house, but the one that stands out is the guy that took a look at me and my size and tilted his head and said, “wow, I’m glad I get paid by the pound. We are gonna get a lot of meals out of you!”. I could have been offended, but I appreciate that fact that the actors are willing to take things to the edge and just go for it. Funny stuff! #4- 4 1/4 Skulls- Wolfman I’ve never been a huge fan of bipedal Wolf men and prefer the quadruped variety like An American Werewolf in London. If you are doing two legged I would like to see a completely transformed beast ala The Howling. Anyway ,seeing that this is a house for the upcoming film that is a re-imagining of the Claude Rains classic, I understand the type of Wolf man being presented so I knew going in that I will take it as that. I just don’t find that style very scary or threatening. I had hoped to see open ,outdoor landscapes on the sound stage sets and for the most part, I feel that Uni succeeded. The opening gypsy town was nice in detail, but had only one actor. The wooded area came next and had a larger feel to it than it really was as I saw it on the tour. Between the mixture of real and fake trees and the grass and low laying fog, they pulled off a believable forest setting that was inhabited by more then just Wolf men. Props have to go out to Finner who amped it up every time a group of CSWers went through this section. Warning other guests to not trust the wolves and that they are everywhere. Good stuff. The Wolf man costumes in this area seemed pretty good looking and the make up was top notch. I am glad that the film will feature Rick Baker effects as he is “the Man” on werewolf stuff. You could see that he had his influence on these effects too. I liked how the Wolf man would seemingly come out of no where to jump out of the woods and into your path. Nicely done! The wolf on the outside of the tavern looked to be pretty angry about being up on that wall. I noticed a lot of taxidermy in the houses this year. The tavern itself was a standard, turn of the century bar complete with a wench behind the bar cleaning glasses and a Wolf man jumping out of no where at you. Overall, it was not my favorite scene. Onward to the morgue that had an undertaker asking incessantly “Have you seen this man about the village?” while he pulled the sheet from the corpse that has been mauled in an attack. The far side of the room featured a man that had on a gurney that had claw marks all over him and may just be starting to transform. Many times through this room I noticed that this area was unmanned. The crypt scene was done nicely with candles and the decaying relatives of our main character Lawrence Talbot. The “easter egg”on the wall was most fitting. I learned on the tour that the inscriptions in Latin say “ Stay on the roads, keep clear of the moors”. Taken directly from An American Werewolf In London. Nice touch from Uni creative as a homage to another great Universal Werewolf feature. The lunatic asylum area was fairly conventional and did not offer much in the way of scares but I realize it is following movie lines. The transformation here was one of those timed effects that you may or may not catch. I think I only caught it twice and I had to have gone through at least 10 times. The effect was not all that great anyway, but a nice effort and attempt to do a werewolf transformation in a house. The real meat of the house was the overhanging walls that you walked through as the Wolf man jumped directly over you and the last scene featuring the circle of stones and the running Wolf man/ hunter scene. I felt that the sets in these areas and the manner at with guest had scare actors above and on both side was great. It created a feel that you don’t get often in haunted houses and it did feel “outside”. The finale with the hunter worked beautifully each time and once the Wolf man (Danno) hung over me at the end of the ramp. Nice touch! The bass of the shotgun blast was loud and effective and then you get the last Wolf man coming around the last stone to the right to get you one last time. Should have used silver bullets Mr. hunter man! Overall a solid house with nice costumes and make up, strong sets and effects. Too bad that Wolf Man was so short of a house as it really hurt the tension that had been building. Before you know it, you are at the end. Another problem I had with this house is that the acting was much too rigid and every time through was the same. Almost every line I heard was delivered the same way as the last. To some this my be good, as there is a consistency there, but for me, who went through this one 10+ times it got a bit old. I wonder if the cast was told they had to keep it the same and to not deviate due to agreements with the film studio. Wolf man was another solid house in the end. Fun Memory; The totally out of character Hammer, coming over to me in the asylum area and saying “Lunch on Sunday?” Totally unexpected and funny! #5- Silver Screams- 4 Skulls I had heard some things about Silver Screams regarding the films that would be depicted in it and immediately thought of All Night Die In and it’s sequel. Being the icon house this year and that it was located in the parade building (site of my fav house last year, Scary Tales 3) had me excited. I was not too thrilled with the choices of the films, but figured that Uni would deliver with great sets and cinematic flair. The facade was better than I expected with the outside of the Universal Palace theater looking decrepit and haunting and suddenly it is ALIVE. Unbelievable effect that is eerie and spectacular. The Usher points at you, issuing you forward into his twisted world of film. The smell,. clearly of popcorn, fills your senses. You pass the ticket booth and see scattered popcorn and popcorn buckets. Old seats and curtains hanging, feeling just like an old theater. Then you come to the “set up” intro hallway with a movie poster of the film you are about to be pulled into. The Phantom of the Opera, Julienne Browning personal favorite movie is first. Before I go on from here, I just wanted to say that the “set up” hallways are both neat in the iconic trinkets and props from the movies and the posters themselves, but they sure are a waste of space. Definitely a pro and a con thing with this idea. I did like some of the props such as the flowers and cricket bat for SOTD and the Book of the Dead for Evil Dead, bourbon bottle and dynamite for The Thing, but the feel was just kinda strange as you were set up with another film and it felt a bit too constrictive to the flow of the house. Anyway, just my thoughts on that. Opera was started very nicely with a live action scene that had special lighting and color tones to make it look like a flickering black and white silent film. It was an effect that had me smiling from ear to ear and doing a double take the first time through. Not much scaring here, but the extra loud pipe organ and the phantom on the right definitely got a few people. Nice start. I may be a bit hazy on order of the rest so bare with me here, but I think that My Bloody Valentine was next. I did not like the original film and despised the 3D remake, but all in all Uni created a threatening environment that was one of the best in the house. The Harry Warden miner actors were aggressive and everywhere. They were popping out of hallways, behind sheets and would not leave you be. The gore factor was pretty high and the sets were really realistic with the hospital setting. My favorite part was the bright lights that were behind many of the miners. It made for a nice effect that both blinded you and looked really nice as the fog combined with the lights for nice theatrics. The Strangers was next I think and while I did like the film, I wondered how it would translate to a house. I felt it worked on certain levels as the sets were very realistic and well done and the characters looked exactly like the film. It always blows me away how Uni can make such incredible looking house settings. From All Night Die In to Psychoscrapy: Home For the Holidays, these sets are so cool! The sound effects and lighting were top notch with the fire alarm beeping and the constant sobbing of the girl in the background and the fluttering curtain in the windows, it all worked. Unfortunately, the actors did nothing. They just stood there and let you walk by. The shorter dark haired female lunged at me once, but overall it was very flat. The fact that Army or Darkness or Medieval Dead was in this house had me a little excited when I had heard about it, but it was really done poorly. The single stretch of the Pit Witch scene with two actors just did not work. I went through a couple times and saw no one. Again, it just screams “throw in” to me. Next I think was the back stage area with the hanging patrons and The Usher urging you forward. Nice work with the air hose! I saw so many great scares with that and the awesome effect of the flashlight cutting through the fog. I liked this area as it did connect with the back story of The Usher, but wonder if the space could have been better used in some of the smaller areas such as The Thing or SOTD. The brings me to The Thing which I understand why it was in this house, being one of my favorite horror films and that it was a “given” to recycle seeing they have all of those props left laying around from HHN17, but hold on, if you are going to do it, do it right! The sets looked ok, the music was there as expected, but to see the animatronic not working, sitting there static …again….poor, poor, poor! Then they just had a MacReady looking guy, distracting you, telling you to look in the rafters and then the same character that you see in Horrorwood comes out for a scare. The area is so small and reeks of “throw in”. Why bother? Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite horror comedies and I think that it is pure genius. I was excited to see it portrayed here, but seeing that it is a comedy figured it might be a hard sell. The Winchester was done perfectly and looked amazing in the detail. The Queen playing on the Juke and the tone of everything was exact. Where they went wrong again was the acting. The actor playing Shaun, just stood on the pool table, cue in hand, yelling to “run” and “get going” or whatever he was saying, but it just fell flat. The zombie sitting in a booth did nothing and sure, zombie Ed dancing was funny, but it did not add a lot to the scene. I really was pissed that the zombie hands/ shadow effect was not working. That would have added a nice level of a threatening tone to the scene and it is just too bad I did not see it. For a scene about zombies, there sure was not enough. I am trying to recall how the ending happened and from which scene it transitioned from, but I really don’t remember much except that it was weak. Which is too bad as the rest of the house was pretty solid. It was not too big on scares but the sets and effects were nicely done. The main thing I keep thinking to myself is that if they cut out The Thing and Army of Darkness and maybe the backstage scene, would it made for a better house? Did they try and do too many movies within one house? I feel that this is the main fault of the house. If they perfected other scenes and made it more scary, then it would have made the house more solid. Quality over quantity in my mind. Fun Memory; Smelling that popcorn and seeing that facade change for the first time. #6- SAW- 3 ½ Skulls I like the SAW series somewhat and felt that for a major crowd draw, this could actually be ok. The fact that it was in the Jaws queue had me a bit worried though. I wondered how they could construct an industrial setting inside an outdoor queue line. The queue of the house had all these posters with victims in traps and stuff from the movies and I really thought that it detached the guest from the fact that they are about to experience the movie for real. The Wilson Steel sign out front was a nice touch and more fitting. I was immediately impressed with the faithful depiction of SAW as soon as I walked in the house. The industrial setting, the music, the fuzzy TVs with the puppet Billy on them and another nice touch, video of the guests walking through the room, it was all there. It made you think that you were on camera and being watched by Jigsaw. The voice over by Tobin Bell added a lot too as his voice is SAW. You needed that 100%. Each room you entered was either a victim/ trap scene from the movies (reverse bear trap, arm trap, barbed wire trap, drill trap, face razor trap etc) and they were all done precisely like the films or scenes with pig face Jigsaw coming at you. The gore factor was pretty good here, witness the corpse with half a head sitting against a wall or the beautifully done prop of Jigsaw laying in the hospital bed. Very fine detail and realism there. The scene with the hanging pig heads was filler, but watch those heads! Someone might head butt them! The ending was a ping pong scare scenario with multiple pig face actors and for the most part I think that it worked. I saw many people running out of that house and laughing or screaming. Those guys were pretty aggressive! The feel of the house was just like the films and I loved the words written on the walls (cherish your life). With all the consistency to the films and attention to detail came the worst part of the house, the timing of the traps. If you walked through and missed a trap effect go off, you missed the key scenes. You could theoretically walk through and miss all the traps. It is just too dependant on the timing and it ruined it for me on several occasions. Especially when the house is the most anticipated and has B&T right next to it, you know you will have long lines. This should have been in a sound stage and they should have pulsed groups through so you saw all the effects. The fact that it was in the Jaws queue did not ruin the house per say, but the timing and inability to stand and watch the scenes unfold did. We had several flashlight Nazis yelling at us to keep moving and it was annoying! The house itself is very well done, but the execution and the fact that so much depended on the timing of the traps kept this from being higher on the list. Fun Memory; Entering the first room and hearing Tobin Bell’s voice as Jigsaw and seeing Billy the doll on the TV and thinking, yep, I am in SAW. #7- Chucky, Friends Till the End- 3 Skulls I am not a huge fan of Chucky. I feel it is a lame excuse for a horror character and he is not scary in the least bit. I was not looking forward to this house that much, but I had heard a few things that sounded like it might be fun. That is the key word with the Chucky house- FUN. I really liked the Good Guys doll box façade outside, but did not really get the rock music at the queue. The vortex worked well in both story (to shrink you down to Chucky’s size) and also in execution as it really threw me for a loop. Too bad the shrinking down part was contradicted by the sign hanging in the toy store proclaiming that Chucky is now life size. Anyway, the store scene with all the boxes of Chuckys was a nice set up for the latter scenes of misfit toy mayhem. I really liked the Barrel of monkeys room as the vines were made from the actual monkeys, strung together and the jungle scenery was colorful and quite interactive. Then all of a sudden out of no, there comes the red and golden monkey guys. They were very much in your face and definitely got a lot of scares. As did the stuffed animal room. I personally jumped a mile the first time through when I was looking over my shoulder speaking with one of my friends when the whole wall of stuffed animals came charging at me with a crazy screeching sound. Very cool! I also liked the very loud etch a sketch boo doors. Very effective! The Chucky masks also worked well as they did seem to creep a lot of people out. The Barbie room was a little twisted with the Barbies being all melted and such, but the kicker was all the expletives and nasty insults that were written on the walls by I assume Tiffany. “Barbie is a whore!” Great stuff! I liked the baby powder smell too in this room. Cool that they can do that. The army man room was fun too as they were yet another nostalgic toy from my youth brought back in a twisted way. Overall the house was much better than expected. The main reason I say so is that I had fun. Pretty much every time through I was laughing and seeing more and more. It was a standard fun house style haunt, but made fun by the addition of Chucky and the inventiveness of the toys. It would have been higher on the list but Saw got the #6 slot due to the incredible detail and faithful quality that it achieved from its source material. Fun Memory; Army Man Mythspinner calling my name and saluting me. #8- The Spawning- 2 1/2 Skulls Yet another of Fangoria’s houses, The Spawning was supposed to be a B monster movie where you are sent into the sewer system of Wyandot county Ohio to investigate a blockage in the water works only to discover there are nasty critters to blame. The set up is standard B shlock so I was game. I liked the facade depicting the outside of the sewer/ water works building and the water ram bursting periodically to scare the guests. Nothing special but ok. You enter the building and see the control panels and unmanned monitors and you know that something is wrong. You progress into the sewers and the sets I have to say were pretty good looking. Very believable in tone and size with pipes and chains and grating here and there. Then my whole experience is interrupted by seeing one of the sculders or whatever they were called. Oh boy! What pathetic looking costumes! Silly sleestak looking masks with a torn bandage looking suits. Yikes! I did however like the light up green eyes and thought that they were effective when they stood back in the darkness, but overall, the star of the show was weak. The thing about B movies is that typically you get a cool monster at the end that justified watching a pretty crappy film. This had no pay off and to further the bland quality of the monsters, the rest of the house was just the same pipes and grates over and over, no changing areas except the eggs that you see that the creatures have laid and the strobe room. That room did a pretty good job at disorienting, but really did not reflect something with the storyline and had no purpose. I wish I saw some more creativity with maybe different styles of aesthetics that gave the impression that the creatures were transforming the sewers ala Aliens or that you maybe saw more than one kind of creature. All you got were the same 4 1/2-5 foot sleestaks. Not to mention, this is a sewer and where is the water? There definitely needed to be more water effects. I also recall the ending being very lame. Fun Memory; Buying a 22oz Fosters and jumping into line and getting to the house before I finished even 1/3 rd of the beer. I had to chug the remainder and I was a bit buzzed going through. Not so much to do with the house per say, but just a different experience none the less. LOL! So there are my reviews of the houses this year. I have to say I was pretty impressed. As I stated earlier, there really was not a stinker in the bunch. None were the best ever type houses but all were solid and made repeated trips through each enjoyable. I really wish Universal would try and integrate some multi path scenarios and try for some pulsing next year. I know I am dreaming, but I always look for improvements and this could help. Also, what is the deal with Uni and animatronics? I am not a huge fan of them, but you would think that a huge company like Universal could get them right. Year after year it is the same thing and they never work right. Just saying, but it is kinda sad that they can’t get it right and Knott’s and Netherworld do it big time every year! I would also like to see the return of more queue videos. Aside from the excellent Leave it to Cleaver video, there was not any to speak of. Videos have their purpose and if used right create tension and back story and give the poor shleps in line something to watch for 90 minutes. Shows I only did B&T as I really dislike Rocky Horror Picture Show so I will give my thoughts on Bill and Ted’s Excellent Halloween Adventure. I like B&T, but don’t get onto it like a lot of people and really respect the genius that is Mike Aiello. He is super talented and I love how he mixes the pop culture stuff and delivers a highly entertaining show that rings true to so many people. If has to be hard to hit upon the right mix and still have some semblance of story. This year was no different as it had many colorful characters and situations that kept a smile on my face and the audience laughing and dancing in their seats. I’m not too big on the dance stuff, but it all worked pretty well for the most part. The light saber dance number was nice as the whirring blades were both a cool visual effect as well as an auditory feast. That number felt like it went on for a bit too long though. Song selection was very good and kept it all very upbeat. My favorite parodies were Bruno ( are you looking at my cooglesack?) and the William Shatner/ Kirk stuff. Very funny! The Random Twilight Sequence bit (I…cried….when….you….died….in….Har…ry…Pot..ter…) was funny and the Alternate Swear Words bit (That girl sure has a nice Shia LaBeouf) in the pre-show was great! As was the Michael Roddy new cast. Dick Johnson and Rob Cox! Nice! The show overall was a fun experience that ran a bit long and had a few too many dance numbers, but a solid show in the end. Scare Zones Let me preface this by saying that I love scare zones and look forward to them every year. I recall being so disappointed in the scare zones from HHN17. Luckily I then received a renewed appreciation for Universal’s work last year that it gave me much anticipation for this year. The Skoolhouse and pumpkin patch were incredible and my favorite attraction ever at HHN. And that is saying a lot being that I have attended the past 12 years. This year however I really feel that Universal took a step back. The zones were much too small and they were greatly reduced in effectiveness by that stupid NO SCARING ON THE SIDEWALKS rule. What the hell is that! Take away both space in an already small area and give the guests safe zones. Just retarded! The very small areas were also poorly situated in the cases of A:COC and Cirque Du Freak. Both suffering in regards to a cluster of crowd and in the case of New York a restricted use of a larger space. That area should be huge! Cirque was in a small circular area that forced people to just group up in and it became over crowded and the actors could not even move and do their jobs. Also, I felt that Horror Wood was much too much a photo op. I realize the average guest likes this, but it seriously reduces the enjoyment of the zone for the people that want to get what they expect from a Halloween event and that is to get scared. The use of masks were also very hit or miss this year with the better ones being from WOTLD and Containment, but some in Horror Wood and the prosthetics and head pieces in A:COC were terrible. Masks are ok in houses because you only see them briefly and you may not see the gaps and neck lines, but on a street you can see everything and you can scrutinize the thing for long periods of time. It just does not work well. Anyway, I am getting well ahead of myself so let me now rate the scare zones this year in the same manner as the house scale was done; #1- War of the Living Dead- 5 Skulls As many of you know I love zombies and I am a bit of a WWII buff too so my interest in this one was obvious. There had been some discussion regarding the depiction of the warring sides here and I thought that Uni was wimping out a bit and not using Nazi zombies to avoid a PC backlash. They even changed the wording on the website and seeing this I lost a bit of faith that this one would be as good as I hoped. Luckily, the aesthetics and effects helped to create a believable backdrop in scope. Two opposed forces locked in an epic struggle through all eternity and you are caught in the crossfire! Sounds good to me and WOTLD did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the sets and props. Everything had the appropriate WWII feel and all of the vehicles helped the depth and layers here. The cannon in the front amongst the sandbags was a nice starting point, as the loud sound effect of the cannon going off was a nice touch. The compressed air effects on the zombie soldiers guns surprised me and again added a nice effect that I don’t think guests expected. The concrete bunker with the flamethrower on top was probably my favorite set piece. It had a very authentic look to it and the detail of the bullets holes was well done. The flamethrower zombie helped to round out the look of the artwork on the website so it was good to see the use of fire. The set pieces of the sides of houses and barns were surprisingly effective in look and use as a prop that the zombie could use as cover. I figured that they may not be effective due to the size, but they blended in nicely. The music in this area was a mixture of military marching band style songs and speeches by FDR and also some House of 1000 Corpses music which I liked quite a bit. The costumes and overall look of the zombie soldiers was one of the big positives to me. The quasi German look and the American looks held up a belief that you did not need the actual flags or depiction of Swastikas to sell this story. Uni achieved what I thought you they would not and it was good to see. The masks and make up was excellent. I am not a fan of masks in scare zones, but these were excellent in design and blended nicely with the low light levels. The weapons and helmets were fitting and again, the pressurized air effects were good. The acting was a mixture of good shambling zombie movements and what you would expect soldiers to move like. I really think that you needed both to sell this area. I wish more of the actors were doing the zombie movements. There was one guy on I think cast B, that has his movements down so good. I think I recall someone saying his was C.J. anyway, he had this great, slow, almost drunken look to him and then he would come alive and with lightning speed stick his hand in your face mere inches from touching you. And he would also do his slow routine and then take off at full sprint down the street after a guest. He was very effective and I wish I saw more of this style. The lighting was very good too with very low levels and the flame thrower helped to break it up, brightening up things from time to time. The barb wire lighting effects on the street was cool too. Sound effects, such as the cannon and the bullets whizzing by were perfect. It all had an authentic feel to it which I appreciated. The use of fog was also done well that added a subtle smoke-like quality here. CSW member Brooke had her hands full as special effects tech and she did a great job! Overall, I liked this street the best. I really wish that there was a bit more scaring going on and unfortunately there was way too much photo ops stuff here too. It really destroys the mood and I wish Uni would try and avoid this from happening. An excellent scare zone none the less. Fun memory- Watching guest after guest jump a mile after CJ ran at them or came within inches of grabbing their face. #2- Lights, Camera Hacktion!- 4 ½ Skulls I am not a huge fan of the whole chainsaw thing, but I do respect their place at HHN and actually enjoy seeing people get freaked out and put themselves in mortal danger trying to get away. I find it all entertaining every year, but personally don’t think that it is that scary. Anyway, I had very low hopes for this zones as I thought that it might be a lame themed attempt at getting chainsaws in an all movie event. The back story of a film crew getting mauled by actors taking it all too serious sounded pretty funny, so I was game. I imagined that victims would be used in force and I feel that in the past victims have not been used effectively. The sets were what I expected with various cameras, tracking rigs and sets with lighting rigs and craft services tables. It all had the feel I expected. Nice to see the fake saws buried deep within some of the sets. The cast is what totally made this zone. The chainsaw guys are aggressive as usual and full of attitude and intimidation. They are covered in blood from their victims and I liked to see this level of gore. The interaction with the film crew victims was just a riot to watch! Seeing Colin stick that guy in a trash can and saw him into next week what hysterical! Seeing piles of victims in the middle of the street, priceless! And seeing Captain Clipboard Brendan jumping and scaring guest after guest with a clipboard, worth the price of admission. Great show set after set and night after night! I really liked the new surgical silicon that was used in this zone. The depth of the wounds was amazing and realistic. Again, the blood used here was very good.. I wish I could have seen some gags involving cut off limbs or prosthetics like that. Would have been over the top and gory, but it would have been unexpected and real considering that there are chainsaw in use here. The reason Hacktion gets such high marks from me is because of the entertainment value and because of the fun I see out of the cast and the guests. It was good to see the Chainsaw Drill Team finally get their own zone too. Wolf made an excellent coordinator and it was great to be able to visit him and chat. Excellent job by all involved. I feel that the “No scaring on sidewalks” rule hurt Hacktion the most. The drill team are relentless and they should not be contained and restricted in the areas that they can scare. In years past I have seen chainsaw guys chasing guests right into bathrooms. I know that there has always been rules such as not running after guests and no Leather face moves and stuff. But the no scaring on sidewalks rule is terrible for the event. It goes beyond safety concerns and ruins a good thing. Not to mention it limits the size of the overall zone. I would have also liked to see some bigger saws used in this area too. The one at the end of Cleaver was a surprise and I had heard that saw was modified to look like a bigger saw blade and was really just a regular sized one. However they did it, it looked awesome and it would have been nice in Hacktion too. The saws looked like they got beaten on this year as they were dropping like flies. I wonder if we will see all new saws for HHN20? Fun Memory- Halloween night shenanigans. Seeing the cast of Containment being chased by Hacktion and seeing the previously great bearded, long haired Monkey all clean cut and doing his best Clark Kent impression Halloween night. #3 Horror Wood Die In- 4 Skulls I had high hopes for this one hoping that lightning would strike the same Mel’s area again after the super Skoolhouse zone last year. The simple idea of horror movie characters coming out of the drive in screen would be sure to deliver. The set up was nicely done with the Moon Light Drive in sign stating that there was a Horror Film Festival scheduled tonight. The sign was one of my favorite set props built this year for sure. The drive in screen while a bit small was effective with a mixture of horror film clips and old school drive in advertisements. Concessions! Popcorn and soda! Let’s all go to the movies! Good stuff! Of course The Usher would pop up from time to time here too. The many cars and vans with the speaker stand mounted next to them was also nicely done. The concession stand with the fun signs and artwork was another of my favorite sets here. Overall the characters depicted here were spot on, Norman Bates, Nosferatu, The Strangers, Regan, Zombies, monster from Ghost Story, Mrs Ganush from, Drag Me To Hell, a monster from The Thing, They were all good, however the use of masks here was very tough in full light and the masks sticking out of collars and such. The thing monster was cool, but Ghost Story and Nosferatu were a little less than stellar. The look of Frankenstein’s monster was also weak and the inclusion of Tony Montana from Scarface in a HHN scare zone is silly. He is not a horror character so why was he here? Sure he was riddled with gunshot wounds and he is carrying a gun, but he does not belong. I know a lot of people liked him here and he was quite funny, but I was disappointed to see Uni decide to include a character like this at HHN. End of rant. The biggest problem here was again the photo op scenario here. How can actors act if they are talking pictures every 2 seconds? It takes all flow of atmosphere out of the zone and makes it a very “un” scare zone. The scaring that I did see was pretty good, with Regan being very creepy freaking guests out and Nosferatu banging the side of the van. The Strangers family hunting down people and the character from Ghost Story screaming for people to get off the cars. The zombies were not portrayed in a scary way at all and were more funny than anything. Dancing and using the severed limbs they carried as guitars. Frankenstein’s monster was poor in make up and character as he screamed at people and chased them. Norman Bates was the best in my mind for faithfulness to character and also scaring. Not too sure what some of the characters were supposed to be from like the cheerleader and the maiden looking lady with the scratches on her face. The Thing monster was pretty fun and freaked out many guests too. The use of the drive in screen also played as a determent to the zone as the music in the drive in ads did nothing to create tension or dread. Maybe some more horror movie music would have served the purpose. Overall this zone was very disappointing and was too congested and could have been a fun experience for horror movie fans. Instead it turned out to be a lame photo op area with not a lot of scaring going on. Between the characterizations and the bad masks and the photos, Horror Wood will not be remembered in my mind as a great scare zone. Another thing is that there are too many repeated characters from Silver screams. I am not sure if that was intentional for consistency or maybe as a cost saving measure, but I did not like it. Horror Wood would be lower on my list if it were not for how bad the others were. Fun Memory; Even those I did not think the character belonged in Horror Wood, Tony Montana was pretty funny. Tony came over to my group and started staring me down. I said “nice cocaine under your nose Tony”. So he continued to stare me down. So I said to him “Guys I think I’m about to get that grenade launcher stuck up my culo”. Tony just looks at my and says” You cockaroach!” It was so funny and it was great to see the actor know the role and know just how to reply, unlike the guy playing Shaun in Silver Screams. #4 Cirque Du Freak- 3 ½ Skulls So Cirque was another of the movie tie-ins that I felt was a poor choice for HHN. Basically the source material is from a series of teen books and the upcoming movie (released in October) that looked to be a light hearted film and not something I would associate with true horror and HHN. That said, I had minimal hopes for Cirque and I was at least hoping for some cool looking freak show characters and sets. The fact that Uni decided to recycle the pumpkin patch area in central park from last year as a connector from Horror Wood to Cirque was ok by me. I loved that area last year and was thrilled to see the flickering Jack O lanterns and hear the chilling music once again. It was not quite as good this time as you did not have the Bloody Mary pumpkin blow out effect nor the trick or treating skool kids, but it was a nice aesthetic to blend with the purple lights of Cirque. As you approach you see the carny style lights and hear the music and the rotund barker urges you forward. “Our Vampaneze don’t bite…….hard.” That guy was highly effective as the scripted stuff worked great, but the improve was the best! I loved when our group approached, mostly all wearing red CSW shirts, the barker says “What’s the matter fellows, the internet is closed tonight?” Priceless! Onward in the main area of the small zone where several stages were set up and upon them danced and pranced a series of freaks. The bearded lady Madame Truska, Evra the snake boy, the double barrel bellied guy Rhamus Twobellies, the poor guy who appeared to be all nose (not sure of his name), the main vampire from the story (Larten Crepsley) with his small caged dancing spider. The area also had several characters of stilts including a set of blond female twins with did nothing but stand there and another brain guy with a large forehead. He was a bit more effective with scaring as he swooped down on unsuspecting guests. Then there were these small, 4 foot cloaked creatures that were also doing a fair bit of scaring. The bulk of the scaring was being done by the Vampaneze. This mixture of male and female actors in Victorian style purple and black dress wearing fangs and nasty dispositions were every aggressive and I really enjoyed watching them work. They hissed and screeched and stalked guests relentlessly. It was probably the best scaring I witnessed this year in the streets. Chris Thompson using that high pitched squeal was very intimidating and cleared his area every time he came through. He is a very aggressive scare actor who should get some props. Jessie Cate and Jessie Reiss were also very good over here as Vampaneze. Overall Cirque was better than I expected and it is mostly to do with the level of detail to the sets and characters and the aggressive scaring of the Vampaneze. Some of the characters were pretty goofy, but that is just following the film so I can’t blame HHN. Nice use of contacts and teeth here on snake boy and the Vampaneze. The music was a mixture of themes from the film which I felt were excellent. Tribal rhythms and chants intermixed with orchestral pieces. Lighting was very vibrant with purples and oranges and greens and plenty of fog too. The one annual HHN freak you would expect to see here, The Rat Lady, was kinda tucked always to the side. Not sure if this one due to film rights and that they did not want her in the direct same area, but if you weren’t careful you might miss her and her handlers. I liked that they changed things up a bit and made her an actual rat complete with a snout, whiskers and rat teeth. Good usage of an HHN classic even though she was off to the side. It is too bad this area was positioned like it was as it was too small and circular, causing crowds to mingle and congest too easily. It really hurt the area and the actor’s ability to scare. However I did see it as a positive that most of the Vampaneze used to their advantage, taking the opportunity to sneak up on guests amongst the crowd and get a good startle scare. I had heard of a scare tactic that the Vampaneze were doing during the opening weekend that was deemed too scary and they were told to stop. It involved one of the vamps to identify a particular guest that looked very scared and then target them and start chanting ‘Vampaneze, Vampaneze!!” and every Vampaneze scare actor would converge of this one guest. Wish I saw that as it sounds awesome! Too bad that Uni does not condone such tactics as it shows their lack of true scares at HHN and their inability to go over the top. Guess they are thinking about safety, but this is the same mentality that gave us the sidewalk scaring rule. If I wanted a lame, not too scary event I would go to Disney. Overall, Cirque Du Freak was a decent zone with lots of detail and surprisingly good scares. Fun Memory; The barker asked me what the skull beads were that I wore on my wrist. I told him and he asked if they were from a loved one. So I asked my friend George if he were a loved one and that got a good laugh. The barker then says, “At least you know your limited options”. Good times! #5 Containment- 3 Skulls Containment sounded so much like the film Planet Terror on the basis that it involved an experimental bio-toxin that is released into the air as a green mist. Anyone unfortunate to breath in the mist becomes a melting zombie person. I loved Planet Terror and all it’s B movie, GrindHouse goodness and saw this being extremely fun. Oh well! Missed opportunity Universal! The set up was ok, with some very decent masks of different stages of melting people. Some with just boils and drippy looking wounds (Scully you rock!), to muddled, pus filled faces to faces that are completely drooping off, hanging off in ribbons. Nice job on the make up and masks! Costumes ranged from regular victim to shirts and jeans to bio-suits and masks. The sets were almost none existent with large blow up decontamination tents and containers of the agent that was sent airbourne by snow machines in a soapy, bubble form. Annoying, itchy and stinky. Just glad that they did not do all out foam like Toxic City back in 2003. The yellow bacon lights created some cool lighting that helped in the tension/ emergency scenario. Too bad the green lighting fog was blown away too quickly. I pictured a wall of green fog for this zone. One you had to pass through and you would not see the melting people until you they were inches from you. Nope. No such thing. The green fog only worked every so often and at best was just for look, not function as I hoped. The music was pretty good as I had hoped for music from Planet Terror and I got just that. There was severe audio bleed from the end of this zone down to the start of WOTLD. I could hear bullets whizzing by in Containment and Planet Terror in WOTLD. A bit too close maybe? The side walk rule hurt this area again as the space that was used without the sidewalks was much too small and really limited the actors to what they could do. Of course, reviewing Containment would be incomplete without mentioning the Military Doomsayers on the intercom, Rocco and Greg. Firstly, let me just say what a fantastically entertaining job these guys do every year. The scripted stuff is said in a manner that keeps it fresh and the improve stuff is worthy of a comedy club. They tailor their comments and insults to friends and HHN board members and make it worth while to just come over and say hello. Even though Containment failed on many levels, the inclusion of the guys up on their truck spouting off those lines made this area fun indeed. Thanks for the laughs Rocco and Greg! Fun Memory; Having Rocco tell me to hunker down to avoid the green fog and continuing to tell me to “Hunker, Hunker!!, Hunker!!!, Hunker!!!, until I was sufficiently low enough to the ground for my safety. Even though everyone in the area was standing or walking by looking at the guy in the CSW shirt who looked extremely funny trying to go as low as I could go. Good times! #6- Apocalypse- City of Cannibals- 1 Skull I had no idea what to expect from this one when it was announced, but was very happy to see the New York area being used. It is such a big area that lends itself perfectly to scare zones. This one was being described as an end of the world scenario were underground creatures/ cannibals were coming up from their dwellings and snacking on the citizens of the city. The artwork on the website showed these mutant creatures with big eyes and I wonder if we might see the return of the knuckle grunts for 2005 or something like them. Boy was I wrong! The costumes and make up for the creatures was some of the worst I have ever seen at HHN. Some decent airbrush work on the bare chest male actors who wore these silly looking head pieces that were bald on top with some dreads or something on the sides and back. It looked terrible! I felt bad for these actors as they looked pathetic. I saw some of the actors in early pictures in which they were crawling on the ground and stuff. That depiction worked pretty good and I know if probably was a pain for the actors, but at least it gave the appearance of something not human. The actors I saw were just walking around and not even trying to make none human movements, not even snarling or anything. They looked goofy and unmotivated. I don’t know if this was the stage managers fault or the actors and I have no idea what the original character was supposed to look like or how they were supposed to move, but by the third week of the run and until the last night, they were horrible. It was a scare zone I could care less if I saw more of and that is saying a lot. I usually love walking through scare zones and see what they offer for unique elements and acting. A:COC (yes, a cock) was something out of a lesser haunt and it is surprising how bad it was. I expect a lot more of Universal and HHN. The sets and props were all recycled stuff such as the school bus for Skool House and an overturned jeep from JP. They did not even try and cover up the Jurassic Park logos on the jeep. Oh wow! I fire hydrant that is spraying water! Some police barricades! Other elements were almost equally lame as a soundtrack of sirens and helicopters and fireball blasts on the rooftops. Been there, seen that guys! What is Lord of the Rings music doing playing in this zone? Weird and almost as if they did not even consider what would make this work better as a scare zone. The victims here were also ineffective as there were city people walking around with for some reason, shards of glass sticking out of their faces. Cool make up, but what was that all about? A guy walking around with a box that said “Peanuts $2.50’. ???WHAT??? I did not get what they were doing here at all and it probably only visited A:COC a total of six times during my 9 nights of HHN. Why not use more of the large New York street setting too? All that was used was a small section over by Twister and it did not work was it interfered with the lines for the houses and just seemed to be it’s own little own theme. Weird. It was uninspired, uncreative and embarrassing. Definitely a low point for HHN scare zones in my opinion. Fun Memory; walking over to get in line for Frankenstein and talking with a member of my group and all of a sudden the girl next to him who appeared to be texting on a phone, straightened up and screams at my friend “SOMEONE HELP ME!!!” Pretty funny as it caught us off guard a bit. Honorable Mention- Shadows of the Past I had heard some insider info that Uni was planning on doing something special for the fans during the last week of the run and they did not disappoint. I really can’t critique it too much as it was a last minute, added scare zone that I was very grateful for and would not want to appear like I did not seem appreciative. Shadows of the Past utilized Sting Alley which has always given us fun zones because of it’s intimate, tight confines and many curves and nooks and crannies. The set up was simple. Tons of fog, red lights and a mixture of horror/ HHN movie music themes and sound bites. A mixture of characters and icons from past HHN events were positioned around the zone and many were surprising. Some where a given and there were some notable omissions (Storyteller, Eddie, Director, Bloody Mary) but some nice surprises too. Cindy, Dr Albert Caine’s lost daughter who only had her presence only as a painting and again lying dead in a casket in HHN16 Screamhouse: Resurrection, was alive and very creepy. Standing by her Daddy’s side and saying things like, “My daddy is gonna pull out your insides”. Or on one occasion I saw her playing hop scotch. It was very good to see Cindy brought to life finally. The Usher standing on a staircase motioning you to be quiet with his finger up to his lips hushing you and standing cutting the fog with his flashlight. This was a nice effect that stood out to me. Jack the Clown, as over used as he is and ever the crowd favorite, stood behind another gate and stairs setting hanging down cackling at guests. People can not get enough of Jack! Other characters included Eelmouth, a vampire, Skool Kids, Pumpkin headed demons, a collector from Body Collectors. It was a nice mixture to tease the past and future of HHN. You could tell that all of this was put together fairly quickly as a lot of the characters were in black robes. Some of the prosthetics like the vampires brow and Jack’s make up might not have been up to snuff in regards to quality, but it was much appreciated none the less. The inclusion of many members of the Universal Creative team in the area and Uni media doing interviews with fans gave this a different, exciting feel as it had been said that this was a teaser for next year as well as an extra for the fans. The area quickly became a crowded mess as it can be expected, by it definitely was intimate. I was very thankful for the extra scare zone and want to thank all of Uni Creative for doing this. It was very fun and added something new to the mix. Just seeing Cindy brought to life finally made it all worth it. Streets Wrap Up So streets were a big disappointment this year and definitely a step back from HHN18. I really hope that Uni considers all of these things for next year and treats the houses and the scare zones equally or close to it. I know that the budget is bigger for the houses, but I really feel that they skimped this year. Size of the areas and the side walk rule ruined things big time! Unimaginative make up and costuming did not help. Lack of direction in acting and consistency also hurt. WOTLD was excellent, but not one of the best ever and that was the high water mark this year. Hacktion was very fun, but in the long list of SZ of the past it was not that great. Less photo ops and efforts to make it less scary should be a focus. Go all out for the 20th year and give the streets the attention they deserve. Halloween Horror Nights 19: Ripped From The Silver Screen was solid year in my opinion and it was mostly because the houses were all great. I did not expect to like this year as much as I did as I had feared that an all movie themed event would ruin the originally of HHN and just be a media and marketing mess of a year. Universal Creative did a great job at making mundane and aged movie properties fresh and interesting and created some fun B movie attractions as well. Overall, not the best year ever, but it was solid enough that I had a blast! Next year I hope Universal pulls out all the stops and makes the most of the opportunity that is HHN20. I hope we don’t only get a second helping of HHN16 and get all the old icons and houses again. I am sure there will be elements of that for sure, but please help start this new decade of HHN with some new original ideas, themes and characters. I have heard the rumor of Jack getting married to Chance and that all the previous icons would be guests of honor at the ceremony. I really hope we don’t see that. It sounds like the easy way out and one that would be made for the marketing and the average guests in mind. Always money is the target and I know that original ideas are usually pushed aside for well know stuff. I understand that tried and true, well known properties usually mean big money at the gate. Just look at the movie industry where all we get is remakes and sequels. But in the end the majority of those are crap and I hope that is not what we get next year at HHN20. Time will only tell and until then we can only guess and hope for the best. I’m pretty sure the Universal Creative team will do their usual awesome job whatever we get. JUST MAKE IT SCARY!!!So onward to that dead time of year for us haunt fans and we can hope to hear some rumors in the summer months. Thank you very much if you are still reading and a special thanks to Universal and the Creative team who put on this whole show. Thanks for bringing back the Unmasking the Horror Tour too. Thanks to all of my friends who work the event and who I got to enjoy the event with every night I attended. I had a great time at the Universal Palace.

I could not agree more. I feel that they will use the previous icons and I really hope that we don't get the rumored wedding scenerio. That way we are sure to get HHN16 pt 2. My feelings are that they may do a mixture of old and new. That would keep everyone happy and you would still have brand recognition and a transition to the next decade of HHN. BTW, is it SINDY or CINDY?

Great review MZ!

All right gang, I will be leaving for Orlando tomorrrow and will be attending HHN on 10/18, 10/21, 10/22, 10/23 ,10/25, 10/18, 10/29 and 10/31. M = Would like to Meet-up S = Stay and Scream (Annual Pass or Parks during the day) D = Legal Drinking age I'll be wearing a Chainsaw Wolf Shirt every night and most of my shirts have my name as F.U.B.A.R. on the sleeve so come one by and say hello. I look forward to meeting you all and to seeing friends again. HHN19 here I come! Cheers!!! F.U.B.A.R.

Amazing how you can come up with such a comprehensive list already Dusty. You are truly the HHN music king! See you soon my friend! F.U.B.A.R.

In the last few years they have had similar surveys with similar questions. I don't think that we can read too much into it. I like the fact that Uni seems to always want to get bigger and never take away, but there has to be a good balance of houses, scarezones and shows. They starting asking those questions after 07 when the scarezones were almost non existant and the houses were good and they had 3 shows including a main stage show. So personally I like the 8 houses, 6 scarezones and 2-3 shows ideally with a main show stage. I wish they would make the scarezones a tad bigger tough. Also I feel the zombies and saws (or comparable) roaming the park helps and I am disappointed to see that they did not do this for HHN19. It is a good way to make the guest feel that there are no safe zones and expands the HHN experience. F.U.B.A.R.

Yeah Jim. It is all over Screamscape as well.

Another awesome bit of music I noticed from a video from this year is that they are using the same eerie music again for the pumpkin area as last year. It gave me goosebumps hearing it again. I loved that so much last year and was never able to get a good recording of it. I guess I shall have to try again this year. Anyone have that music recorded?

Hi Dusty, As I predicted Planet Terror music is being used in Containment. I believe I heard the song; His Prescription...Pain on a video on Youtube. Have fun out there my friend! F.U.B.A.R.

Chucky is a 12" doll and he has a seriously pissed off expression on his face. The bobblehead is really nice too. Good stuff. Boy Mike, you really want me to travel with Chucky huh? : )

Well I just received my 3rd place Chucky prize pack from the Horror Night Collector HHN19 contest and I gotta say....WOW! Thank you Nocturas and everyone involved in putting the contest on and for the attention to detail in the packaging of the prizes. Not only is the outside of the box covered in Ripped From the Silver Screen graphics, but the inside packaging made it a true experience to go through. The inside of the box has a special personalized letter from the Horror Nights Collector that was eerily crinkled up, but once you pick up the bubble wrap you see the array of prizes all covered in spider web and everything is draped in a piece of red curtain and the inside of the box is splattered with blood and has bloody hand prints on it. I also get an aroma coming from the box that is interesting. I'm not sure if it was the paint that was used or something else but it helped with the unique experience of receiving my Chucky prize pack. Thanks again and it did add to my HHN19 experience in reving up my expectation level ten fold. Cheers!!! F.U.B.A.R.

Interesting idea Quicksilver. Yep, my first year of HHN was 1998 and Primal Scream. My brother, sister and I were in town for a regular theme park vacation and just happened to visit Uni on a Saturday. We had to go to guest services for something and the rep asked us if we would like to stay for Halloween. We just looked at each other and the rep said we could stay for an upgraded ticket price I think that it was like $16 back then for HHN. so we did and we were hooked. 12 years later and I call myself a Hallween Horror Nights junkie. Oh, if we visited Uni on an HHN off night or did not visit guest services on that day I wonder if things would have been different for me and my love for all things HHN. Can't wait to go on the 18th! F.U.B.A.R.

Why thank you, thank you very much (in my best Elvis inpersonation)!

No, he contacted me to see how I wanted to recieve the prize package and I asked for it to be sent up here as I really did not want to travel with all of that stuff. He was shipping it out today and he said I should get it Tuesday or Wednesday.

Yeah, the "you're internet famous" line had be laughing so hard. That was a blast! It would be cool to have ol Chucky hanging around that condo, but he might be a bit bulky during travel. Chucky might just have to hang back in Massachusetts while I am in Otown. See ya

Thanks man! That was a nice surprise. The video they posted of the drawing was hilarious! Good times, good times. F.U.B.A.R.

I definitely think that LCH will have that element as I know both the actors playing Mas Imiar the director. They both have played the insulter/ heckler role many times at HHN and do it well. Maybe they will be hecklng that guests to find "extras"? Should be fun. I think the only other zones that could have one is Cirque. It is a freakshow/ sideshow theme and that type of behavior is not uncommon.

Yeah, I am really digging how War of the Living Dead and Horrorwood Die In look. Love the drive in sign with the moon and I can't wait to see it all come to life. WOTLD is incredible with the bunker and the vehicles and artilery. The small war torn building set peices are kind of interesting and should be cool to see how the actors use them. This is alot bigger in scale than I expected. Should be cool when it is all up and running.I think Cirque should be ok, kinda what I expected and LCH should just plain fun. Apocalypse COC will no doubt be all about the creatures and the atmosphere, not the sets or props per say. Containment I am hearing has incredible lighting and I am hoping to hear some Planet Terror music going on there. Should be cool to see what the scaeactors look like here. Maybe a mix of melting peeps and military garb. Scarezones should once again rock this year! I am so pleased that Uni listened to that poll a couple of years back. Bring it on! F.U.B.A.R.