If in fact we do have a horror movie theme then I'm confident they will come up with some clever way to tie it all together. I seriously doubt their gonna just throw a bunch of random movies at us. Come on people lets have a little faith. In my opinion there is no such thing as an off year, its gonna be good no matter what. Even if its not scary scary then it will definitely be fun scary.
Just because something sounds cheesy on paper or is based on a stupid movie it could still turn out to be a good house. Last year the house that I was least looking forward to and expected very little from, in the end turned out to be my absolute fav. Why, because it had some kick ass scareactors working it. If you ask me, any given house is only as good as the people who work in it.