bberts

Ok, after attending HHN 23 on Friday and Saturday nights (10/4 and 10/5), I rate the houses in this order: 1. An American Werewolf in London - Great great house, one of my all time favorites for the event, and I have been attending for many years. As people have stated, the werewolf puppets are AMAZING! 2. Cabin In the Woods - This house is a very close second. Very nice details and some great scares. 3. Evil Dead - Another house that could have been ranked 1 or 2 IMHO. I loved the detail, the scares, everything about this house. I think that these top 3 houses really separated themselves from the rest of pack. It isn't so much that the others are bad, just that these are so very good. 4. La Llorona - I liked the detail in this house, and there were some very good scares. It was a bit too short though and timing was off for me on some scares. 5. The Walking Dead - Let me preface my comments by saying I am a huge fan of the show. Ok, so this house is FAR superior to last year's version. The detail is good, especially liked the multiple pathway part and the prison set. The house is a bit too lit in places and you can see zombies that would be better off (for scares) if not seen so clearly. The problem too is that a zombie can only do so much to scare you, but the actors were working very hard and I appreciated their efforts. The ONLY way I would want to see another Walking Dead house is IF they got the rights to depict the characters (Rick, Daryl, Glen, Michone, Herschel etc.) 6. Afterlife - A good 3D maze with some very cool effects, but not quite as good as The In-Between. There were some good scares in this house especially the bat winged-demon like guy that seemed to come out of the wall at me. Scared me good and got my wife on a later walk through. 7. Resident Evil - This house is good, but not great. I think some scares were missing in certain areas. It seemed to me that maybe I didn't hit the house on my walkthroughs at the right time and it seemed a bit short on scareactors. Also, I didn't care for the paused room. I understand it was a nod to the gamers, but to me it was a 'meh' set. 8. Havoc 2 - I loved the original Havoc and this house was a bit of a let down for me. The house was too lit up in many places. The detail was very good, but it took too long to get into the actual train crash. Also, I hope to see the Dogs running wild on maybe a local village after the crash, as some others have mentioned as well. I think that Dogs of War are a great concept that just weren't used to their full potential with this house. As a side note, my wife and kids who attended with me had a bit of a different rank than I did. For them it was: 1. Cabin the Woods 2. Evil Dead 3. American Werewolf in London (They did agree that these were the 3 best houses though, just ordered a bit different.) 4. Walking Dead 5. La Llorona 6. Afterlife 7. Havoc 2 8. Resident Evil Overall a great year for houses though and one that I am very happy with. The streets though were another matter, but that is for a different post. Oh and when I say kids, I mean my kids who are in their 20's. Hey they are still kids to me lol. I can't stand to see small children at the event who are absolutely terrified, especially when the parents are yelling at them to grow up. They are children and what they are learning is the event is horrifying and anything but fun. Small children should not be at this event. Anyway, enough of my soapbox.

I think i twill be CITW.

I agree about the no safe zones. Last year, one of the best scares that I witnessed was while my wife and I were eating a snack inside Monster's Cafe. A warrior came in and scared a woman so badly she probably had to change her pants lol. She was talking with a friend as she came around a corner and never saw it coming. Priceless!!

Ok, the latest status update from JDW has the quote "Don't stare at me, you got them bug eyes!... Janine! Sorry about the bug eyes thing I'll be in my office." That is from the movie "Ghostbusters." Ok, let's take another stab at this so to speak. How about a house where Legendary Truth is investigating Hellgate Prison and the house would be a cross of that house and the Wyandot Estate house, thus the reference to ghosts. Maybe they are trying to trap or capture the ghosts of murderers that are present at Hellgate. The spirits of these murderers are unleashed and mayhem ensues.

Body Collector's:Collections of the Past was set in Victorian London. Collections of the Past is perhaps a flashback reference. Also, the premise was that the Collectors were behind mass murderers such as Jack the Ripper etc.

Hmm ok, David Hasselhoff, Constantine Maroulis, Sebastian Bach... All 3 are singers...Rockers if you will. Constantine was on Broadway in "Rock of Ages" and had a small part in the movie as well. Alcatraz was/is known as 'The Rock'

Ok, Legacy saying that we should take a look at the user status updates on the forum home page got me to looking. I came across two that struck me. Both were posted as status updates by JDW. One says, "He wiped the sweat off his palms by running them lightly down his sides. As though he were going to shake hands with somebody... He was. He was going to shake hands with death." This quote is from Cornell Woolrich, from his short story entitled "3 Kills for 1." It is from a collection of short stories in his book "NIght and Fear: A Centenary Collection of Stories." This story features the execution, by electric chair, of a murderer known as Gates. The second status update said the line "You've brought this verdict on yourself. I hope you cry for the one's you've lost." This line is from a song by a group called Demon Hunter entitled, "Beauty Through the Eyes of a Predator." The song seems to be about Satan and/or Hell. This leads me to believe that this house could be about Hell. Many would say that a murderer who is executed would then go to "meet somebody" and that somebody would be Death, Satan, the Devil, in hell. There is no escape from hell, it is a prison. Hell could be the literal fiery burning place or a personal hell of one's own torment. OR The tie in with hell and a prison just seems very strong and I would be remiss not to say it. Possibly Hellgate Prison? I say this because we have the tie in with Hell, plus the short story "3 Kills for 1" has a murderer executed named Gates....HellGate???? OH PLEASE BE HELLGATE...I loved that house as did so many others. Ohh with that clue in mind, perhaps a mixture of Hellgate Prison and maybe the house The in Between. That house was full of demons was it not? Maybe Hellgate is somehow caught In the dimension of the In Between. Oh that would be sweet....and could make for a great house. Hmm, thinking on the Simon clue. Could the Simon clue point to the Rune game from the HHN 21 website for the In Between? It is perhaps a stretch, but the rune game was one in which you had to "Choose the order correctly or face certain Rune," as the rules stated. This is similar to the old Simon game in which you had to choose the order or pattern correctly and play it back or it was game over.

Roger Moore from the movie "The Saint" The Saint's name (or at least the name that he calls himself) is Simon Templar. I fIgured I would get that in there even though we have established that we are talking about the clue Simon already.

I like it Dr. Jimmy, imaginative and very twisted indeed.

Also, in regards to the 8th cryptic clue, flashback.... There is a movie starring Kiefer Sutherland and Dennis Hopper entitled "Flashback." The movie, I don't believe is relevant, the plot line however might be. The plot features a man on the run from the law and also has a corrupt sheriff as part of the story. This could have something to do with our prison house and/or a possible theme.

Dr. Jimmy's cryptic comment #8 is flashback..hmmmm Flashback = Timewarp = Rocky Horror WHOOOHOOOOOO

Yes that was the show I was referring to. Thanks for finding a clip. I agree, it could be very frightening if done right. Maybe one day...

That new picture in the Ifrit's clue looks to me to be Charles Manson. I could be wrong, but it looks like him to me. Also, Manson had his followers, which ties in with the clue. Take a seat and see where the currents flow obviously refers to an electric chair, although Manson didn't get the death penalty. Hmm and people who are on death row are referred to as a 'dead man walking'.

Ok, the first thing that crossed my mind when the good Dr. gave his cryptic comment of 'Simon' was of the children's show about a boy named Simon who makes drawings that come to life. Simon then enters the drawings he has made. There could be a house based on something like this where we are trapped inside an artist's painting or some such. That could be a very good house if done well.

Heh, for whatever reason, Shakespeare just popped in my head. I am an educator after all and this sometimes happens. Silencio reminded me that Hamlet's last words as he dies are "the rest is silence." I could try to tie this back to HHN by saying that Hamlet has been haunted by the ghost of his father throughout the play and that he will now become a ghost himself, soooo ghost house? Heh I doubt that, I am just having a bit of fun. Besides, it isn't often one gets to mention Shakespeare on a forum discussing HHN.