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Fallow

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Everything posted by Fallow

  1. Oh man, that's a trip. Amazed someone remembers that pitch in such detail. I think his name was Billy Kushner - a farmer who grew closer to the dark arts (eventually becoming the Grim Reaper) after the death of his wife. Candyland was a fun zone idea. I wish I still had those docs somewhere. EDIT: Realize my post was vague. I'm the guy who wrote that.
  2. I would agree that there is no end to HHN (at least in name) in sight. There is the risk of HHN becoming too commercial for its own good (a trend I believe some are starting to pick up on). But that's a discussion for another time...
  3. I recall the effect was a slanted mirror below you - high above you was the actual set with the Mary Shaw figure. The effect was used again for Interstellar Terror in 08.
  4. Just this happy little dolphin that swam along the boat and splashed water onto the guests. Real friendly. Yep. What, the fire? The dolphin breathed fire.
  5. One thing is for sure: If Potter is included in any new HHN festivity, be ready for even higher prices with less deals! (Remember what happened with regular tickets?)
  6. Top 10: 10) Catacombs: Black Death Rising 9) Chucky: Friends Til the End 8) The In-Between 7) Body Collectors: Collections of the Past 6) Scary Tales 3: Once Upon a Nightmare 5) Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorne Cemetery 4) Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned 3) Nevermore: The Madness of Poe 2) Dracula: Legacy of Blood 1) Dead Exposure I'll echo BruinsFan and do my bottom 5 as well... 5) The THING (2011) 4) Zombiegeddon 3) Reflections of Fear 2) Psychoscareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook 1) The Spawning
  7. I think a coffee table book, produced in a limited run like the hoodies, could sell fantastically among the hardcore. Fill it to the brim with high-quality, glossy images, various stages of concept art and blueprints, construction shots, and designer anecdotes. Remember all of that jaw-dropping concept art of the scare zone characters for 2008? Imagine that in a book! Think of it like the souvenir books they always sell at Broadway shows... those sell like hotcakes.
  8. Speculative sequel prospects from the new concepts this year... Winter's Night - I think this was a one-off like Ghost Town. There's nowhere the plot can go from here. Nightingales - Guaranteed franchise, they can tell they're grooming them to be the next Body Collectors. Let's just hope they get a better cast next time. Easy to take the Nightingales and plop them in any historical location filled with death and despair... The THING - Movie property, been done twice. It's done. H.R. Bloodngutz - The character/idea of travelling through many independently themed sets (ala Silver Screams or Die-In) will return at some point I'm sure, but probably not immediately. A lot can be done with this character as his fate is open ended - I could see houses based around terrible sequels, film parodies in general, or even terrible films under Universal's banner (This Island Earth anyone?) Saws'n'Steam - It's a franchise already... They could probably do a sequel house a few years down the line. Will probably show up in the next reunion year. If they were to do a sequel, it'd have to be based during or after the "fall" of civilization to keep it interesting... and it should probably take place in a soundstage for bigger, even more elaborate sets. Nevermore/Poe - I'm iffy on this one. The house seemed to be fairly well received by most people, and Poe is a timeless theme. Problem is they used up most of his best stories... the only two big ones they left out that come to mind are Fall of the House of Usher and The Caste of Amontillado. They've also already tackled the tragedy of his life at large (alcoholism & death of Virginia). If they can mine enough of his work to use (and I haven't taken a good hard look at it) they could bring him back at some point, but I'd hazard a no. Given the amount of Raven costumes I'm guessing he'll be back at some capacity for the reunion. I'll be interested to see what Howl-O-Scream does with their Nevermore house... will they change out certain scenes for different stories to keep it fresh? Could play a big factor in whether or not Universal feels it appropriate to revisit Poe. The In-Between - I think this plot/franchise is finished... the story is concluded, nowhere to go with it. They could have a new group abuse the power of the Ouija board and open up the portal again to a new set of scenes... but I find it far more likely (actually, guaranteed) that we will see another "trippy 3D house" in the next two years, if not next year. (Keep in mind - cheap to build on the sets while still having great scares and incredibly high guest satisfaction). Basically, we'll see In-Between again, but it won't be called In-Between. The Forsaken - Again, I think this is a one-off. There's nowhere for the plot to go, unless they want to go all goofy and do "Forsaken in the Big City" or something. 7 - I know a lot of people suggested this could be a house... I simply don't see it. We already know what the sins and their minions look like... there's absolutely no mystique about that sort of house (unlike Saws'n'Steam, where not only was the house a prequel, the characters were less defined). Plus, part of what made 7 so great was the way the ladies distracted passerby and the minions preyed... It works in the wide open, free-roam spaces of a scare zone. It'd be the same scene 7 times in a house. I'm not saying it CAN'T be done, A&D could do it, but I see this being a street only. Grown Evil - I think this falls into the same category as 7 without the super positive reception. The consensus seemed to be that while the atmosphere created was lovely, the scares and intensity simply weren't there. I feel like a forest themed house would grow repetitive fast... there's no end to the cool creatures they could pull off, though. Still, I see this one as being done, save for the Raven and the Bat showing up at a Reunion. Canyon of Dark Souls - Nowhere to go from here. It was a cheap set that worked well in its execution as a street. It won't work as a house except for a single scene. Your Luck Has Run Out - We haven't seen the last of Lady Luck... she'll appear at the next Reunion as one of our hosts, I'm sure. If A&D has learned their lesson, she'll have a house (assuming they play it like Sweet 16 where each icon gets a house) or at the very least a good casino scene for a Hallow'd Past style house. The Spade Gang/Minions will doubtlessly return for the next Reunion but no sooner. Acid Assault - Like Containtment and Apocalypse before it, Acid Assault is one note (though it was significantly better than either of those zones). It did its job and it's done. We'll see a similar theme and some recycle of props/costumes within two-three years, though. Nightmaze - Despite some enthusiastic reviews by a few lucky members here, this zone seemed like a dud. Nobody I know who went through it cared for it... it was a cool idea but it simply doesn't work with the type of crowds HHN receives. I'd hate to see a house relegated to this nonsense... all blackness in a house might make for effective scares, but I can pull that off at any backyard haunt (yes, the moving walls, too.) HHN houses need to have sets, actual characters, and stories. Nightmaze has none. And in addition to those, a few of the new elements introduced... Projection Effects - Well, they spent a bunch of money on the projectors, and they were very well-received. They'll be probably be a standard event thing now. Evolving Scare Zone - This will also likely return, perhaps in more zones and with even more drastic changes. It won't happen in houses, though - most people only get to go through a house once due to lines. Zones can be visited any time.
  9. The principal actor for Eugune was very good - he took a very bland character without a lot of funny material (except for undoubtedly the ET Kanye West bit) and made him funny. I saw a swing perform Eugene and it wasn't the same at all. I still like it a lot more when they use a true film/political character. If they have to use a Universal-based villain, so be it, but it's better than these random Flinstones references.
  10. Remember that one of the factors that should be taken into consideration is consistency - if the scene isn't consistently good, it probably shouldn't be considered for scene of the year. Also remember to everyone, we aren't actually voting yet (though you're free to say your favorite), we're only trying to determine what scenes will be featured on the poll itself.
  11. I've got another fun poll that's a little more thought-provoking than the obligatory House and Street of the Year polls. What was your favorite specific scene of HHN21? All of the houses are fair game. I won't post the actual poll just yet - I want to hear actual nominations (since there are only 20 spots on any poll) before deciding what scenes should be on the official vote. Here's some criteria you should consider: -Scariness -Consistency/Repeatability (was this scene still scary or at least entertaining on repeat trips?) -Strength of Acting (were the actors in these scenes, both casts, effective in their use of the space?) -Set Design (did this scene have strong set design in addition to simply being scary?) I'll post my initial nominations/scenes that are almost guaranteed to be nominated. If you disagree with a nomination, please say so and explain why. Justification should be provided with actual nominations as well. Distant Cemetery (Winter's Night) Hall of Crypts (Winter's Night) Coffin Room (Winter's Night) Blue Light Finale (Winter's Night) Ripped Away Soldier (Nightingales) Body Room (Nightingales) Machine Gun/Bungee Chord Nightingale (Nightingales) The THING Escapes from the Ice (The THING) Kitchen Gunfight (The THING) Presidents' Day (The Re-Election) (H.R. Bloodngutz) Ho Ho Homicide (H.R. Bloodngutz) Get Lucked (H.R. Bloodngutz) Waterfall/Steam Hall (Saws'n'Steam) Flesh Aquarium (Saws'n'Steam) The Raven Hall (Nevermore) Masque of Red Death (Nevermore) The Black Cat (Nevermore) Death of Virginia (Nevermore) Winged Demons (In-Between) Rave/Laser Room (In-Between) Pixie Stix/Line Room (In-Between) Chapel (Forsaken) Courtyard (Forsaken) Tilted Ship (Forsaken) Bungee Chord Finale (Forsaken)
  12. Two questions now that the event is over... 1) Why a static mask behind the first boohole? To save $$$? 2) What was up with the Legendary Truth-style "slider" in the wall? I saw it a whopping two times through my like 11 runs through this house, and when I did, it was by accident... nothing drew your attention to the guy in there.
  13. I had a very hard time ranking these. Every single house had merit and something to offer this year: not a single stinker. Well done A&D for some fantastic houses. 1) Nevermore: The Madness of Poe --- Say what you'd like, but some of the scares in here are just brilliant. Not to mention a fantastic tribute to some spooky Poe tales. Great story from beginning to end. 2) Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorne Cemetery --- Some brilliant scares and some uninspired scares. Awesome show scenes. Absolutely stunning sets, chilling atmosphere. Wish there was more attention given to the plot, but that Distant Cemetery scare made up for it. 3) In-Between --- Absolute mindf*ck; reminds me a lot of Dead Exposure, my scariest house of all time. This house is SCARY even on repeat viewings since many of the scenes are designed in a way where you're either blinded or the actors have many places to leap out from. 3D seemed iffy, but I don't really care. A few uneven scenes kept it from the top. Appreciated the story told and how it kept to the site's backstory. 4) H.R. Bloodngutz presents Holidays of Horror --- My most improved house through the run. This ended up being a lot of peoples' favorite in the groups I took and I understand why... there's a lot of variety here in both the costumes and sets, it's SCARY without being TOO goofy (ala Cleaver), and every single cast member is 100% devoted to their roles. I want to echo everyone else in hoping for another Bloodngutz-centered house somewhere down the line. (Oh, and again, great story is told.) 5) Saws'n'Steam: Into the Machine --- A straight up scary house with the most elaborate sets I've ever seen in the Jaws queue. The show scenes and victims helped this one stand out, as did the Bioshock influences (note: this ISN'T a Bioshock house, but it does take some very cool inspiration). Again, great casts (lot of devotion to the role, varying degrees of insanity and sinister intent), and a very cool story told. Wish there was more saws and a slightly more intense finale. 6) Nightingales: Blood Prey --- This is doubtlessly going to be a franchise house and I'm very chill with that. What I'm not chill with was how uneven this house was due to one of the casts kind of (for lack of better word) sucking. If you got the good cast, it ranks higher - if you get the bad cast, it ranks very low. Still, the audio and set design are great, and the premise and execution are strong. Some very cool scares, and awesome show scenes (if you're a lottery winner and you get to see them). 7) The Forsaken --- I hate to put this one so low because I actually do like it a lot. The sets are gorgeous, the plot strong and well-executed, and some fun surprises (tilted floor FTW). The casts have a high energy and got stronger over the course of the run. I like the eyes but it's a shame they gave away your location on occasion. Some scares are very predictable, others are well-timed. It just failed to capture my attention as some of the others did - not your fault, might just be the subject matter. 8) The THING --- This is the only house where I can honestly say I was disappointed to a degree. This was not a bad house, but it's not as great as it could've been - part of this is due to the film itself, which honestly does not lend itself well to a house at all. The repetitiveness of the costumes is a big factor, as are the oft-missed scenes (seriously, some of them take forever to reset). Both casts were inconsistent... sometimes people would try, sometimes they seemed very bored. The finale was weak - more time should've been spent in the ship I think. (Oh, and more giant puppets!)
  14. 1) 7 2) Canyon of Dark Souls 3) Acid Assault 4) Your Luck Has Run Out 5) Grown Evil 6) Nightmaze
  15. Best street I've ever experienced. A job incredibly well done.
  16. How the hell does someone get deer piss through security, much less inside a damn house? Holy crap, the nerve of some people. Thankfully it was so close to the end of the run that they were just able to remove the props without much trouble. Unbelievable.
  17. I sure hope this means they got Street of the Year like they deserved.
  18. Can someone provide the House/Streets of the Week thus far, and come Monday, the House/Street of the Year? Canyon and Acid both deserve Street of the Weeks, but 7 deserves Street of the Year hands down. House of the Week/Year is a toss-up, they were all good.
  19. You know, I was wondering why Bloodngutz had grown on me so much in comparison to some of the other houses. I think you hit the nail on the head - even those with less than stellar costumes/scares (Independence Day & Valentines Day rooms) work REALLY hard to get scares. It's an excellent group, kudos to you all.
  20. Enjoyed reading this - we disagree on some things, but that's to be expected. I really enjoyed meeting you outside NASCAR a few weekends ago - in case you don't remember, you were one of the double teamers who kept cornering my girlfriend and I. In regards to your Bioshock rant - you're a smidge inaccurate here, I have to say (no disrespect!) The "scuba suit" guy indeed does not look like the Big Daddy you described... however, there are multiple types of Big Daddy's, you only described the Bouncer style (far more advertised, the one on the cover, etc.) There is a more traditional looking scuba suit Big Daddy called the "Rosie." While the look is still not completely the same, I feel the inspiration is still there. That said, this isn't a Bioshock house - but again, there's some pretty big indisputable inspiration taken from it (and I take no issue with that. It's really cool!)
  21. I had to cut it, unfortunately. If it isn't an original costume, it shouldn't be included. If I were able to add another option I'd include "The THING" costumes since they are NEW and ORIGINAL to HHN despite the THING house from 2007 and that the movie unit developed the look (A&D still had to craft them, after all). By the way - you can call it "Sorrow Angel" if you wish, but Sorrow Angel is to Weeping Angel as Hockey Mask Killer is to Jason.
  22. The spirit dressed as a bride - she appears in the "Distant Cemetery" scene.
  23. It's been stated multiple times on this page alone that the hoodies are sold out. It is unlikely that they will be restocking this year.
  24. Something crazy must've happened then. We got in line around 6:40 to 6:45 and it took us 15 minutes, max. The line always looks daunting but often it really isn't bad at all.
  25. I don't know how they do it. Their body movements are so contorted and bizarre and yet they can move with such speed and proficiency... they rack up 3 scares every 5 seconds in how effing fast and effective they are. These guys deserve Street Actors of the Year. (Though there isn't a single actor in this zone that I could complain about. They're all brilliant, though I have a particular liking for the Vanities... they have so much fun whispering and growling in peoples' ears.)
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