Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes

[Mark M.]

 

Ashes to ashes, forever now dust. For years she has existed in the shadows, never getting her due. Misunderstood by all around her, she has had enough of her playthings at the Good Harvest Orphanage- now is the time for vengeance. This burned out shell contains the souls of the forgotten and the lost who all scream one name: Cindy.

[Stephanie]

Many people say "This house is going to suck because little kids don't scare me" Well, you're wrong. These little kids are extremely scary. The house itself was just amazing. It does feel like you're in a building that is burning down. The house is terrifying if only two people are walking through it. That happened to me and I was the target in every scene

[val]

^glad to hear

as a personal request... if you guys could try and post the times/cast you're going through, that would be really great.

it seemed to me like people enjoyed the house... but there are so few reviews in comparison to the other houses

Edited September 23, 2010 by val

[SamanthaHaine]

This house wasn't what I was expecting. It was better. The children are little terrors, pardon the pun. The first time I saw them my skin crawled and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Their masks and other worldly behavior reminded me of the masked townsfolk at the end of the original "The Wicker Man".

The house setting is incredible in its eeriness and detail. I wish people could look more at all the little details like the pictures on the walls. I love going through houses once for the scares and a second or third time for the details of costumes and set. The background track in this house with all the rhymes and children's voices as well as babies crying is just creepy. The sound effects are great too. They sound so authentic.

[TeenageHorror]

These kids really stepped up their game from employee preview. The finale room Cindy really freaked me out, and I kept getting double teamed by scareactors. One of my favorite scares of the night was from this house. I was distracted by one scareactor, turned my head, another was right in my face. Kudos to you!

Casey

[Leonardo Van IcePickasso]

I agree with Stephanie. When me and a friend went on Employee Preview, we didn't get to go in the house because it was either too busy or down for technicals. No big deal, we were planning on going Opening and having it be one of the first houses to get to(whatever houses we didn't get the first time around got top priority) so when we got through the gates, we hurried to Orfanage. The line was dead, so we went into the house alone. It was brilliant, but I can see how beneficial it is to be with people ahead of you because it's hard to navigate and the house was pretty dark(probably because our eyes needed more time to adjust after coming through the light) and so we got jumped by everyone! Us going through it alone was like going through HOS' 'Alone' house but not having to pay extra for it

We got to go through the house twice, but waited a while the second time for opening night. It was later on at night by the time we got there a second time and the scares were much more amped up the second time around. We saw more Cindy that second time around.

[Cody]

Whatever you do DON'T go in this house in the daytime. All of the houses are dark and the soundstages will leave you blind, but a lot of the rooms have props that are very easy to bump into. I whacked my hip on I think a piece of wood in the very first room.

[Amber]

Whatever you do DON'T go in this house in the daytime. All of the houses are dark and the soundstages will leave you blind, but a lot of the rooms have props that are very easy to bump into. I whacked my hip on I think a piece of wood in the very first room.

Funny, I did the same exact thing. My friend was holding on to my arm and ran me into it. I have poor eyesight to begin with so this didn't help my case. I have a nice bruise on my hip now.

Also, don't go in Zombiegedden in the day time. You see everything & it takes away from the atmosphere. I went through again in the dark and it was much more intense and you can see the effects better.

[localHHNfan19]

this house was ok i like the kids inside the bunk bed cages.fyi i lost my ticket and almost didnt get in.

[LV-426]

I liked it but I thought it was going to be different, it really does feel like a school or something, not really many scares but great atmosphere, There is a great effect with a girl, really blew me away, I was a little disappointed, I expected to get scared, I also thought the actors were going to look like they were burned but didn't see any of that, the house didn't really look burned to me either, looked normal.

[Chemowasabi]

Let's see if anyone else gets this semi obscure reference. but the children, and the idea, and the masks all made me think of Rule of Rose. I can't say enough things about the cast. but yeah, really looking forward to actually getting to see them in thier environment.

[gatoralex]

Last night after i signed out some of us headed over here, fantastic job closing cast!

[cdt.princess]

Last night after i signed out some of us headed over here, fantastic job closing cast!

i was there!! that's my cast =)

[cdt.princess]

hey guys!

i have a strange request...i know this is gonna sound silly but if anyone is going this weekend, could someone get a picture of me? my fam is dying to see a picture of their "sick twisted orphan" daughter and i would totally apprecciate it as well. please and thank you =)

[ScottEdmondson41]

hey guys!

i have a strange request...i know this is gonna sound silly but if anyone is going this weekend, could someone get a picture of me? my fam is dying to see a picture of their "sick twisted orphan" daughter and i would totally apprecciate it as well. please and thank you =)

I thought we weren't supposed to take pictures in the houses.

[cdt.princess]

I thought we weren't supposed to take pictures in the houses.

yeah....just realized that. lol. and this is me retracting my statement. i don't wanna get anyone in trouble but i've seen it done A LOT already.

[hhnholdem]

As you enter the first room and look to the right, there are some blocks stacked in a pyramid shape on a bookshelf. I couldn't stop to look, but my question is, do these blocks spell anything or are they just random letters?

[Kuzzco]

As you enter the first room and look to the right, there are some blocks stacked in a pyramid shape on a bookshelf. I couldn't stop to look, but my question is, do these blocks spell anything or are they just random letters?

As far as I can tell the only one that spells something is three blocks spell "Tom" or "Tim". There are more blocks than just those, and I havnt been able to read them yet.

[Mae]

Orfanage was extremely well done...movie quality concept and execution, and a dark, disturbing story to go with it. The actors have tough job in here, keeping themselves 'childlike' while conveying the evil done in the place...wow...just great. Scary and irrisistable. Wouldn't be at all surprised if this turns into the sleeper hit this year, despite the 'Jaws Queue Curse'.

Mae

[Fallow]

My review: This could change, but I've experienced each house 3 times, so I feel like I have a pretty good basis to go off of.

Facade: C

It's the Jaws queue, so you can't expect anything elaborate, but it's definitely the weakest facade this year... the Good Harvest Orphanage sign is cool, but half of the time it was blocked by staff members or (ugh) garbage cans! Loved the swing-set and self-moving see-saw, though.

Details/Sets/Costuming: B

The costumes are pretty much The Skool with the exception of Cindy herself. The sets are, with a few exceptions, were relatively creepy and memorable. The floating girl is a fantastic, unsettling effect, the caged beds were a great idea, and the cribs were creepy as well. The fire effect was very well-executed and as best as it could possibly (safely) be. I have to say, though, the plot for this house confused the hell out of me. We're in this Orfanage where the kids are kept in cages, I guess - so the kids rebel. But where are the teachers/adults/whomever? How does Cindy just magically decide to set fire to the place, and moreover, why after the fire scene is the Orfanage still in such good shape? I think having some sort of instructor in the first or second room, with some sort of kill at the end, would've made this house's plot a lot stronger, as well as a truly "burning down" feeling in the last room - I was expecting red lighting and "smoke"-fog everywhere instead of the basic boilers. Still, though, I have to say the audio for this house is perfect and amazing. Sad thing is you can't hear much of it due to the screaming - but when I went alone on Saturday right when it opened I really got to take in the ambiance. It's great, and I wish everyone else had the chance to hear the great soundtrack & Cindy talking.

Scares: B

The scares here are on par - I never felt truly terrified or wanting to get out, but I got startled pretty frequently. The problem is that most of the orphans don't have very good hiding spots - this isn't their fault, but they largely have to stay in plain sight and just hope someone isn't paying attention. That's why the caged beds, the pirate scare, & the dunce scare work so effectively - you don't know they're there until they appear. Cindy, for that matter, is sadly not scary - not because the make-up isn't scary or the actress is poor or the character isn't creepy, but because again neither of them have any real hiding spots. The first one just sort of stands in the first room, while the last one lurks behind the barrels in plane sight, seldom coming forward since everyone is drawn to her. They need to find a way to give her more effective scares, as Cindy's an enticing character and scares from her ARE possible. Overall, though, there's some solid scares to be found here, but there's definitely room for improvement. Make me truly feel like the orphans want to kill me because they fear me. Some gore would honestly help (again with an instructor), but it's a little late for that.

Finale: C

The finale here is weak. You get the great fire scene (even if it's pretty much unexplained) and are left with the boilers from Scary Tales. Having Cindy in the finale is a no-brainer, but there's no effective scares here - you have Cindy and two orphans in relatively plain sight around the boilers attempting to startle passer-by. As I noted above, we should see more of an effect of the fire, some gore from an instructor, maybe even some strobes to really sell the idea that this place is falling apart. Ah well.

Potential: B-

Overall, this house did a fairly good job living up to its promise - a means of showcasing a very, very creepy children's orphanage with Cindy as the star. There's some cool ideas I wasn't expecting (the dunce setpieces & scares, the cargo net, the execution of the fire effect, floating girl) that really sold the house for me. Orfanage would've gotten an A in potential if it had utilized the fire theme more (Ashes to Ashes, remember?).

Overall: B- (not an average)

Orfanage suffers from a lack of a coherent plot and its lack of willingness to fully explore the fire theme, along with a weak finale and some stale scare tactics. That said, the atmosphere is great (when it's quiet enough to hear it), the scare actors have good energy, and seeing Cindy in a house is a real treat.

[LV-426]

I went again Today and Liked it A lot better than the first time last week, I really like this house, although the scares are not as strong as they could be. But the house definitely has a very eerie feeling,

To me, It feels like if They took The Skool House scarezone from 08 and made an actual house . So I like it a lot more now, and The actors are good, I think is a really cool house

[Dinosaur Pirate]

I don't get why people are so iffy on this house, I found it to be one of the scariest ones, not to mention the one with the most atmosphere.

[Cody]

For everyone wondering about the plot, this is my understanding given my current knowledge:

The orphanage was run by a tyrannical matron who locked the children up and practically tortured them, and one of the girls happened to be Cindy. Cindy's burgeoning pyrokinetic powers allowed her to set the orphanage on fire and free the girls, and she was soon after adopted by Albert Cain.

This brings up the question: who REALLY burned down the Caretaker's mansion? Was it the mob, or was it Cindy?

[kimlovesfl]

This house did indeed have a very creepy feeling to it, and the scareactors were right on, but there are way too many "dead" spots, pardon the pun; just long hallways or areas with nothing-no decoration, no booholes, nothing. This make the house just meh IMHO.

[MirpleBoy]

So I walked through closing set tonight, and honestly I just found this house cute/adorable in a menacing way. The scareacters did the best they could with what little to no hiding spots they had. I loved the set up of the classroom, the caged beds and the nursery, that's where I found most my entertainment and my friends' scares. I honestly didn't care for the fire effect; I don;t know, I think the way people talked it up it was just kinda eh to me. I adored seeing the Skool Kids again though.

I'll say overall 3.5/5. I can see how it may be a letdown for some fans of Cindy, but it was an entertaining house and can see many scares working even though they didn't work for me.

P.S. Cindy has pyrokinetic powers?

I guess I'll chalk that up to another change to her new origin that I don't like.