Sledge's Employee Preview Night Review and Pictures

[Sledge]

HHN XX merchandise:

Esquelo Muerte

Probably the best scarezone of the night that wasn't a glorified photo-op. The look and feel of this zone was really awesome, but the music needs a change. The music should have been something more mariachi-ish and less generic horror. The costumes were awesome, the sets look great when glowing, and there is TONS of fog. A

The Coven

Very cool scarezone with lots of witches running around. I didn't expect to see the "good guys" being burned though, which was awesome! I'm still not sure of the giant crystal in the center though -- which changes colors and looks very awesome. B

Fear Revealed

As you can see from the pictures, this scarezone was more of a photo-op and less of an actual scarezone. Eddie was the only one I saw running around and trying to scare people. We got lucky and found Jack as we were posing with his "set". He was able to take a quick picture for us before running away as a line started to form. So that answers that question, NO, the icons will not be confined to their "sets" as a backdrop for photos. Aside from Jack, I didn't see any of the icons go into their "sets". Fear was HUGE but didn't do a whole lot but stand there and sway. He had these creepy little "lanternettes" that stood around the base of him and slithered back and forth (think of Bloody Mary's mirror faced people!). Fear also had little "daggers?" with the icons faces on them. A

HHN: 20 Years of Fear

This was a great little scarezone. Some characters I never thought I'd see again were here (Crypt Keeper, Mary Shaw, Queen of Hearts, etc.). There are also lots of cool props to see... including a Ghostbusters prop. A

Saws n' Steam

Very cool scarezone with awesome costumes and so much fog that it was nearly impossible to see two feet in front of you. The "stage" area was interesting and had a victim being strung up, and we were expecting a micro-show, but we didn't see anything ever happen. B

Zombiegras

Worst scarezone of the night. Nothing was going on. Very boring. Too well lit. The parade float was given a slight make-over, but it was extremely subtle compared to what they should have done with it. C

Zombiegeddon

This was surprisingly the best house of the night! We all went in expecting this to be terrible and we were totally surprised. When you enter you'll find lots of weapons on the wall and a member of Z.A.P. standing next to a zombie who has a collar around his neck, which I assume is "taming him". The next scene you go into is a nursery, where a zombie baby actually lunges forward towards you and hits the glass it is behind! There was one scene where we heard a car speeding towards us and saw the bright headlights, only to hear a huge car crash a moment later. Unfortunately we had already turned the corner and was unable to see the outcome. A

Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate

The facade was exactly what you are picturing, plus a Legendary Truth van parked outside to the left with video monitors attached. The first scene has a table set up with a Legendary Truth member looking over monitors (see picture below). Other than the first scene, we saw no reference to Legendary Truth for the rest of the house. We would have liked to see victims. There is an awesome effect where you walk down a hallway and the "wallpaper" to your left is actually a scrim that when lit up from behind will reveal a ghost (on skates) gliding by. We weren't too thrilled with the corny neon masks that the ghosts were wearing. We were also expecting some Paranormal Activity tributes/rip-offs, but never got it. Storyteller makes an appearance here. Look for her straight ahead through the broken wood, right before you turn a corner to your right. There was one great scene in the living room that has the "subliminal Exorcist devil" pop up twice on the wall, and then a "ghost" popping out at you. B

Psychoscareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook

We were a bit disappointed with this one and they are going to have to step it up. I enjoyed Home for the Holidays so much more than this one. This just felt like a very, very generic haunted house to us. We didn't get the impression that these were ghosts, as they looked like every other very of "crazies" that we've seen before. Towards the beginning there is a "ghost" with scissors shoved into her eye. That sent an awesome tone, as I was expecting more gross-out costumes, but sadly, there wasn't anything too creative. The best scene in the house is one where you travel down a corridor with jail cells on both sides. You will see a constant row of about 20 pairs of hands gripping the cell bars. Some of them are props, some of them are real hands that will reach for you. There is another particular part in the house where there is a random, and very noticeable red button on the wall, press it and a scene lights up through the window next to it. I only got a quick glimpse of it, but it looked like Jack in a straight jacket? I do not recall any smells inside of this house. There facade was the usual Shadybrook set, and to the left side was a ladder hanging over the wall, perhaps for some of the escapies that got loose to run wild in Home for the Holidays. I don't see how this house could get much better, as it wasn't the scareactors that were bad, it was the generic, run of the mill Haunted House feel that made it boring. C

Hades: The Gates of Ruin

This one was just okay. There were some neat costumes, but none of us ever saw anything that resembled what we imagined would have been Hades. There isn't much I can remember about this house, which must mean something. What I can remember is we all came out feeling "Eh, whatever." There was a strange smell through the first half of the house, though I'm not sure what it was supposed to be since it smelt almost dirt-like (like the Hallow a few years back). The sets and costumes we did see looked awesome so i has potential to get better. C

Havoc: Dogs of War

I went in expecting this to be the worst house of the event, but it wasn't even close. It was a great house, though at times redundant. I do not understand why the made the cast shave their heads, as it didn't add anything to the overall enjoyment of the house, most of it wasn't even very noticeable, and masks or bald-caps would have been just as useful. Like The Spawning last year, most of the house seems to look identical, but it isn't too bad and we had a good time in here. B

Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past

The first minute of the house had absolutely nothing to scare you. You first walk in and see the warehouse with shelves of props (imagine walking through the prop warehouse at Disney's Hollywood Studios's backlot tour, but with dark orange lighting). You'll see Chucky dolls, Thing props, and at one point we even saw the Goldilocks bear from Scary Tales. Once you turn a few corners, you will then enter a spinning tunnel which has the icons faces on the side. You are then taken to past memorable scenes, most of which were from the last few years and still semi-fresh in our minds. The Alice eating White Rabbit scene was in there, recreated almost exactly as before. The spine ripping Body Collectors scene (also from two years ago was there), but looked slightly different. Treaks and Foons had their own little scene. What was either Frightanic or Ship of Screams (never did either) had a scene where you were at the helm and looking out the ships windows which showed a cloudy, stormy night. Awesome! There was also two rooms from Dead Exposure, which was honestly much more than there needed to be. Overall, awesome house. A

Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure

Absolute dog shit. Honestly, PLEASE do not waste your time here unless you have plenty of extra time to kill. This has been the worst of any show I've seen in the last four years, which is a shame because last year's was amazing. There was so much missed potential here. No Avatar, Inception, Nightmare on Elm Street remake, Alice in Wonderland, Karate Kid, Clash of the Titans, Winnebago Man, Parana, Step it Up 3D, Scott Pilgrim, Tooth Fairy, Cop Out, Predators, Robin Hood, Prince of Persia, Jonah Hex, The Other Guys, The Expendables, or Machete! What it did have: Richard Head (fictional Producer), Justin Bieber (awesome look alike), The Situation, Snooki, Edward (awesome look alike), Jacob, Bella, The Count from Sesame Street, Sorcerer's Apprentice Nic Cage, Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, Hit Girl, Dr. Evil (seriously), Mr. T, the kid from Last Airbender, MacGruber, Joonice from SNL (YES!), Dr. Who, the Smoke Monster from Lost, the Hide Yo' Kids/"we gon' find you" homeboy (in pre-show video announcements), Lindsay Lohan, Resident Evil, drunk Iron Man, Pecker the Cowboy doll and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. D

We didn't get around to Orfanage or Catacombs, but will do them on Friday.

[Terror Inc.]

Thanks for all the info man. Can't wait til tomorrow. I'll make sure to push the red button in psychoscarapey lol. And i'm soooooo glad that Zombigeadon was one of the best houses. A lil sad that Hades got a C. It sounds like a unique ass house. Any word on queue vid's this year? Which houses had them and if they were any good?

[Sledge]

Zombiegeddon had a Z.A.P. training video. The rest that I saw all had the same very lengthy video showing off pictures and videos from other years events. They were well done and entertaining.

[Zombass]

zombiegeddon is so far my most pumped house of the night

[Cody]

I'm gonna say one thing on Bill & Ted: Go to it. It's going to get better after EP. Trust me.

[Spathic]

I'm gonna say one thing on Bill & Ted: Go to it. It's going to get better after EP. Trust me.

I usually feel people are too hard on the Bill and Ted show, but this year i kinda have to agree with the trashing of this event. When the absolute highlight of the entire show happens 2 minutes into the preshow it's not good. It kinda felt like they were just going through the motions (and not being subtle at all about the formula) and the dancing at the end was pretty much a sausagefest.

[kimlovesfl]

How the f*ck did I miss the red button in PS, the only house I got to go through on Wed? DUH!

I 100% agree on B&T, it sucked ass. My husband saw it on Wed, and unfortunately, it was the only B&T he's ever seen. His response: "On a scale of 1-10, I give it a negative 12. I can't believe they put on a show that bad."

I also missed the glowing crystal thing in The Coven, and it seemed as though there was no lighting at all when I went through really late on Wed. Perhaps it had been shut off for the night? I know a lot of effects in my area weren't working properly, or just weren't used that evening.

[Cody]

I usually feel people are too hard on the Bill and Ted show, but this year i kinda have to agree with the trashing of this event. When the absolute highlight of the entire show happens 2 minutes into the preshow it's not good. It kinda felt like they were just going through the motions (and not being subtle at all about the formula) and the dancing at the end was pretty much a sausagefest.

The show is getting a LOT of work done before the event. It had a lot of changes before EP, and it's going to have more. They're not going to put it on without the cast being ready to act.

[Spathic]

The show is getting a LOT of work done before the event. It had a lot of changes before EP, and it's going to have more. They're not going to put it on without the cast being ready to act.

I hope you are right I'm a fan of the show in general, but you could literally hear a pin drop halfway through the first show.

[kimlovesfl]

I don't blame the actors for B&T, I think it was just poorly written. I really wish they had used politics a lot more, because there was so much to make fun of this year politically. But, no Avatar, no Scott Pilgrim, nothing about Harry Potter? They could have easily made fun of the Potter lines, by showing some cast members waiting in line, saying they'd been there since 5 AM June 18. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who find that funny.

[Cody]

Actually, they did have Harry Potter. The Sorcerer's Apprentice scene has the joke there.

It's better to think about this year as less of a parody of pop culture and more of a parody on how Bill & Ted shows always go.

[The Director of Horror]

So who were Bill & Ted getting replaced by?