Universal Freak's Reviewtastic Review

[Universal Freak]

Hey guys! What's up? Everything been cool lately? Awesome!

With that being said, let's get to it.

Introduction

So I've been going to Halloween Horror Nights since 2005, a year after I moved to Florida. I'm in love with the event as much as everyone else that cares to post on forums such as these and my anticipation for this year's event has been fairly high. However, I find it baffling how much I am already desensitized to being scared and I blame myself for looking around every corner and expecting many of the scares. I say this as a foreword because my experience with scares in houses may vary greatly from your own if you are particularly jumpy or easy to scare, so do not allow my words to dissuade you, but loosely inform you as to what I thought about the event.

In Chronological Order across Opening Weekend:

Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past

Why not start off the twentieth anniversary with a run-down of the past twenty years?

This house was quite enjoyable when it comes to set pieces. You'll find yourself transitioning between many memorable rooms throughout HHN's history. I truly wish that they could have fit even more of the famous scenes in this house, but what they picked seemed to work. However, I did find the scareactors in this house to be rather tame. I got a good scare from someone who noticed my Vault shirt, but they seemed non-existent after that. On the whole, every HHN fan will love looking at the innumerable props situated throughout the opening and ending scenes, but I found myself wanting just a little bit more in terms of scares.

Catacombs: Black Death Rising

I had incredibly high hopes for this house due to the statements regarding the appearance of the doctors. I find that the style of their costumes is fantastic to look at and generally eerie in even the most lighthearted setting. Due to this, it is easy to understand why I enjoyed this house so much. Although I did not get any particularly good scares until the air-blown-plastic drapery finale, I found myself grinning the entire time watching others get frightened and menaced by the ubiquitous doctors. This house is definitely at the top of my list due to the subtle creepiness of many of the scareactors (reminiscent of the first time I encountered one of the dressed up gentlemen in Body Collectors) that is almost immediately in juxtaposition to the chaotic black plague victims that apply more in-your-face tactics. Do not miss this house.

Hades: The Gates of Ruin

This house was probably my most anticipated house for the entire event. What is not to love about a mythological setting with Horror Nights themes? With so much to work with, what could go wrong?

The answer for me is horrible timing...

I will not classify this house as being bad, as I did enjoy the costumes, and some of the sets were quite nice. After entering through a facade that is adorned with old stone pillars straight out of last year's Wolfman finale, I was immediately faced with some warriors who nearly mauled the group in front of me. Unfortunately, this trend seemed to continue throughout the house (as it often does, for me), and I was not targeted for a single scare. With that being said, I still found many of the costumes to be unique and, for lack of a better term, scary. The Medusa characters looked great, and the minotaur in the mirror was certainly something to jump at, if he had moved. After a few more turns, nothing else can really be said about my first run except that I hope it gets better.

PsychoScarepy: Echoes of Shadybrook

There is no doubting the affinity that Horror Nights fans have with PsychoScarepy, and despite having started my journey only five years ago, this will already be my 3rd PsychoScarepy. I've heard from others that they enjoyed this house with the side note that the actors need to be a little more active. I personally loved the eerie return to the past with the Shadybrook facade, but I quickly became sick of the continuous use of the color gray in every scene. With that being said, I did enjoy a certain scene with countless clenched fists adorning the doors of a hallway of Jail Cells that I think most will find to be fresh and memorable. After a few more turns through gray hallways, however, the house was over and I was left with mixed feelings about the final PsychoScarepy.

Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate

As someone who was initially interested in the Legendary Truth element of the event in 2008, this house seemed particularly interesting to me. I honestly wasn't sure what to think of it. After entering the soundstage, I found myself in love with the facade, as it captures the vintage haunted house style perfectly. As you proceed through the house, you'll notice several cool effects that provide a fresh Horror Nights experience. Furthermore, remnants of the surveillance crew are scattered throughout the house, as wrapped up cables, monitors displaying thermo-cam data, and cameras are never far away. This is a great house to go through aside from its length, and I found myself actually jumping once or twice. My biggest gripe would have to be the masks that the paranormal beings must wear. I find that in some instances the masks give away the position of the actor before they initiate a scare, which isn't ideal for jump/surprise scares. In the end, it is certainly worth a visit simply for the effects.

Saturday

Catacombs: Black Death Rising (Take Two!)

The second trip through Catacombs provided a very similar experience to the first. The house is still solid and the doctors are still menacing. The opening scene will probably never yield a scare for me, though. It just seems like those crypt actors will never go for me, and now their position is pretty much permanently embedded in my skull.

Havoc: Dogs of War

I did not visit this house on Friday night after hearing some rather negative things about its quality. I was skeptical about this house even before attending the event, but I figured a five minute wait was not too steep.

Luckily, I entered the house with no one in front of me, which most people know is indicative of a good run. As expected, I was immediately targeted for some good jump-scares. Eventually, I caught up with the rest of the people still walking through the house, but still received a few scares here and there. Ultimately, this house seems like a standard tent house. The actors are spot on and high in energy, but the sets fall behind. Despite this, the amount of material hanging in this house and the strobes make for a great level of distraction that really works in some spots. By the end of it, I was a bit tired of having to push hanging pipes and wires out of the way, though.

The Orfanage: Ashes to Ashes

First of all, why did they misspell Orphanage? Did they figure that it was a more contemporary way of spelling it? Is it a more suitable length for printing on maps without the need for a font resizing?

Anyway, this house, aside from the presence of Cindy, clearly didn't seem to have a lot of hype. Sure, the aspect of real fire being in a house is cool, but did anyone really expect it to be to at an extreme level? On top of the low ratings, I am also usually not one to like the houses in the Jaws queue, so some bias was certainly present. After going through, I was really disappointed with the amount of scares and the sets. I usually just saw actors standing and waiting for someone else to scare and the sets were a bit mild for my taste (perhaps it was too dark to see all of the detail). The fire effects flared up for me while I passed, so I found it a bit enjoyable, but nothing really pushed this house over the edge for me. Overall, I was displeased with this house.

Zombiegeddon

Clearly the jocular house this year, Zombiegeddon initially greats you with a queue video led by two overweight, zombie-killing enthusiasts which fits perfectly with the house's style. Some techniques are mentioned, along with zombie collars, and you are transitioned into the house. Entering through the first room, numerous weapons are seen along with a frustrated captured zombie, and then it was off to the second room in which Invader_Butters was enthusiastically indoctrinating us with facts about how to deal with zombies. The rest of the house moves toward a chaotically paced experience with unleashed zombies jumping out from every corner. I enjoyed the room in which a human was fighting a zombie with a nail-gun, and the writhing arm on the table was good for a chuckle. All in all, I think the cast did a great job.

PsychoScarepy: Echoes of Shadybrook (Take Two!)

This house showed little improvement for me on my second run. The experience finished still leaving me with a desire for something more from the actors, but I suppose I will have to wait. I still love the Jail Cell scene, though!

Hades: The Gates of Ruin (Take Two!)

This house did show improvement tonight, as it seemed like they filled some locations where scareactors seemed missing opening night. I found myself the victim of a rather jarring Medusa scare that was incredibly well executed. Also, I was very happy to see many of the knight/warrior scareactors still going for me even if their location had been revealed. I swear, I wish that more actors would still attempt to scare me even if I have seemingly "spoiled" their chances by seeing them in their hiding spot. If more did that, I would at least feel as though I am being targeted rather than disregarded completely when actors do nothing. But enough ranting. This house improved and is now one of my favorites.

Horror Nights: The Hallow'd Past (Take Two!)

This run consisted mainly of paying more attention to the plethora of props and sets placed within our path. After running through my head the location in which many of the set pieces had been used, it was time to re-enter the vortex and attempt to get scared. I noticed that there was an extra scareactor at the end of the first ramp on this night, but I unfortunately missed the interval on all three scareactors in this area (WHY!? Again?). The rest of the zones were pretty much without scares, and it appeared as though no one was in the Treaks and Foons area. I want to love this house so much, but it seems to be missing its heart and soul when it comes to scares. The finale had the group in front of me getting hit by the Usher, Storyteller, and Eddie, and I thought that I was going to be leaving the house with a stale taste in my mouth. To my surprise, right before exiting, Jack jumped out and gave me a good jump. Thanks, man!

Catacombs: Black Death Rising (Take Three!?!?!?)

Awesomeness coupled with subtle, creeping darkness. A great way to begin and end the night.

Due to the length of this review of solely the houses, I will withhold my extended thoughts on the scarezones and the Bill and Ted show and simply say this. I love the zones this year, and the return of sting alley is very well used by the Saws n' Steam Crew. The Coven was not a particularly enthralling experience, but a witch in a hut did give me a pretty good scare. Fear Revealed is great for photos, and HHN: Twent Years of Fear has a slew of actors that all gave a good effort in scaring everyone. Esqueleto Muerte and Zombie Gras both seem a bit forgettable to me at the moment. Bill and Ted really could have been so much better. Go ahead and skip it this year.

If you made it this far, thanks for taking the time to read about my experiences and go out there and have some fun at HHN! It's finally here!

If you didn't read it all, I'll find you, hunt you down, and tell you concisely that the event is good but could be better! MUAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Edited September 26, 2010 by Universal Freak

[LuitaChris]

I think they spelled Orfanage the way they did was to indicate that it was for the "fans"... Great review, I didn't have high hopes for Catacombs but now I am looking forward to it!

[Universal Freak]

I think they spelled Orfanage the way they did was to indicate that it was for the "fans"... Great review, I didn't have high hopes for Catacombs but now I am looking forward to it!

I suppose I could take that as a reason to misspell it, but aren't there several houses specifically geared toward the fans this year? Why don't they all have some sort of rewording so that I know immediately that they are for us and not simpletons! I need guidance!

Joking aside, I'm glad you liked it and that you will now have high hopes for Catacombs. Let's just hope you have a good run so that my credibility isn't immediately destroyed.

[Tman875]

I suppose I could take that as a reason to misspell it, but aren't there several houses specifically geared toward the fans this year? Why don't they all have some sort of rewording so that I know immediately that they are for us and not simpletons! I need guidance!

The word "fan" was used because if you aren't a fan of the event then you would never know who Cindy was, let alone know why she has finally received a house after all this time.

[Universal Freak]

The word "fan" was used because if you aren't a fan of the event then you would never know who Cindy was, let alone know why she has finally received a house after all this time.

Fairly clever on their part, then. Now I just wish that I liked the house a little bit more considering how much I like the Caretaker and his storyline.

[Karras]

Nice review my friend. I pretty much agree with everything minus Pyschoscaraepy. Which is funny because we both had the same run. Whatayaknow.

Edited September 27, 2010 by NightlifeMike

[Universal Freak]

Nice review my friend. I pretty much agree with everything minus Pyschoscaraepy. Which is funny because we both had the same run. Whatayaknow.

Thanks, man. Yeah, I am not entirely sure what it is about Psychoscarepy that rubbed me the wrong way, but I'm sure it'll get better. Perhaps I just had really bad timing and next weekend will be much more awesome. Here's hoping!