Dinosaur Pirate's Review

[Dinosaur Pirate]

I went the first two nights... I'll try to go back later this month.

To start, this year is shaping up to be the best I've experienced. The quality of both the Houses and Scarezones this year are top-notch, and can only get better at the event goes on. Now, onto my opinion of the houses:

Horror Nights: Hallow'd Past

Alright, now this was the first house we did. Expectations were high, and the house delivered. The "facade" wasn't much of a facade at all, and served more as part of the queue. Of course, the house featured many detailed recreations of houses from Horror Nights past... but therein lies the problem.

The rooms are: Treaks and Foons, Scary Tales III, Frightanic (or Ship of Screams), Body Collectors, and Dead Exposure (think that's all of them...). Now, what's the problem here? Well, if this house is supposed to be celebrating Horror Nights past, why are THREE of the rooms from 2008? That's a bit silly.... why no Castle Vampyre? RUN? Scream House? Dungeon of Terror? Why not the ORIGINAL Body Collectors? On top of that, all three times I went through, the Treaks and Foons Room had no scareactors.... why? The Frightanic room has three, why not move one of them over to T&F?

The scare factor just isn't there right now, but I think it will get better. It's nice to see a return to the past, but it focuses way too much on recent houses. However, it's a very detailed house, and I did highly enjoy it.

4 / 5

Catacombs

This one was nice. We did this twice, and it was much better the second time. Very detailed and atmospheric... it really looks like you're underground. The Plague Doctors are creepy. There's some pretty intense scares here.... that said, I'm not sure exactly what's going on here. I understand that the bodies in the catacombs are coming back to life, but that doesn't really explain the plague doctors. Were they buried there too? I dunno. Still, a very cool house.

4 / 5

Havoc

This is another house that got a lot better the second day. It's loud, in-your-face and intense. The look of it is alright too... it does a pretty good job of looking like a military compound, and the facade is much nicer than Catacombs'. BUT, the house itself seems lazier. It's immediately apparent that a lot of the rooms were the same as in The Spawning, simply redecorated, and the finale was also very similar. For that, I have to mark it down a bit.

3.5 / 5

Hades

Pretty cool. I like this one.... it's pretty nice to look at, the costumes are wicked, and overall the scares were intense. It makes good use of the mirror gag here. I don't have too much to say about this house... however, if I did have to mark points off, I'd say that the monsters were a bit uninspired.

4.25 / 5

PsychoScareapy

WAT HAPPEN

Alright... while not a BAD house, this was just.... I dunno, I felt like this had the most wasted potential. In the past, Psychoscareapy has been FUNNY... this wasn't. Now, that might have been alright, but the crazies are just boring if they can't be funny. On top of that, they don't look like ghosts, they just look like living inmates. Everything felt like we'd seen it before. I like the interactive red button, though I'm not sure what it DOES exactly (I heard a noise, and it looked like a panel might have either dropped or raised up, but I didn't see anything). I dunno, this house could improve if the scareactors get into it more, but I think the main problem is the mundaneness of it.

3 / 5

LegendaryTruth

WE HAVE A WINNAR

Yes, Yes, Yes. I love this. This was the most intense house of both nights, and just totally awesome. The facade is awesome, the detail is awesome, the atmosphere is awesome, the effects are awesome, the scares are awesome, and I think I just peed a little. There's so much I could say about this one, but I'll try to keep it short... basically, I love it. There's a lot of great, unique scares here, especially in the hallway and the living room. The masks look a little odd, and kind of stand out from the costumes (I call it Spawning Syndrome), but even so, they look creepy.

5 / 5

Zombiegeddon

A lot of people said that this WASN'T the comedy house this year, due to it's intensity... I disagree. Even after everything goes nuts, there's still an underlying sense of humor to it, and either way, I loved it. A very intense house, and the zombies were actually quite scary. This is one of the best this year, and exceeds all expectations.

5 / 5

The Orfanage

This one's not only the most atmospheric house of the year, but the most atmospheric house I've been in, period. Damn was this creepy... the fact that the JAWS queue is already known for it's sweltering heat only added to the feeling of being in a smoldering husk of a building. The Children were creepy, not to mention scary, and there were a lot of eerie moments, like the ghost girl hovering just outside the window. Some great Cindys in here. One of my favorite houses this year.

4.5 / 5

20 Years of Fear

This one's a bit of a photo-op zone, but they'll still go in for the scare. That's what I like about it.... it's not just people posing for pics, and it can still be scary. It looks damn cool too, and is one of the few scarezones I've seen that has a FACADE.

4.5 / 5

Fear Revealed

Yeah, it's a photo-op zone. But a damn good one, with actual decor for each of the icons. The giant flame-spewing XX is awesome, not to mention Fear himself, who is incredibly intimidating. His minons are cool too.

4.5 / 5

Saws 'n Steam

One of my two favorites. The Costumes are great, the decor is great, and the acting is great. Lots of fog (or steam, I guess) everywhere. Not always the scariest, but it looks so freaking cool that I can't really complain.

5 / 5

Zombie Gras

I didn't expect much from this, after everyone complained about it from employee preview, but I ended up loving it. This is a true party scarezone. The zombies are a perfect blend of hilarious and scary, and the guy up on the parade float was funny too. The bead throwing was a nice touch, and the overall atmosphere felt fun. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, from the guests to the scareactors, and this ties with Saws 'n Steam for my favorite scarezone this year.

5 / 5

Escuelo Muerte

It certainly LOOKS awesome, that's for sure.... one of the prettiest scarezones I've seen, and the costumes are really nice too. But the scares just weren't there. It could get better, though.

3.5 / 5

The Coven

I expected more out of this one.... while it certainly looked nice, it didn't have enough scares. Excluding the ones in the huts, everyone seemed to just stand around. Again, I'm sure it will improve, but at the moment it's extremely lacking.

2.5 / 5

Bill & Ted

....oh god what

2 / 5

[DiegoDrummer]

Actually the Body Collecters in the Hallow'd Past are from 2005.

Cuz the knife that on of the Gentlemen are holding, is the Terra Queen Knife.

[Freak Show]

Actually the Body Collecters in the Hallow'd Past are from 2005.

Cuz the knife that on of the Gentlemen are holding, is the Terra Queen Knife.

Trust me, they looked nothing like the 2005 version.

[Harry Warden]

I still dont get what people like so much about Legendary Truth. My friends I went with came out loving it and I was a (and still am) arguing with them about it.