LxC Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 (edited) Well this is my first post here. I used to post on the Vault before it crashed and switched over to here, but I've been so extremely busy with school and applying to colleges that I've only had time to lurk. I finally took my trip to HHN this past Friday and, needless to say, this year was simply awesome. I've been going since 2001 and I really felt that this was the best time I've had at HHN since 2006. My boyfriend was also able to go with me this year [yes I'm gay] and we were both armed with Express, which was a major plus. We walked into the park a little before 7:00 and headed straight through Esquelto Muerte and to Legendary Truth. It only had a 20 minute wait so we just waited in line instead of using express right away. Then we made our way over to Catacombs which only had a 10 minute wait. After that we were both extremely hungry so we ate some food at Mel's and then took some pictures in Fear Revealed. We made our way back over to Kidzone and saw a 45 minute wait for Hallow'd Past so we started to use our express passes. After that we headed over to Orfanage and then Havoc. We were going to do Havoc first but there were a group of really obnoxious kids that had just gone into the express line and we didn't want to be behind them. Then we made our way over to Zombiegeddon, and then over to the soundstages for Hades and Psychoscareapy. At that point we had done all the houses so we spent some time going through the scarezones for a while and then went back in LT & Catacombs with express since we waited in the normal line for those before. After Catacombs we got in line for Havoc again, followed by Hallow'd Past, Hades, and one last trip through Psychoscareapy to end the night. Overall the event was incredible and I haven't had that much fun in years. I also feel some of the houses this year managed to scare me much more than I have been in a long, long time. Now on to individual house/scarezone reviews. Legendary Truth: - 2 trips From the many mixed reviews I read of this house, I really didn't know what to expect going into it. I was more worried that I wouldn't catch the timing of the scares more than anything. I was amazed when I walked inside and saw the gorgeous facade, but that might have actually been the high point of that house.. My first trip through was actually pretty decent compared to the second, though. I managed to catch almost all of the effects [the ghost in the floor, in the wall, the chair, etc.] and I managed to get startled a few times by other random ghosts. However, I didn't really feel the house had much energy. My second trip through was, unfortunately, awful. I didn't see any of the effects and there seemed to be hardly ANY actors in the whole house. I don't know if I even saw more than three. It was very disappointing. Based on my first trip through, it was a decent house. Some of the effects were really nice, and the chair scared the crap out of my boyfriend. But I didn't really feel there was anything special about it. I actually didn't mind the cheesy masks as much as their e-prompts. What the hell was that noise? It just sounded like an old lady wailing. It was more annoying than scary. Scares: 2.5/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 3/5 Catacombs: - 2 trips Let me start by saying that I really, really, really wanted to LOVE this house. From all of the reviews online I was expecting to be blown away from this house. I tried as hard as I could to really get into this house and to love it but sadly, I was very disappointed. My first trip through I know for a fact it was a cast change because a new cast walked in just before we walked in to the house, so I blame that bad experience on that. The second time could have been a cast change too for all I know, but it wasn't any better than the first. I really loved the sets in this house and it did make me feel like I was in the catacombs, but the scares simply weren't there for me. I did get startled a few times by some doctors and plague victims. But I did see quite a few standing around or simply not coming out of their hiding spots. Again, I simply blame this house on my extremely bad timing. I know that this is a great house according to everyone else and I really wish I had caught it at a better time. Scares: 2/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 2.5/5 Hallow'd Past: - 2 trips This house was a nice refresher after the two lackluster experiences I just had. I honestly wasn't expecting much from this house at all based on the rooms that I knew were in it, but I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the warehouse at the beginning and the end were truly awesome. It was so much fun to point out all of the props from previous years. The chainsaw right after the tunnel also got me really good. I got more scares in this house than I was expecting. Even the treak managed to startle me a little. The first time through, my one good scare came when I was busy watching the body collector rip out the girl's spine, while another came right through the curtain behind me and scared the crap out of me. The second time, it came from the march hare popping out of his little hole in the wall and sending us running out of the AIW room. The Dead Exposure room, while I didn't get personally targeted by the actors, actually did manage to make me feel very uneasy and brought back a very familiar feeling from the first house. The Frightanic room was nice, except all of the actors were simply standing around. Even Jack at the end caused me and my boyfriend to jump and run out of the house. Overall it was a pretty good house and much better than I expected. It was really cool to see things from the past, but I wish they had more things prior to 2008.. Scares: 3.5/5 Atmosphere: 4.5/5 Overall: 4/5 Orfanage: - 1 trip Sadly, this was the biggest disappointment of the night for me. I'm sorry for anyone who's in this house, but it was just a sad, sad attempt. I'm not sure if I went through here during a cast change or what, but this house was simply not good. The atmosphere was fantastic and the smell of burning wood really added to it, but those were the only saving graces of this house. Of the very few actors that were in here, all of them were standing around looking. Not one of them tried to scare us, or anyone in front or behind us for that matter. I saw no scaring going on whatsoever in this house. Just a lot of standing and staring. And I only saw Cindy once. This house had so much potential with what it had to work with but it really fell flat on it's face. I'm not sure if it's because of my bad timing or what, but I was really disappointed in this house. Scares: 0.5/5 Atmosphere: 3/5 Overall: 1/5 Havoc: - 2 trips Holy mother of god. Let me start by saying that if this doesn't get house of the year, you guys should have the right to sue the company. I'm serious. I can't even begin to explain how incredible this house was. I haven't been this scared in a house for a very, very long time. After going through here once, my boyfriend told me he would start crying in line if I made him go through it again. This house was so loud, so intense, so utterly terrifying, that it was simply the best house of the night. The first trip through managed to scare the crap out of me and got me screaming [which I hardly ever do] quite a few times. The second time, all hell broke loose. I didn't think it would get any worse than it was the first time, but oh my god I was wrong. We kept getting targeted by EVERY. SINGLE. ACTOR. Some of them multiple times! There was a scene right after some red tarps where there was a soldier on the floor who jumped up accompanied by another on the side of him that lunged out at us, that made me scream and lose my balance and practically fall on the floor. The guy on the floor had to push my back up or I seriously would have fallen on top of him. One of the best scares I've gotten in YEARS. Congrats to that guy on the floor. Then the room with the pipes, we were tag-teamed by both actors in the pipes both trips through and went RUNNING out of that room screaming for our lives. I cannot praise this house enough. It was simply top-notch. Very intense and very well done. The actors had so much energy and so much determination. Hands down, my favorite house this year and one of my all time favorites. You guys deserve house of the year. The only downside was that it followed the exact same layout of Spawning, but even that wasn't bad at all. It fit the house perfectly. Scares: 5/5 Atmosphere: 4.5/5 Overall: 5/5 Zombiegeddon: - 1 trip I think I was expecting a little more from this house than what I got. But what I did, was still pretty awesome. The facade was very well done and the first couple of rooms were pretty comical. The zombie baby scared the crap out of my boyfriend. He no longer wants to have a baby. Once the float crashed, the house really did pick up though. There were a few rooms that did disappoint me, with some of the zombies just staring us down, but for the most part a lot of the zombies were destined for food. My favorite room was the hunting lodge room which got me really good. The flopping arm on the table was also awesome. The detail in this house wasn't exactly great, and I can't really remember specific rooms. It all kind of blends together. But overall it was a pretty decent house. The zombie at the end after the van also got us good. Scares: 3/5 Atmosphere: 3/5 Overall: 3/5 Psychoscareapy: - 2 trips Now, PS has always been one of my favorite house series of the event. I've been inside all of them and, sadly, I would say that this wasn't the greatest finale to the series. As a house by itself, though, I did like it a lot. It didn't have the craziness of the other houses, but it was special in it's own way. It was more eerie than scary IMO. I did get one really good scare in the window hallway and from the hallway with the hands on the jail cells. And the guy in the electric chair was brilliant. I really wanted to press the red button to see Jack but the person in front of me beat me to it. It was a really awesome effect though. I think they could have played with the ghost aspect of this house a little more, though. It didn't really seem old and haunted, it just seemed like the inmates were wearing white face paint. I did really like this house by itself but, like I said, I think as a finale to the PS series, they could have done something better. Scares: 3/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 3.5/5 Hades: - 2 trips I was looking forward to this house more than any other one, and I was not let down in the least bit. My first run through this house was awesome. I caught almost all of the scares. But my second trip was even better. We got literally every scare. Both Medusas, both cyclops, the minotaur, Charon, the soldier guys, all of them. This house, along with Havoc, managed to make me scream like I haven't screamed since I was a child. Everything about this house terrified me. The cyclops' looked absolutely horrifying. The Medsas came out at the perfect time and scared the living daylights out of me. The minotaur came running at us full force and roared right in our faces, making us scream for our lives and run off in terror. Even the soldiers at the end kept popping out over and over and sent us running out of the house. This house was simply spot-on. There's really nothing I can complain about. I didn't feel as if there was too much hanging stuff, I think that really added to it. The huge throne at the end did seem kind of odd, but while we were busy looking at that an actor came out right next to us and scared the crap out of us. The costumes in this house were also really amazing. They looked extremely realistic and they were all really terrifying. These creatures really did look menacing and that was half of the reason I was so scared. Even the sounds they made were terrifying. I think maybe the only thing this house suffered from was the fact that it didn't exactly feel like the underworld, but that can definitely be excused for the amazing scares, costumes, and sets. Scares: 4.5/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Overall: 4.5/5 For the scarezones I'll be a bit more brief... Fear Revealed - Simply a photo-op, but a damn good one at that. It was cool seeing all of the past characters and their sets. And I even got to have a nice chat with Cindy! She seemed surprised and honored that I knew who she was. It made me feel like a true fan As for Fear himself.. eh Scares: 1/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 3/5 20 Years of Fear - Again, it was nice seeing a ton of props and characters from the past. There was a lot of scaring going on but none of it was really directed toward us. Overall it was a pretty cool zone. Scares: 3/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 3/5 Zombie Gras - This really just felt like a party zone more than anything. We did get startled by one zombie who ran right up to us. The atmosphere in here was pretty nice, however. This was actually my boyfriend's favorite zone but probably because it was the least scary. Scares: 2/5 Atmosphere 4/5 Overall: 2.5/5 Saws & Steam - Now talk about a badass zone. The little show outfront on the stage really set the mood, and the saws out here were relentless. They were going after everyone. My boyfriend was absolutely terrified to go into Sting Alley and I had to drag him through. The ambiance inside Sting Alley was amazing. The right light mixed with the heavy fog and the wires and the glowing eyes of the actors, it all mixed together to create a very unnerving place. They were getting lots of scares around us and managed to get us once or twice. I really liked this zone. Scares: 4/5 Atmosphere: 4.5/5 Overall: 4.5/5 The Coven - Not as bad as I was expecting it to be. We did get scared by one of the hags in the willow huts a few times. There was a lot of fog in here every time we went through and it created a very creepy setting. I was confused though, isn't there supposed to be two guys burning? Every time we went through, the one by Mel's was missing. Scares: 3/5 Atmosphere: 4/5 Overall: 3.5/5 Esquelto Muerte - Awesome awesome awesome zone. I loved the whole dayglow aspect to this zone and the costumes were really awesome. I could have stayed in here forever. It was just an awesome place to walk around and look at. We even got scared quite a few times by the actors who were all in black. They were really doing a good job scaring everyone. Scares: 3.5/5 Atmosphere: 4.5/5 Overall: 4/5 I also took some pictures. I have a DSLR but I haven't learned to use it all that much yet. So night time pictures are really difficult for me. Most of the pictures I took came out really bad but these are a few of the good ones I took. My boyfriend is the one in the red shirt and I'm only in one of these pictures, wearing my HHN shirt from last year. EDIT: Crap, I have too many pics for one post and it wont let me double post. I'll post the rest of the pictures once somebody replies. Overall it was a really great night. The crowds weren't that bad. We didn't run into any drunken idiots. All of the people that went through the houses with were fun and sometimes added to the scares we got. It was just a great event this year. Props to all of the actors this year, you guys worked really hard and put on an amazing show this year! A lot of you managed to scare me more than I've been scared in years. Just when I was beginning to think I was completely desensitized and would never been scared by HHN again, you restored my hopes. While it does seem like some of my house reviews are negative, all of the houses this year were amazing. I was just comparing the best of the best to each other. If they were compared to houses of previous years, they would blow them out of the water. Edited October 25, 2010 by LxC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Director of Horror Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 Now you can post your other photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LxC Posted October 25, 2010 Author Share Posted October 25, 2010 Now you can post your other photos. Haha, thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts