After five nights...a review

[Neko]

I started posting this over on the house rankings page and realized it had turned out as more of a review than a simple ranking, so I figured I would put it here and put the edited version over there.

First off, thank you to all the scareactors who made this year so wonderful. My final thoughts on HHN XX are that I had a fantastic time every night I went and I can honestly say that I have never had such a difficult time deciding which order to rank the houses in. Every house had something to offer this year and I really feel like it was one of the best years I have seen, if not THE best, which makes them hard to rank because they are so different in what I loved about them. I will admit a couple took more than one trip through for me to appreciate them, but I think some of that at least is due to the fact I went opening weekend and some of the scareactors were still "finding their way" at that point.

Anyway, here is my final house ranking, with my apologies to the houses toward the bottom - I have to put you somewhere. I still enjoyed your houses, just not as much as the others.

1. Catacombs / Cats N Combs: I thought the atmosphere was eerie and really set the mood. And without a doubt, I received the most scares and consistent scares in this house, from the first time I went through on opening night to the last night I went through on October 24th. The fact that the scares were there every time I went through gave this house a small edge over my second house which is:

2. Legendary Truth - I think this is the most "beautiful" HHN house I have ever been through. And if you hit this house at the right time, it had it all : the beauty, the cool effects, and the scares. I was fortunate enough to get that whole experience at least a couple times through and because of that, it ranks high on my list. I think they did a lot of "experimenting" in this house and I hope they take what worked well in here and what they learned to create even better houses in the future.

3. Hallow'd Past: I think it would be hard to not like this house if you're a fan of HHN. I loved looking at all the stuff in it, I got scares in unexpected places, and it was fun to revisit HHN's past scenes in some of the rooms. I absolutely love Scary Tales and Body Collectors so that pushes it up as well. I might have switched out a couple of the rooms for other things, but overall it's definitely a favorite.

4. Zombiegeddon - I like the humor houses and this one brought that, at least at the start. From the queue video, to the zombie baby, and "informative" signs inside, it was a lot of fun. And when it turned scary, I loved that too. And I love how it was tied into the scarezone outside. Because I knew the story as told from members here, that really enhanced it for me and I shared it with everyone I went through that house with. I think knowing all that really enhanced my experience.

5. Hades - This was my most anticipated house this year and while it did not end up at the top of my list, I still really enjoyed it. I just seemed to miss a lot of the scares in here (my best run through was my very last one and that was a really great one) but even with missing much of the action, the scareactors looked great and it really had sets and a nice atmosphere to it. I do wish SOMETHING or SOMEONE had been placed in that thrown at the end, however. Of all the things to leave out...

6. Psychoscareapy - I have been through two previous incarnations of Psychoscareapy and they were some of my favorite houses of all time. At first, I wasn't sure what to make of this new incarnation but I did enjoy the house. It had some great unexpected scares in it and oh how I loved to push that red button and watch the reactions of others.

7. Havoc - This was my least anticipated house - the house's premise just wasn't something I was really interested in, and honestly, it's still not. But I have to say, the group of scareactors in this house really went for it and I am impressed by your energy and dedication. My first run through here was pretty ho-hum, but by the time I came back two weeks later, everyone in here was just spot on and energized, and I enjoyed each of my subsequent runs through a lot more than that first one. On a side note, my husband who went through each of the houses once, ranks this as his favorite and I can see from reading the house ranking thread, this house has a lot of fans. Congratulations on House of the Year.

8. Orfanage - I really loved looking at this house, it definitely gave off the perfect vibe for what it was, but I did not get a lot of scares in here any of the times I went through. It actually often seemed like no one was in it for long stretches when I went through, lol. So, I just didn't have a lot happen to, or around, me personally which is why it ended up at the bottom of my list. I will say that this house, like Hades, gave me my best run through on the last night I went through and I'm glad I got to leave with that experience in it as my final one.

And on to the scarezones. Like the houses, I have a difficult time ranking these. I enjoyed them all.

1. 20 Years of Fear: I loved this area. The variety of characters in it was great, and the scareactors all seemed to be having a good time here scaring and just having fun. (Hats of to the Ice Queen for having a sense of humor and going with it when people would call her Lady Gaga. I'm sure that got annoying after the first 100 times or so...) The cast year definitely deserved SOTY in my opinion.

2. Saws N Steam: Especially Sting Alley - trying to get through there in that mist was scary in itself. Nothing says HHN like chainsaws and it was great to watch this cast work. I enjoyed this zone and it's use of the chainsaws a lot more than Hacktion last year.

3. Fear Revealed: All the icons with their own "sets" was very cool and I really liked the way they were portrayed for the most part. It was fun to see Chance again and of course getting to see Eddie and Cindy. I know this zone ended up as mostly a photo op, but I did not mind. Getting to see these characters "come to life" and interact with the fans was really enjoyable to me. Now, I personally did not care for the way Fear looked, but his minions looked very cool. And if the icons are indeed going away (for a while...forever), I think A&D did the fans a great service by putting them out here this way so we could say goodbye. I know many people want new and different, and I do too, but I am going to miss seeing some of them and am glad I got to one more time.

4. Equeleto Muerte - First off - I have a bit of a "day of the dead" fetish so I was anxious for this one. What a beautiful scarezone at night. And when they added the extra scares later in the run, wow.

5. Zombie Gras - This zone, like the house, was just a lot of fun. I didn't get a lot of scares here but just the atmosphere was great and festive and I loved how it tied together with Zombiegeddon. I feel a little bad putting this zone at five, because I liked it so much. But I have to put it somewhere.

6. The Coven - This zone was my least favorite but I still enjoyed it. The witches in the willow huts got me good a couple times. I felt like it was missing something, or maybe because the others had so much going on in them, it seemed lacking to some degree, but for a straight on "Halloween" themed scarezone, this was a good one.

So as I said, I enjoyed this year a great deal. So much so I am a little afraid next year will be a let down to me, but I am hopeful A&D will come up with some new and amazing stuff for HHN 21 and look forward to the 2011 haunt season.

[Creeper06]

Excellent review. Thanks for writing it up!

Yes, 20 years of Fear definitely earned SZ of the Year! It was awesome.