The Thing vs. Hostel

[DTH316]

The first wave of mazes have been announced and right now, they're battling it out for "expectation supremacy!"

Expect the same showdown for the second and third waves of mazes when they're announced.

This poll is purely on "excitement and expectations" and NOT the final product. Whichever is better will be shown in their individual reviews.

As of the moment, which maze out of the first wave of announcements are you most looking forward to?

Other things that can be discussed in this joint thread for the first two mazes announced:

Which do you THINK will be more popular? (remember to consider where they're located)

Which do you THINK will be scarier? (types of scares, number of scares)

Which do you THINK will have the better sets & environments?

(When the event begins, DO NOT put any reviews in here!)

Edited July 28, 2011 by DTH316

[jymmymack]

No Prejudging DTH! They're both new so we should shower love on them both and say nothing bad about them!

[DTH316]

^ LMFAO oh man, that made me laugh so hard

[Freak]

Before I answer those three questions, let me tell you which one I'm most excited for. For me, the most anticipated maze between the two would have to be the Thing. First of all, we're finally getting something truly unique that will be a huge breath of fresh air from the typical slashers that we've been getting the last few years. Instead of just going through some houses and then the antagonist's lair, we will be walking through an antarctic research facility, which will offer really cool (Hehe) environments. Even better, Universal is finally taking advantage of one of their own properties and not just shoving it into House of Horrors this time like they did in 2008 with the Strangers and 2009 with Chucky; although, I do see a Universal property going into House of Horrors this year if all of the mazes will be movie-based.

Secondly, we have been told that this maze would utilize lots of special effects, will be freezing-cold, have original concepts of the Thing since he can mutate into whatever he wants, and will have a room that's near pitch-dark. Those four factors are what will really get me excited for the maze and they sound like they will push this maze to a whole different level of madness.

I am not anticipating Hostel as much since it will offer the same general concept as Saw: torture. I do think the maze will be good, if not better than Saw considering the environment that the films takes place in and the scare potential it offers with those Elite hunters. One reason I believe this will beat Saw is that the torturers are actually going after you rather than you watching the people being tortured by the traps to distract you from the pigs. In that sense, I could see that maze work to its advantage.

Now what do I think will be more popular? Hmmm....that's actually a tough choice. Judging by all of the GP's comments on the FB page, I think Hostel will be more popular since Eli Roth is such a big name in Hollywood, especially horror. That and the fact that torture-porn is the most popular style of horror nowadays, unfortunately.

I think the Thing will be scarier for the fact that we'll be dealing with a creature here that can mutate into anything and anybody it wants to. As for Hostel, it'll be just Elite hunters going after their prey for pleasure. Even though the latter sounds pretty twisted and frightening to think about, I think a monster in disguise that you cannot see coming at all would be more frightening than that.

As for environment, I think the Thing wins too. We'll be wondering through an antarctic research facility with all sorts of equipment and laboratory rooms and ice caves, making it a very cool experience (Just had too). With Hostel, we'll be wondering through a worn-down building with torture chambers and underground lairs. While I think this will be cool too, it doesn't sound as unique and exciting as going through ice caves and research facilities with an alien on the loose. Besides, we already had an environment sort of like Hostel....called Saw. Hostel will be different yes, but it's the same concept, therefore losing the uniqueness factor.

Ding! Ding! Ding! The rounds are over. Who's the overall champion in this ring? The Thing. I think that maze will beat out Hostel in scares and environment not just for what it is, but for the fact that the main purpose of this maze is to promote Universal's upcoming prequel. If Universal wants to convince everybody to go see their upcoming movie, I'm sure they have given free creative reign to Murdy as far as budget goes to make this the best maze possible. Despite their best creative efforts they will use for the Thing, I think Hostel will win over just because it'll be really gory. Bottom line: Even though the Thing will, I'm sure, be the maze of the year, I think the general public's opinions are going to weigh more in favor towards Hostel since, according to the GP's eyes, "If it's gory, it's gonna be good".

Just one thing I wanted to point out here: I thought Halloween was the best maze of 2009. I thought F13 was the best maze of 2010 in terms of scares. Is it just me, or has the WWW arena established the reputation of being the scariest maze?

[DTH316]

I agree on every point you just said, Freak. I was gonna write a post out but... it'd be pointless since we're on the exact same page as far as these 2 mazes are concerned. Although, I still think Hostel is gonna be very Saw esque in where we just go room after room of seeing people tortured. It's the only way to make it work if we are indeed gonna be seeing moments from the movies. And to say we're escaping the compound as a victim, it'd be ridiculous to walk in on that many torture scenes, over and over. Maybe 1 or 2 but definitely not 8 haha.

I think one cool way they could do this to make it REALLY cool is if they do something even MORE insane... where instead of being the victim... WE'RE THE VILLAIN. Let's say we're being given a walkthrough demonstration of the facility so we'll "convert" to Elite. We get a special tour of all the rooms... and much like the first movie, a victim escapes. Not only that, they dawn the apparel of the torturers and now WE'RE THE HUNTED and we now have to find a way to escape. That would push the Halloween event experience to a new level never seen before, especially at Halloween Horror Nights. And it would work so easy too. This would be tying into the themes of both movies perfectly (spoilers: since the guy in the first one escapes dressed as a client and since the girl in the second escapes by BUYING OUT the person that bought her).

Holy shit, now if that were the case, that would make me VERY EXCITED for Hostel but I already know they're gonna go the Saw route. And therefor, I gotta give The Thing the win because it's something entirely different that we've never seen before and for all the reasons Freak listed (at Hollywood, at least). Do my Hostel idea and you'd have the crown jewel of all maze experiences.

Edited July 29, 2011 by DTH316

[Freak]

^I think your idea of the guests being the villain and then have them "reap what they were about to sow" sounds like an awesome idea for something like a "tour maze". The only thing is that it would make lines get REALLY long if they used that concept of a guided tour. The lines are already long enough as is so I don't think they would have gone that route. If they made it an up-charge maze like Alone at Busch Garden's Howl-O-Scream, I could see that as a higher possibility, but USH knows it would be bogus to pay $25 or $30 more per person to see another maze.

[DTH316]

No no no, no guided tour. Simple audio in each room.

Room 1: Welcome to Elite Hunting. Enjoy the tour of our facilities. (Front desk)

Room 2: Enjoy an array of weapons designed specifically for your comfort. (Weapons room. Scare: hunter starting up a loud weapon and entering the next room)

Room 3: Spacious rooms created for your pleasure and devices to help your needs. (Multiple torture rooms and scenes. Variation of scares that would be deemed "the Saw portion.")

Room 4: Warning, a victim has escaped and is on the premises. Use extra caution! (Hallways with threads hanging down. Scare: half naked victims popping out of booholes)

Room 5: Warning, multiple clients have been found murdered. Please proceed to the nearest exit for your safety. (Torture room, multiple clients found brutally murdered. Scare: Victim in elite hunting clothes comes in, killing a client)

Room 6: Warning - - oh my God, they're in here! Somebody hel - *gurgle, gurgle, gurgle* (Random room, random scare while the voice over plays)

Room 7: You can run but you CAN'T HIDE!!!! (Another random room and scare while the victims taunt the clients)

Silent final room for the final scare. (We're attacked head on by multiple victims from all sides of the room, exit)

[00nightcrawler]

The Thing, easy. Better environment, better killer (with various forms), better series. And nothing like The Thing has been done in Hollywood before. I think its worth nothing that its quite possible hostel will bear at least a few similarities to Saw, being in the same venue and genre.