00nightcrawler Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 (edited) I went to Horror Nights on Saturday, september 24th. I got up there early and saw Drive with a bunch of my friends (a pretty good movie), bought a captain spaulding shirt, and lined up around 5 to get in. We were in the front of the line and were some of the first people to be let in. I will list the mazes in the order I did them in. The Wolfman: The Curse of Talbot Hall Got into this maze before the park actually opened because one of my friends had a pass. Well... it was the house of horrors... with a lazy overlay. I'm confused because Murdy said he was satisfied with this one. I thought for sure he would be ashamed due to his love of the wolfman. This really doesnt do the wolfman or even the house of horrors justice. The chucky room was embarassing, the wolfman costumes werent that good, and the added elements were just lazy. Not really the actors fault, from what I saw they were trying. But what sets universal apart is transporting you to another world, and this was just a lazy attempt at adding another "new" maze to the event. If you have never done the house of horrors before, its good. But for me... ive been through this a million times. PLEASE either make an entirely new maze or put more money into an overlay next year. F Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses It is the exact same maze as last year. Awesome for those who havent done it, as I like this maze alot. But I am a fan of house of 1000 corpses, or more specifically, The Devils Rejects. It held up pretty well from me, but for those who didnt like it last year, dont waste your time. C Alice Cooper's Welcome to my Nightmare This was an excellent surprise. This was alot of fun to me. The maze was a good length, all the actors were bringing their A game, some really cool original rooms (mannequins with glowing eyes, electric chair, spider room), some great animatronics... both of which got me good! My group even managed to be completely alone for a couple rooms, something that was really cool. I had fun the entire time and not a single room disappointed me. Likely due to low expectations, but this still turned out really really well. Only downside is for a maze successively set to music, the volume was very low and the walk there was quite long. A- Hostel: Hunting Season I don't like Hostel. The films. The first is passable at best, and the second is quite bad. So maybe I wasn't the target for this maze, which was cool but failed to really blow me away. The women in front of the facade interacted with my group which was cool and I enjoyed the holes in the wall and video screens, but it felt like I had seen it all before. Maybe I'm crazy but I felt that the first year of saw was better. This was still very good and there were some awesome rooms (clients taunting you from above, bathtub scene, locker room) but nothing was really unique or unusual, which I blame on hostel not being the best property suited for this. All the actors were trying their hardest, and the blood was good, but really this one was missing a uniqueness for me. C+ Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life Had high hopes for this, they were dashed. The video was only ok, the scream property completely wasted. The story made no sense, ghostface was given a shaker can. The newly added maze was bare bones and had repetitive scares. Everything else was very similar to what had been there before. A large cast, but not a very good one. Got almost no scares at all. Just really bummed out abut this one. Murdy should make a Scream maze to make it up to fans next year. D La Llorona: Villa de Almas Perdidas This one was a highlight, but was honestly only my third favorite this year. Great detail, great rooms, but I feel like I missed alot of the actors. The animatronic at the end was really really cool and the room with the children floating facedown is the kind of ballsy innovation I want to see in this event. But it felt a bit short to me, and in many rooms nothing happened. If I go again, I can update my opinion but when I went through it, my mind was not blown. B The Thing: Assimilation I have read some negative reviews for this one, and I have no idea why. I was blown away. Got a scare in almost every room, a great diversity in creatures and creature effects. I thought the detail was perfect for what it was supposed to be. I enjoyed the dark room and some of the puppetry was incredible. To me, this was the maze of 2011 and I hope the technology gets applied to making a Poltergeist or Evil Dead maze in the future. I have nothing overly negative to say about this one, other than it starting off a little slow, but the escalation added to it in my opinion. A Now for a quick rundown of the scarezones Scream Completely average. I love ghostface, but he deserved better. C- Zombieville Cool from what I saw, not really innovative but a good, fun zone nonetheless B+ The Reapers Monsters with chainsaws. Not much else to say. Not a big fan of chainsaws, but I'm sure some people get a kick out of them. C Klownz Exactly the same as last year. Should have brought back Welcome to Hell. Still an impressive location with the firetowers and stilt walkers. B- Freakz Another repeat, but for my personal favorite zone. Lots of cool costumes in this one and it has a desolate feel. Im all for a Freakz maze in 2012. A- Finally, I saw Bill and Ted. Not as good as last year, better than 2009. Covers just about all the pop culture you would expect it to, there were some good performers, good dancing, and I actually like the long length as it gives me a while to relax. And it seemed twice as amazing after seeing the hanging the night before. My main complaint is the dance at the end wasn't nearly as good as last year. Better song selection could have been made. B Overall, this year was an experiment. Not one that particularly worked but I give them credit for trying. The animatronics and puppets were a huge success in my eyes as were the original mazes, but better choices for properties could have been made. Also, the scarezones (not the actors, but the scarezones themselves) were clearly phoned in. Removing sliders was really a big mistake. I am hoping to go again near the end of october with my girlfriend if I can get the money, so hopefully things are better when I go again. But if I dont go again, this year didn't quite meet my expectations, especially where the tram and house of horrors and scarezones are concerned. My advice for next year is expand the animatronic technology, put some money into the house of horrors, change the tram location and do a property that fits and you really care about. Add more original mazes and choose one or two properties that are brand new, unique, and you can really work with (the evil dead, poltergeist, hellraiser). Put more effort into the front of the park and for the love of god please limit the repeats (this could be a problem as I can see la llorona, eli roth, the thing, rob zombie and cooper returning in some capacity). Yes, I am hard on this event but thats because I truely believe it to be the best event southern california has going. Here is looking forward to an improved 2012. Edited September 26, 2011 by 00nightcrawler Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 26, 2011 Share Posted September 26, 2011 (edited) Great review. Too bad you didn't get to see La Llorona in it's prime because there truly is a scare associated with EVERY ROOM which is why I love the hell out of it, plus the set design and the story telling. I think the SharpProductions video gets a glimpse of all the scares, even if he gets the tail end and/or has to turn around to catch it. But there truly was a scare (sometimes even 2) to each room. Freakin magnificent. And I agree about the puppetry usage (there was actually NO animatronics! Someone operated everything in some fashion) and they would definitely benefit some amazing mazes like Poltergeist and Evil Dead! Edited September 26, 2011 by DTH316 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorrorNights93 Posted October 1, 2011 Share Posted October 1, 2011 DTH is right once you see La llorona in its prime theres no way you cant love this maze...not saying that you didnt. When the SA's are at there most energetic levels is the best time to go. Great review though i found your grading to be good in accuracy for the most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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