Teach's 1st time review since joining the dark side! (spoilers)

[Teach]

This is the 1st year that I have followed this forum. I feel that a review is in order because I want to share my view as a new junkie versus the general public view that I had for so many years.

I will start off with the bad things about this year since there were so few:

Bill and Ted: This was painful to watch. I actually felt bad for the actors because their material is so bad. I would rather Universal cancel the show and come up with something new than continue to put on such a sad show. The jokes were dry/lame, and the story line was incoherent. There were many movies from the past summer that could have been parodied.

Death Drums: No too much hate here, I just feel like this show is in its infancy. This is a great concept but the actual show was a disappointment. The drummers were off timing horribly and that ruined it for me. The dancers were good and interesting to watch. I would like to see this show morph into a hybrid of Blue Man group.

Lady Luck scare zone: THE BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE WHOLE EVENT!!! When we went with friends on several nights, I actually felt embarrassed to explain why there was not a house for Lady Luck. Since coming over to the dark side…I held hope that Universal would make this the best scare zone. I honestly felt that this zone was thrown together. I wish it was held in the large street next to the zone. The best part of the zone was Lady Luck’s minions and I hope we see them again very soon! I want a house with the minions!!!! I felt for Lady Luck being the face of the event, she at least deserved the best zone.

HR Bloodenguts: I felt that this house has such great potential with the theme but fell flat due to the lack of scare actors and poor set design. The detail was awesome but the layout was poor. For example, in 3 times going through the house (the firework room and the valentine room) you saw the scare actors’ boo hole. This house could have been the best but fell flat due to the execution of the house.

Ok now that the bad is out of the way, I will rank the rest of the event by House/Zone from best to not my favorite.

Houses

1. Nightingales- best scares, most immersive

2. Forsaken- Glad to see that the glowing eyes had an on/off switch. Slow house but ends with a good amount of sequential scares.

3. Winter’s Night- 1st time I was disappointed. 2-3 times through I got all the scares. Gotta love the up-scare and the last room.

4. In Between- Hated this the 1st time through. 2nd time through I was able to see all the detail and the really scary winged demon. Too short and not enough scares.

5. The Thing- Really good use of effects. Best effect house. Repetitive use of the same mask though. Can’t wait to see the movie.

6. Nevermore- This house had to grow on me. I was not looking forward to this house but I was won over by the detail and the actors of the house. Poe really goes mad.

7. Saws and Steam- Good effects but I feel this house was always empty. This house would have been more intense had there been more actors. I felt there were too many rooms that had no scares in it.

Now I must say that 4-7 houses are interchangeable. I felt that the houses were all awesome and it was very hard to rank them. I also noticed that there were a lot more of sound queues in most houses. Sometimes the sounds made me jump more than the scare.

Scare Zones

1. Canyon of Dark Souls- Well done. The actors always had high energy. Got a good scare from a stilt walker.

2. Night Maze-Only go through when it is dark. I got many, many scares in this zone. Several times I had a gate close me in and several actors rushed me. Has the most room for improvement.

3. Grown Evil- Just wow… The masks and fog made for some of the best scares.

4. 7- really loved the idea of a changing zone. The actors had a lot of energy!

5. Acid Assault- Projections were amazing. Needed to be a smaller zone to get more scares.

Now that I followed this forum, there is so much that I was able to notice and enjoy. For the past 7 years I have wandered aimlessly around the event as a zombie (general public). My friends joked that they had a free personal tour guide to the event. I still really feel strong about the Icon house debate. Either have an icon and house or don’t have one at all. All of my zombie friends really felt that the event sucked because they based it on the Lady Luck scare zone and lack of an icon house. I tried to explain how Lady Luck shaped each house but everyone tuned me out because it was too hard to follow or too lame.

I absolutely loved this year! I am sad that my time at HHN has come to close this year. Please feel free to politely bash my opinion or agree with me. Also ask any questions you may have!

Happy HHN(ing) this year!!!!

Edited October 3, 2011 by Teach

[Luke]

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Edited October 7, 2011 by Luke

[Grimp0nd]

That was a clear, well thought out review and very enjoyable to read. I'm interested to see how my opinions will differ when I finally get to the event lol. Anyway I'm glad you decided to share your thoughts with us all, well done Teach!

[PWT]

You probably went in during a cast change on Saws N' Steam because we have people everywhere.

SnS is the only house I haven't seen empty spaces in, just for the record.

[The Matador]

Forsaken- Glad to see that the glowing eyes had an on/off switch. Slow house but ends with a good amount of sequential scares.

There is no off/on switch.

[Teach]

I was hesitant to put SnS at the bottom. It doesn't mean I did not enjoy it. I had a good scare from a guy with an eye patch (I think it was an eye patch). The effects were cool. Somthing had to be #7 and it just happened to be SnS. My 3rd time through was the best time.