HHN 21: A Review

[I am Weighting]

Howdy! I'll give a description as to why I ranked them, not a walk-through of the house. There will still be spoilers. but I'll try to be as vague as possible.

HOUSES

1. Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetery

2. Nevermore: The Madness of Poe

3. The In Between

4. Saws n' Steam: Into the Machine

5. Nightingales: Blood Prey

6. The Forsaken

7. H.R. Bloodengutz presents Holidays of Horror

8. The Thing

Winter's Night: I walked through this house nine times (it always had a really short wait) and never got bored of it, and I noticed much more than what many will. Every time I noticed something new, and this house has very consistent scares. This house takes the cake on sets, costumes, atmosphere, effects, storytelling, and scares. I say scares not only because the scares were really well done, but every single one of the nine times I walked through, I got at least three or so good scares. The sets are beautiful and realistic. The light snow fall just adds on to it. One person (I forget who) noticed how bright it was, and thought that it took away from the house. I didn't think it was very bright, but I thought the soft blue glow was very reminiscent of the reflection of moonlight off of a snowy field; something I see very often in Pennsylvania. I also liked the lantern motif throughput the house, especially all of the different lanterns placed throughout. The costumes and makeup were really cool because they changed in the lantern (black) light, They would go from looking solid and zombie-ish to fearsome and glowing spectres, which made for a very cool effect. The cold air made me shiver and it really added to the whole feel of the house, and the effects with lighting and mirrors (especially one with a mirror) were really nifty. This was the only house where I felt there was true storytelling, from the lantern light which seemed to harm the spirits in some way; to the shed where Hawthorn obsessively builds the lanterns he uses to keep the ghosts from leaving, I actually felt a continuing plot throughout the house. I also liked the silence, it reminded me of walking my dogs through the snow at night, and how all the noises are muffled and silenced by the insulation of the snow. The scares were very consistent in this house. Not once did I walk through and feel like it was lacking in scares, and there is one boo-hole (which has really cool distraction) that seems to produce a few screams every time. When done right, the "miniature cemetery" and the mausoleum scenes can produce very frightening and relentless scares. The problem is, this house is a little short. Maybe I'm biased and just want more of it to walk through, but I still feel like it ends just too suddenly. Also, the finale. It has a great finale-- one that I've seen people run screaming from, but most of the time you can just walk right through it without even getting a scare. Apparently there is some problem with th costumes, but it still left me a little disappointed. Overall, this is my favorite house and every walk through of it was a really great time. Maybe I just liked it so much because after doing something so many times, you just learn to love it.

Nevermore: I'm not even sure where to start. I was completely blown away by how amazing this was. This house truly does the work of Poe justice. The scareactors were really energetic and relentless and the sets were amazing. I almost couldn't believe it was in a tent. I think the two best scenes are Masque of the Read Death and the scene with Poe on the balcony, as I consistently got really great scares in these rooms. There is never any dead time in this house. I felt like the house had a bizarre and tragic love story in it, but I found it very hard to follow and on some of my walk-throughs, it wasn't there at all. I dunno. Overall, I really enjoyed walking through some of my favorite stories brought to life and I thought the finale was really awesome. It really showed Poe's madness and it brought a really strong wrap up to the house.

The In Between: I've never been so disoriented in my life. This house is an acid trip gone wrong with some of the most effective scares I've seen. The costumes are so perfectly designed. In many of the scenes, the costumes allow for almost complete invisibility until the scareactor decides to reveal itself, and this got me few times. Another good scare has the costumes blend with the sets (not in the way you think) and this actually got me to run right into the other wall I was so surprised by it. The 3D makes this house so much better and I really liked the depth and dimension it added. I definitely had a lot of fun walking through the In Between, but this one also seemed a little short. It left me wanting more, and though the scares are really good in this house, but a lot of the time it's very hit or miss when it come to getting them.

Saws N' Steam: This one has really great effects. And a few really cool and theatrical victims. I don't have as much to say on this one, but I did really like it. The costumes were cool and the heat of the Jaws Queue really set the atmosphere. The diver and waterfall made me happy. This house was also really loud, and the scareactors had a lot of energy throughout the night; they never seemed to stop. There was some dead time in this house, but there are some pretty neat things to look at, like fish tanks and meat crushers. Overall, I liked this house, but it wasn't the best house there.

Nightingales: The set for this house was amazing. I really felt like i was in a trench, and there was a firefight happening above my head. I liked the look of the Nightingales and their progression throughout the house. The finale has an awesome distraction that can lead to a great scare. This was one of the three houses where I got a scare that actually made me yell; normally I guffaw and smile like a fool. There is a really cool and theatrical victim scene that I did not expect at all. One problem: Some of the girls in this house really need to up the ante! Don't walk at me angrily; run at me like you want to rip my head off! Other than some minor lacking of energy, I enjoyed walking through this house and getting sprayed on by a ripped-open body.

The Forsaken: This house is really good... if you get the right timing. The first time I went through, I got what seemed like every scare and the really awesome finale scare. The other four times, I got nothing. Maybe it was just bad luck, but I didn't see a lot of scaring, just a lot of pacing back and forth. The effects are really cool and the sets are very detailed, but the scareactors need to find what works for them. Like I said, the first time I went through it was great and I really enjoyed, but all the other times it just didn't cut the cake. The finale is really cool, if you can get it; I was a little surprised by it actually, I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was real or not.

Bloodengutz: Very funny. I liked the costumes and the button effect. I really liked the Easter room, especially the fake grass. Not a lot of scares, though President's Day definitely had some good ones. The queue video was funny and a great set up for the house, and I liked the TVs set up throughout. Overall, this house was alright, but not really one of my favorites.

The Thing: The costumes and makeup were great! The puppets were cool and it really felt like the set of the movie. The problem is, there aren't a lot of scares. At all. The scareactors are great, but I felt more like I was walking through the movie than getting the scares from the movie. With that said, I did like walking through it and sort of watching the movie play out, though there wasn't much tying the house together, you just walked from scene to scene. Having to choose one as my least favorite, I'd say this is it, though I still liked it a lot more than a few of the houses last year.

SCAREZONES

1. 7

2. Grown Evil

3. Canyon of Dark Souls

4. Acid Assault

5. Your Luck Has Run Out

6. Nightmaze

7: Really cool concept that was pulled off spectacularly! The girls had so much energy! They danced the whole night (sure there were cats changes, but they still danced hard pretty much the whole time) and the guys scared really well. I watched a guy run out of this scarezone screaming when the minions of Lust, Envy, Sloth, and Vanity pretty much just targeted him. I almost felt bad. Almost. Cast change from second to third transformation is the best time to be in this zone. The song changes to the Marilyn Manson version and the guys go wild. It becomes a party... a party where everyone tries to scare you.

Grown Evil Cool costumes, great scares, a lot of fog, and really dark. Not much else to say on this one...

Canyon of Dark Souls I really liked the costumes and the menace of the stilt walkers. A few good scares, but nothing special.

Acid Assault The 3D effects looked cool from far away, but up close they looked pretty bad. The scares were average, but I really liked seeing the Rat lady.

Your Luck has Run Out I like the look of Bad Luck's mask (it's the Maori's facial expression for cannibalism), I just wish the mask itself looked better. This scarezone has great (really great) potential scares, but a lot of people turned it into a photo op and the sound the Lucks make (BWAAAAAUUGH!) isn't scary at all.

Nghtmaze Really cool concept that was executed poorly. I could list the ways to make it better, but that would be a long list. The scareactors try, but they have nothing to work with. And they have to move walls. However, I did watch the scareactors trap a few people in a square, which was cool, but they let them out immediately. Also having wall suddenly shut in your face is unsettling, but not very scary. Overall, meh.

I think this year on a whole is much better than last year. I just wish the theme was more prevalent. And less dead space. The whole back of the park was empty! I liked this year and I had a really great time, but there is always room for improvement [/cliche ending].

Oh, jeez. My favoritism towards Winter's Night is not as subtle as I had hoped.

Edited October 3, 2011 by I am Weighting

[Grimp0nd]

Great review really enjoyed reading it. Starting to get a pretty good picture in my head about what to expect. Thanks!