AsylumSB Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Very rarely do I interact with internet fan sites or boards but I do appreciate the level of involvement and courtesy at HNN. I mainly use sites such as this to obtain information that peaks my Halloween and horror interests. I guess it is time to come in from the dark to put in my $3.50 (tough economic times) worth regarding my recent trip to HHN Hollywood this past weekend. All of your reviews kept my interest leading up to the visit; hopefully I can add to the worthiness of HNN. A quick rundown leading up to HHN X. My wife and I attended the event from Arizona via San Diego (long story). This is our third year in a row after years of inquiring into out of state events as Arizona seldom has Halloween events to matches the ambience or “spectacle” as Universal. Let me say that as a “non-local”, HHN makes it worthwhile enough to plan for out of state attendance every year. This year was no exception. Here are some “awards” that I offer for the event: Best Imaginative Maze: Alice Cooper’s Welcome to My Nightmare Great music mix throughout the maze, incredible images with almost a “horror-themed Alice in Wonderland” vibe. The Naughty Nurse room had patrons running for their lives to the next room!! Like most of the mazes, I felt the pacing was slow which allowed for a good glance at the detail of the maze but limited on surprise scares. Have been immersed in Alice Cooper since I was young so this was a treat!! Most “Personal” Maze: Eli Roth’s Hostel: Hunting Season From the time we entered this maze, including my wife receiving sarcastic taunting by the Elite girls, Hostel felt like we were the only ones going from room-to-room, thus making it more realistic. The attendant at the line had spaced out the entrance in groups and timed the entry of each one. The result? We ended up literally all alone with the scare actors in almost each room who interacted with us directly, even splitting my wife and I up a few occasions by walking between us to set up a scare from behind! If only the other mazes were managed similar to this but I understand some of the maze layouts and the sell-out for the evening may make this difficult. Best “Atmospheric” Maze: La Llorona With the façade and church scene in the beginning, this maze had a horror event written all over it! Awesome use of lighting, living statues, costumes, and props made this maze a winner, even in light of the “scare” zone from last year. Every time I passed the through scare zone in 2010, it felt like a bad family reunion. La Llorona would show off her baby to people passing by, even conversing with them. Not scary. This year, the maze, story line, and especially scare actors made this an awesome attraction. Best “Fun House” Attraction: Wolfman: The Curse of Talbot Hall Yes, it is the dreaded HOH overlay, but the ready made “Classic Monsters” vibe gets me in a nostalgic and amped-up mood. As a kid, one of my first tastes of horror was from watching Saturday afternoon reruns of Universal monster films. To this day, I am still intrigued by the talents of Lugosi, Karloff and Chaney (to name only a few). I thought last year’s Vampyre themed maze was the sleeper hit of HHN 2010 mazes. Walking through the queue into the maze and gazing at classic props makes this a worthwhile event. The scare actors were effective, both as victims and different transformations of the Wolfman, and it was good to hear the audio overlay of Anthony Hopkins. The Wolfman at the end of the maze was at the “fresh” corpse eating an appendage and rubbing his belly. This is probably the only maze where I did not mind laughing on the way out. Best “Horror Movie” Maze: The Thing It took me twice to enjoy this maze. The first time around, I must have missed 75-80% of the scares or puppetry. My wife said that I ran through the maze like a banshee. I told her that the future ghost of John Carpenter was chasing me out of the attraction because it will no way match the sophistication, feeling of isolation and suspicion of the director’s original, pre-post (?) prequel version. Kidding aside (sort of), I repeated the maze and enjoyed artistry of the scare actors and puppeteers. The façade and tractor scare was awesome! The Rob Zombie maze was still fun to walk through and the “Tiny” scare actor was very agile on stilts and played the character for scares. Last year, the same character seemed to be more in-line with the movie version. The Terror Tram closed early at 9pm, and there was a huuuugeee log jam throughout the entire walk. I do love the backlot and would not mind either the same layout for next year or something totally different. I did not catch the tram video because we were on the VIP experience that ended directly at the beginning of the TT walkthrough. To mimic Zombieman’s review, there are plenty of reasons for purchasing the HHN VIP Experience: the unlimited food and non-alcoholic drinks, valet parking, HHN staff were awesome at check-in and throughout the evening, the tram that included the regular (but at night) Kong 3D, JAWS, Flash Flood and stop just outside of Stage 28. Then, the highlight, we were dropped off at the “BTTF Clock Tower/Town square” set to wander and listen to the guide talk about strange happenings on the set and the previous fire that missed it. HHN/Universal merchandise was 25% off! There is actually a different mindset with both the VIP and FOTL (which we did in ‘09 and ‘10). With FOTL or following a game plan mentioned by DTH316 and the others, the focus was on completing everything, repeating desired attractions, and stopping to eat. With the VIP, we frequently visited the Vampire Blood Lounge, finished all the mazes and rides, and enjoyed the ambience of the event. This is the first year we decided to forego Bill and Ted’s and opted to repeat a few additional mazes. Oh, and for the first time ever, we bought a Lard Lad Big Doughnut from the Simpson’s area. I now feel like a Lard Lad. And the scare zones……I admire the environments and the scare actors are always involved in their roles. Freaks was fun. Klownz started off with the great opening “scaremony” and did not let up the entire night. I have seen all the Scream films and consider Ghostface to be a second-tier horror icon. For some reason, I am always waiting for Ghostface to do a pratfall or some clumsy physical mishap. Reminds me of the killer in Student Bodies. Zombieville gave me a smile on my face; as we walked through the zone for the last time, one of the “younger” zombies stated “Hey Mom and Dad, its me your son”. I am so used to George Romero style of zombies that this through me off enough to think about it the rest of the night! Outside of the line management for most of the mazes, Halloween Horror Nights 2011 was very memorable event. I look forward to next year. John Murdy, Scareactors, and crew……great job!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iLuvStabWounds Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Nice review! And welcome to HNN... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grindhousehero13 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Awsome Review! and welcome to Horror Nights Nightmare Curtosy of The Hollywood Staff and Mod Team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Welcome! It's great to see another member join and see our side growing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Great review, I liked the style of "awards" instead of just a play by play of the night. Changes things up a bit and made it a different read. Although, I think it was a mistake to skip Bill and Ted this year! It was a lot of fun but nonetheless, I'm sure you can catch it on youtube somehow (they're getting taken down QUICK these days by NBC Universal so you're really gonna have to seek it). And most importantly, welcome. Don't be a stranger, chat with us often! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsylumSB Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Thanks for the feedback and "welcome mat"! The level of detail in the posts, especially reviews, and interest in the topics is impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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