HHN 2012: La Llorona: La Cazadora de Ninos

[DTH316]

Expected. Could be worse. Could be Hostel. Glad we got that out of the way though. I'm excited for the new scenes but I think Murdy's overselling it like he did Saw 2.0. So this is more of a "director's cut" house than a "sequel" house. A sequel house would be completely different but the same theme (Alice Cooper). Director's Cut is the same as last year with some new/less scenes (Saw, NOES: HSH).

[Hauntfan]

^I would imagine it would be better than Saw: Game On. They literally touted it as ALL NEW TRAPS!!!! Like that was something to be excited about. La Llorona sounds like it might be completely reworked. Not a full sequel, but making the maze brand new while being a repeat.

[Creeper06]

I have very mixed feelings on this. It was my favorite maze last year and it's not an official IP so that's good. New and revamped scenes, also good. We'll see how different it actually is once it opens (unlike say the Saw repeat). But 2 repeated themes this year?!?! Come on Murdy...

[Hauntfan]

I have very mixed feelings on this. It was my favorite maze last year and it's not an official IP so that's good. New and revamped scenes, also good. We'll see how different it actually is once it opens (unlike say the Saw repeat). But 2 repeated themes this year?!?! Come on Murdy...

Don't forget the rumored TCM maze. That would be 3 repeated themes! Less than 2010 though

Just thought I'd post the new official logo. Think they changed the color of the text from red to blue to represent a more aquatic theme, considering Murdy said the characters this year will look more like they drowned, La Llorona and her children.

[Creeper06]

Don't forget the rumored TCM maze. That would be 3 repeated themes! Less than 2010 though

Too true, too true. That's why if you commit yourself to doing only (recognizable) IPs, you're going to run out of content pretty quickly.

[Hauntfan]

^Yup, and I think that's why more original concepts is something Hollywood should try out. There are only so many IP's in the Horror World, and only a few handfuls that are recognizable, so Hollywood should really take the Orlando approach before they run themselves into the ground repeating Freddy and Jason for the next 5 years.

[Grindhousehero13]

Yea, alot of people were saying it was the WORST maze of last year. One person said "that's not even what she looks like" because he defiantly knows what a fictional ghost looks like.

that guy must be one of the children she drowned!

Maybe it'll be sponsored by Cazadores Tequila.

glad Im not the only one who thought of this! everytime you get scared take a shot!

But there's no choice to pick, "I don't want one repeated"?

there was a choice don't pick it, and pick a new property

Not necessarily. I'm guessing more than 90% of the people on any night on HHN could care less about the stuff we do. They buy tickets, a shirt, food etc. So just that times the 90% of people is way more money than the 10% (and that's generous) of fans who buy multiple tickets/FFP, multiple shirts, food every night of the event, cups and other collectibles.

exactly although Murdy does his best to cater to us in some way or another, were probably about $1,000 all togather in Universal's eyes and GP is like 50,000 times us even more as long as people pay for repeat years it will become acceptable but its a buesiness and such thats how they work.

I have very mixed feelings on this. It was my favorite maze last year and it's not an official IP so that's good. New and revamped scenes, also good. We'll see how different it actually is once it opens (unlike say the Saw repeat). But 2 repeated themes this year?!?! Come on Murdy...

well I see it this way La Llorona they can litteraly scrap last year's maze completly and start from scratch since she is an urban legend (Public domain) they can take all liberties they want hell they can give her a hocky mask, claws, and a chainsaw if they want, with SAW they HAD to use things from the movies and they had to use what would work in a maze that limited them.

[Colorblind Guy]

Thanks for the info on the maze. I am excited for every maze so far. Thanks again.

[Mr.HHN]

If you thought you knew the legend of La Llorona you were dead wrong. Her maze awaits.

Does anybody know how to insert pictures i want to put the teaser poster.

[Grindhousehero13]

If you thought you knew the legend of La Llorona you were dead wrong. Her maze awaits.

Does anybody know how to insert pictures i want to put the teaser poster.

just copy and paste

[iLuvStabWounds]

It has been a while since I've last been here, and I'm just stoked with how this year's event shaping up. The Walking Dead, Alice Cooper and the Seven Deadly Sins, Silent Hill, and now the return of La Llorona! I'm so happy, I think I'm going to cry :`)

BTW

Judging on most of the posts, especially the ones from Kursedragon, not alot of people are happy with LL's return.

To the haters saying that Villa de Almas Perdidas sucked:

I can agree that VdAP was not really that scary, I have to admit that there were about two or three times that I was actually in that maze, but you have give some credit for the creepy atmosphere of the entire maze. The sets were mindblowing and captured the feeling of walking into a 1940s style ghost film. More so than appealing to the "scary-gore" that all the other mazes had least year, VdAP was aiming for the "creepiness," and that's what had actually made the maze so awesome. It did not have to be disgusting or gory, was scary enough with the sets, costumes, and legend of LL.

Edited August 3, 2012 by iLuvStabWounds

[FattYeli17]

I'll admit..I enjoyed the smell of rotten meat in that maze. So glad it's back.

[Kurseddragon]

It has been a while since I've last been here, and I'm just stoked with how this year's event shaping up. The Walking Dead, Alice Cooper and the Seven Deadly Sins, Silent Hill, and now the return of La Llorona! I'm so happy, I think I'm going to cry :`)

BTW

Judging on most of the posts, especially the ones from Kursedragon, not alot of people are happy with LL's return.

To the haters saying that Villa de Almas Perdidas sucked:

I can agree that VdAP was not really that scary, I have to admit that there were about two or three times that I was actually in that maze, but you have give some credit for the creepy atmosphere of the entire maze. The sets were mindblowing and captured the feeling of walking into a 1940s style ghost film. More so than appealing to the "scary-gore" that all the other mazes had least year, VdAP was aiming for the "creepiness," and that's what had actually made the maze so awesome. It did not have to be disgusting or gory, was scary enough with the sets, costumes, and legend of LL.

I'm not upset with the return.

Though I don't think the maze was as great as everyone says it was, John himself noticed it wasn't that scary.

I loved the way it looked, it was amazing, but the scare factor was TOO low.

I'm glad he's making it more scary in the next one.

My problem was the way it was decided to be repeated.

[Hauntfan]

^Eh... We always have a returning maze, usually it's based on the surveys. It's been that way for a while. It's not very fun, but... it's business.

[00nightcrawler]

Never happy when something is repeated, but I feel like I didn't properly take in every detail of this maze. I feel this way for most mazes, though. There are very few I feel that I have seen everything in. Maybe house of 1000 corpses due to doing it 5 times and Halloween in 2009 when I was one of the last people to walk through the maze at 3 am and I took my time through every room (I had to, Halloween is my favorite horror movie)

[DTH316]

I'm not upset with the return.

Though I don't think the maze was as great as everyone says it was, John himself noticed it wasn't that scary.

I loved the way it looked, it was amazing, but the scare factor was TOO low.

I'm glad he's making it more scary in the next one.

My problem was the way it was decided to be repeated.

I actually too saw him say it wasn't that scary. This was by FAR the scariest maze last year. Seriously, WHAT could've been scarier? Hostel? Nothing about it was scary, especially not the killers. WTMN? It was more fun than anything with some kinda-creepy parts. HOTC's return?! The Wolfman?! Only thing I can hear someone say was scarier than La Llorona is The Thing without thinking they're crazy -- but there's tons of people who hated The Thing last year, which blows my mind. The Thing and La Llorona were easily the top of the cake in dread, frights, horrific storytelling, surprises and in LL's case, immersible set design and in The Thing's case, character design. I know, I know, different strokes for different folks.

I'm glad they're upping the scares in this but I hope it just doesn't get goofy like WTMN or 07/08s NOES. Sometimes simple just works and La Llorona was very simple. Children looking like wrinkled, pale and bloated toads coming at me would make me laugh which would be the case if what they're going for is REALISTIC looking drowned people. The church, graveyard and the lake could stay the same for proper storytelling purposes but everything else should change. I know I won't get that but I hope they at least get rid of the hallway of statues in the beginning which was easily the weakest part.

[Kurseddragon]

The problems I had with LL last year was one, every single scare could be seen before it happened.

Every single one of them was so easily noticeable. I actually had to force myself to stop looking around 'cause I kept ruining it for myself.

Didn't work, though, never got scared in that maze.

I loved the facade and I'm glad it's coming back. I love the design on the inside. It all looked amazingly well done.

However, I thought it was too short. It ended very abruptly.

Those two factors are terrible to be had in a maze with such good potential.

I just feel like they could've done a better job hiding the scares and it probably needs a new venue to expand it. Much too short.

But hopefully having the scares boosted this year will take away the fact that it feels too quick.

To clear things up, I did NOT hate La Llorona last year, nor am I upset at the return.

If anything, I'm actually extremely glad about the return since John seems to fixing the main concern I had with it. The scares.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Kurseddragon

[DTH316]

The problems I had with LL last year was one, every single scare could be seen before it happened.

Every single one of them was so easily noticeable. I actually had to force myself to stop looking around 'cause I kept ruining it for myself.

Didn't work, though, never got scared in that maze.

I loved the facade and I'm glad it's coming back. I love the design on the inside. It all looked amazingly well done.

However, I thought it was too short. It ended very abruptly.

Those two factors are terrible to be had in a maze with such good potential.

I just feel like they could've done a better job hiding the scares and it probably needs a new venue to expand it. Much too short.

But hopefully having the scares boosted this year will take away the fact that it feels too quick.

To clear things up, I did NOT hate La Llorona last year, nor am I upset at the return.

If anything, I'm actually extremely glad about the return since John seems to fixing the main concern I had with it. The scares.

There's 2 things here...

1) Seeing the scare before you're in the room or happen to a few people in front of you, is what we call around here, getting the tail-end of the scare. It's unavoidable and happens to me at least ONCE a year for at least one maze (happened to me on MBV in 09, on HOTC in 10, on my third run through of La Llorona). Universal's method of set scares is pretty much at fault. They need to have a back up scare for those who didn't receive a scare in a room.

2) What I think you're referring to is the bad layout of the maze. I agree, there's some sections which could be more closed in. For example, from the statues, to the graveyard and to the tomb, it's all one straight line and is 3 or 4 scares. Also, it's possible to get the tail a scare in the river scene, which I never even saw until I went through the maze for a third time, oddly enough. But everything else I think was worked out pretty well. However, this is common and so common that I don't fault the layout, since I know we have like ZERO space to work in here in Hollywood, but I fault the set scare methods and always getting the tail end of a scare. For example, when first walking into The Thing, you can see the monster pop from the wall from the entire other side of the ice block in the very first room!

Here's some techniques to help this/these problems:

1) Suspension of belief. It's a wonder how people who just got the tail end of a scare get scared AGAIN when they know it's coming. But truthfully, they're either being annoying or letting the maze work its magic. Its kinda hard when you're a major fan who knows this stuff probably TOO well, but try overreacting to a scare you saw already. Sometimes it helps anyway. Sounds weird, I know, but in my opinion, it's better than walking by stiff.

2) Hope for "rapid scares." Sometimes a monster will pop out of their boo hole too freakin' often, making the scare not even a surprise to ANYONE. It's better than getting the tail end but at least you get the scare and at least you can have fun with it.

3) Look away when the boo hole comes up. Just totally ignore it. Get caught up in some other detail. Eventually, you'll forget the boo hole is behind you and hopefully the scare comes when you're not looking and catches you off guard. This one actually helps me A LOT.

4) Enjoy watching other people get scared. You just gotta learn this tactic when you're like me and always get the misfortune of tail ends. See it like a movie playing out in front of you and the people before you are the victims. They're getting attacked and you're there to watch it go down. Another one that helps A LOT.

[Mr.HHN]

Im kind of dissapointed again because Murdy said the facade will be the same. Even though i thought the facade was really cool last year I was wating for a new one for this maze.

[Trevler]

Even without 'seeing' the tail end of the scare, it was pretty obvious where most of the scares in La Lorona were coming from the moment you walked into the room. To me, anyway.

[Grindhousehero13]

Even without 'seeing' the tail end of the scare, it was pretty obvious where most of the scares in La Lorona were coming from the moment you walked into the room. To me, anyway.

although I LOVED La Llorona last year (The maze and her! ) I gotta say there were 3 different levels

1.) the obviouse scares - the ones were you can see them in the corner or you can see the boo hole from the room entrence (Which nees to be addressed to be honest) or if there some random human sized prop that seems too conviniantly placed in the room you knw they're in there, this was the problem with the Big Coffin in the Funeral scene.

2.) The Surprise Scare- Some scares did catch me off gaurd like corpse in the tomb or La Llorona comeing out of the grave also there was a surprise scare that came out of an obviouse scare the way out of place portrait of La Llorona from the Logo (Because your gonna have a painting of the ghost child drowner that plauges your town every night in your house) I was thinking "ok its gonna fade away and your gonna see her throught the painting" I was right but it was fried gold when it turned out to be a boo hole.

3.) The obviouse to US scare- so unfortunaly just like superheroes by signing up for the forum we give up any hope of a civilian life, there scares while a complete surprise scare to the GP, we already know the method if there is something fantastical to the left of you (The Pepper Ghost in the river scene, The giant la llrona eating the kid ect.) they're coming from the right, if your walking through hanging bodies, cloths, or anything else there are boo holes coming from above, and one thing I kinda had a problem with was why did they release ahead of time the Scare-actor concept for the Living Statue and Santa Murte Statue? the moment I walk through that room I knew it was gonna jump at me but oh well its like the matrix we all took the blue pill.

[DTH316]

"Signing up for the forum is like giving up civilian life."

LMFAO

I didn't expect the:

Graveyard stilts. I think it was the stilts that through me off. Very random lol. It never scared me after.

The boohole picture. I thought the reverse of Grind. I figured they'd just pop out but I never thought it was a scrim until my second walkthrough but like Grind said, fried gold lol

The River Scene scare. Mostly because I went through the room twice already before and never got a scare in there.

The person who pops out from the side during the child being eaten scene. Again, didn't even happen until my second or third walkthrough.

I'm sure there's more, just can't think of any right now.

Repeatability was great on this one. As you can see, a lot of the scares I didn't even get to SEE until my second or third go around and a lot of them weren't even in youtube videos that I had watched! And I had already loved the maze on my first visit so those extra scares were total bonus.

[Kurseddragon]

Even without 'seeing' the tail end of the scare, it was pretty obvious where most of the scares in La Lorona were coming from the moment you walked into the room. To me, anyway.

This.

Honestly, whether the scareactors actually popped out during my three rounds of going through the maze or not, I was already 100% sure where everything would happen.

It was way too obvious for me, even when basically dazing off and walking, or acting scared to make others laugh (Which actually scares me more in the end), it just wasn't a scary maze.

Much too short, and a bit too obvious.

But I definitely have faith for Murdy to boost the scare factor way up this year. If he notices it, he knows how to fix it.

[DTH316]

Okay, show of hands, can anyone HONESTLY say they don't know where the scare is going to come from the moment they walk in a room these days?

It's the same with movies. I always KNOW when the scare is coming. It's only REALLY good when I have zero idea, which is so RARE these days.

Maybe we've gotten too old and too accustomed but I just submit to the idea of whatever the maze (or sometimes, movie) is and let it work its magic. If even then it doesn't scare me, then there's a problem because I'm practically inviting myself to be vulnerable to whatever the theme, story and etc. are so it can scare me. If it means to pretend to be oblivious to the randomly placed closet door in the room then fine.

There were a few times where I was TOTALLY taken by surprise though, like, ACTUALLY. Most of them happened in Halloween. In the asylum, Michael popped out of a brick wall. A BRICK WALL. Another was when he came out of a dresser. A DRESSER. And then one time from a freakin' AIR DUCT.

Another good one was in F13: KJK when he's standing behind a window and he came inside like it was actually a door.

Even the famous TCM diner scene was pretty obvious but the scary part about that was the proximity.

[AsylumSB]

Scares are secondary when I enter a maze; I am looking at the detail of the maze. Just trying to absorb everything, the sights, sounds, and Murdy's Smell-o-rama. The scares then become a plus just for the plain fact that you could miss it going from room to room. As I entered the chapel scene, I knew right away that it was going to be straight up horror.