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Universal's House of Horrors


Mark M.
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I guess, well.. I guess we are lucky to have a 7th house at all, and, I guess be careful what you wish for, you might get it...

the masks for this house felt weird, I had a lot of trouble recognizing any of the monsters at first, I had to look twice at their faces to see who they were,

I guess it was the paint and the light effect but I couldn't recognize the brides and Frankenstein's monster,

I liked some rooms but other rooms felt really weird, the Wolfman room felt too wide, I didn't like it,

WOW you really have to bend to go in the room where you have to do that, I was surprised how much you had to, I mean, you really have to squat in there, that was pretty cool.

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I guess, well.. I guess we are lucky to have a 7th house at all, and, I guess be careful what you wish for, you might get it...

the masks for this house felt weird, I had a lot of trouble recognizing any of the monsters at first, I had to look twice at their faces to see who they were,

I guess it was the paint and the light effect but I couldn't recognize the brides and Frankenstein's monster,

I liked some rooms but other rooms felt really weird, the Wolfman room felt too wide, I didn't like it,

WOW you really have to bend to go in the room where you have to do that, I was surprised how much you had to, I mean, you really have to squat in there, that was pretty cool.

What made it easy for me to recognize the monsters in the house was just looking at the environment. If you were in the woods and you saw the caravan, you expect the Wolfman. If you were in a room full of pipe organs, you expect Phantom of The Opera, so on and so forth. But I personally fell in LOVE with this house! I actually got really good scares throughout the house, and I actually thought the black and white effect worked really effectively. Plus, all the actors were on their A game when I went through and I loved every single moment of this house. Far exceeded my expectations and it became my favorite house of the night. Edited by Terra Guard
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I enjoyed this house as well. I was happy to see the classic monsters represented, and it was an interesting take on the dead exposure concept. My favorite scare of the whole night was in this house in the bride of Frankenstein room. I don't want to say exactly what it was for fear of spoiling it, but it was the single most suspenseful scare I think I've encountered at HHN ever. Of course I have a soft spot for Frankenstein's monster since it was the first thing I was ever scared of as a kid.

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This was my least favorite house I could see every scare comming the masks didn't glow under black light that much the duck room was cool but I could see the creatures every movement when I was waiting in line for the house I saw the cast of actors come in to the house the masks looked better under day light than black light the last room was a great concept but didn't get scared once in this house!!

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I'm not really sure how I feel about this house. It was very "lowtech" and not quite what I was expecting, but the last scene was pretty cool and a little disorienting. I need to go through a few more times before I decide whether I like it or not. But it didn't wow me off the bat.

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Did this house last night and hated it because you could see every scare coming and the sets left much to be desired. Then I did the house today...HOLY BALLS I loved it. The reason for the change? The Sun. Because I went in straight from the sunlight my eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness making the house much darker which did absolute wonders. It really made the house feel like Dead Exposure did and it was awesome. So if any Universal higher ups are reading this please for the love of God make it darker!

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Was a little disappointed with this house. The black and white effect wasn't that good but the effects were "ok". The rooms were week in detail but the effects, like air cannons and the hallway you crawled thorough were creative.

This house was my least favorite.

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Did this house last night and hated it because you could see every scare coming and the sets left much to be desired. Then I did the house today...HOLY BALLS I loved it. The reason for the change? The Sun. Because I went in straight from the sunlight my eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness making the house much darker which did absolute wonders. It really made the house feel like Dead Exposure did and it was awesome. So if any Universal higher ups are reading this please for the love of God make it darker!

I totally agree, and came here to say almost the exact same thing. Didn't enjoy this house on preview night, but today, after being in the sun, it was SO DARK in there and way better. If they could make it seem that dark all the time, it would be fantastic, and way higher up on my list of favorites this year. If all else fails, I'll just stare into my phone's led light for a few minutes before I go in next time haha.

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the thing I did not like about the wolfman room is how open it is, I saw all 3 actors come from their holes and try to scare people, people that did not got scared at all, because everyone could see them, I liked the trees and the caravan, but it felt too open, that was my problem with that room,

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I, too, will say that this house needs a lot of help. While I understand that the Soundstage 44 debacle created quite a problem and appreciate the fact that A&D quickly adapted to a situation that was out of their control, I hope that this house improves over the next few weeks. WESKER69, thanks for the clarification regarding the sets and the costumes - it really helps explain the issues that we all have seen with this house.

I will also say that I cannot give this house a full judgement yet since I only went through twice, both times being during the AP event. Therefore, it was way too dark and I couldn't see anything because my eyes weren't adjusted. It was so bad on Friday night that we constantly were walking into walls because there was no one in front of us. The stobes didn't help and I didn't see half of the scareactors (this may have been a timing issue); I couldn't even tell what some of the scenes were until the second run-through on Saturday.

I agree . . . Universal, please read these posts and fix a house that desperately needs it. This was a very highly-anticipated house for many people and we want it to do honor and justice to the true legacy of horror upon which the studios were built.

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I, too, will say that this house needs a lot of help. While I understand that the Soundstage 44 debacle created quite a problem and appreciate the fact that A&D quickly adapted to a situation that was out of their control, I hope that this house improves over the next few weeks. WESKER69, thanks for the clarification regarding the sets and the costumes - it really helps explain the issues that we all have seen with this house.

I will also say that I cannot give this house a full judgement yet since I only went through twice, both times being during the AP event. Therefore, it was way too dark and I couldn't see anything because my eyes weren't adjusted. It was so bad on Friday night that we constantly were walking into walls because there was no one in front of us. The stobes didn't help and I didn't see half of the scareactors (this may have been a timing issue); I couldn't even tell what some of the scenes were until the second run-through on Saturday.

I agree . . . Universal, please read these posts and fix a house that desperately needs it. This was a very highly-anticipated house for many people and we want it to do honor and justice to the true legacy of horror upon which the studios were built.

Very well put. My issue with this house is similar and may be more personal, as the darkness necessary to achieve the effect also has me constantly running into the people in front of me in the conga line. And that's just not cool.

I DO like the simplicity of the set design and the direction it is trying to take evoking the black and white, maybe art-deco-ish kind of ambiance. I have such nerd love for the classic monsters and films, and I'd really like to have the experience of those monsters suddenly popping into my field of vision. But, like House of Wax which shared a similar issue for me, I do want to be able to see SOMETHING!

I've gone in from the daytime and night, and for me the issue is the same. I recognize lots of people like it REALLY dark in houses, which is why I say it may be personal to me. Hopefully there will be a lot of work on this maze in the next few days - I still have high hopes.

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After a second time through. I can say this house has improved overall. The mask can be a hit or miss most of the time. Sure the sets are blah and the scares are there at times and other times not. This will be one of those houses I believe that most people will go back and forth about. Having this house be my first of this season. I can only see it going up (I hope) from here.

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something I do not understand about this house,

If they had a house that was going to go in the Xena building that got erased because of the construction, why did they have to come up with this one from scratch?

was it because of the space? I don't get it really, why did they have to create an entire house if they had one they were working on? I mean I know they had to have a reason, but I just wonder why.

I love the Universal Monsters, and I always wanted to see a house with them, that is something I wanted to see forever, I am glad they decided to do this, but I kinda wish they would have done it without the black lights, I would have liked to see full costumes and good sets,

so I am glad to have the Monsters in the park, just wish we could have gotten them in a better way,

I will give this house more chances

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Been through this house 6 times... :P

Breakdown of each scene:

- lacks facade, but enjoy the Universal Palace Theater hallway of posters, however.. the posters should have a lighting effect so they can actually be seen & enjoyed better.

- film reel room has cool audio

- Wolfman scene originally too wide of a path, now has been fixed

- Brides of Dracula, glad to see an added prop to the set (which ended up scaring me <_< ). The scene in general feels a little forced.

- Dracula... cool hallway, but fails to provide scares.... until you reach the end of the hallway which is where the pants crapping happens.

- The Mummy... duck/crouch scene is interesting. Provides a decent scare, but the net above with the two hanging dummies is pointless since there is no reason to "look up", especially since nothing happens.

- CFTBL... would be better if the floor moved more. The boat hanging on the right side (painted black) is from the (former) JAWS queue. actual bubbles would be kinda nice

- Phantom of the Opera.... gee so glad their first classic monster that created their "legacy of terror" got the exact. same. scene. recycled from 2009's "Silver Screams" house. Its exactly the same scene only positioned differently to appear "new". But trust me... i noticed. EPIC. FAIL.

- Frankentsein... great corridor with a good scare potential from the monster himself. Also liked the prison bars on the left, felt like a nice throwback to the old 90s HHN promo image of Frankenstein reaching through the bars.

- Bride of Frankenstein... um.. too spacious. Bride's hair not high enough. does have Frankenstein appearance when timed right.

- Finale... AMAZINGLY PERFECT! I have a love/hate relationship with the finale. I love it because its well done, hate it because i've gotten turned around a few times due to the mirrors/darkness.

Overall thoughts for this house... well for being thrown together last minute & unfinished, its pretty damn awesome. The casts are doing pretty well with how little they have to work with.

- Is it perfect? definitely not.

- Does it have scare potential? If you say no, you should be stabbed.

- The costumes could use tweaking.

- The lighting/audio could use tweaking.

- unfinished hallways (disappointing)

- The Mummy scene needs a sand effect that makes it appear as if sand is pouring into the room through small cracks/holes.

- Bride of Frankenstein scene lacks details and is too spacious, which makes the lack of details even more noticeable

- Phantom of the Opera totally got the shaft.... again.

NOTE- If you haven't noticed by now, I will defend this house's honor, but I will also point out its flaws. Personally, I would have loved to see what this house could have been like had it been part of the line-up since day 1.

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This was my group's favorite house of the night. We got the most consistent scares in here and I got my only official scare of the night in the Dracula hallway.

We went to this house first during the Passholder party and it was SUPER dark when we got inside. The Brides of Dracula room had zero actors in it, but the prop and audio effect in there startled me every time I heard it. The next hallway had nothing in it either. As I got to the end of the hallway, I said to my wife "I guess there aren't any vampires in here..." and then I got my scare of the night, from Dracula himself (at least I think it was him, the masks are a little tough to make out; especially when they appear right in your face out of nowhere haha).

Props to that actor (2nd cast of AP passholder party) for giving me the best scare of the night before it even got dark. After the mummy tunnel, our group was entirely alone. I don't know if the group in front of us ran or what, but when we came out of the crouching section, there was nobody in front of us. This made for an epic rest of the house.

The finale room was fantastic the second time we did it (at night), but since it is so close to the exit, it is too bright to be effective during the daytime. At night though, it is amazing, intense, and very disorienting.

Looking forward to seeing this house again on Friday :-)

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Also her hubby Frank nailed me in his scene.

No. Comment.

- Dracula's arm scared me

- Dracula's Brides got me twice

- Dracula has scared me at least 3-4 times

- Mummy has startled me

- Phantom has scared me once with an air blast

- Frankenstein has scared me twice

- Finale monsters have gotten me a few times

so yea, i'd say thats pretty damn amazing for 6 times through the house...

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