JDW Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Please note that I'm talking this to my phone. And maybe a little confusing. I will type of a better 1 later. Unfortunately due to the rain we didn't get the full experience tonight. However we did see all the houses and some of them twice and we really enjoyed it. The rain was a huge downer. Pretty much a torrential downpour for the first 5 houses. I am drenched. Below is my house reviews from my favorite to my least favorite. Gothic x2 This house is beautiful and amazing. The scares were on point in the affects are cool. Dead end x2 I love this facade. Very effective use of the vortex tunnel. Great costumes great effect and all around a good house. Silent Hill This is 1 of my most highly anticipated houses and unfortunately did disappoint a little. Don't get me wrong I still like the house, but I think they could have done more for the scare factor. Hopefully this will change as time progresses. The walking dead. I thought this was a good solid house. Plenty of scares and the makeup was pretty neat. The house also seemed pretty long. House of horrors This felt almost identical to dead exposure to me. The place where you had to stoop was pretty cool. Unfortunately I seem to have missed a lot of scares including the creature from the Black Lagoon. The final room today was a little weak in tenacity to scare actor ratio. Penn and Teller There were a lot of cool gags and a funny video in the beginning. I was better off without the glasses on. The sets were pretty cool although a little too much light to me. There is 1 room that just was really disorienting. Alice Cooper I'm sorry I just didn't get the house. There were some cool costumes I didn't really hear any music. I really couldn't tell what was going. I'll have to try this again see if it makes more sense. Streets Streets were essentially non existent. We may have gotten a good two hours out of the streets. What characters I did see were confusing. Three different legions were all mixed together and they were moving fast. The only prisoners I saw did not have chainsaws. We saw the beasts and they were moving. The Warriors were marching together chanting in Brandishing their blades. I can't really judge it based on what we had though. Lagoon Its good ambiance... but not really a show. Unfortunately I saw no shows. Overall I give the house very high marks in general. Second Day No rain! Houses were all on point. I don't think I had a bad run. I saw improvements in Alice Cooper, HOH, P&T, and silent Hill. Props that weren't there the night before now were. Scare were noticeably better and I saw a huge improvement in Silent Hill. In fact both the Red Nurse and Pyramid head got me very good. Streets. Ok so I finally saw most of the tribes (and there corresponding Iniquitous). When a legion moves in the sound in the street changes to correspond. Each legion has its own iniquitous. The Iniquitous roughly looks like a Grim Reaper but each is different. My favorite is the Traditional. It has two faces. Unfortunately we did not get to see Prisoners. I really am pleased with the streets. The tenacity of the scare actors is amped and they come from everywhere! I saw Scare actors go into stores, restaurants, and yes... even bathrooms. There is a permanent cast of walkers outside of TWD exit. Unfortunately the horde/cast change we saw was rather.. unremarkable. In fact it happened so seamlessly... you would hardly know things changed. This disappointed me as I was expecting a horde of 75 zombies swarming and running around. What we got was a cast change. I have heard it was impressive so I don't know what happened. The released the Horror Unearthed cards around 8:00 pm so we headed that way, registered, got the card, and got the opportunity to speak with Ray, TJ, and Rick... Which is always a pleasure. We did the UMTH tour earlier in the day. I was, as always, wonderful. We went through Dead End, Gothic, and P&T. I learned that the reason behind the houses having more light this year is due to the Fire Marshall... So really nothing they can do about it. Total Opening House count: Gothic 4 (+1 UMTH) Dead End 3 (+1 UMTH) Silent Hill 2 TWD 2 P&T 2 (+1 UMTH) Alice Cooper 2 HOH 2 Overall Weekend Synopsis I think the event is fabulous. There were a few hiccups the first night but most everything was better the second night. I like the street concept. The scare actors are working it hard. The houses have great scares, creative effects, and awesome scare actors. I think all the worrying was not warranted. I for one think Universal did an amazing job with all the challenges they had and I'm excited to see house things evolve over the next couple weeks. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnNathan Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Your right the silent hill house was very disappointing the scareactors need a little more training!!! The house I hated the most was hoh I could see every scare comming the last room was very weak! I love the facade and set for gothic but I didn't get scared in that house the scares felt a little weak!!! My top two houses for this year are 1 dead end 2 walking dead Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I agree on Alice Cooper and Silent Hill, Silent hill was a huge letdown for me only because of how much I wanted to see it, the sets were good but the scares were not there, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwrestledabearonce Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Sucks you didn't see shows....20 penny wasn't that bad...caught the 11oclock show and both me and my friend were picked to be make volunteers and sat on stage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Streets were essentially non existent. We may have gotten a good two hours out of the streets. What characters I did see were confusing. Three different legions were all mixed together and they were moving fast. The only prisoners I saw did not have chainsaws. We saw the beasts and they were moving. The Warriors were marching together chanting in Brandishing their blades. I can't really judge it based on what we had though. The rain caused a lot of problems for the streets tonight; Warriors and Beasts skipped the first two sets and the second Cast A set (the third overall) only got maybe 15 minutes total; the Beasts, in fact, just walked to Kidzone and walked back. Still got a huge amount of scares just from the walk, though. Also, all Prisoners are supposed to have chainsaws, so any missing ones are actual problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kelise Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 They were trying a new "sample platter" horde tonight with two scareactors from each horde. Something about a lot of extra fire crew that needed hours. For some reason they didn't want the prisoners in that "mini-horde" to have chainsaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Ah, I didn't know he meant the mini horde. I thought he was talking about seeing the hordes mixing together during a regular run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gambit Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 I don't know about a mini horde but last night around 10:30 when I went through Hollywood I saw Vampires, Beasts and Warriors all mixed together. Very confusing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockinSight Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 It's easier to understand the alice cooper house if you look at the lyrics for the songs playing in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 It's easier to understand the alice cooper house if you look at the lyrics for the songs playing in there. so you have to do your homework on Alice Cooper after all, I am not a huge fan, It kinda sucked for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDW Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 I added my review of tonight, house totals, and overall synopsis to the first post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Who did you see in the bathrooms? We were still told as of today that they failed to get bathroom privileges. Then again, they're gradually gotten more liberal with locations practically every set. On our closing set in NYC tonight, a coordinator suddenly waved me through Starbucks and Ben & Jerry within about 2 minutes of the set starting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDW Posted September 23, 2012 Author Share Posted September 23, 2012 Was a Traditional. He didn't go far into it. But it was one of the hodgepodge groups going around. Was the Bathroom by the front gate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 There is a permanent cast of walkers outside of TWD exit. Unfortunately the horde/cast change we saw was rather.. unremarkable. In fact it happened so seamlessly... you would hardly know things changed. This disappointed me as I was expecting a horde of 75 zombies swarming and running around. What we got was a cast change. I have heard it was impressive so I don't know what happened. I've mentioned this in other threads, but they found some logistical problems (mostly regarding crowding) during EP. I know they still want to give the fans what they promised instead of just immediately cutting it 100%, but it's going to take time and effort to tweak it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WESKER69 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 The house I hated the most was hoh I could see every scare comming the last room was very weak! I keep having to defend this house because everyone seems to keep forgetting that it was thrown together last minute & never finished. On top of that, the scareactors didn't even have a real rehearsal. No costumes the first rehearsal along with unfinished sets (which still aren't finished), partial costumes their 2nd rehearsal (which is also their last). On top of this, they had only gotten some form of lighting effect the 2nd rehearsal. They're still tweaking the lighting a bit or at least "should" be. So this house's rehearsal was basically EP & opening weekend. For what little time they had and what they're having to work with, they're doing great, but you need to cut them some slack. Unlike the other houses, this one got royally screwed. Give them time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) I keep having to defend this house because everyone seems to keep forgetting that it was thrown together last minute & never finished. On top of that, the scareactors didn't even have a real rehearsal. No costumes the first rehearsal along with unfinished sets (which still aren't finished), partial costumes their 2nd rehearsal (which is also their last). On top of this, they had only gotten some form of lighting effect the 2nd rehearsal. They're still tweaking the lighting a bit or at least "should" be. So this house's rehearsal was basically EP & opening weekend. For what little time they had and what they're having to work with, they're doing great, but you need to cut them some slack. Unlike the other houses, this one got royally screwed. Give them time. you are right, yeah that is fair enough, I will do visit this house a lot, if there is not a lot of wait, I Love the monsters the one house i won't really go to is Alice Cooper, I still don't like that one something I don't really understand is if they had a house planned for the Xena building why couldn't they just use that? Edited September 25, 2012 by Mr. Black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDW Posted September 25, 2012 Author Share Posted September 25, 2012 I like HOH. It's not my top favorite but the pitch blackness to flashing lightning is very jarring... Although I kept running into people. But I got a few jumps when the lights wwould go off and then boom scareactor in my face. Silent Hill was very good my last run through on Saturday. The red nurse and the Pyramid Head got me really good. It seems the scareactors were really trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 you are right, something I don't really understand is if they had a house planned for the Xena building why couldn't they just use that? ...because the building got torn down? Haha Just kidding. I know what you mean. They could've moved it, sure, but I think the budget that was going to be planned to be used for the house got used for Transformers. That's the only logical guess I can think of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDW Posted October 6, 2012 Author Share Posted October 6, 2012 OK So now that I've been 4 times and have seen this event in the rain, dry, busy, and "walk on". I think I can give a full, accurate, and honest opinon on the evennt as a whole. Let's go down the list of houses (favorite to least), streets, and B&T. (Haven't seen 20 penny but doubt I will). Dead End (5 out of 5) This house I find completely entralling. From set design, to story theme, to scareactor effort I find this house to be top notch. Even its unique use of the loathsome vortex tunnel I found refreshing. My only real complaint is the long corridor from the vortex to the doll room. Yeah it looks cool but nothing happens for 100 feet. I don't know if this was a nessecary design but I felt it was a small weakness. Also, there are really detailed and amazing backstories to every single "ghost" in this house... and of course the backstory to the house itself that is virtually unknown. I wish they were somehow able to convey all these cool details other than just the UMTH tour. Gothic (5 of 5) Again top notch all around. the scareactors really work it in this house and the gags work well. Its a tough call between this and Dead End to me but Dead End edges this one out (only slightly!) based on the theme. The silt gargoyle is mad intimidating to me. the flyers are very cool as well. My only complaint, again, is the upward corridor . although, better than the Dead End one (more to look at) still nothing happens for about 100 feet. Silent Hill (3 of 5) This house makes my 3rd place simply because of the subject matter and the fact I get freaked out every time I go in this house. I like the inital facade, like several of the rooms, the falling ash, and the burning smell. the cast has been hit or miss with some runs being positively frightening and others being just plain "meh". I have a really problem with the monsters wearing boots. I don't know if it is a saftey hazard or why the decision but a nude monster with boots on is laughable. I would like to see a better transition between the other world and fog world. I would like to see less dummies and more nurses. I would like the lights to be dimmer... especially in the Other world. I would like to see Pyramid head do something more imposing. I would like Robbie to actually move. Over all I like the house but it has some issues that, at least I think, would be an easy fix. Now, I have seen some improvements since the first night and I'm very pleased with that... But I was expecting more and perhaps my expectations were too high. Penn and Teller (4 of 5) I am not a huge fan of Penn and Teller personally. I don't like their opinons and how they feel anyone who oposes their view points is a moron. However, I found the house to be funny. For a 3D I'd have to say I don't care for it as I took the glasses off after the first run and never looked back. The problem was that I love the details and the glasses did not allow me to see them. How ever as a dark comedy house I found it decent and a clever idea. Scarewise... Not really high for me. (except the freaking clowns catching me last night!) but I don't expect high scares in the comedy house. The Walking dead (3 of 5) there is just something about the show I just can't stand. Perhaps I'm getting burned out on zombies... Or that they are Romero zombies... or that I HATE EVERY CHARACTER IN THE SHOW. IDK. The sets I find very cool and the are very faithful at capturing the essence of the show. I also like the length of the house and how it really goes even further than you'd expect to and then pour out into a street full of zombies. However, I don't care for the "stare down" and there are plenty to be had. I know it is inherently built into TWD zombie which hurts the idea off the bat but a better implementation of tag teams and misdirection would go a long way. The makeup seems a bit generic and I really wish we had just a few hero makeup in the house. House Of Horrors (3 of 5) Loved the concept and I loved the Dead Exposure style. The duck is a nice addition. The idea is simple and doesn't require much but I would like to have seen less recycled scenes. Some were repurposed and sure thats fine but how do you explain the Phantom being exactly the same as in '09? I also feel there are a lot of dead spaces where it just begs to have more scareactors. Wolfman and Dracula being the too most notable. Overall a fun house but it doesn't live up to my love of Dead Exposure. Alice Cooper (2 of 5) I don't like the concept or Alice Cooper. I really am not a fan. The rooms have some cool sets and even some decent scares (only reason I like going into the house is to see my wife scream) but the two "surgery" scenes are uninspired and, by design, completely inhibit the scareactors from scaring. Last night the nurse was just standing perfectly still. We were stuck in the room a good two minutes and she didn't move a muscle. I thought "how lame" but I'm guess she was trying to go for the only real scare she could... which was to make people think she was fake. the house feels disjointed and just boring. Streets (4 of 5) I'm truly impressed with what was done this year. Yes I like fixed sets as much as anyone but they worked with what they had and it made sense and was effective. The Iniquitous solved the issue of photo ops balancing and are just amazing to look at. The idea of the tribes is very cool and builds rivalry and comradare into the event. (I just wish the legions themselves were at odds). I love my legion (Morphans... woot woot) and I really like te effort put forth by every legion. The scare being truly everywhere is very impressive. I've seen scareactors in queue lines, Resturants stores, dark uncommon paths, and even at the entrance to bathrooms. Heck put them in the parking lot and they really would be everywhere. Kudos to the sacreactors and the designers of the conecpt... Now please bring back at least a few unique sets next year Bill and Ted (2 of 5) I watched this last night. Meh. I knew I wouldn't like it but was tired and it was nice to sit down. I didn't get much of what I was seeing. I thought I was pretty abreast on memes and what not but I guess not. the things I did get it felt like "Oh hey... Look this happened this year... Isn't it clever we remember?" The conflict was ludicrous and anti climatic (even for a Bill and ted Show). I've never enjoyed this show so I may not be the best to critique it. I can say, when I first saw it in 2005 I got more of it... But that could just be me not keeping up with the latest things as well as I used to. Overall I don't know why I keep wtching this show year after year. Overall (4 of 5) I will say I really enjoy this year. How will it stand up in my memory? I think fairly well. I find the new ideas really cool and I'm glad to see A&D can work with all the incredible limitations. They took a bad situation and turned it into a good product. They were limited in space, limited in site design, and limited in their ability to have creative reign... But they pulled it off. Bravo! I felt the streets were better than they have been in a while in intensity... but the houses were less intense. The original concept houses are far better than the IPs but I don't hate them either (well most of them). I dare say Dead End and Gothic are some all time favorites for me. The sets are beautiful and the scareactors are working it. I am a little shocked to say this... but there is an incredible lack of gore this year and there really isn't a sense of claustrophobic conditions. It all feels very open and too well lit. Over all I'm pleased and happy to have gone 4 times with a 5th tonight and I'm excited to see how this translates next year. I'm hoping for at least a few old ideas (icons, less Ips, overall theme, themed scare zones, etc) mixed with some new ones (stilts in houses, horror unearthed, scare everywhere, etc.). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 I agree with what you said in the last part of the review, the houses do feel very open, I don't know why but they do, I do not think your expectations for Silent Hill were too high, these are really easy fixes, Why couldn't they make Robbie a costume for the end, I just cannot get my head around that, really don't get that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troiandan Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Overall (4 of 5) I will say I really enjoy this year. How will it stand up in my memory? I think fairly well. I find the new ideas really cool and I'm glad to see A&D can work with all the incredible limitations. They took a bad situation and turned it into a good product. They were limited in space, limited in site design, and limited in their ability to have creative reign... But they pulled it off. Bravo! I felt the streets were better than they have been in a while in intensity... but the houses were less intense. The original concept houses are far better than the IPs but I don't hate them either (well most of them). I dare say Dead End and Gothic are some all time favorites for me. The sets are beautiful and the scareactors are working it. I am a little shocked to say this... but there is an incredible lack of gore this year and there really isn't a sense of claustrophobic conditions. It all feels very open and too well lit. Over all I'm pleased and happy to have gone 4 times with a 5th tonight and I'm excited to see how this translates next year. I'm hoping for at least a few old ideas (icons, less Ips, overall theme, themed scare zones, etc) mixed with some new ones (stilts in houses, horror unearthed, scare everywhere, etc.). I especially appreciate this summation, and while we don't quite agree on everything (who does?), I think you've given voice to my general opinion of the event at this stage. I hadn't noticed before about the gore, but now that you've mentioned it I do agree with you on that. Thanks for the overview! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHN Dollfie Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Dead End (5 out of 5) This house I find completely entralling. From set design, to story theme, to scareactor effort I find this house to be top notch. Even its unique use of the loathsome vortex tunnel I found refreshing. My only real complaint is the long corridor from the vortex to the doll room. Yeah it looks cool but nothing happens for 100 feet. I don't know if this was a nessecary design but I felt it was a small weakness. Also, there are really detailed and amazing backstories to every single "ghost" in this house... and of course the backstory to the house itself that is virtually unknown. I wish they were somehow able to convey all these cool details other than just the UMTH tour. You like us!!!!! You really really like us!!!!! :lol: Glad my house is one of your favs. We all appreciate the love we receive from fans and guests. Thanks Jeramy! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 You like us!!!!! You really really like us!!!!! :lol: Glad my house is one of your favs. We all appreciate the love we receive from fans and guests. Thanks Jeramy! best house of the year I think, that and Gothic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YourPallbearer Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 Streets (4 of 5) I'm truly impressed with what was done this year. Yes I like fixed sets as much as anyone but they worked with what they had and it made sense and was effective. The Iniquitous solved the issue of photo ops balancing and are just amazing to look at. The idea of the tribes is very cool and builds rivalry and comradare into the event. (I just wish the legions themselves were at odds). I love my legion (Morphans... woot woot) and I really like te effort put forth by every legion. The scare being truly everywhere is very impressive. I've seen scareactors in queue lines, Resturants stores, dark uncommon paths, and even at the entrance to bathrooms. Heck put them in the parking lot and they really would be everywhere. Kudos to the sacreactors and the designers of the conecpt... Now please bring back at least a few unique sets next year For next year I don't see why they don't allow scareactors to leave their respective zones as far as they like. Wouldn't be much different from what we're experiencing now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LV-426 Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 For next year I don't see why they don't allow scareactors to leave their respective zones as far as they like. Wouldn't be much different from what we're experiencing now. I agree, I totally agree, they could mix the idea of moving zones of this year but having set zones as well, make the zones longer, they could totally make each scarezone a lot longer than before, actors could have their set pieces and props on the street related to their theme and have them wonder off, I would love that, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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