Batwithtusks Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 I'll get right down to it. First house of the night was Silent Hill. Silent Hill: Was super amped as this was the first thing I went down to and in my mind, felt like it should be the creepiest of the houses. The facade was really weak; while the sign was cool, it wasn't the kind of grand entrance we usually get nowadays for a maze. The house started out with great creature design, and the straightjacket looking cocooned thing in the first room was my favorite thing in the whole house. However, while looking at him through the chain link fence, it seemed like there was a missed opportunity for a scare. That, unfortunately, seemed to be the theme of the house for me: missed opportunity. The set designs seemed almost non-existant in this one. There was a bathroom scene and schoolhouse scene that looked neat, and the rest was mostly chain link fence, a bland dark room or the usual meat-bodies hanging from the ceiling. I even did this house twice (only one of the night I did), and felt that it was ok, but the rest of the houses of the night were all better. Too many pyramidheads, too few scares that you don't see coming a mile away. I'm going again on closing weekend, and I'm excited to see if they have either a couple more scareactors or if they just get their timing down better. Overall 70/100. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Most intense house of the night for me and my group. The scares worked, we didn't see them coming all of the time, and the scenes from the movies were really well done. Dinner scene was great, and the female actress did an awesome job in there. I would love to be able to stand in that room for a minute to hear all of their lines, as they were all screaming at her and it was really creepy. House got SUPER dark in the graveyard scene, to the point where I was literally feeling my way forward, but that just made the strobe Leatherface scare all the better there. My favorite touch was the creepy as hell old man at the gas station. I don't know where Murdy gets this guy, but holy crap he had me convinced he was really an insane redneck from backwoods Texas. The guy has to be 70 years old, and he got right up in my face (I swear he had missing teeth for real) and kept rambling 'Oh yeah you gonna git it! Gonna git it real good!' Major props to this guy, and if any of you work with him tell him he's doing an amazing job. On an amusing side note, the smell of the bbq human meat smelled really good and made me want some jerky. This house had great set design, most intense scares of the night, and recognizable scenes along with outstanding scareactors. Overall 95/100 Terror Tram: I felt it was weak. Maybe I'm just jaded from it being the same path and having had zombies in the TT for the past few years anyways, but it didn't do anything for me this year. I never felt the least bit scared, but did enjoy the nice touches of a zombie in the background just eating someone and not even bothering to come scare people. Someone got so scared during the fenced off mini-maze that they fell backwards and knocked a wall down behind me, so I guess some people were sure getting scared! The hill sucked, but I admit there's not really much they can do there. I did notice an attempt at more group scares, but they tended to happen way in front of me so I think I may have just gotten a pretty back run-through of this year's TT where the scares didn't line up for me. On the plus side, the war of the worlds set fit really well with the theme, and I enjoyed the mini maze. Hopefully I like it more on my next trip to HHN. Overall 65/100 (I'm just bored with the same path and idea. No offense, scareactors.) La Llarona: Great! Saved a few of my favorite scenes from last year, but otherwise was very much changed. They actually took out a scare I liked a lot last year with the grim reaper statue that did an amazing job looking like a statue but being real. Lots of creepy new additions that I want to get a closer look at on my next trip, child coffins, tiny baby skeletons, but a couple scenes seemed to be missing scareactors. The scene with the barn had a wall on your left that someone could hide behind, but no one was in that room (I even walked over and peeked over the wall and no one was there), so maybe a shift change. The new additions at the end were wild and really messed up in a good way! I liked the progression of La Llarona throughout the maze from human to animal to monster, and think they really hit it out of the park with this house. Can't wait to do it again. This isn't as in your face as TCM was, but it's not supposed to be. Being legit creeped out and raising your eyebrows in a 'woah that's messed up' kind of way is arguably even more scary than the intense scares in other houses. Overall 92/100 LOVED it. Monsters Remix: We pretty much knew what we were getting with the venue, so I'll keep this one short. I thought it was kind of a dumb idea for the house, but it worked out fine. The scares are predictable and it's going to be the least scary house of the night (we all knew this going in) but for what it is it was the best version of a house in this location that I've seen. The psycho shower music remix was actually prett neat in that mirror section, and I personally liked the gogo addition. She kept giving me the eye! Worth noting that I did this house twice because there was almost no wait, even at midnight, and both times the guy wearing the Strangers hood with the axe managed to make me jump. Props to mr Strangers man for his nice hiding spot around the corner. Overall 60/100. It is what it is. Alice Cooper: This one pleasantly surprised me. The 3D effects were amazing, but just as other people said it felt like there were too many rooms without any scares whatsoever. I think 3 out of the first 4 rooms had nothing pop out....I mean, I know things look cool and we should be able to take that in, but we're also there to get scared! Murdy did an amazing job with the 3d, as I didn't know 3d in a maze would ever actually be cool (have always hated the idea and just thought it made most stuff blurry in houses). The detail in this one is also incredible. Gates of hell scene is massive, hoarder room had so much stuff in it that I wish I could stand around a few minutes, and the ladies in the Lust room had me cracking up. The Lust ladies had flat out filthy mouths, and I loved it. One friend had one say 'You look like you like it in the ***....I do too!' and my friend behind me who was going slow through the room had one yell at him 'Keep moving, ***!' (she used the C-word...the female kind). Please feel free to share what they said to you or your group too! This house had the most detail of the night and you could tell that it was Murdy's baby, however there were not many quality scares. Maybe some tweaking is in order on that front. Visuals 98/100 Scares 70/100 Overall 82/100. Still a nice break from the more intense houses. Bring your scaredy cat girlfriend through this one first, fellas! Walking Dead: The facade was amazing. Bodies on the floor was truly creative, and having a scareactor in the back of the hearse before you even go inside the building was a nice touch. Unfortunately, I didn't get very scared in this one. Maybe zombies just don't do it for me. I tended to see most of them coming ahead of time, and am going to just chalk it up to a bad walk through. Fellow bicycle girl poster, you were incredible. How the hell do you have the energy to keep clawing and scratching like that all night? How are you shift changes done? Do they have to dig you out and have your backup slide in while guests are standing there watching? That has got to be awkward. The ending of this house was great, and quite a few of the zombies got me. The sheet thing was pretty awesome, and the outstretched hands clawing at you got my heart going a bit. I really wanted to do this one again, but it'll have to wait a few weeks til I'm back there. Overall 80/100. I was really tired at this point and wished I remembered more from it. Had a blast at the event from start to finish, and feel it was the best year of the last three years that I've been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 GREAT reviews Bat. Sad to see yet another dismal Silent Hill review. I swear, it seems like nobody had a good run through of it on opening weekend. I wonder what went wrong in there or if its just the design all together that just doesn't work. I think it might be a timing thing and the scareactors are getting a hang of things. I'm not sure... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingundisputed_ Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Walking Dead: The facade was amazing. Bodies on the floor was truly creative, and having a scareactor in the back of the hearse before you even go inside the building was a nice touch. Unfortunately, I didn't get very scared in this one. Maybe zombies just don't do it for me. I tended to see most of them coming ahead of time, and am going to just chalk it up to a bad walk through. Fellow bicycle girl poster, you were incredible. How the hell do you have the energy to keep clawing and scratching like that all night? How are you shift changes done? Do they have to dig you out and have your backup slide in while guests are standing there watching? That has got to be awkward. The ending of this house was great, and quite a few of the zombies got me. The sheet thing was pretty awesome, and the outstretched hands clawing at you got my heart going a bit. I really wanted to do this one again, but it'll have to wait a few weeks til I'm back there. Overall 80/100. I was really tired at this point and wished I remembered more from it. Thanks for the compliments! It's a really brutal position, not easy at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 (edited) GREAT reviews Bat. Sad to see yet another dismal Silent Hill review. I swear, it seems like nobody had a good run through of it on opening weekend. I wonder what went wrong in there or if its just the design all together that just doesn't work. I think it might be a timing thing and the scareactors are getting a hang of things. I'm not sure... I think it really is just timing and the need to "get in the groove." It takes exceptional actors and especially veteran actors to be able to get into perfect scaring mode during opening weekend, and Silent Hill is very reliant on the actors to take advantage of their area. Timing also isn't helped by the fact that actors want to scare people who look like good targets. I mean, our energy is limited. We COULD try to jump at every single person who crosses our path, or we could carefully watch the people nearby and look at who looks like they'll give a good scream. Maybe they're visibly scared, maybe they're distracted. But a stone-faced 20-something staring into your boohole because he's experienced enough to be able to tell where it is isn't going to be targeted by many people. Edited September 24, 2012 by Cody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Haha, I always make a point to look completely distracted when I know where the boohole is in a room. I look in the exact opposite direction in hopes they'll jump at me. It usually works, unless they just scared the people in front of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwithtusks Posted September 24, 2012 Author Share Posted September 24, 2012 Good point, Cody! I think on my next trip I'm going to make more of a point to let someone else lead, or just to really look around at the detail in the rooms more to give myself more of an opportunity to be scared in a few of the houses. Found myself cheating a bit by looking ahead to the next room to try to see what/where the scare was coming from. Are you in Silent Hill, Cody? The guy in the dark room with the gas mask and the cement block on the mallet got me good there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsylumSB Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Nice review, Batwithtusks! It seems like you are open to enjoying the event, regardless of the type of attraction being offered at HHN. I myself thought that, overall, HHN has been consistently putting on a quality event since I started going in 2009. Your review has helped to keep my anticipation high (going on 10/5)! Oh and great avatar by the way. Death on the Road is one of my favorite live albums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody Posted September 25, 2012 Share Posted September 25, 2012 (edited) Good point, Cody! I think on my next trip I'm going to make more of a point to let someone else lead, or just to really look around at the detail in the rooms more to give myself more of an opportunity to be scared in a few of the houses. Found myself cheating a bit by looking ahead to the next room to try to see what/where the scare was coming from. Are you in Silent Hill, Cody? The guy in the dark room with the gas mask and the cement block on the mallet got me good there. I actually live in Orlando, but the principal is the same throughout almost all haunt events, from the streets to the houses. Also, that guy you mentioned is the Bogeyman from Downpour, the latest game. Edited September 25, 2012 by Cody Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batwithtusks Posted October 29, 2012 Author Share Posted October 29, 2012 Update! The last time I went was opening weekend, so it's nice to go again on closing weekend and see if anything has changed. I had a better walkthrough of Silent Hill and Walking Dead than opening weekend. Silent Hill I was able to admire the Scrim effects a bit more with the creepy Witch lady and a nurse girl had fun pretending to stab my face a couple of times. TCM was largely the same but was able to do it twice last night. I did notice a bit more of the 'empty' parts that people have been talking about, but it's mostly the outdoor areas. The actors were on their A game and got me good a couple of times. LOVE the weird old man. Alice was actually a little disappointing. The Lust ladies were MUCH more tame than opening weekend, and I wonder if they got told not to curse. They didn't even talk this time, even with me provoking them (hehe) a bit and paying them entirely too much attention. Opening weekend they said the C word, F word, everything, and I think someone may have complained that it was too much. Walking Dead was ON last night, and I had a blast in that maze. I couldn't believe the wait time listed as 165 minutes. 2 and a half hours and this was at 11pm. You'd walk out at 1:30...wow. Well thank you front of the line I didn't have to worry and had a blast in this house. There was a HUGE gap between us and the group in front of us, so it was really awesome being able to walk into a completely empty room each time we went forward. Had fun yelling at bicycle girl and the barn was amazing followed by the very last walker of the house that got me good. La Llarona was my biggest disappointment, but only because of the line. Now, I'm pretty used to the 'conga line' effect, but this was just horrible. In the opening room I stood still at the end of the church aisle for about 30 seconds before moving forward. In the river room I stood on the bridge for over 2 minutes (no exaggeration) without moving forward, and same with the barn. No idea what was going on. At least it gave the scareactors a breather, because they would trigger their scare once, but then see that it's the same people there and not try again for another minute or two. Terror Tram was much better than my last trip, and had a ton of fun when the fat walker guy rubbed his belly into people to gross them out. I could feel his bellybutton move by on my arm and it grossed me out big time. Was really funny though to joke about it after the tram was over. Had plenty of good scares and the actors did an awesome job blending in with the crowd. Overall was a great night at HHN, and I'm sad to see this one go. I'm even a little scared for next year because of the rumors of one less house due to construction of new attractions. We'll see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevler Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Yes, they got in trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted October 30, 2012 Share Posted October 30, 2012 Know any specifics/tidbits/mini-details on that, Trev? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts