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Halloween Horror Nights 23 Wishful Thinking


Mark M.
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This? Its a cool gag but not scary. It isn't directed at you in the least. The best it could be is a distraction scare. Actually... I think this is re-purposed from a Freddy house they had if I'm not mistaken. I know I have seen this as Freddy.

well, The alien creature hanging from the roof in The Thing house was not that scary either but it really looked amazing to me. I loved it, I loved the creature hanging and I love seeing the guy shoot at it. It was really cool to see.

I didn't like the movie as much but The Thing house was pretty good, the costumes were really good, the actors hanging from the roofs were good, I really loved that house because of all of that.

Edited by Mr. Black
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You want to see every single scareactor jump out and screm "Boo", just go to Howl O Scream...

That is kind of another reason I wish they used puppets and animatronics more often, because having scareactors jump out and scare you kind of gets old.

I don't know, I guess at this point I don't care about being scared but I want to be surprised. And I Want cool effects I can look at over and over when I visit the houses. I guess that's why I am thinking so much on Uni using puppets and animatronics. Because they don't use them often and it would be something cool to see.

Like you said if we wanted to have people come out of a hole saying "boo" we would go to HOS.

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I remember my first years going I used to think Uni would taught the actors "the art of the scare" or something, I guess I Was naive but I thought the people that worked in the event were taught how to act for the houses and scare.

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I remember my first years going I used to think Uni would taught the actors "the art of the scare" or something, I guess I Was naive but I thought the people that worked in the event were taught how to act for the houses and scare.

The casting process use to pick people that had an ability to scare. We had to pantomime and/or scare each other. Rehearsals were a lot more thorough as well. Now, the event is so big they literally just need bodies to fit a costume and press a button.

I think the idea of the "HHN Learning Curve" in the first two weekends is inexcusable. The only way to fix that though is for Uni to pay for more pre-event rehearsal time. But that would require more concern for the product than the profit...

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So HHN had a slight cameo on celebrity apprentice last week, you could see the HHN overlay on the archway in the background in a few shots, Penn mentioned his house a few times, and fake productions came in to help them on their projects. Now if only the travel channel would do another hourlong special about HHN....

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HOS Im afraid to say is a tad better then HHN... HHN has the details but they dont have the scares.. HOS has the scares not the details.

I love HHN and all but HOS has really stepped up there game within the last couple yrs.

IMO, I really don't feel HOS has the scares. My first time there I was impressed. It was different than HHN and I was thrown off by that. Hence felt it was better than it was. Having returned multiple times since, I fell it lacks the intensity of HHN.

Even so, If you do the same houses year after year after year... I would HOPE you could get them right at some point.

But it's my opinion. Take it for what you will and to each his own.

We all have things that work better than other things to scare us. Universal employs a wide variety of scare tactics to appeal to the masses. In appealing to everyone it becomes hard to completely please the fringe audience. But the fringe audience, as loyal as we are, don't put the bulk of coins in their coffers. So we aren't going to see an event completely catered to us. (Heck we can't even agree on what we want most of the time). I still find it amazing that they do listen and at least attempt to make us happy. They don't have to and I'm sure its hard to fight the corporate powers that be for what they/we want to see vs what will bring in the easy money. As A&D have said many many times, they are fans of horror just like us. they HAVE grandiose plans that don't come to light due to budgets, regulations, and all the other people who have to weigh in on what can and will be done.

Bottom line is If you like mental distress, disturbing imagery, intense gore, simulated drowning and the like. Well there are haunts like that out there (count me out :P). But you wont see the extreme things at HHN.

As for pulsing:

I liked it back in the day but the crowds just don't allow it now. Remember when they tried in..... I believe 2010? Everyone complained about the lines. Its not practical anymore.

I still haven't heard a practical way in which Universal can make the event scarier. Minus perhaps better scareactor training. But I give the scareactors more credit than that. Sure you have the new scareactors who may not do as good with the lack of training. But there are a lot of extremely talented veterans at the event. I cannot discount them nor do I think people stay static through the event. Training or no, you find your groove but I do agree casting strictly off body type is not the best method of casting.

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Pulsing is the only thing I can think of that would help. And I know it's not practical. That's why I try to leave space between myself and the people in front of me.

I don't know if it was the crowds that caused it last year, each house would have a person capacity, but I did get "pulsed" last year a couple of times. They held of both lines for maybe about 30 seconds to a minute right when I got to the front.

What I do to make the event scarier is I allow myself to be scared. I drop my guard. I don't look for the scareactors. I mentally prepare myself for fear. I've gone to 13 events. This year will be my 14th. I never go to the event thinking, I wonder if they'll scare me. I go into thinking I can't wait until they scare me.

But the fear is not why I love the event. It's the detail, the storylines, the immersion, and interactivity. And us the diehard fans. We make the event for ourselves. Meet ups. Running into people we know. Unable to walk 15 ft without someone saying hi or a scareactor giving the fandom a shout out.

That's why this event is better than all others to me. My husband, my daughter, and I wore CSW shirts to HOS last year. There wasn't a single shout out or any kind of recognition from the scareactors.

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I agree. If you go in with the mentality "try and scare me" it's going to be a lot harder. but you are right! To me it is about the social aspect, the fun, and story lines (which I wish were more pronounced lately).

I'm scientific minded. I don't remotely believe in monsters. I don't really believe I'm going to be scared.

(Heck The Walking dead irks me because there are zombies everywhere over a year later when they would have rotted away in a month.)

But I don't go with that mindset for the same reason I don't watch the walking dead and for the realism. Its all about having a good time.

When I let my guard down its easier to suspend disbelief and be startled... But 'm not going to lose any sleep out of fear.

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I still haven't heard a practical way in which Universal can make the event scarier. Minus perhaps better scareactor training. But I give the scareactors more credit than that. Sure you have the new scareactors who may not do as good with the lack of training. But there are a lot of extremely talented veterans at the event. I cannot discount them nor do I think people stay static through the event. Training or no, you find your groove but I do agree casting strictly off body type is not the best method of casting.

This. I have been aware that training for the performers has become virtually non-existent, but I am geniunely blown away each year by the talent, intensity and inventiveness these men and women bring, night after night. Even in my least happy moments, I can say I've very seldom been disappointed in their performance, especially based on outside limitations often imposed on them. I can only imagine how much they would bring if combining their abilities with an effective and enthusiastic director.

This as well. I want to be scared, so I try to "let the scare happen." I can't describe my process, I just... do. And the weeks of interaction with the performers and fellow fans makes this a win for me each year. Do I wish for more? Heck, yeah, I'm a selfish little git. But Uni corporate knows full well they have me regardless, so when creative is allowed to give me/us a bit more - yes, I'm grateful.

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So HHN had a slight cameo on celebrity apprentice last week, you could see the HHN overlay on the archway in the background in a few shots, Penn mentioned his house a few times, and fake productions came in to help them on their projects. Now if only the travel channel would do another hourlong special about HHN....

. . . and our very own Justin was in the background three times sporting his Horror Night Nightmares shirt! Pretty cool!

On topic, I agree with others above. HHN is growing more and more each and every year, which requires hordes of scareactors (pun intended) to fill the roles. However, I feel that most scareactors perform their hardest every night; there will always be a few disappointments here and there, but the extreme diversity of talents overpowers those rare instances. I can understand how tiring the event is to work, which is why we fans fully appreciate the efforts put forth by our scareactors.

I have been attending HHN since 2002 and have noticed many new effects and techniques applied in houses and on streets - A&D really does an amazing job at both creativity and plussing (yes, I took that from Disney) the event each year. The storylines and intertwining theming of the events is what I crave the most. After ten years of attending, like Jeramy said, you notice things more and become less scared - something some of us need to remember. However, I still am impressed with the detail of the event and I usually get many startle scares on each visit to the event. If you go with the mindset of "I'm not going to be scared," then you're just not going to get scared. I have a friend who flies down from NJ every year to attend the event and he has this mentality. I've only seen him get scared a few times since his first visit in 2004, and those were times when we convinced him to let his guard down. As Kathy stated, just "let the scare happen."

Bottom line . . . A&D creates an amazing event every year that is more creative, more artistically impressive, and scarier than any other haunt I've been to. Furthermore, they hire a cast of scareactors that put their all out every night of the event to give the guests an amazing experience. Besides, what other event can claim such an amazing community of fans that live HHN all year long!?

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All I really want from HHNO this year is as many original houses as possible.

I've only had the pleasure of visiting HHNO once, in 2011, so I don't know a whole lot more about it than what I've read on these boards.

I'm from LA so I've been attending HHNH since I was a kid in '97, pre and post hiatus.

I know we've had original houses before, but none of them were memorable except for Monsterquarium and La Llorona. What I really remember from our event is Freddy, Leatherface, Chucky, etc. My familiarity with these characters and their stories kills the scares for me a bit, last year's TCM maze being the exception. So imagine my delight when I see that the year I finally go bicoastal there's only one IP based house, especially since it ended up being 1000x better than our version of it. The only house that let me down the whole night was Saws 'N Steam. I honestly didn't get the story and there was a major lack of actors when I went through, but the rest of the houses were amazing. I got major scares in Nevermore and Nightingales, and the 3D in The Inn Between played so well with the actors and scares. I just loved it all.

Lurking the boards last year I was pretty surprised to see you guys ended up with alot of the same mazes as us. We had TWD (which was just ok as the TWD Terror Tram experience outshined it), Silent Hill, Alice Cooper Goes To Hell, a sequel to Welcome to My Nightmare (which you ended up with), and a classic monster house that was shameful at best (you guys are super lucky you got your cool tribute house and not our craptastic dubstep one).

Seeing that makes me nervous there will be a lack of original houses this year and that half of your event will be extremely similar to ours.

Whether it was simply better, or because it was my first time, HHN 21 topped any of the HHNs I've been to growing up. Except for '97 as that was my first and I will always hold the nightmares it caused a six year old me dear.

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Even so, If you do the same houses year after year after year... I would HOPE you could get them right at some point.

As for pulsing:

I liked it back in the day but the crowds just don't allow it now. Remember when they tried in..... I believe 2010? Everyone complained about the lines. Its not practical anymore.

I still haven't heard a practical way in which Universal can make the event scarier. Minus perhaps better scareactor training. But I give the scareactors more credit than that. Sure you have the new scareactors who may not do as good with the lack of training. But there are a lot of extremely talented veterans at the event. I cannot discount them nor do I think people stay static through the event. Training or no, you find your groove but I do agree casting strictly off body type is not the best method of casting.

the line about ", If you do the same houses year after year after year... I would HOPE you could get them right at some point." really made me laugh lol :lol:

and, I really never understood pulsing, I mean I understand what Pulsing means, I just don't understand how it is supposed to work for better scares. you are still in a group of people and if there are girls screaming in that group the actors will target them. Even with pulsing you are still in a conga line. Unless you are the first one in the group or the last one, I don't really see the point really.

What I mean is, I will end up with people in front of me and behind me, so I don't get how it is better than the group is smaller.

no, you are right. 2011 had some of the best houses I've visited. seems like all the focus went to the houses that year because the houses were pretty amazing and the scarezones were not (not really) Some of the best houses I have visited were in 2011. I think every house had something good in it, That was a really good year for HHN house wise. (that's one of the reasons I was so disappointed in 2012, because the houses were so good in 2011, but the quality in houses dropped a little)

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Whether it was simply better, or because it was my first time, HHN 21 topped any of the HHNs I've been to growing up. Except for '97 as that was my first and I will always hold the nightmares it caused a six year old me dear.

Same! 22 was the most fun I've had at the event and 21 had the best houses. And being in grade school in 2005, nothing will scare me like Body Collectors did. They scared me so bad that their image was burned into my head and I always remembered their faces. When I joined the community in 2010, I had forgotten where they came from, but then I saw them again and it was so cool to have that connection.

This is exactly what I do! I actually managed to scare myself silly at HHN 21 this way. :P I just let them happen and more or less, I WANTED them to happen and I wanted to be scared very badly, and with that mindset...I was. :)

And no doubt this is the greatest community out there. Horror Unearthed and the friends I had made kept me coming back and will continue to keep me coming back. :)

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Pulsing is the only thing I can think of that would help. And I know it's not practical. That's why I try to leave space between myself and the people in front of me.

I wish there was a way to have pulsing work out. Being separated from groups and being able to be more immersed in the house is always a plus and it helps to contribute to the scare factor. I swear to God, every time I went through Dead End, I would be stopped on the transition hallway that lead to the nursery for about 1+ minute(s). It happened so often. And it really takes away from the house itself when you're not even looking at the house, you're just staring at people's backs the entire time.

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auguh3.jpg

This? Its a cool gag but not scary. It isn't directed at you in the least. The best it could be is a distraction scare. Actually... I think this is re-purposed from a Freddy house they had if I'm not mistaken. I know I have seen this as Freddy.

No, that's not what I was referring to. What I was talking about comes after this and was the very last scare of the house:

2ex3leg.jpg

It's an actor controlled puppet and I imagine it was pretty terrifying if you caught it at the right time.

If you look at 0:26 of this video, this is what it looks like in action:

In this one you can see how the prop is actor controlled:

The company that makes these "puppets" is Gore Galore, really incredible stuff if you want to check them out.

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No, that's not what I was referring to. What I was talking about comes after this and was the very last scare of the house:

lloronapuppet.jpg

It's an actor controlled puppet and I imagine it was pretty terrifying if you caught it at the right time.

If you look at 0:26 of this video, this is what it looks like in action:

In this one you can see how the prop is actor controlled:

The company that makes these "puppets" is Gore Galore, really incredible stuff if you want to check them out.

amazing... :o

Like my dream come true. I know these are expensive maybe, and I know people could break them. But one of my biggest wishes is that one day they have stuff like this for one of the houses. At least one house.

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and, I really never understood pulsing, I mean I understand what Pulsing means, I just don't understand how it is supposed to work for better scares. you are still in a group of people and if there are girls screaming in that group the actors will target them. Even with pulsing you are still in a conga line. Unless you are the first one in the group or the last one, I don't really see the point really.

What I mean is, I will end up with people in front of me and behind me, so I don't get how it is better than the group is smaller.

Pulsing, in theory, is better than a conga line, because it allows the actors to reset scares in between groups. By sending in groups of 5-6 people at a time, you should be able to experience every scare in a house, and not have poorly timed walkthroughs. It also gives the actors a bit more time to interact with the guests, as they don't have to immediately reset and go back into hiding to immediately spring out again. They can also target scares better to get the whole group, rather than just whoever happens to be nearest. Pulsing groups can also make thing s a bit more interactive. I had a scare actor split me up from my group at a local haunt last year, and got to go through the back half of the house by myself. It was a blast.

Pulsing also allows scare actors to sneak up behind you, which is something Universal can't really do with the current operational model. There's nothing like having a chainsaw rev up three feet behind you in a dark corridor.

True pulsing isn't really something Uni can do given their attendance numbers, but it's a WAY better haunt experience than a conga line. If I had the choice, I'd choose pulsing every time (assuming going solo wasn't an option :D).

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Pulsing, in theory, is better than a conga line, because it allows the actors to reset scares in between groups. By sending in groups of 5-6 people at a time, you should be able to experience every scare in a house, and not have poorly timed walkthroughs. It also gives the actors a bit more time to interact with the guests, as they don't have to immediately reset and go back into hiding to immediately spring out again. They can also target scares better to get the whole group, rather than just whoever happens to be nearest. Pulsing groups can also make thing s a bit more interactive. I had a scare actor split me up from my group at a local haunt last year, and got to go through the back half of the house by myself. It was a blast.

Pulsing also allows scare actors to sneak up behind you, which is something Universal can't really do with the current operational model. There's nothing like having a chainsaw rev up three feet behind you in a dark corridor.

True pulsing isn't really something Uni can do given their attendance numbers, but it's a WAY better haunt experience than a conga line. If I had the choice, I'd choose pulsing every time (assuming going solo wasn't an option :D).

I guess that makes sense.

I personally just never felt the difference between the regular conga line and the pulsing groups. I had people in front of me and behind so I didn't really notice the difference.

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I guess that makes sense.

I personally just never felt the difference between the regular conga line and the pulsing groups. I had people in front of me and behind so I didn't really notice the difference.

The difference between the pulsing and the regular line is with the pulsing it gives you better odds of being scared because you're in a smaller group. To me it makes no difference. As long as I get to go through the house. :D

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No, that's not what I was referring to. What I was talking about comes after this and was the very last scare of the house:

It's an actor controlled puppet and I imagine it was pretty terrifying if you caught it at the right time.

If you look at 0:26 of this video, this is what it looks like in action:

In this one you can see how the prop is actor controlled:

The company that makes these "puppets" is Gore Galore, really incredible stuff if you want to check them out.

I guess some of that works. A lot of those over-sized puppets and animatronics start looking comical though. But Low tech puppets are fine in my opinion so long as they are realistic. The don't break as easy and the actors tend to have more control. the hay to be done right though.

Yes to The thing both houses. They had some ridiculous overstuffed costumes in Creatures that, for the most part, got nixed. There were a few animatronic gags. The critter at the end I believe was an animatronic i recorded it but can't tell from the video :P.

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I saw ads for the Bates Motel the other day. A&E show and obviously Psycho is a Universal property. If it takes off perhaps it could be a tie-in to this year.

There is also a show coming on NBC called "Crossbones" that will deal with pirates. Will have John Malkovich as Edward Teach. I don't think it is Horror related though.

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I saw ads for the Bates Motel the other day. A&E show and obviously Psycho is a Universal property. If it takes off perhaps it could be a tie-in to this year.

There is also a show coming on NBC called "Crossbones" that will deal with pirates. Will have John Malkovich as Edward Teach. I don't think it is Horror related though.

Also, Mads Mikkelsen in the new Lecter series, Hannibal on NBC.

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