Can someone compare the NLC 2007/2008, SAW, CHUCKY houses to Hollywood’s versions?

[pumpkinbot343]

I’m curious how the quality of the houses in Orlando compared to Hollywood’s.

[zombieman]

Hollywood's quality did not begin to fall off a cliff until around 2013/2014 when they decided that every house needed to be filled with black hallways with a boo-hole strobe at the end.

 

Chucky in Hollywood was just an overlay in their year-round maze, so it is not a fair comparison in terms of quality.  That maze always had a Chucky room in it, and for the overlay they simply added more of him.

Chucky in Orlando was unique in that it although it was an IP house, it was a comedy house and told an original story.  However, it was still a funhouse theme at its core, and Orlando has never put very much detail into funhouse themed houses.  So in my opinion, it was on the low end of the Orlando scale in terms of theme.

 

Saw ran three years in Hollywood (2009/2010, and 2017), and two years in Orlando (2009 and 2017).  There were also TWO Saw-based houses in 2008 at Fright Dome in Las Vegas.

IMHO, the best Saw house ever was at Sinister Pointe in Brea, CA in 2008, which included actual TRAPS that you had to participate in.

In terms of quality, both Hollywood and Orlando did an equally good job in those first years.  They each presented their favorite traps, with some overlap.  Orlando and Hollywood design teams work separately - moreso back then.

The general consensus was that the 2017 house at each event was unnecessary and did not live up to whatever small amount of hype there was.  Although recent, their detail was forgettable.

 

Back in the day, it was always a tossup as to which coast would do a better job with their IP.  These were my past feelings as to who did a better job for the FIRST appearance.

In terms of detail, Hollywood has been an equal to Orlando in the distant past.  And back in the days when they used Soundstages, they were outstanding.  But since relying on adding black hallways to stretch budget to add more houses, Hollywood has gone down the toilet, to the point where Knotts consistently beats them in detail.  Hollywood CAN still do an outstanding detailed house, if it is something that really interests Murdy.

 

The good old days of Hollywood:

TCM: Hollywood (detail)

F13: Orlando (detail)

NOES: Orlando (detail)

Saw: Both were quite good

Halloween: Hollywood

HOTC: Hollywood did a fantastic job in 2010, but in 2019 Orlando won.

Alice Cooper: Hollywood , by far.  I don't think Orlando team wanted to do it at all.

Thing: Orlando (Detail, final monster)

Wolfman: Orlando (Orlando detail was outstanding, Hollywood was an overlay)

La Llorona: Hollywood (far better detail)

TWD: Orlando (does anyone really remember one year form another?)

Silent Hill: Orlando (far better detail)

Evil Dead: Hollywood

Insidious: Hollywood (the only house where black hallways helped)

Chucky: Orlando (Not a fair comparison.  Hollywood was an overlay)

 

The decline of Hollywood:

AWIL: Orlando by a thousand miles

Dracula Untold: Orlando made the film look interesting

FDTD: Both were quite good

AVP: Orlando by a mile.  Told their own story.  Queen at end was fantastic.

Halloween II: Hollywood , for its original ending.  Neither were very detailed.

AHS: Orlando , for their Season 1-3 house.  Amazing.

FvJ: Orlando (Unique ending, detail)

Exorcist: Hollywood (Story, scares).  Orlando for detail.

Krampus: Hollywood (Detail)

 

Hollywood in the crapper:

Shining: Orlando , by a big margin (unique telling of story, detail)

Ash Vs Evil Dead: Orlando (Hollywood was just a bunch of black hallways)

Blumhouse: Both were atrocious, but Hollywood did Sinister 2 fair justice

Trick R Treat: Orlando (Detail)

Stranger Things: Orlando

Purge: Both were not very good

Poltergeist: Orlando (GOAT for me along with Graveyard Games.  IP presented from a completely unique perspective).  Hollywood missed the boat.

Halloween IV: Both were not very good

Ghostbusters: Orlando (Detail)

Us: Both were not very good

KKFOS: Orlando .  (Klownzilla)

Universal Monsters: Hollywood did an A+ job.  Orlando's Frankenstein vs Wolfman was also quite good.  Detail on both were great.  It was the only Hollywood house in recent history that did not have any black hallways.  Hollywood could return to greatness if they treated every house like they treated this one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ultimateforce]

I can only reply based on watching video walk throughs, but when Hollywood hits on details it's better than Orlando. But in terms of over-all quality Orlando wins every time in recent memory. It seems like the locations for houses in Hollywood just aren't as conductive for building a maze/house compared to Orlando's sound stages or tents. 

[zombieman]

Hollywood has soundstages, as it is an operating movie studio.  And I'm not talking about wrestling events.  In the pre-2006 days they used these, and the results were very good.

They have done a couple of houses in a backlot SS, and this has been very disappointing.

They had the opportunity to do AWIL in a soundstage, but they chose to put AVP in it instead.  Creative decision, but AWIL suffered greatly, being put in the smaller JP queue.

So what else did Hollywood choose to put in the backlot SS?  Black freaking Sabbath.  A 3D house that could have gone anywhere.  What a waste.

Stranger Things also got to be in a different soundstage, and of course it looked incredible as it was a headliner property.  

[pumpkinbot343]

Thanks for the chiming in people!

On 3/11/2021 at 7:43 PM, zombieman said:

Hollywood has soundstages, as it is an operating movie studio.  And I'm not talking about wrestling events.  In the pre-2006 days they used these, and the results were very good.

They have done a couple of houses in a backlot SS, and this has been very disappointing.

They had the opportunity to do AWIL in a soundstage, but they chose to put AVP in it instead.  Creative decision, but AWIL suffered greatly, being put in the smaller JP queue.

So what else did Hollywood choose to put in the backlot SS?  Black freaking Sabbath.  A 3D house that could have gone anywhere.  What a waste.

Stranger Things also got to be in a different soundstage, and of course it looked incredible as it was a headliner property.  

As someone who doesn’t understand how the budget works for the events; do you know why Hollywood is so cheap-looking nowadays? I would think since the event is next to an operating film studio; they would, you know, not have as much black walls.

 

BTW, Wasn’t Freddy’s house in Hollywood 2007 and 2008 just a repeat of 2006’s Asylum but with Freddy in it?

Edited March 13, 2021 by pumpkinbot343

[zombieman]

On 3/13/2021 at 1:38 PM, pumpkinbot343 said:

Thanks for the chiming in people!

As someone who doesn’t understand how the budget works for the events; do you know why Hollywood is so cheap-looking nowadays? I would think since the event is next to an operating film studio; they would, you know, not have as much black walls.

 

BTW, Wasn’t Freddy’s house in Hollywood 2007 and 2008 just a repeat of 2006’s Asylum but with Freddy in it?

 

In my opinion, Hollywood has suffered from a "use it to death" mentality.

There was a period where they had a hallways in every-single-house where they had hanging bodies, body parts, body bags, pigs, heads, etc.  

Then there was a period where they had in every-single-house a picture frame that would have a drop slam.

Then they had the static prop (zombies, a car, vampires, etc) on a moving rail that they used everywhere.  In one TWD house they used two of them in the same hallway.

Now its the black hallways in every-single-house 

 

I imagine there is some budget aspect behind the scenes - buy 10 of them and it's cheaper.  But these folks just have no concept of overusing an idea until it's no longer effective.

Orlando just doesn't suffer from this at all.  Some may say "Puppets" as of late, and I might agree with that.  But if an effect is used in different ways and different circumstances, it continues to be unique.

Even Murdy in his own tweets acknowledges the disgust with the black walls, yet they refuse to do anything but install more.

 

As long as people go to HHN Hollywood in droves, it won't change.  

And here's the punchline worthy of the year 2020 - when HHN does eventually happen again, it will most likely have most scares behind plexiglass.  Guess what overused scare Hollywood has that is already set up for adding a sheet of Plexi?  So expect to see the black hallway strobe box for many years to come.