HHN 23 Discussion

[LV-426]

the make up seemed pretty bad too...

[Atmacoil]

It's just going to be about a little imagination. They aren't going to have the budget to pull off the exact effects from the show, sadly. Last years zombies weren't awful (save for the inability to do the reach/lunge scares), and I think TWD house could still pull off a few decent scares based on distraction and misdirection. Isn't that all that 'magic' is, anyway?

[LV-426]

It's just going to be about a little imagination. They aren't going to have the budget to pull off the exact effects from the show, sadly. Last years zombies weren't awful (save for the inability to do the reach/lunge scares), and I think TWD house could still pull off a few decent scares based on distraction and misdirection. Isn't that all that 'magic' is, anyway?

well last year I never really hated on the masks. I said it before, masks for me are better than make up because with make up all you see is just people with face paint. Doesn't really look that great.

And like I was saying from watching the two videos of Walking Dead, the zombies with make up and no masks, look just like that, guys and girls with some face paint and some painted wounds.

Even though a lot of people hated the masks at least the actors looked like zombies with them. So from the beginning of last year I always said, I rather have crappy masks than peeps with a little bit of red face paint and some eye shadow...

I personally am totally fine with the masks

Edited September 11, 2013 by LV-426

[Atmacoil]

well last year I never really hated on the masks. I said it before, masks for me are better than make up because with make up all you see is just people with face paint. Doesn't really look that great.

And like I was saying from watching the two videos of Walking Dead, the zombies with make up and no masks, look just like that, guys and girls with some face paint and some painted wounds.

Even though a lot of people hated the masks at least the actors looked like zombies with them. So from the beginning of last year I always said, I rather have crappy masks than peeps with a little bit of red face paint and some eye shadow...

I personally am totally fine with the masks

I recall that conversation from a while back. It's not that I dislike the masks, they work real well for displaying decay, tissue damage, etc. that would otherwise be corny with make-up. I was more insinuating the effects from the show that involve hours of make up and a combination of make-up and masks to offer a convincing visage of undeath aren't possible. The masks'll do the job just fine

[JDW]

I said it before, masks for me are better than make up because with make up all you see is just people with face paint. Doesn't really look that great.

One example of many very talented Makeup artists in Orlando.

[LV-426]

the problem with zombies is that they usually will do some red paint wounds, some eye shadow or something like that. So they don't look that scary or that impressive.

that is my fear for Resident Evil too. Unless they use prosthetics zombie make up never really looks that awesome. it looks like people with red paint on their face.

[Cooger and Dark]

that is my fear for Resident Evil too. Unless they use prosthetics zombie make up never really looks that awesome. it looks like people with red paint on their face.

I get the impression that RE is going to be more creature based than zombie based since the house description lists off so many of the monsters. RE2 and RE3 had such fantastic creatures that I figure they are trying to mine those more than the zombies. This is just a feeling, though, and I cannot provide any proof.

[JDW]

the problem with zombies is that they usually will do some red paint wounds, some eye shadow or something like that. So they don't look that scary or that impressive.

that is my fear for Resident Evil too. Unless they use prosthetics zombie make up never really looks that awesome. it looks like people with red paint on their face.

Well Mike B (they guy who did that) worked for HHN in 2008. He did the zombie squad, the twisted Snow White and various other things. I'm just saying it is possible and, done right, looks a lot better than pull over masks.

[DiegoDrummer]

I know the masks may look shitty to some people. But as long as i shit my pants whenever they jump out at me, thats all that counts. haha.

Really diggin' the riot suit zombie, and the sets are BEAUTIFUL. I'm really liking also how there are zombies all around you before you even set foot in the house.

[Cesar Calderon]

Just saw an HHN 23 news special here in Orlando on News 13 about last night!!

[Dann93]

Just watched the official HHN23 commercial posted on facebook, and my response is a resounding "...meh". I'm sorry, but the commercial seems awkward. While it was kind of humorous to find out the monsters are actually running away like victims, it just doesn't leave much suspense regarding the thing that they were running from. As the viewer, I didn't find myself wondering "Wow, what was that thing that made the monsters so afraid??".

EDIT: Just realized that this same commercial was used in 2011. I'm confused. Are they really just reusing a commercial instead of creating their own unique to this year's theme? If so, then I'm extremely disappointed.

Edited September 11, 2013 by Dann93

[JDW]

http://youtu.be/U_ujBTqFWU0

Well that's the original from Hollywood with the tag line "What Fear Fear's Most".

But in all fairness I don't think Hollywod ever answered the question either.

[Legacy]

I'll say it.

I think it looks horrible.

Here's why:

I have never seen the show. The only characters I could really pick out of a line-up are Rick, Daryl and Michonne. I assumed the young girl near the tanks is Penny, but only because I have a passing knowledge of her existence. For me, there is little (aside from the tanks) visually interesting or unique.

If you know anything about the show, I'm sure it looks great. But without that it just comes across as inaccessible, random and boring.

IPs like Cabin in the Woods, Silent Hill and Resident Evil have a wide variety of creatures or settings. American Werewolf, Dead Silence and Evil Dead have specific stories that are retold in the house. Their original houses are original. Even if you know nothing about know nothing about what you're walking into, there's at least something to latch on to.

That was just boring, even for a zombie house. Deadtropolis and Zombiegeddon had more variety.

As someone who wants some viable reason to really catch my attention to justify attending, that was really disappointing. I really hope that wasn't their best foot this year.

[Kpop HHN Luvr]

As someone who wants some viable reason to really catch my attention to justify attending, that was really disappointing. I really hope that wasn't their best foot this year.

I truly don't think we'll have to worry about that. I think they probably used this one as the demo as the idea of a Walking Dead house has more GP appeal than all the other houses so of course it would be the one they show to the media who will get it out there.

Dang, is anyone else just getting so pumped about this event though, despite how you may feel about the walkthrough? I feel like we're in for a lot of unexpected surprises.

After seeing all the pictures from the media event last night, has anyone's initial opinion changed on any of the other houses?

[Legacy]

I'm still not pumped... Nothing has me legitimately excited or bummed about what I'm missing by not attending this year.

Same as last year.

[Coast]

If you know anything about the show, I'm sure it looks great. But without that it just comes across as inaccessible, random and boring.

To be fair, is any IP house going to ever appeal to you much at all in terms of familiarity and recognition if you haven't seen the show/movie or played the video games?

Also, they call it a "preview" for a reason. The house wasn't completely populated with actors and there are I'm sure some effects and trigger scares that weren't used. Also, about the way the makeup and masks looked, keep in mind also that you aren't meant to see them in nightvision/black and white. Hold off on hating on them until you see them in the correct show lighting.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Coast

[Legacy]

To be fair, is any IP house going to ever appeal to you much at all in terms of familiarity and recognition if you haven't seen the show/movie or played the video games?

Yes, I do. As stated in the rest of my post. Variety in scenes or characters, uniqueness in design, or a defined story can all make an IP still succeed without familiarity. I never saw Dead Silence, but everything I've seen about that house is much more compelling than this walkthrough video is. I've never played Silent Hill or Resident Evil, but I am at least partially interested in the design of the creatures. I haven't seen the Evil Dead remake, and just the press photo of the red wash filling the woods has me way more interested than the walkthrough video did.

Good house design can make an unknown IP a classic. Shoddy house design can make the best IP horrible.

Simple difference, really. Hollywood gets a scene where a prisoner cuts off the leg of another prisoner who has been bitten. That's a striking image, that works regardless of if you've seen the show or not. Orlando has a zombie "eating" the guts of a person, that comes off more like fellatio.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the artistry or effort put into the event. I legitimately try not to do that. But sometimes a bad production is just a bad production, and that's the impression I get from what I'm seeing of that house.

[Kpop HHN Luvr]

Simple difference, really. Hollywood gets a scene where a prisoner cuts off the leg of another prisoner who has been bitten. That's a striking image, that works regardless of if you've seen the show or not. Orlando has a zombie "eating" the guts of a person, that comes off more like fellatio.

Glad someone said it! That whole scene looked extremely awkward.

[Ande]

Gosh Darnit... After reading all this hate on TWD's house I'm losing my anticipation for this house >.<

[LV-426]

I'll say it.

I think it looks horrible.

Here's why:

I have never seen the show. The only characters I could really pick out of a line-up are Rick, Daryl and Michonne. I assumed the young girl near the tanks is Penny, but only because I have a passing knowledge of her existence. For me, there is little (aside from the tanks) visually interesting or unique.

If you know anything about the show, I'm sure it looks great. But without that it just comes across as inaccessible, random and boring.

IPs like Cabin in the Woods, Silent Hill and Resident Evil have a wide variety of creatures or settings. American Werewolf, Dead Silence and Evil Dead have specific stories that are retold in the house. Their original houses are original. Even if you know nothing about know nothing about what you're walking into, there's at least something to latch on to.

That was just boring, even for a zombie house. Deadtropolis and Zombiegeddon had more variety.

As someone who wants some viable reason to really catch my attention to justify attending, that was really disappointing. I really hope that wasn't their best foot this year.

I everything there is to know about the show ( I watch it) and I am really not that excited. I am interested to see it but I do not expect a really awesome house or anything.

The sets look like they are going to be great but... I don't know. What I mean is, as a fan of the show.... meh

[ZKeeper]

Normally I stay out of these debates. I'm a little confused on what you all really wanted about a house based on Zombies (and characters.) I was not a fan of the house they gave us last year. This year seems to correct everything on a grander scale. You call it long, dull, boring and random. How else are they post to do a layout in half of the building. If it was a full SS then I could see that being a complaint. I've never heard one person say wow that house was too long. If your going to be a regular guest and wait in 2-3hr lines. You want a lengthy house to fill like it was at least worth it. Funny you say random but bring up Zombiegeddon. As far as I could remember most houses are somewhat random. Let's see how they handle AWIL with randomness. If your going to be negative, at least explain a bit more behind what your saying. Such as what would like to have seen done or how you would have done it.

Check list:

Bigger set pieces: Check

Details from the comb the mayor uses, to the ringing (non-ringing) phone, To Hershel's leg: Check

Humans (could be a few more): Check

[N i c k]

It surely looks like a better TWD house than last year, so I am a little confused by the uproar. I personally hated the TWD house last year, and dislike the show in general. That being said, it looks better and I am optimistic. The only reason I have any ill feelings toward TWD is because it frustrates me that so many resources were pumped into it that could have been used elsewhere, but you can't make a valid arguement as to straying away from a massive moneymaker without sounding like a brat.

[Legacy]

We're going to accidently have a good discussion.

I didn't attend last year, so I have no frame of reference for how bad or good TWD was in Disaster. Considering the near unanimous antipathy towards it, I'll guess it wasn't phenomenal.

But what is striking to me is how the general response from the fans (here) is that, because it "looks better," and checks the blocks of what was wanted, it automatically IS better and will therefore be a great house. I don't get that. Marginal improvements from a sub-par house don’t make a house, "great." It makes a house average. And there is nothing wrong with an average house, but to clamor that it's great only because its better is not true to the house itself.

Not all of Universal's houses are good. We can say that. And saying that something looks bad isn’t”uproar." If you're excited because you're a fan of the show, more power to you. But houses can be "too long" because of poor pacing. They can suffer from a lack of variety or coherence (the Zombiegeddon vs TWD argument: Zombiegeddon had a wider variety of scenes than this one seems to have). I don't understand why calling that sort of stuff out is considered "hating." I've been following this event for too long to just paint everything as "OMG ITZ THE BEST THAN EVAH!" I don't think anyone here should.

Dead End's media video had the tunnel effect and more intense performances. There were things in that video that could grab the attention of a jaded haunt fan and say, "That's cool." The Walking Dead's video doesn't. They've done body parts in tanks. They've done "survivors shooting monsters" (Incidentally, both of which were in 2011). They've done a prison and they've done a city. As far as a showcase of this year's houses, that did nothing to interest me.

[madmonk]

I've watched all of the walkthrough videos of this house (the ones in infrared, as well as the ones lit with camera light, and show light).

The masks are absolutely wretched in their execution on the actor. At the VERY least, give the actor some eye makeup so it doesn't blatantly look like they are wearing a mask. Pale white cheeks peering through the eye holes of a dark brown/reddish walker mask just looks absolutely terrible. Same goes with the neck lines. It's very noticeable, even in the show lighting walkthrough video.

It was only a preview event and maybe they were under staffed in the makeup department, but seeing as this was a media event, you'd think they would want to make the best impression possible. If I were an actor in this house, I would show up to call with dark eye makeup already on, just in case the makeup department doesn't have time to add it.

The masks COULD be effective, if the makeup team spent an extra few minutes adding eye/cheek/neck makeup to the actors. In their current state, they are not.

[JDW]

This is partly why I hate that they allow video in the houses prior to the event. You see a 2 dimensional interpretation of the house without seeing the full effect. There is no way to really quantify the experience without being there.

When I did my videos in '08, they were during the run and I was hesitant to post them too early. I think they are a great way to remember a house but a terrible way to experience a house.

The video inoculates you a bit to the actual experience. You see the scares, effects, and sets in the most bland way possible so you are already expecting them and therefore part of the thrill is gone. So your first impresion is bland. If anything seeing an infared B&W version of the house allows you to pick out MORE flaws than just going through it would.

A bad house at HHN is still... a pretty good house. Bad makeup can be made up with by a good preformance and or great sets. I mean the original Havoc did well with terrible sets and minimal costumes.

But expectations are hard to overcome (there was no way Silent Hill was ging to live up to what I wanted). I'm assuming the video is supposed to to hype you up (otherwise why allow it) but presenting the house in this manner has the opposite effect unless you already a super fan of the show or you love anything zombies.