Mark M. Posted September 26, 2009 Share Posted September 26, 2009 (edited) Final HHN 19 Review. RHPS: Tribute was pretty much the same as last year, minus a semi-new opening and some cast changes. I still prefer the first year of this show the best. This maid don't open up her shirt, ugh! Bill & Ted 2009 I thought was better than last years version. I think Mike A. did a great job writing it this year. The Character and Music choices were also good. Even the set looked more 'Halloween' like, and had some of the Terra Throne as part of the setup. Wolfman I felt it had a lot of hype with the movie coming out early next year, and was looking forward to this being in it's own Sound Stage. I was disappointed with the size of the house over all, very short for being solo. Sets were great, with the transformation and final scene being the best. Best time was the 2nd to last night, right before closing - Cast A was awesome as it was just a small group of us in the entire house. We stopped right in front of the transformation scene waiting to see it happen, not sure the Cast A actor who played the part.. but it was CLASSIC.. he almost couldn't hold the laughter in as we stood there and him saying "Wait for it.. Wait for it" and then.. "I'm going to kill all of you!".. awesome! Then we got the dancing Wolf that stalks you from above making "beat" sounds, very cool walk through that night! Overall Rating: 4/5 Frankenstein This house became my favorite through the course of the month. The detail and sets were amazing, and it also had a few of our favorite Scare Actors in the house who made each trip through enjoyable. The Heart "fatality" scene as I like to call it was probably the highlight of the house, if you caught it.. it was awesome. Overall Rating: 5/5 Dracula I wasn't sure what to expect out of this house before the event started. It was a very dark house in which case it was hard to catch/see any of the Dracula's that were in the house the first trips through. It seems they fixed some of the lighting issues through the month, or I just got used to everything by the end of the run. Sets were great, detail was great. Best scene was the overhead Bride as you went around the corner. Overall Rating: 4/5 Leave it to Cleaver This was the "fun" house of the event, and didn't have that "scary" feel to it. It did have that "crazy/psycho" people feel though, and you really felt as you were walking through the Meaty Meetz factory seeing the various stages of the "processing" of humans. Best scene had to be the Nursery and the kid cutting up the pig, as each time we went through (Cast A) we would say "kill the pig". Aiello and kids did a great job with the queue video - Mmmmm Sausages! Overall Rating: 4/5 SAW This started out has my favorite house, but over time fell to a close 2nd. Why? Simply because 100% of this house is based on timing, if you miss a trap(s), then you miss some of the house. Cast changes suck here, as we hit this a few times and as we worked our way through the house.. no one was in there scene or the scene doors were closed. Cast A was probably the best for us. Sets and detail were great again, and the custom soundtrack throughout the house was great. The "Plant" scene was a nice touch. Overall Rating: 5/5 (when the timing was right) The Spawning Well, what can I say here. This was the least favorite house of the year for me. Nothing that scary about it, and the customs looked silly. Might as well of thrown a huge alligator in here and put part of that movie in the house. Some of the sets were nice, but as I said.. didn't do anything for me. Overall Rating: 2/5 Chucky I knew thhis house was going to be like "Jack's Funhouse" and it was. 20 Chucky's, random pre-recorded sayings, some ok sets. Nothing special. The best use of the "tunnel" in all the years I've seen it.. it worked well, and had a nice speed to it. I would of prefred a more movie-like experience with Chucky than what it was. Overall Rating: 3/5 Silver Screams Basically ANDI 3? Facade was amazing, one of the coolest for sure. Sets were great. I think they should of had less movies for the house, thus making each movie scene bigger. I would of liked to see a big Strangers set. Could of did without Army of Darkness and The Thing as they lacked. Best experience was the first Usher saying "Tickets Please" to two people in front of us, and them actually stopping the line.. getting there tickets out and telling the Usher that they have Express Passes. CLASSIC! Overall Rating: 4/5 2009 House Rankings 1. Frankenstein 2. SAW 3. Dracula 4. Wolfman 5. Leave it to Cleaver 6. Silver Screams 7. Chucky 8. The Spawning Containment I thought the blow-up tunnels were a cool idea, but overall this SZ wasn't that great. I would of liked to see more make-up effects than masks. Scare attempts seemed to lack at times due to crowd size. Overall Rating: 3/5 Apocalypse Very small. They need to go back to the Deadtropolis sized NY Scare Zone as I thought that was amazing. Last year and this year they just decided to use the corner for some reason, which is way too small for a great area. Guys with painted chests and hard nipples.. BLAH.. nothing for me. Give me females next year, and I'll be happy! Overall Rating: 3/5 War of the Living Dead The best SZ of the year. Well sized, well theamed, effects and costumes looked great. Everything fell in place here. Overall Rating: 5/5 Horrorwood Die-In Awesome idea, and great movie characters running around. The refreshment stand, cars, drive-in sign, and huge movie screen really made this zone feel like a drive in. Overall Rating: 4/5 Lights, Camera, Hacktion! The 2nd best SZ of the year. Again, well sized, well themed.. and a great way to use the Chainsaw Drill Team without them just being randomly placed some place in the park. The interaction between the CDT and the Producers/Directors were great, and everyone did an awesome job making it work. The best scares came from this SZ, sitting here and just watching the scares.. was great. Overall Rating: 5/5 Cirque Du Freak Blah. Too small, too crowded, and really was nothing scary about it. Marketing came in place here I think, as it was just a big promotion of a lackluster movie. Overall Rating: 2/5 Shadows of the Past Everyone wanted something in Sting Alley, and we got this the last 4 nights of the event as a survey/preview of HHN 20 perhaps? It had all the old and current ICONS along with one surprise - CINDY. If I had to guess, Jack and Cindy seemed to be the most popular. I'm getting rather sick of Jack being used so often.. but he is the best marketing wise, and the most well-known. My opinion? CINDY.. use her now, let her play.. she could be wicked for the event and marketing. Let the Caretaker support her, and it would be awesome. MAKE IT HAPPEN!! Overall Rating: 4/5 2009 Scare Zone Rankings 1. War of the Living Dead 2. Lights, Camera, Hacktion! 3. Horrorwood Die-In 4. Shadows of the Past 5. Apocalypse 6. Containment 7. Cirque Du Freak Overall event, I think 18 was better than 19. 18 flowed well, as everything meshed together. This year seemed all about marketing again, and less about Universal's (The Team's) own creativity which us die-hards enjoy. HHN 20 needs to step up HUGE! A 20th anniversary better kick some serious ass, and Universal better let creative do there thing. 20 needs to have the biggest budget ever to make HHN over the top next year. Jack? Blah.. CINDY (w/ Caretaker) - YES! It's time! Edited November 9, 2009 by mz_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark M. Posted November 9, 2009 Author Share Posted November 9, 2009 Bumping this up, as I finally had time to finish my final HHN 19 review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F.U.B.A.R. Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Great review MZ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akdar Posted November 11, 2009 Share Posted November 11, 2009 I agree, good job mz_. Pretty much on spot, it would be great to see Cindy in the limelight next year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dante Posted September 6, 2010 Share Posted September 6, 2010 i personally loved cleaver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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