Shark23's EP Night Review!

[Arsik_22]

It's haunt season once again, and what better way to kick off the terror-filled month with Halloween Horror Nights ! I won't include any major spoilers. I'll review the mazes/zones in the order I did them, with a 1-10 rating scale.


Opening Ceremony & The Purge Scarezone

It was a nice change not seeing clowns in this area for the 4th year in a row, however seeing the Purge characters in this zone was somewhat boring. Their masks aren't very creepy and the zone just didn't feel as high energy as it did previous years. The props and banners all fit well and added to the zone though. The concept of the Purge is perfect for the opening ceremony and the Purge warning with the siren did get me pumped for the start of the event.

Rating: 6/10


Scarecrowz

Unfortunately this was a very empty scarezone like it has been the last few years. There were 5 stilt scarecrow actors that looked pretty cool roaming the area, but that's about it. The only other thing that was in this zone was lighting that projected Scarecrowz onto the floor like we've seen before. How hard is it to add simple decorations?!?

Rating: 3/10


Insidious: Into the Further

I'm a huge fan of both Insidious movies so I was really excited for this maze and it did not disappoint! I was slightly worried since this was our first paranormal maze, so I wasn't sure if John and the creative team could pull it off, BUT they did. Seeing Specs and Tucker out front before entering the Lambert home was really cool. I wish they were giving out the prizes on preview night. The scares involving the Lady with the Veil in the Lambert home got me multiple times. Entering the red door and going into the further was so creepy as well! Having fog throughout the further scenes was great to see, and added a lot to the atmosphere. The static figures in the further were so well placed that I had no clue what was real and what wasn't. One of the scare actors in that room also had the creepiest laugh I've ever heard,and it was done right by my ear which not only startled me but creeped me out... so props to that scareactor. The only issue I have with this maze is the use of static figures in the seance room. It really took me out of the experience because it looked extremely fake. Besides the minor complaint, the set design, music, and scares were top notch.

Rating: 9/10


The Walking Dead: Dead on Arrival

Like others have stated, this scarezone isn't as long as it was made out to be. Even though that's the case, this is the best scarezone we've ever had! The props with the tank and other military vehicles throughout the area was a really cool visual. The scareactors, for it being their first night were all doing an amazing job. I jumped multiple times walking throughout this area! I really hope we continue having awesome scarezones like this in that area each year, with DIFFERENT themes and not stick to just The Walking Dead or zombies.

Rating: 10/10

The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven

Last year TWD was my favorite maze (personal bias aside), but I felt like some things could have been improved (strange placement of static figures, and the feeling of there not being enough zombies throughout the maze (excluding the barn). WELL, those issues are no longer present. This maze was so freaking incredible! The facade was massive and extremely detailed. Having 3-4 zombies (including the riot gear Walker) in front of the prison entrance was awesome. When entering the prison and Woodbury, I couldn't help but feeling threatened and overwhelmed. Zombies were lunging at me from all areas, it was ridiculous. The helicopter scene, the Governor's Walker heads in a tank, Cell Block C and every other room were all very well done. I really can't praise this maze enough, it is one of my favorite mazes ever.... And without a doubt the best maze this year.

Rating: 10/10


Black Sabbath: 13 3D

When finding out we were getting a Black Sabbath maze, I was skeptical. After listening to a lot of their music, I actually really liked it. Also, hearing about the 4 different environments (WWII trenches and Nuclear testing grounds intriguing me the most), I started to anticipate this maze. Unfortunately, just like Goes to Hell - this maze ISN'T SCARY. Visually, it's the most impressive 3D maze ever. The maze was trippy and disorienting like the first hallway was in Goes to Hell, but in all of the rooms. The gothic church facade looked really cool. The 3D video was kind of cool but not very effective and was exactly what I expected it to be used for. Overall, I wasn't very impressed with our first soundstage maze. The Walking Dead: No Safe Haven felt more like a soundstage maze in terms of the impressive sets and length to go through.

Rating: 5/10


Evil Dead: Book of the Dead

This is a maze I've wanted to see at HHN for a long time because I knew if anyone can do this property justice, it would be at this event. Evil Dead would rank 3rd place this year. It was a good maze, but somewhat disappointing. The entrance to this maze was very plain, just trees placed in front of black walls. What's up with this venue and these lame "facades" (if we can even call it that) . There were a few scenes that were done extremely well: Tree rape scene (even though it was a moving figure) and Mia puking are what come to mind at the moment. But then there were some scenes that were not scary and looked very cheap: Mia in the cellar (another static prop in this maze, what the heck!? Orlando's maze had an actual actress in their cellar, why can't we?) , the finale chainsaw scene was lame to be honest, and the gliding Mia was also another cheap looking animatronic. The sets however were very detailed, like most mazes at HHN. Overall, this maze can be enjoyable if some changes are made (some of the things I disliked have already been fixed from what I've seen from YouTube videos) but it definitely fell short.

Rating: 7.5/10

El Cucuy

After hearing about some of the rooms in this maze through John's tweets, I was really excited to see how this maze would turn out. The Birthday scene & Cucuy's trophy room sounded so twisted. I'm really glad this maze didn't turn out to be a dud. The first half of the maze in my opinion is the weakest part , but the second half was awesome. My only complaint is the vibe of Cucuy coming off as the Mexican Freddy Krueger. Cucuy is known for shape shifting , not a clothes changer to disguise himself. Lol I was expecting different forms of cucuy that were all very unique and creative, but nope - we didn't get that. We instead had cucuy in bellhop / police / janitor uniforms. Oh, almost forgot to mention the pumpkin scent and pumpkin related scenes were awesome!

Rating: 7/10

HOH: Remix

Automatic 5/10 rating for me. It's not a bad or good maze. It's just there. I have fun going through it but I can't really judge it more than I did last year because it's basically the same.

Terror Tram

This year, the Terror Tram surprised me! I wasn't expecting much because as we all know the Tram hasn't been very good these last few years. Well this is my 3rd favorite year for the Terror Tram. There were enough added set pieces, props, and hiding spots that not only did I jump multiple times , but I also had a really fun time going through these sets and seeing what was new.

Rating: 8.5/10

Curse of Chucky

Curse of Chucky is Toyz with some Chuckys thrown in, but that doesn't make it a bad scarezone. This was actually my second favorite scarezone of the night, Dead on Arrival obviously being #1. The scare actors were all doing a good job, and the strobe lights were really effective in enhancing the scares.

Rating: 6.5/10

Cirque Du Klownz

These clowns looked really cool, but weren't scary at all. The actors in this zone were very low energy and weren't going after many guests. They were just roaming and scaring occasionally.

Rating: 5/10

Overall Thoughts

The more I think about this year's event, the more disappointed I feel. I was really anticipating Evil Dead, Insidious and Walking Dead and thankfully 2 out of the 3 were great, while Evil Dead fell flat. The event is feeling stale, and since HHN has been so successful the last few years, they've gotten a little too comfortable. The overuse of static dummies, the typical distraction and strobe light scare, and the lack of innovation is baffling. Set design and costumes are always high quality but the scares were practically non-existent (with the exception of Insidious, The Walking Dead maze, and Dead on Arrival Scarezone.) I was planning to go back to the event to see what improvements have been made but I don't have that much of a desire to go back when I can be spending my money on another haunt I haven't seen this year. Don't get me wrong, I had a good time while I was there but it wasn't amazing or even worth going to more than once this year. After going to Knotts Scary Farm on opening night ( 09/26), I must say their event was much funner, and had more scares that weren't predictable like HHN's tactics... I'm hoping next years event is improved A LOT.

OVERALL GRADE: 6.5/10

Edited September 29, 2013 by shark23

[Arsik_22]

I'll type up the rest of the review tomorrow !

[DTH316]

You forgot to rate BS!

Anyway, great review so far. I'm really excited for TWD but I keep hearing ED was a bit below expectations - hopefully its just a preview night thing. From what I've seen of BS, I haven't been impressed yet but hopefully they can get things rocking in the scares department.

Can't wait to read your review on Cucuy and UMR as well as the other 2 zones!

[JGmoney1996]

What's your grade for Black Sabbath?

[Arsik_22]

You forgot to rate BS!

Anyway, great review so far. I'm really excited for TWD but I keep hearing ED was a bit below expectations - hopefully its just a preview night thing. From what I've seen of BS, I haven't been impressed yet but hopefully they can get things rocking in the scares department.

Can't wait to read your review on Cucuy and UMR as well as the other 2 zones!

Oops sorry about that! It's fixed now. 5/10. If I was reviewing it just on design/3D it would be 10/10 though. Yeah I'm sure they'll improve as the nights go on.