Freak's Review of HHN 2013 in OzzyVision 3D "SHARROOOOOONNN!"

[Freak]

Now that I'm off of work, I will share my experience at HHN 2013. I will first review all of the experiences (Houses and everything), then go on to my comments and overall review. Okay, here we go.

We got there around four and there were already some people lined up for the event. Me and some people in my group went for dinner on CityWalk (I had Flame Broiler). Afterwards, we went back to the gates and lined up around five. About two hours later, the gates opened, we were let in, and were up towards the front to see the Purge commence. I loved the opening ceremony and the announcement got me pumped. We headed straight for the lower lot and headed for Evil Dead.

Note that I will try to keep this review fairly spoiler-free, but I may delve into some minor spoilers that I don't think will ruin the hoses for you.

Evil Dead: Book of the Dead: We've waited years for this maze and we finally have it. I pretty much called it when I said that it would have the exact same "facade" as Silent Hill, but minus the trees. I wish they would hide the black wall a bit more with netting and vines like they did for F13, but whatever. I feel like they hid the black walls fairly well in this one for the forest scenes and loved how detailed everything was. The cabin looked very real and the details were many. The vomiting Mia looked pretty cool, but the other effects looked kind of silly; I was disappointed by those effects because I though that there would be literal simulated blood spraying everywhere. I guess that didn't work out. Overall, I got some good scares in here and saw this as a pretty solid maze. I liked Silent Hill just slightly more though. That house was gorgeous while this one was really gory.

Scares: B

Environment: B

Overall: B

Insidious: Into the Further: One of our members of the group had a guest assistance pass as she had back/knee trouble to be able to access the front of the line (Ugh, that was SO confusing how those lines were set up, but I'll talk about that towards the end of my review). So we got up to the facade and wondered where Specs and Tucker were to get to the prize. They weren't there. Later when we exited, we found out that they were standing in normal queue line. HUMPH! No prize for me then. I'll try again when I go back later, but I never got to see how they were. Pretty retarded that they had them that far back. ANYWAY back to the house....

Everyone I knew who went to employee preview were raving about how awesome this house was. They even said that it was the best one of the event. I was really stoked for this one, but after going through it, I was let-down big time. The scenes inside of the house were alright, but the further was what really let me down. I knew ahead of time after being told by them that the Further would be mainly black walls. That's pretty much the only way to do it. But they got rid of the fog effects that Murdy kept talking about that was supposed to cover up the blank walls. Without the much-needed fog, the further looks more like the doldrums of mediocrity than the Further. I got scared maybe once or twice, but....ugh. I wanted to like this but it did absolutely nothing for me. Sorry to say that this was my least favorite next to UMR. This was *much* better than Texas though, I have to give it that.

Scares: C

Environments: C-

Overall: C-

We then headed to the tram to the "Dead on Arrival" experience. I'm not complaining, but I was surprised how long the walk was to get to the tram. It was pretty cool to get to walk around that backlot at night to load the trams. I was anticipating just a normal scarezone that we had to wonder, but when we got there, I was VERY surprised to see a "mini maze" that we had to walk through to get to the experience. THAT was really neat. I loved the immersion of the NY streets and the energy of the talent. This is definitely the best scarezone in haunt history. You just can't top this. REALLY cool experience. But, onto our third house

Black Sabbath: 13 3D: As many of you may know, this was my most-anticipated house of the event. I am a BS fan as I love their music. Add onto the fact that it's a sound stage house and that had me pretty excited. When I got in, I loved the facade and how the entrance was set-up as a pre-scare experience for going in. As I walked through, I noticed that the maze pretty much felt the same as Alice Cooper (Same walls!) but had better music and wider rooms. I was a little put off on how they reused some of the saw props as they looked very half-heartedly thrown in there and looked out-of-place as well as how the 3D paint was used to substitute the detail in the maze. This didn't really feel like a SS house as there weren't any large/tall rooms that would have loved to see. I hope that whatever goes into 747 next year will have bigger rooms and taller sets because that's what a SS is supposed to be about, no? All negativity aside, I still loved this maze and got a couple of scares in here even though they were a bit predictable. It was fun to see the rooms and hear NIB, Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, and all of my other favorite songs played in there. I just found it interesting that none of the songs from 13 were in there as it was all about 13. Oh, and I loved the nuclear explosion room. That was pretty neat.

Scares: C+

Environment: B+

Overall: B

Te Walking Dead: No Safe Haven: After seeing the show, I was looking forward to seeing the newest incarnation based on season 3. I loved the facade and how it appeared bigger than Dead Inside's last year. After walking through this, Walking Dead is probably my favorite of the event. Some of the sets in there (Cell Block C and the helicopter crash) had me in complete awe. I didn't really get any scares in the cell block room, but that's okay. The scale of that room was AWESOME! I was looking around at both of the giant rooms going, "Holy smokes this is incredible! They even put a ceiling in!" The "horde scare" and some of the other ones in there were really effective but the sets in there were grand. Someone else on here mentioned in a review mentioned how this felt more sound-stage like that BS. I would strongly agree with that. THIS is how you do a sound stage house. The only thing I was disappointed about was how brightly lit he catacombs were. I wish they could've been darker and was hoping for some "dark" walker scares, but oh well. Walking Dead still kicks a LOT of tail as the best house of the event. The line kept jamming up which annoyed me pretty bad, but that's okay. Those sets...I want to go back to HHN just to see this again and appreciate the sets.

Scares: A-

Environment: A+

Overall: A+

So we headed to the upper lot taking the handicap van back to the lower lot. We went upstairs and ate at Pink's. I wanted to get a chili cheese burger, but during HHN, they only sell chili cheese dogs. Um, WTC?! I met-up and talked with some of my more fanatical friends for HHN while eating. Afterwards, we went our ways, and my group went for the Terror Tram.

Terror Tram: Well, I haven't really enjoyed the TT since I've first gone in 2009. When the event first started, this was great to be able to experience. Now it has become a stale haunted attraction with the same routine. Seeing the additions they've made for the TT, I've still kept my expectations low, but I allowed myself to be cautiously optimistic and possibly might eat crow on Terror Tram being lame as usual. Well, after going through it, I can eat the head and throw the rest out the window. It was definitely an improvement from last year, I even got scared a couple of times! I would say that this was our best TT in years, but still not as good as 2009's. Nothing beats the sheet maze. Nothing people. Terror Tram was still a bit stale, but it was an improvement.

Overall: C+

Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure: I loved last year's show. It was great. The energy was great, the finale was awesome, and they even referenced the original movies! This year, however, was a big step down from 2012. I liked the choice for the villain but there's so much they could've done with him. Without spoiling who he is, I would've loved to see him mimic the number from a certain movie that came out in 2004. Overall, the show was alright. Got a few laughs, but nothing about it seemed epic.

Overall: C

El Cucuy: The Boogieman: All of my HHN fan-peeps absolutely HATED this maze. I mean, they despised it. They put lower that Texas 2012 and even UMR. They even compared this to a Fright Fest maze. They way they described it to me in line for Bill and Ted made it sound like that this was a giant turd that Murdy decided to hold in to save for the event. I had normal expectations for this, but after I heard about it, I had almost zero. I went through it and actually liked it! It's my top-three mazes, being third. They complained about how the mel's signage cracked through the theater sequence about the third room in and how you could see the the Persian Square surrounding you in the maze, taking you out of the environment. Well, I disagree. I think the surrounding area helped the atmosphere and put me more into it, especially the front yard sequence for the house. The whole fence path and the front yard felt like and actual neighborhood with the buildings surrounding us. The theater felt like a city with Mel's neon peering through. I think it actually helped. I liked the concept of the house and loved how they depicted him as the monster of our nightmares. The birthday scene...man, sent chills down my spine hearing the aftermath noise.

i loved the final sequence as we're going into his lair and loved the scares used in there. The whole area felt very tight and cramped increasing tension for me and making it scarier. I actually got the most scares in this maze. I noticed that in the concept art that they posted for the website, they showed the reusage of the Thing puppet for El Cucuy. He wasn't in there. I'm glad they didn't use him because I felt he had his time. I overall enjoyed this house quite a bit and loved the story and the atmosphere of it. I also liked how the maze went into the building. One thing I will say is that I HATED that black hallway. It didn't ruin it for me like it did to my friends, but yikes. For Horror Nights standards, that is AWFUL. They couldn't put anything on the walls? Even more brick walls with posters would've sufficed. Also, it would've been nice to add decor or window silhouettes to the surrounding square to enhance the feel.

I will say that I that the venue worked very much to the advantage of the atmosphere. Unless they can come up with a new suburban-themed maze for next year in that area that wouldn't require much space, the Persian venue is severely limited on what they can do. There's not a whole lot of space and the surrounding buildings can ruin the immersion if the theme isn't proper. But still, I loved this house. I still prefer La Llorona though in set design.

Scares: A

Environment: B+

Overall: B+

Universal Monsters Remix: Resurrection: Our final maze of the night. We saved the worst for last. I had fun in this and still *kinda* did this year, but it's the same thing. It's House of Horrors and the House of Horrible Overlays. Man, I wish this venue can just die, but it can't. It's like the obnoxious kid that barges into your date making jokes about chickens crossing the road or about Alec Baldwin and you just can't lose him. That's what the overlays are every year. Anyway, UMR is the same as last year, with some subtle tweaks. If you have time to kill you might as well go through it but otherwise....don't bother. When I go back, I may not bother at all with this unless I want to linger.

Overall: F

Stay tuned for my overall review of the event in addition to some comments!

[Freak]

Now I'm going to talk about the event overall. So what did I think of it? Well, I would say overall that this.....would be....my favorite year. Definitely better than last year and just slightly better than 2011. I loved the Walking Dead, the availability of a sound stage, the backlot experience, the improvement of Terror Tram, and no repeating houses (Forget House of Horrors); however, I noticing the overall quality of the event starting to plateau a bit. I've noticed a lot or repurposing of sets in Black Sabbath from Alice Cooper and the same "cutting" gag be reused many times over everywhere. Also, what was up with all of the Saw props being reused?

It's apparent that the event has developed a "business as usual" mood. Just reuse a lot of stuff, reuse the same scare tactics (Someone running out of a curtain or a door can only be fresh for so long), and just stick with the same formula as always. Even though I enjoyed the event, I feel like the quality of the event is leveling out while the prices keep going up. You would think that with the increased capacity, the bombardment of advertisements and promotions, and the increase in admission price, that the event would freshen it up with new scare tactics, newer, improved, and larger sets, and immersive detail and virtually every corner. Eh, not really. Murdy has taken a few baby steps in terms of trying new things, but it's very subtle and not a significant innovation.

Another thing I want to mention: This was the worst year for crowd organization. The construction hasn't helped much at all. Granted, the upper lot crowds weren't quite as bad as I was anticipating. However, it is really annoying to have to go around that giant wall that eats a third of the upper lot to get to the Terror Tram. when we were trying to use our Guest Assistance Pass (GAP) for Insidious, the sign pointed to Gate A/GAP Access up where the normal entrance was. The attendant pointed towards the restrooms for the FoL entrance. For the backlot, the FotL entrance for BS was where the WD normal entrance was and vice versa. It was very confusing and hindered our experience for the event.

From Best to least, here's my personal list of mazes:

-Walking Dead

-Black Sabbath

-El Cucuy

-Evil Dead

-Insidious

-Terror Tram

.

.

.

-UMR

I liked the event even though there was much room for improvement, but I think Knott's has a very fair chance at being better than HHN this year. IMO, it was last year. So far, what I'm seeing with Knott's has me very excited with their original concepts and their risk-taking (I.e. a mirror maze). They're increasing their quality and being innovative yet their prices have hardly increased (At least from my standards). If Haunt really is going to be as good or even better than anticipate, HHN better take notice.

for next year, here's what I propose:

-Cabin in the Woods, Trick r Treat, and Resident Evil please. No exuses. Don't give me any nonsense about it. do it.

-No more Walking Dead. If you opt out RE for more Walking Dead.....I'm done. I love the show but the advert overload for this show is too much.

-No more rockstar or 3D houses, especially not both anymore. If we do get anymore, I know it's going to feel exactly the same as AC or BS. Just stop the 3D. PLEASE!

-Use the Sound stage for epic, and I mean HUGE sets...you know, the kind we were hoping for in the first place. More of what WD has.

-For something original, do something different besides pandering to the hispanics. Do something different.

-Stop reusing so many props. Especially retire all of the Saw props. Please.

-Give us new scare tactics. Distraction/scare is old now.

-Again. No more 3D. I've had my fill of it.

-Make sure the lines are more organized

-Don't get us excited for effects that aren't likely going to work (I.e. Blood in ED and the fog in Insidious).

[DTH316]

El Cucuy a Fright Fest maze? Wow, what FF are they going to? Lmfao the sets were amazing in there, some of the best.

You totally forgot to mention the other scare zones though!

[Freak]

El Cucuy a Fright Fest maze? Wow, what FF are they going to? Lmfao the sets were amazing in there, some of the best.

You totally forgot to mention the other scare zones though!

You're right! I did!

Scarecrows: While they did look cool....c'mon. You can't afford to buy a few prosthetic corn stocks? Can that really take up a whole lot of space if that's an issue? Better than SH though.

Cirque de Klownz: I liked this one. Not a bad scarezone at all.

Chucky: Eh. It was alright. Insult Emporium is what made it interesting.

[onlykruger]

Nice review freak, I'm glad you liked the event. Are you going to any other haunts this season?

[LV-426]

I wonder if both coasts will get Walking Dead next year. I think we will. 3 years, is not that much. seeing how much people like it I think it might be safe to say it is coming back

[DTH316]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! DON'T SAY THAT!

[Freak]

I wonder if both coasts will get Walking Dead next year. I think we will. 3 years, is not that much. seeing how much people like it I think it might be safe to say it is coming back

Good riddance, no! A third year of Walking Dead would be too much! Even worse, it would be the same environments as it will still take place in the prison.

[Grindhousehero13]

I am all for Another year of Walking Dead but that being said maybe when the show is about to say its goodbye in a few years when they have a climatic ending you know like a WD send off but 3 years in a row is too much burn on the guests and I would imagine Murdy's creativity after a while its just "ok Terror Tram invaded by the Walking Dead part 7, now you are on the set of Animal House and the Walkers invade but they walked through nuclear waste and know have powers where they can fly and shoot lasser beams from their eyes, and there will be a scene were they will use there mind powers and pick up Hershal and shake him like a doll....just as long as we dont follow the plot of the show...oh yeah he's not Hershal hes one legged old man who is supposed to be dead in the comic but lived cuz they killed the old man who was supposed to live longer and loose his leg....oh yeah Rick is now Robo cop I mean small town shierffe hero character"

[UniversalStudiosGeek]

NO more Walking Dead! Get something new like RE!

[Grindhousehero13]

dont you wanna see Flying Walkers?

[DTH316]

Flying Walkers... and Walkers in Space! Grind might be onto something here. Let them repeat it for 10 years to see how ridiculous it gets lmao

But seriously... please... no more TWD. Bring me Resident Evil or I will have to draw blooooood!

[AsylumSB]

Now I'm going to talk about the event overall. So what did I think of it? Well, I would say overall that this.....would be....my favorite year. Definitely better than last year and just slightly better than 2011.

Great review, Freak!! You do realize that in conjunction to the statement above, your average rating for all the attractions is a solid "C" (just kidding) . I envy your upcoming trip to Orlando...American Werewolf in London sounds like a must-see house. Are they selling shot glasses in Hollywood this year?

Edited September 22, 2013 by AsylumSB

[DTH316]

That is true... it went from B,C-,B,A,C,C,B,F lol... that hardly looks like the best year. You probably just had a super fun time (as did i) and are confusing it for the quality of the attractions.

[NotThomasWatts]

I am all for Another year of Walking Dead but that being said maybe when the show is about to say its goodbye in a few years when they have a climatic ending you know like a WD send off but 3 years in a row is too much burn on the guests and I would imagine Murdy's creativity after a while its just "ok Terror Tram invaded by the Walking Dead part 7, now you are on the set of Animal House and the Walkers invade but they walked through nuclear waste and know have powers where they can fly and shoot lasser beams from their eyes, and there will be a scene were they will use there mind powers and pick up Hershal and shake him like a doll....just as long as we dont follow the plot of the show...oh yeah he's not Hershal hes one legged old man who is supposed to be dead in the comic but lived cuz they killed the old man who was supposed to live longer and loose his leg....oh yeah Rick is now Robo cop I mean small town shierffe hero character"

Haha, love the Monster's Inc. reference

[Batwithtusks]

If the sets for Walking Dead were really that much better than the other houses, then it may lend some credibility to the rumors that AMC is helping to fund that house. And if that is the case then I'm all for it another year since they've been amazing houses each time and have the money to be able to make each one new and not a rehash.

[your_name001]

Sad to hear you didn't like Insidious: Into the Further. I'm working in the house, and the fog has been super up and down. It's either no fog or fog so thick you literally can only see things about an 6 inches away from your face. It's really frustrating for us because there are 3 rooms that have/NEED fog. (Fog is being worked on over the next week, so we are crossing fingers for that.) The "Further Ghosts" have hard rooms to work without fog.
That and a lot of newbies are in the house, but they have stepped up to the learning curve fairly quickly.

I hope if you come back it is a better experience. (And hope you get a chance to see Tucker and Specs, they are very amusing in my opinion).

[ferox]

I'll be back on the 5th, so I hope there's fog then. I still really liked the maze.

[Freak]

Thanks for the feedback guys! Always like to see some comments on my reviews!

Great review, Freak!! You do realize that in conjunction to the statement above, your average rating for all the attractions is a solid "C" (just kidding) . I envy your upcoming trip to Orlando...American Werewolf in London sounds like a must-see house. Are they selling shot glasses in Hollywood this year?

No shotglasses. Well, none of the tall ones. They discontinued those. they only sell the really tiny ones. I think it had Walking Dead on there, but I'm not 100% sure.

Even though everything was an average of "C", I claimed this, in my opinion as my favorite year for the backlot experience, sound stage house, breakthrough in set design with Walking Dead, and the new scarezones. Dead on Arrival was awesome. I want to say I can't wait to see what more with what they do with the backlot experience next year, but, despite me having fun, I forsee it being the same as last year. I find all of the houses to be too similar. They all have the same scare tactics and the houses are barely innovative in trying big new things. I just want the event to have new blood and try new things.

I'm starting to disagree with Murdy's philosophy that he has established: If something is really good, why not stick to it or go crazy with it? Since the animatronic effects were apparently well-received in La Llorona, he decided to go crazy with it in Evil Dead, which felt like overkill.

I get that the creative team is on a budget. What I don't get is how Murdy cannot be creative with that budget and reuse the unholy hades out of anything he can find while the prices are increasing. I was amazed at how they've pulled every prop out of storage; it was to the point where it hindered my enjoyment for the event. If HHN is trying to inch themselves to becoming a premium haunt experience...than be one. Cover up those black walls with more wall dressing or something. Put more green meshing around the forest scenes to cover the black walls. Keep us in the environment. Spend more money on good, solid sets even if it does involve reusing flats. Just make it more new.

I thought Walking Dead was the most impressive in the set department. I felt like I was there! There might be truth to this. Maybe if we get American Horror Story next year, FX may assist in funding the maze....hopefully.

I failed to mention that the majority of the actors were great in there. I thought the white-dressed women were fantastic at their rolls. It's just the lack of fog and the infulatration of light in the further that ruined it for me. I'll go back later in the run after I'm done with Haunt and Orlando, but I'm sure it will be better.

[Kurseddragon]

Great review, I agree with a lot (not all) of it.

Also, I saw you walking into Insidious as we were leaving. Was gonna say something, but didn't once again. I say once again 'cause I saw you at last year's Queen Mary and didn't say anything then either. Lol.

Never said hi to HHNBro, or HHNsomething, Michael, I forget his username. I've only said hi to HHNFanboy once, 'cause I pointed at something and he thought I pointed at him and waved.

I AM SO SHY, yet crazy around friends. Idk what it is. I even stared at some kid who was in the backseat of the tram car in front of me when I was in the front seat of the one behind it. I just stared and ate cotton candy. Even ran into him later walking and stared then too. Yet I don't say hi to people.

[Mr.HHN]

Great review Freak!

[Avila]

Nice review freak

Its so weird how the houses you thought were on top were the ones I felt were the worse and vice versa it just goes to show that timing can make the difference

[Grindhousehero13]

I kinda notice this is the year that so far has so many different opinions.