Mr.HHN Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Saturday September 20, 2014 WARNING: Although I'll try to keep my review for the most part spoiler free there might be a few minor spoilers At 5:30pm Mr.HHN and three others left the safety of the walls of my house in the San Fernando Valley into the world of caffeine driven world of North Hollywood in the search for a new Sanctuary known as Halloween Horror Nights 2014. Traffic was really bad so what would usually be a 10 minute drive ended up being around a 30 minute drive. We arrived at Universal Studios Hollywood at around 6pm and decided to do early entry. The early entry line moved at a fair pace this year as we made our way to the backlot. The walk from Transformers to the backlot wasn't that long but it was boring. I was hoping there would be some walkers among the way or some props or something. We finally got to the backlot around 6:50 and it was already getting full as we proceeded our journey into Terminus. The Walking Dead: Welcome to Terminus Although it's cool to walk on the Metro Sets this scarezone makes no sense whatsoever as it has nothing to do with Terminus except for like one little thing which still doesn't make any sense for it to be there since there are walkers all over the place. The zone is really similar to last years with a few things changed around. I went through this zone twice once during early entry with daylight outside and the other later on when it was dark. It looks really cool when it's dark and the scareactors where really aggressive but for the most part it was better last year. GRADE: C- The first maze we hit was From Dusk till Dawn to get the prize from the doorman which was a Santanico Pandemonium business card with her number on it which is hilarious when you call it. From Dusk till Dawn The wait time said 10 minutes but it was a walk on. The facade was cool and the Gecko Brothers were awesome. Richie told me I was the mini version of him since I have glasses and had my hand covered with a gauze. This maze is awesome I liked it more than I thought I would and is one of the strongest mazes this year. The sets are great, the scareactors are aggressive, the costumes look cool what's not to like about this one! My only complain would be that the human meat grinder looked nothing like the meat grinder in the show but aside from that this was awesome! GRADE: A- After our amazing journey through the Tit..."Twister" we decided to go from the place were the dead roads meet to the walker infested world of the West Georgia Correctional Facility. The Walking Dead: End of the Line The wait time said 20 minutes but it was around 10. The facade is an upgraded version of last years which looks cool. The maze starts off at the prison but not how it did last year. This maze was crap honestly. Some of the sets looked amazing but some felt like I'd seen them before and an issue I had with most of the mazes this year started here. It's way too well lit in there. The scares were weak and predictable. I went through this maze twice and the second time I was literally alone with my friend and saw how weak this maze is. Also when the hell in the walking dead do walkers run bang on walls and say "boo" One of the walkers before entering the tunnel did just that and it really pissed me off. By the end of the maze I dint know if we made it to Terminus or not. I'm a fan of the walking dead and all but this has got to be the last year it is at the event. This was the weakest maze out of the trilogy and one of the weakest of the event. GRADE: D After our journey through walker infested road to Terminus we knew it was time to go in that 45 minute long line and check out the spaceship that crashed on the countryside! AVP: Alien vs Predator This was my most anticipated maze. I was expecting this maze to scare me more than any maze ever but it ended up falling flat for me. I got one scare in here which was from a facehugger which I though was a creative way to utilize them. The maze had some amazing sets from the amazing facade to the jaw-dropping finale but the maze wasn't scary. The maze is way too lit, it was the maze that was lit up the most out of all of them so the problem with this is that you saw everything coming. If the maze was darker I feel like I would have loved this maze and actually had gotten scared since the predators look like they were ripped out straight out of the movie. Some of the xenomorphs look cool but others look really cheesy. This is a maze that was cool to look at but it wasn't really scary. If they darken this maze sometime trough the run I would improve its grade. GRADE: B- While waiting in line for AVP we saw the Scare Patrol and I won a collectible piece of artwork from Alien when they asked me who directed An American Werewolf in London. So after finding out that there is no safe haven on the Metro Sets we made our way to the lower lot and hit Transformers which said it had a 10 minute wait but I'm sure it was longer than that. After two of my friends split up and went to eat at Panda Express and me and my friend went into the 40 minute long wait time for Clowns. Skullz This scarezone is boring as hell without any props or chainsaws or scareactors that aren't on stilts but I have to give these guys props they were running all over the place getting in people's faces, they were on fire though the zone was the same as last year just with different costumes GRADE: D Clowns 3D: Music by Slash We waited 40 minutes for this and got a ticket in the line which I thought was playing a part of the theme of the maze but later I found out it is a new system being used for waiting in line for the mazes. The facade looked alright and the music was amazing! The first room as well as most rooms in the maze were ripped out of Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath which really bothered me but at least they decorated then really nicely and did fit in somewhat. I thought the mirror room scare was cool but it went on for way too long but one thing that I liked was the teamwork in here. In the room were the sweet licks truck was in three dudes got my buddy really good. Cutty came up to him right when we entered he turned and Sweet Licks was right in his face while his son popped out with the hammer to his face! That was great! There were a lot of re used gags in here even one that was done twice which was exactly the same but in a different room. The smells in here were strong though, some pleasant and others not so much. This maze felt like it was just thrown together but it was a maze that was really fun to walk trough more than the last two 3D mazes we'd had. GRADE: C We met back up with our two friends and got some Starbucks on the lower lot then went up back into the walker infested world on board the Terror Tram. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead...again We dint wait anything to board the tram we literally just walked in. The tram video was just as boring and insulting that it is basically a commercial like the last two. This is the year that actually makes me realize that the Terror Tram has become crap and is just boring now. There's a couple new things here but I'm tried and done with having the walking dead be on the terror tram. The story is the same one as the one in the maze which is look for Terminus. Like I said with the maze did we make it to Terminus? Back on board the tram another walking dead commercial. Next year the Terror Tram better not be Walking Dead I'd honestly be fine if they got rid of it and replaced it with a maze next year. GRADE: F I was literally dying to go on werewolf but it had a 80 minute line so we decided to wait a while and take a nice peaceful trip back in time to a cave in Transylvania. I mean like who doesn't go back in time to Transylvanian caves when they are pissed off at how bad the Terror Tram is? Dracula Untold: Reign of Blood This is a maze that I was like eh when it was announced but trust me this is one of the scariest mazes of the event this year. The facade is really weak and the first part feels like it belongs in the HoH I feel that it was better played out here because it feels really claustrophobic and quite hard to tell were the scareactors would come out from. When they came out they were in your face aggressive and looked really cool. Dracula scared the crap out of me in the cave. I was so impressed that I had done half the mazes by this time and this one got me the best out of any of the previous 4 I went through.The village scene looked cool except for the fire, that has to go quick! After the village though the sets got very boring and looked really cheap but the scares kept coming. I loved the blackout scare! I felt like they tried to do the same scare as AVP in a way but this one with blackouts and this one worked way better in here than in AVP. This maze was great though I dint quite get what was going on story wise scare wise it was great! GRADE: B+ Mask-A-Raid We went through this zone after Dracula and one more time after that and I thought it was good. Definitely an improvement from the same props issue year after year but I felt like the actors weren't quite to into it. They walked around and put either there weapons or hands in your face and they walked away. These guys need to step up their game fast and turn more aggressive and chase people and bang on trash cans and stuff or do something other than just walk and put something in your face then walk away. GRADE: C Dark Christmas Unlike Mask-A-Raid everyone here was aggressive and scaring the crap out of everyone! They were crawling and chasing people all over the place. This zone was super foggy and all the Christmas lights and music made it the more all the more eerie! GRADE: A+ After we walked around the zones a bit we hanged out around The Purge for a while then we hid in the remains of a rotting castle that was invaded with creatures who have a bad taste in music. The Purge: Anarchy This zone was a bigger version of the one last year with a bigger cast in this zone was energized and scared everyone. It felt like nobody was safe! Some of the characters from Anarchy looked kinda cheesy though and I dint care for the baker at all this year. It's still a good fun zone though GRADE: A Face Off: In the Flesh RIP House of Horrors. Well your final overlay was your best in my opinion. There were some added props and some old props removed which was great and there were new locations for the scareactors. The maze felt packed with creatures and was a fun time although I hate dubstep. GRADE: C+ It was barley around 11:30 and we made our way back to the lower lot were we got on Jurassic Park then me and my friend spilt up to get in the 60 minute wait for An American Werewolf in London were I got a jello shot one of the reasons why I love HHN. An American Werewolf in London Wow the facade looked great with blue moon playing in the background and all. The first room was very detailed. I asked the scareactor what the star on the wall was for and he said keep clear of the moors lad. The first werewolf scene was horrible the guy playing Jack was clearly moving it with his hands but then the maze picked up after that. The first wolf scared the crap out of me. The demon ss scene looked great as well as the hospital scenes. The transformation scenes looked ok. The subway train also scared the crap out of me that was so unexpected. Some of the wolves could have been maneuvered better though but it was good! Those transition hallways were so horrible though especially since I just wanted more not blank walls. GRADE: A We then went back to the backlot, did From Dusk till Dawn and Walking Dead again returned to the lower lot did Clowns again then left the park though chainsaw chase out at around 2am. FINAL THOUGHTS HHN defiantly improved this year though the problem this year is that the mazes need to be darker or foggier quick. Walking Dead or the Terror Tram have to go for good though. Hopefully the Mask-A-Raid actors improve in a couple weeks, the wolf puppeteers improve and for God sakes they darken the mazes! TOP MAZES (Scenic Wise) Alien vs Predator From Dusk till Dawn The Walking Dead An American Werewolf in London Clowns Dracula Face Off TOP MAZES (Scare Wise) An American Werewolf in London From Dusk till Dawn Dracula Face Off Alien vs Predator Clowns The Walking Dead TOP MAZES (Overall) An American Werewolf in London From Dusk till Dawn Dracula Alien vs Predator Clowns Face Off The Walking Dead TOP SCAREZONES Dark Christmas The Purge: Anarchy Mask-A-Raid Welcome to Terminus Skullz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Great review Mr. HHN, I especially loved the stoy elements you placed in between each maze to make it more fun! Seems like you generally liked everything except for TT, which shows how strong this year is. There aren't really any mazes that are necessarily bad (only one imo is Clowns). And damn right, every maze was too bright. I think the only maze that had the right amount of light was Dracula. AVP - too bright at the end AWIL - too bright on the wolves TWD - too bright on the tunnel Clowns - too bright everywhere FDTD - too bright everywhere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Jeffula Posted September 23, 2014 Share Posted September 23, 2014 Good review, your thoughts are very similar to mine and i do agree, a lot of mazes are too bright. I think the final scene on AVP would be WAY better if it was darker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsylumSB Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 (edited) Well done, Mr. HHN! Try the Bar-B-Q when you get Terminus, tasty, but a bit fleshy. There was something about Dracula that I thought was endearing, but I still can't put my finger on what it was! Ha Ha. Repeated this maze and found myself thinking that was strange, but fun. It may have been that the scares were very quick, at least that is what I thought. Edited September 27, 2014 by AsylumSB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorrorNightsFan13 Posted September 27, 2014 Share Posted September 27, 2014 (edited) Ok so you and I had the same idea in AWIL with the bar tender. Lol. I also wanted to order a small guiness. I'm still trying to figure out what scene in Dracula was the black out scare? Edited September 27, 2014 by HorrorNightsFan13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.HHN Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Great review Mr. HHN, I especially loved the stoy elements you placed in between each maze to make it more fun! Seems like you generally liked everything except for TT, which shows how strong this year is. There aren't really any mazes that are necessarily bad (only one imo is Clowns). And damn right, every maze was too bright. I think the only maze that had the right amount of light was Dracula. AVP - too bright at the end AWIL - too bright on the wolves TWD - too bright on the tunnel Clowns - too bright everywhere FDTD - too bright everywhereThanks DTH, I thought adding story elements would make it more enjoyable glad you enjoyed my review. Really though the mazes were way too well lit that you could see everything coming. If they were to darken them I'm sure I would have gotten way more scared but it's still a great year!Thanks Doc, agreed that finale in AVP was so epic that it would have looked way cooler and scarier if it were darker with some strobe lights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.HHN Posted September 29, 2014 Author Share Posted September 29, 2014 Thanks Asylum, that BBQ sounds great! Surprisingly Dracula was one of the strongest mazes of the event it was a really fun maze! Ok so you and I had the same idea in AWIL with the bar tender. Lol. I also wanted to order a small guiness. I'm still trying to figure out what scene in Dracula was the black out scare?I was disappointed though because right before I asked the bar tender for a small Guinness a naked American stole my balloons lol. The blackout scare in Dracula is the horde scare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HorrorNightsFan13 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 Oh the horde scare. That one distracted me and the actor infront of it scared the s*** out of me. The AWIL jokes are strong with this one. Lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTH316 Posted September 29, 2014 Share Posted September 29, 2014 That last room in Dracula is nuts. Two hordes and a scare actor. I was just like AHHHHH!!! and ran out hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts