Grime's Impressions (Updated 9/21)

[Grime]

[UPDATE 9/21]  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I went with a group of friends on Friday and Saturday and did the remainder of the houses. I'm currently at work and Monday's are a little busy so I'll keep it short.

Freddy vs Jason - 8/10. Probably my favorite of the various classic slasher houses we've had in the past. Lots of excellent scares, lots of great scenes. I really love the use of multiple actors in one hole (heh) being used in a lot of houses this year, but both this house and Body Collectors seem to really have it on point. Fans of the classic slasher films will love this one no doubt, and I really feel like this will be a crowd favorite for the general public.

Insidious - 9/10. Holy crap, this house. While I feel like the films were "meh," this house really doubled down on the creepiness and took advantage of the atmosphere of the films. Loved the scares, lots of great setups. Even if you haven't seen the Insidious films, check it out for sure. I may have rated this one high because I enjoy the creepier houses more than the balls-to-the-wall action houses, and it played on a lot of my natural fears. And be sure to tiptoe thru the tulips with meeeee~

The Purge - 7/10. Good house, nothing really incredible really caught me here. It reminded me a lot of Havoc but I still feel like it needs to be more intense. I /really/ enjoyed the scenes in this house though. Typical Purge stuff, if you enjoyed the movies you'll enjoy the house as it's pretty straightforward.

Monster and Mayhem - 10/10. This is a goddamn anniversary house and a nostalgia overload if you've been going for the last 6-7 years. Lots of throwbacks to recent years here and probably the best scenes and set designs from the same period. I went into every scene smiling like a child and telling myself "OH SHIT IT'S ______!" which inevitably distracted me and allowed the actors to get some pretty good scares on me. Loved it loved it loved it. I bought the hype and it paid itself off.

RUN - 6/10. Cool house, but something about it just felt off. While I feel it was certainly unique, nothing really stood out for me. I'm chalking it up to a bad run (no pun intended) and will have to do it again. Might also be that while posted for a 45 minute wait we waited almost 2 hours so I was a little burnt out. I'll do it again this week and post another update.

Also, still haven't gotten the opportunity to check out the shows yet. Hopefully this weekend.

[/UPDATE 9/21]----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy/pasted from my Facebook page. This page doesn't seem to like the formatting and I'm not retyping the entire thing. :B

Edit: Formatting fixed! Now will less eye bleeding contrast!
 
Yeah, there's slight spoilers ahead. It covers some details of the event you might not have seen yet. Nothing really TOP SEEKRET but I know some people will complain if I don't put this here.
 
So my thoughts on HHN after preview last night.

I have really high hopes for this year. Since 2010, I feel like the event as a whole has been lacking, most notably in the streets. If you only go once and hit the houses and spend most of your night standing in lines, you're not going to understand what I'm getting at. My whole thing, is that I typically purchase a FFP+ (or now RoF?) pass and go once or twice a week. I like hitting the houses the first few weeks when the lines are short before it really starts ramping up closer to Halloween. Once the lines are regularly at 60+ minutes within an hour or two of opening, that's when I like spending most of my time in the scarezones people watching, hanging out with friends, taking pictures, etc.

The problem with the last few years is that the scarezones and streets have been extremely boring. Lack of props, lazy costumes, bad themes in general. When the event hits bigger numbers, there's no longer anything to do other than wait in more lines for rides or houses.

Now, this year. After a full lap last night, this year felt very nostalgic. The streets were alive and electric. The scarezones were FULL of actors. New York in particular was either in the middle of a cast change, or they just straight up have what felt like 100 actors on set. The themes for these zones are also very good. Yeah, we have recycled themes, but they're GOOD THEMES. Everyone was very interactive, in your face, cracking jokes and generally in good spirits. I counted 3 different chainsaw groups in addition to the normal zones. Very little dead space between zones. The stage show by Mel's was pretty cool by what we saw as we walked by, but I feel it helps the event feel immensely more alive even if you're not right there watching it. Hearing Jack and Chance yell and seeing the flames go off in the background brought it all together, and I'm glad UO made the decision to bring back a stage show of some sort. It was one of my favorite things from past years.
I did 4 houses last night. AWIL, Body Collectors, Alice and Walking Dead.

AWIL - 7/10. The sets were really cool and the puppet they're using for the wolf is what sold me. The thing is massive, in your face, and fucking frightening. The scareactors just need to get into their groove and this house will likely be a crowd favorite.

Body Collectors - 9/10. We've seen this house how many times now? At least twice but it never disappoints. It's such an easy concept but it just works. Spooky dudes doing gruesome shit to people. This one is on track to me my personal favorite so far.

Alice - 6/10. My biggest gripe with this one was there wasn't really any place for scareactors to hide. Every room felt like a bunch of empty space and the actors were forced to kinda stand around and hope you don't notice them against the background. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the event.

Walking Dead - 5/10. And not just because I'm not a Walking Dead fan, but it just felt kinda lazily put together in regards to scareactor placement and scares. The set design is pretty great actually. Doesn't really matter because there's so many fans of the show that will think it's the best house regardless so they might not have to invest as much time into it. There's not a whole lot you can do with zombies though, so they're working with what they've got. Some of the set pieces were really cool, but I just wasn't entirely wowed. I wish they'd give zombies a break for a few years, the fad is fading.

I'm looking forward to getting a pass this year and taking a bunch of pictures, meeting new people and hanging out. Message me if you're going some night and want to do houses or something.

Street scareactors, if you want pictures taken for personal use, PM me directly.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Grime

[duh1011]

Great review! Kinda sad that the Asylum 3d isn't the best for scares, but it's still good to know. Will you update this when you go into new houses? 

[Pandry]

That's great to hear on the street vibe.  I've had that feeling for the past few years as well, that I'm just not immersed in the event like I used to be and a big part of that has been the weak approach to the scare zones they've taken.  Did you do AWIL in 2013, if so, how does it compare/differ?

[Grime]

Great review! Kinda sad that the Asylum 3d isn't the best for scares, but it's still good to know. Will you update this when you go into new houses? 

Thank you  I know some people are saying it's the best 3D house they've done, but it feels like the weakest to me. Maybe I just had a bad run? Idk, it's too early to tell. People tend to take early reviews a little too seriously when the fact is just that it's too early to tell. I've had many years where a house will start at the bottom of my list but by the end of the run it's at the top.

I'll certainly update this thread with more impressions when I hit the rest of the houses, and I'll update again when the event wraps up with my final thoughts and improvements that were made.

That's great to hear on the street vibe.  I've had that feeling for the past few years as well, that I'm just not immersed in the event like I used to be and a big part of that has been the weak approach to the scare zones they've taken.  Did you do AWIL in 2013, if so, how does it compare/differ?

Yes, the streets are very good so far. I feel like while the houses are the main draw of the event, the streets kind of set the tone. They need to be entertaining and I feel like they're just as important as the houses when it comes to the success and impression of the event. If you have good streets, people will go into the houses in a better mood (not bored) and have a better time. I know that's how they effect me. In recent years when the streets have lacked, even on nights where I'm doing strictly houses, I just feel "blah" and will generally not have as good of a time through the house.

I did AWIL in 2013 but unfortunately the house didn't stand out for me enough to remember all of it. I usually only really remember one maybe two houses per year very thoroughly. Forgive me, my memory is shit.

[Pandry]

Yes, the streets are very good so far. I feel like while the houses are the main draw of the event, the streets kind of set the tone. They need to be entertaining and I feel like they're just as important as the houses when it comes to the success and impression of the event. If you have good streets, people will go into the houses in a better mood (not bored) and have a better time. I know that's how they effect me. In recent years when the streets have lacked, even on nights where I'm doing strictly houses, I just feel "blah" and will generally not have as good of a time through the house.

I did AWIL in 2013 but unfortunately the house didn't stand out for me enough to remember all of it. I usually only really remember one maybe two houses per year very thoroughly. Forgive me, my memory is shit.

That's perfect.  Sounds just like me, too.  Shit memory included.

[clash]

yeah that's definitely true, the zones in the past 3 years have been pretty disappointing. Either because  of the lack of sets or the lack of good costumes. 
Last year was better than '12 and 13' but then last year felt the emptiest in a while. 

I am really happy to hear that the streets are back, I spend a lot of time in the streets so that's really good to hear. 

[Pandry]

Alice - 6/10. My biggest gripe with this one was there wasn't really any place for scareactors to hide. Every room felt like a bunch of empty space and the actors were forced to kinda stand around and hope you don't notice them against the background. We'll see how it plays out the rest of the event.

So what was your impression of the house being in the Shrek theater?  I remember how there was a lot of discussion a while back of how large of a space it was. But unless they maxed it out with set pieces, it sounds pretty crammed.

[Grime]

So what was your impression of the house being in the Shrek theater?  I remember how there was a lot of discussion a while back of how large of a space it was. But unless they maxed it out with set pieces, it sounds pretty crammed.

I couldn't really tell you, the rooms felt to be about the same size or maybe only slightly smaller than the tents.

To clarify, it seemed to me like while the rooms weren't huge, the rooms just felt void. Of both scareactors and props/set pieces. It was like riding Cat in the Hat. I think they were hoping that the 3d effects brought on by the walls would make the rooms feel busier, but it just doesn't.

[Grime]

Updated OP.

[4thdegree]

great review. Can't wait to keep checking back in to see how your opinions evolve!