Dr. Jimmy Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 So after opening night Friday the 18th, I have done all nine houses once except for Asylum which I saw twice.I think additional nights are necessary before a full review and any sort of ranking. But overall a very good year. One person who has been going to HHN as long as I have told me it was the best one in many years.Highlights of the Houses:RUN: Blood, Sweat and Fears - Ninja Geisha, Canadian Back Bacon and Candyman!Asylum in Wonderland 3D - Quite simply the best use of the revolving tunnel ever.Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem - Got some of the best scares of the night from Classic Monsters. Many delightful surprise appearances!An American Werewolf in London - Not 100% the same house. There is at least one thing from 2013 that is missing now, nothing major, but it had personal meaning for me. However, there is at least one thing new added. The punchline to one of the best scenes, a real "Holy F@ck" moment. Also new Wolves are awesome.Freddy vs Jason - Major love for both of these guys in this house. Brilliant use of video. And a good use of one of Jason's earlier looks.Body Collectors: Recollections - Fun crossover. Ornate and beautiful sets and costumes. Another one of my biggest scares of the night, a scare that was also used last year in a very different house. But maybe I misunderstood what some had been saying about this house? I saw no indications of any big revelations of secrets about important characters' back stories and origins. Or maybe I missed something due to timing issues?The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead - The biggest surprise for me was that I actually liked this. I did not expect to. Hot tub zombies are silly, though. But there were a couple things that i really thought were clever and well done. The revolving door for example. And did A&D plant an inside joke? Perhaps at the expense of those who force them to do this series for four years? I mean there was a scene where they are literally (b)eating a dead horse!The Purge - Another example of grace under pressure. Brilliant overlay of The Purge on the existing Scream sets. And perhaps it is a better house than that one would have been? Very high energy, the Havoc of the year I think. Funny how that mannequin looks so much like Drew Barrymore....Insidious - A lot has already been said on how creepy and terrifying this house is, and they are not wrong. But that hallway. That one hallway. Maybe one of the scariest moments in all HHN history. Ranks along with the first scene in Insanity and the crowd room in Dead Exposure.Highlights from Zones:Scary Tales: Screampunk - Cute and Clever. My kind of wrong.Icons: HHN - Didn't have time to catch all the kills, but a zone to revisit over and over. And I did see a certain Lady!Psychoscareapy: Unleashed - I must confess that I thought the first inmate who approached me, giggled and said "this is fun!" was a fanboy guest. A bit close to home, sometimes. But fun, fun, fun! I look forward to spending a lot of time at the block party during this event.All Nite Die-In: Double Feature - There are so many guests passing through this area getting from one side of the park to another that sometimes it's hard to see the scareactors! But clever to have little used characters from the Classic Monsters. And at the risk of raising political controversy, does anybody else think that Tiffany looks weirdly a lot like Hillary?Evil's Roots - Just beautiful. Very very pretty zone.Notes on shows:Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure - Glad to see they continue now to change up the sets and take the basic structure of the show and tweak it a bit. Lots of funny jokes at the expense of Disney, but at least one hysterical one at their own expense.The Carnage Returns - Sexier than B&T, and ruder and of course, way more violent! Fun and irreverent. A harder, more R rated version of the show from 2007. But NOT just a re-worked version of that show. This is actually rather new. Over all this has taught me to not pay attention to those people who never have a good thing to say about HHN under any circumstances. They were way off course with all the negative talk earlier this year. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Oh yeah, gotta add for The Purge - Prom Queen got me wet.That sounds kinda wrong, there.But That was the only time I got wet last night cuz IT DIDN'T RAIN ON OPENING NIGHT!!!!!a miracle from God. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverEvil1 Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Over all this has taught me to not pay attention to those people who never have a good thing to say about HHN under any circumstances. They were way off course with all the negative talk earlier this year.Great first impressions, but I just want to high five you multiple times for this statement. Sounds like M&M may have some competition for me if even you thought Insidious was terrifying. I'm terrified I'm gonna have a crappy run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arsik_22 Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thanks for posting such a great read! Loved how detailed you were while not spoiling much. I'm even more excited to fly down on September 30th!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duh1011 Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Lemme guess: No more TARDIS this year? That's what is missing from AWIL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 Great first impressions, but I just want to high five you multiple times for this statement. Now that I think of it, It seems to me that Jack addresses this very sort of thing in his show! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWitz Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Thanks for a great summary. This will be my first year and I am very excited to be going. Your post gave me a great idea of what to expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foREVer56 Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Sounds like M&M may have some competition for me if even you thought Insidious was terrifying. I'm terrified I'm gonna have a crappy run. This house seems to have some consistency problems. Wednesday it was terrifying, last night it was very tame. A friend of mine said it sucked, but nearly everyone I've talked to has called it terrifying. The house itself is very unsettling and creepy, with or without scares. But I'll have to try again next weekend for some more scares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jimmy Posted September 20, 2015 Author Share Posted September 20, 2015 This house seems to have some consistency problems. Wednesday it was terrifying, last night it was very tame. A friend of mine said it sucked, but nearly everyone I've talked to has called it terrifying. The house itself is very unsettling and creepy, with or without scares. But I'll have to try again next weekend for some more scares.The hallway in question was better on Friday than Saturday. This is the hallway immediately after the "girl's" bedroom. The idea is similar to one they have done before, but never so effectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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