Halloween Horror Nights 2015 Review: Mr.HHN Comes Home

[Mr.HHN]

Halloween Horror Nights 2015

Friday September 18, 2015

HHN 2015 opening night finally dawned upon us and I was more than ready to rock and roll! I left home around 4:30pm and got to Universal at around 5, being that traffic wasn't that bad this year. I started off the night by looking around the Universal Store at Citywalk and picking up my awesome Halloween lanyard. Next, I meet up with the group I was going with which ended up being around 20 people, some I had met and hung out with several times and others I was meeting for the first time. We waited at the front gate for about an hour till the event gates opened up around 6:45 when the masses begun to flood in to the gates of Halloween Horror Nights 2015. 

 

Exterminatorz

We ended up watching the opening scaremony and by this time Walking Dead already had a 70 minute wait. I did not watch the opening scaremony the previous year and was cool to finally see it again. I think it tied in really well with the Exterminatorz. The event kicked off and we hung out here for a while. The costumes looked really cool and the scare actors as always were very aggressive and on their game. There was one really cool effect they did were one of the scare actors sprayed you with "bug spray" which was really cool. The go-go dancers looked meh. I've seen better, they were really nothing special this year. When we returned later on in the night the scare actors were still rocking it but overall I would have liked to see a bigger variety of costumes. I liked the giant roach and the chainsaws but they all looked very similar I didn't see much of any other types of scareactors and it did feel a little less chaotic than the previous scarezones that have been here have been. This zone needed a few more actors on here and have them spread out because the middle part of the zone by the cafe in the entrance was pretty dead. Most were towards the back near the Universal Plaza or in the front by the Go-Go dancers. It is a step down from the chaos of the previous scarezones but its really not bad.

Grade: B-

After we walked around a bit my friend went to go get a guest assistance pass for his injured knee over at guest relations. For those of you who don't know its a pass were you present it at Gate A and they write a time which you have to return on or any time later for Front of the Line access. Anyway it was already around 7:30 and we headed over to the Terror Tram.

Terror Tram: Survive the Purge

This had No wait but we still used the guest assistance pass and were allowed in right away. We boarded the tram were we were presented with the story which I really dug and drove over to Whoville. Once we were dropped off we heard the sirens and boom chainsaws came after us to what I thought was a really weak opening that again needed more scare actors. These guys were on their game though, they were jumping around and getting in your face and just overall being a really good group f scare actors. There were some incredible effects they did here that I've always wanted to see like pulling a "guest" out of the crowd and bagging him and throwing him in a cage. There was a good variety of actors and this time around weren't afraid to let them use guns. To me it did feel to get a bit repetitive after awhile since its the same tram but rather than walkers there's purgers. The very last room in the building we enter after WoW was incredible though. This was defiantly a better tram than the previous two years of Walking Dead and Chucky and Scream but it still cant help but feel repetitive. The only thing I feel will make the Terror Tram truly feel fresh again would be to change it up, alter the route a bit but as mentioned it is the better tram in the last couple years.

Grade: C+

We had just seen a scarezone and the Terror Tram and it began to feel like a very meh year. Anyway we headed to Halloween to get a return time and the to the Lower Lot were we got a wait time for This is the End, Insidious, and The Walking Dead. After, we decided to catch a ride on Jurassic Park in the Dark which was the same as always but its a fun little addition to HHN. After we got off, we were allowed to return to This is the End and Halloween so we chose This is the End since we were already in the Lower Lot. 

This is the End 3D

I honestly had zero expectations for this maze when I walked into it the first time. The facade looked okay, it wasn't anything special or did it look as grand as Franco's house looks in the film, but I did like to see Michael Cera impaled up there and playing the line "Who took my f*cking cellphone, after all the coke I've wasted on you people" LOL. We enter the maze and right away it is very 3D heavy, nothing like House of 1000 Corpses, but it is way darker than the previous 3D mazes. The scares here are very very predictable though it was cool seeing my friend who plays one of the demons actually use a very good distraction tactic to get me and my group pretty good. It is a really hilarious maze though I'll give them that, they pulled off the spirit of the film pretty well though it looks nothing like the film. There were some very cool scenes and effects here, especially the rapture effect which turned out pretty effective. This maze is also very heavy on reusing walls and stuff and does get repetitive at times, feels very short, looks cheesy, and by all means isn't a great maze but its not terrible or the worst maze ever! Have you guys forgotten about the laughable HoH overlays or the fucking horrible Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper 3D mazes? This maze is better than any of those and achieves what it was going for with the crude humor but again the main issue is the scares which seems to be a big problem in most mazes this year. I'll give you that the 3D is not necessary and turns really annoying sometimes albeit why I took the glasses off during the second walktrough but isn't the worst thing ever and has enjoyment to be found in it.

Grade: D+

We then headed to the backlot to get return times for AVP and Crimson Peak but honestly thank god for those trams, we were tired!

The Purge: Urban Nightmare

We got of the tram and were giving our rights as Americans to cleanse our souls. I just have to say wow! They really amped up their game here! This  scare zone was aggressive creative, dark, gritty, just plainly and simply beautiful chaos. This was better than the Terror Tram!

Grade: A

We got our return times for AVP and Crimson Peak and we slit up as some off us got grub at the taco truck in the backlot and the rest headed back to the lower lot for Jurassic Cafe. I ended up getting a Jello Shot and a bottled water and just sat around the backlot having a good time. We went back up to the lower lot met up with the rest of our part and did This is the End one more time. We then proceed to hit the rest of the mazes which we now had FOL for. We started off with the one with the biggest wait.

The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

I had mixed feelings before heading in but my god was the terminus facade just beautiful! The first half of the maze was very human heavy and I really enjoyed that but once we got to the forest scenes it began to fall apart for me. For the longest maze ever there was a lot more transitions than actual scenes and the parts were there were scenes felt very similar to the ones from previous Walking Dead mazes (i.e. walker in the floor, hanging bodies, walkers pretending their static,) I didn't hate maze but I did feel a bit disappointed. Moreover, the scare actors inhere also need to step up their game pronto! Some of them were just there and growled seeming very bored. Anyway, the level of detail in here was the best out of all TWD mazes but the scares, transitions, and overall the been there done that feeling dragged it down for me. This maze was way better than last years maze and maybe 2013, I haven't decided which is better yet, I need to experience this a couple more times. I feel that if I do this maze a couple more times I will really get to like it but for now I just wanted more walkers and for the scare actors to put more enthusiasm into it.

Grade: B-

We exited the maze all with different opinions some dubbing it the best Walking Dead maze and other plainly and simply hating it. We proceed to finish the lower lot trio and hit Insidious. 

Insidious: Return to the Further

Let me start off by saying I wasn't a fan of the 2013 maze nor of the franchise. The facade is the same which is cool but once inside the maze is a very different one from the one in 2013. The set design and effects were top notch. The Further scenes were pulled off better. The costumes wee great but the scares are the star of the maze. Their not your usual HHN scares and are very hard at times to see were they are coming from. I was terrified in this maze, it is one if not the scariest maze I have ever been trough in my years of going to HHN which is since 2009.  I cant wait to see this again!
 

Grade: A+

We took a tram back to the backlot to finish the other half of the mazes. We started off with our least anticipated AVP.

AVP: Alien vs Predator

 This maze is the exact same thing as last year. As stated before a very visually appealing maze but lacks greatly in scares. There were no real tweaks to thinks that had to be adjusted like the xenomorph puppets. They could have reskined the werewolf puppets from AWIL like Orlando did but they didn't. I overall felt very bored in this maze and don't think I will do it again when i go back.

Grade: D-

Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

This was my most anticipated maze this year and it was what I was expecting to a point. Murdy captured the essence of a Del Toro film perfectly into the maze. It looks beautiful, I got the tail end of the scare but from what I saw they were decent. The costumes also looked really good, as well as some of the effects and lighting and the score...OMG it was beautiful. On the downside the blank hallway transitions turned me off as you went from an awe inspiring scene to fucking black walls.

Grade: A 

We took a tram back...again, did Insidious....again and head up to the upper lot to finish in Haddonfiled, Illinois.

Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers was the first maze I experienced at HHN and it was perfect! This maze took a somewhat different approach and felt different in some scenes. The most I felt repeated from 2009 was the phone cord kill and the tombstone on the bed. I feel that part of this is because of the layout and the different sorts of scares they had some which did get me pretty darn good! The last room though was scary as hell and very disorienting and worked really, really effectively. It is not the 2009 maze but it is one of the best this year!

Grade: A

Corpz

This scarezone looks really cool sounds very creepy and has awesome set design. The scare actors were just kinda strolling and not trying to hard but I'm sure that with full potential this zone would be awesome!

Grade: B+

Dark Christmas

It was very similar to last years zone but the scares and aggressiveness of the scare actors felt very toned down. I kinda liked it more last year!

Grade: B

We didn't watch the Jabbawockez because fuck the Jabbawockez.

Anyway we all expected this to be a crappy year but it is actually a very decent year. It has its ups and downs and needs to work on improving the scares in some of the mazes but it wasn't a bad year like I was expecting it to be. 

HHN 2015

Grade: B+

ScareZone Rankings

1. The Purge: Urban Nightmare

2. Exterminatorz

3. Corpz

4. Dark Christmas

Maze Rankings

1. Insidious: Return to the Further

2. Halloween: Michael Myers Comes Home

3. Crimson Peak: Maze of Madness

4. The Walking Dead: Wolves Not Far

5. Terror Tram: Survive the Purge

6. This is the End 3D

7. AVP: Alien vs Predator

 

Check out my vlog on my trip while you're at it!

https://youtu.be/msJESCNS5jQ

  

 

 

[Sir2lazyThe2nd]

I agree with you alot though I didn't get to experience the original Halloween maze.

[AsylumSB]

Nice review.....glad to hear Insidious brought its "A" game.  I thought it was phenomenal in 2013.  I am attending in two weeks.....looking forward to the event.