Foodstamp's review of HHN 25

[foodstampsFTW]

I'm deciding to finally write my review now because I'm in class and have nothing else to do. I went 3 nights: 9/19, 9/24, and 9/25. I'm going to rank scarezones, shows and house in order from worst to best and my ratings will be on a scale from 1 to 10. Btw, this was my first time going to Orlando, I've been going to Hollywoods since 2011.

There will be Spoilers

 

Scarezones:

Scary Tales Screampunk: I don't know man, this zone did not do it for me, compared to the props the other zones has, Scary Tales is lacking, and the actors never seemed to be trying when I went through. Definitely the worst thing this year

Grade: 3/10

 

Evils Root: I really liked the atmosphere here, the traditional Halloween feel really works, the actors just seemed to walk around though and it's really small so I guess it's okay for what they have to work with, but this is completely fine

Grade: 5.5/10

 

PsychoScarepy: While Evils Root was too small, I felt this zone was too big, or not enough actors for the space that was provided. With that said, the burning gazebo was awesome, the actors were on point, I never saw the mini shows they had here, but I assume they would have added to it like Icons.

Grade: 7.5/10

 

Icons HHN: This was really good. Having never been to Orlando before, it was great to see some icons and their minions in action. The main thing that makes this zone special is the Icon kills. I saw 3 out of the 4, though I can't really remember the caretakers even though I think I saw it. I missed the directors. These gave a good feel to how the icons would have been if this would have been their year. My favorite was the Usher. Probably because it was the goriest of the ones I saw, and people in movie theaters need to shut up. The actors were on fire here.

Grade: 8.25/10

 

All Nite Die-in: Yep definitely my favorite. Tons of characters I'm familiar with, a great concept, fantastic actor work. The black and white group was pretty good, though slower than the modern cast do obvious reasons, my favorite from here was the fog was leveled out pretty good and I almost didn't catch it but the wolfman was crouching in the fog and jumping out and scaring people. Awesome. This zone moved up to number 1 though when I finally saw the modern cast(which wasn't till the last night) oh shit were they awesome. It just worked better for me. The actors were really just aggressive and really getting those scares. The best thing that happened in all the zones happened during the modern cast. I was just relaxing and enjoying the zone and then this girl who I just saw was walking around, got grabbed by Jason, she started to run away, almost ran into me, then Jason got here and killed her, wasn't expecting it at all and it was awesome

Grade: 9/10

 

Shows:

Bill and Teds: Meh, the dance numbers were cool, especially the opening just because of Hollywood Undead, almost got a perfect score because of that, but some many jokes either fall flat or are really old and not funny anymore. I have no clue why Kanye was the villain this year, what exactly did he do this year. Really mediocre but it's nice to see it since Hollywood is never getting it again.

Grade: 5/10

 

The Carnage Returns: my review of this show will be in the form of a slightly altered Mad Max Fury Road quote

"We had a jack show at HHN 25 and it was perfect in every way"

Grade: 10/10

 

Houses:

The Walking Dead the Living and the Dead: this house I would say was the closest one to being bad, but I wouldn't say it is. It's just very stale. It doesn't seem they put very much effort into this. The actors don't seem into it at all. The revolving door scene wasn't good and the walkers in water effect is atrocious, looks so fucking goofy. I did get some scares in here but not that many. Hollywoods was much better

Grade: 4.75/10

 

American Werewolf in London: never say the 2013 version but I saw Hollywoods and loved it. It's a repeat so it's not as good as last year but I still got scared. No idea why they didn't do our nazi werewolf scene as I thought it was much better. Also this was very short, shorter than last years, don't know how that happened. 

Grade: 7/10

 

Run Blood Sweat and Fears: I really dig the idea of a game show where you win if you survive not being killed. I think that sounds really fun, and that's what this was, really fun. I didn't get all the scares, but I did get quite a few. I really like the facade,it was kinda small but it fit the house. I thought the Japan room was well done, I liked the kabuki scare and the air they had blasting in their deafened my right ear for a little bit during my first run. I loved the German room, the actors energy was amazing and the electricity aspect of the characters worked really well. Don't know why they decided to represent America as candy, I think hamburgers and potato chips would be more appropriate, but maybe that would be too similar to the Canada room. I think the transition room were real well done with the leaderboards.

Grade: 6.5/10

I know this is lower than AWIL but it's ranked higher simply because I enjoyed it more but werewolf is a better made house.

 

Asylum in Wondeland 3D: This shit was trippy as fuck. I fucking loved the comic book facade, I dig the cartoony vibe. I could barely walk in the vortex tunnel, an effect I've only seen poorly done in the house of horrors over here in Hollywood(RIP). The 3D makes this house special and gives you that unique experience. Would have liked a second run but the line was always too long. Needed more scares.

Grade: 7/10

 

Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem: as I wrote that, hundreds of hate messages were sent to me(JK). I really liked this house but I do not see the insane praise some people are giving it. I loved the facade, walking through Jacks mouth and seeing the pictures of the icons was cool. The scary tales room was great, HHN Bear FTW, even though I didn't like the zone, I would like to see them do another scary tales house. I thought the Forsaken room felt out of place, wasn't necessarily a bad room, just felt out of place. I loved the classic monster rooms, especially the phantom of the opera scare and the Frankenstein effect. The gothic room was amazing(of course I looked through the last window), really liked the nightingales room, the floating ghost effect was cool. Now that H.R. Bloodengutz/Leave it to Cleaver room was fucking awful, was there even an actor in here, fuck you strobe lights. The finale was ok. You know, for a jacks presents house, there was barely any Jack. Any other rooms I didn't mention were either ok or just not that memorable.

Grade: 7.5/10

 

The Purge:Now the really good stuff. My first run though was just good, I thought it was too dark(couldnt see shit), every scare didn't hit, but the actors were fantastic and it was just an aggressive house. The second run through though, oh shit. The lighting was brighter so i could see but still dark, it was the right balance. The scares were there. The actors are still on fire, the heavy metal was a great fit, this house is like a rush of adrenaline. My favorite moment was the room with the bait actor pretending to be in the crowd. I saw her walking through this side place before i went into the room, she just smiled at me and went in the back of us. I just caught the scare before i left the room(my dad who was in front of me didn't see it) and it scared me pretty good. I wish Hollywood would do scares like this. I know this wasn't originally supposed to be the purge, but it really work. i liked the graffiti all over the walls because it fit with the chaotic feel of the house. Surpised me how good it was for a last minute house.

Grade: 8/10

 

Freddy vs Jason: I've never seen a nightmare on elm street or a Friday the 13th house, so its cool i get to see both in one. The Crystal lake facade was a nice, the whole 1/3 of the house was really good, Jason scared me quite a bit. The 1428 Elm Street facade oh shit it was fucking amazing, the whole scene was fantastic. The Freddy portion of the house was ok. The boiler room looked cool but the scares never hit for me. The vs scenes are a fucking epic though, they are all so cool, especially the first one, Great final third. My problem withe this house is there was many Jason's and not many Freddy's, which is okay i guess considering he was much scarier. I never saw Jason win though

Grade: 8.5/10

 

Insidious: The 2013 version in Hollywood is my favorite house I've ever been(which may or may not have been changed), so I was very excited to see Orlando tackle this. And i was not dissapointed at all. It's fucking awesome, the facade is beautiful, the scares are definitely there, the sets looked good, the actors were great, everything that was in the house worked. While i like both of Hollywood's version better, you guys got one scene perfect. The Further scene is something out of a masterpiece. Insanely fucking terrifying. The crowd control on the first run was atrocious it took the 1.5 times longer to go through it. The second time was alot better though, not perfect but better. Really great house.

Grade: 9/10

 

Body Collectors Recollections: Im going to reuse my mad max fury road quote here. "We had a body collectors house at HHN 25, and it was perfect in every way". Easily the best house of the event. The facade is fucking gorgeous, the blizzard setting really works, the sets are great, the body collectors look creepy, and the scares, oh the scares. Every room got me, and some got me insanely good. I cant remember what room it was exactly, but i just walked into a hallway and there was an actor behind me(obviously didnt see him), yelled in my ear, and I swear i ran so far forward and screamed obscenities. Also I missed the spine rip the first time because of that chick. And the room with the windows are the gentlemen were on the other side in the snow, at the end, I dont think i've ever got the water they spray on you so much in my mouth(giggity), it was a direct hit. Couldnt stop thinking about how good it was for hours after I did it.

Grade: 10/10

 

Overall Thoughts: This at the time of going, was my favorite year of HHN on both coasts. They only truly bad thing was the Scary Tales scarezone. Everything else was very very mediocre to Fucking Amazing. The only real problem was the first  couple times I went, the posted wait times werent even close to the actual times. The worst was a 45 min wait for FvJ and i ended up waiting about 85. I also would have liked some houses to have more scares, but there was plenty of great houses to equal everything out. Yep, a great first year for me

Overall Grade: 8/10

 

Edited October 19, 2015 by foodstampsFTW

[criticalanalysis]

With that said, the burning gazebo was awesome,

I didn't like it. There is nothing under a normal gazebo that would make it look the way it did. There are no props or actors in the area nearby (and I know actors cannot be there due to safety) so it made it look ridiculous that it randomly just goes off? The huge fence around the area also made it look really awkward - story wise there wouldn't be any reason inmates would put it in a barricade. This should've been a large building that had fire coming out of it OR they should've gotten it done a different way.

Bill and Teds: Meh, the dance numbers were cool, especially the opening just because of Hollywood Undead, almost got a perfect score because of that, but some many jokes either fall flat or are really old and not funny anymore. I have no clue why Kanye was the villain this year, what exactly did he do this year.

Agree.

"We had a jack show at HHN 25 and it was perfect in every way"

Grade: 10/10

No way man. Jack constantly asked the crowd to cheer. The kills were really tame. It was too long for what it was. Jokes weren't terrific.

The actors don't seem into it at all. The revolving door scene wasn't good and the walkers in water effect is atrocious, looks so fucking goofy.

Agree. They barely were trying, which is good because I didn't care for it even going into it.

[foodstampsFTW]

Finally finished writing the review, would've been shorter but its such a pain in the ass to edit your post on mobile, wouldnt let me go all the way to the bottom of my post and start writing

[foREVer56]

 

Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem: You know, for a jacks presents house, there was barely any Jack. Any other rooms I didn't mention were either ok or just not that memorable.

 

 

Wat. Maybe you missed some of them, but there's 8 Jack actors, plus the entrance and 2 finale rooms are devoted to him. In a house that's celebrating ALL of HHN's history, while still being hosted by Jack, I think that's a perfectly acceptable number. 

[foodstampsFTW]

The UTH tour I has said there was multiple Jack's throughout the house, but except for the last room, didn't see any in my 2 walkthroughs

[MissBA]

Jack may not always be in the form of a person/actor.  Just keep that in mind. 

[Cooger and Dark]

The UTH tour I has said there was multiple Jack's throughout the house, but except for the last room, didn't see any in my 2 walkthroughs

Odd, I can think of six right off the top of my head and they were actors

one classic Jack popping out from a door, one ringmaster Jack through the fake mirror, two in the Jack tent room, and the two modern Jack's in the final hallway

.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Cooger and Dark

[ForeverEvil1]

The UTH tour I has said there was multiple Jack's throughout the house, but except for the last room, didn't see any in my 2 walkthroughs

Did you go within the first two weekends? If you did, the Jack wigs / masks weren't ready yet, so they just looked like generic clowns. 

[foodstampsFTW]

Yes i did but the second weekend had the jacks in there, but except for the final room I didn't see any. Whether it was jack or a generic clown, I didn't see one at all. The first walk through I had I thought the finale was just 2 rooms with blinding strobe lights and no actors popping out.

[ForeverEvil1]

Yes i did but the second weekend had the jacks in there, but except for the final room I didn't see any. Whether it was jack or a generic clown, I didn't see one at all. The first walk through I had I thought the finale was just 2 rooms with blinding strobe lights and no actors popping out.

You must have got unlucky then. 

I recall there being 3/4 Jack appearances prior to the finale, if I recall correctly. 

After the LT Hallway, In The Gothic Room, I believe right after Forsaken?