First time at HHN (Review, Spoilers)

[EthanH]

This was my first time at HHN and I had an absolute blast. Luckily I had the express pass; I don't think I would've been able to handle doing it without one. I was surprised at how much I got scared during this. I thought I'd be like a blank wall walking through all the houses, but I probably got scared (jump scared, I mean) like 25 or 30 times in total. Using the express pass on all the houses (except Run and Body Collectors), I was able to get done with everything in three hours, which made me realize I should probably be more selective of what I use my express pass on. But for my first time, I think I picked a good year to go to since (from what I've heard) the general consensus seems to be that this year is the best of the last three or four years. I'll try to post whatever photos I took on the pictures area of the site.

 

Houses (in order of least favorite to favorite)

 

9. The Purge. I've never seen the film but I know the premise. I can only remember a few parts, however. If I remember correctly, they went a little overboard with the flashing lights in this house. Grade: C

 

8. The Walking Dead. This one was probably less scary than the purge, but I do think that they were more creative in this house than the purge. (Also, a scare actor got me twice before the house even started). Grade: C

 

7. Asylum in Wonderland. This was a very creative house. I thought that the facade with the comic book was interesting. The part with the knights in the black and white checkered room was my favorite part. It wasn't very scary, though. I almost fell over in the tunnel thingy. Grade: B-

 

6. American Werewolf in London. I saw the movie a few years ago, but my memory was a bit hazy so a lot of things seemed out place, but I remembered some of it. The entrance with the bar was great and the part with the car and the dead body through the window was really good. Grade: B

 

5. Run. I was most looking forward to this house, but (even knowing the premise) I was very lost going through this house... the first time. Luckily I had done the regular line the first time so I can use my express later in the night when it got more crowded. The second time, I started to pay more attention to everything that was going on and enjoyed it a lot more. (Being a Willy Wonka fan, it was nice seeing they used the Candyman song in the Candy room) Grade: A-

 

4. Freddy vs Jason. This house really surprised me. Before going, I thought that this was going to be ranked a lot lower considering I'm not a fan of the Friday the 13th series and I only liked the original Nightmare on Elm Street. But this was very well done. I made the mistake of using my express pass when the line was only TEN MINUTES, so I'm pretty angry at myself. The scare actors got me a lot in this one. Grade: A-

 

3. Insidious. This house was by far the creepiest, especially the hallway part. With express, I only waited in line for about 5 minutes (with the majority of those 5 minutes just walking towards the front of the line). A friend of mine, who didn't have express, waited three hours and ended up only having time do this house. Grade: A

 

2. Body Collectors. The facade and the entire house was beautiful. Besides Run, this was the only house I did twice. The second time (around 1:00 AM on Saturday morning), there was a delay and the line just stopped, inside the house, for like 25 minutes. I was so disappointed that I was paused in line at the black curtains right before I could see the facade. By any chance, does anyone know what caused this delay? Grade: A

 

1. Jack's 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem. This was the first house I did and I loved it; It'll always have a special place in my heart. I did this one first because I read in an article that made for a good recap house of the previous 25 years and was great for first timers. Even though this is my first year, I have been following HHN since 2011, so I was able to identify some parts of this house. My favorite part was the Screamhouse part, with the Caretaker (who's my favorite icon) and Cindy. Like Freddy vs Jason, I was so disappointed I used my express pass because I wanted to do it again but by that time, the line had gone up to an hour. Grade: A+

 

Scare zones (in order of least favorite to favorite):

 

N/A. All-Nite Die In. To be fair, I barely spent any time in this one so I'm going to refrain from grading and ranking it. I did see photos online and I thought going in the black and white costumes was very creative. Grade: N/A

 

4. Scary Tales. I liked that gear thing with the steampunk balloons on top with the dead bodies hanging on the side of it. The costumes (as bloody fairytale characters) were nice. It was a bit underwhelming though. Grade: B-

 

3. Evil's Roots. The scare actors were on fire in this one. The decorations were beautiful too. Grade: A-

 

2. HHN - Icons. I probably spent the most time in this scare zone. There was an enormous amount of creativity and detail that went into those floats the icons sat on. I was able to see (and record) an usher, director, and caretaker kill. I wish I could've seen the storyteller do one; I'll probably have to look online for that. Grade: A-

 

1. Psychoscareapy Unleashed. This scare zone had the most clear plot: Escaped Mental Patients. I thought that the frightened trick or treaters was a nice touch. There was also an enormous amount of detail in this one too. I liked how the individual New York buildings had basic Halloween decorations on them as if someone actually lived there. The crashed bus was a great idea too, as well as the pumpkin carver and the apple bobber and that third thing with the person and the microphone (I wasn't exactly sure what she was doing). Grade: A

 

I didn't do any of the shows because I saw Jack's show on YouTube about a month ago and heard that Bill & Ted wasn't worth it. Overall, I had a fantastic time for my first time and I am looking forward to going next year.