DTH's shorter, non-spoiler review!

[DTH316]

Halloween Horror Nights 2016

 

NON-SPOILER Quick Review

 

Opening night!

 

AMERICAN HORROR STORY
This was the first maze we hit with basically no wait thanks to Early Entry, and I don't think the maze was fully "on" yet. From what I could tell, the trigger scares weren't working during the Murder House sequence, which made the scares fall flat for the first 1/3 of the maze. The best part is the Freak Show section, from the sets to the costumes and the scares. If you're a fan of Twisty, he's all over the place in here. I'm less familiar with the Hotel season to compare to it, but that was a decent section too and I actually got the biggest scare in the whole maze right at the end. If you're a fan, don't miss it, but in my opinion, this was a good maze but there's much better ones this year.
'B'

 

KRAMPUS
Another maze with no wait during Early Entry. Don't forget to give the Twitter password to the mailman out front for a special postcard. The facade and sets of this maze are hands down the best this year, with so much attention to detail, plus a lot of cool scareactor designs from Krampus himself and other creatures. There's scenes choked in fog and delightfully macabre imagery throughout, so if you like Halloween and Christmas mashed together, this is a great maze with some pretty big scares, plus the only maze heavy on the "creature feature" element. The whole night, this line sported the shortest wait, which is a shame but hopefully this catches on through word of mouth to be a lot of fun.
'A'-

 

FREDDY VS. JASON
If you love these two slashers, you're in for a treat as this is an original take on the match up between these two icons as it doesn't follow the movie, which was my favorite element. Making this an original story helped immerse my fanboy brain even further and to pay attention more to story elements, which ofcourse, got bigger scares out of me. With scenes that have scares coming from both sides as you're literally at points caught in the middle of their fight, this is not to be missed if you're a fan of either franchise, especially Nightmare on Elm Street since the maze is mainly Freddy-centric. P.S. The maze has two different endings, and I got the Freddy one, which I feel is more true to the story of the maze considering he's terrorizing Jason the whole way through haha.
'A'

 

HALLOWEEN: HELL COMES TO HADDONFIELD
One of the night's biggest surprises was this maze as I wasn't expecting much from it. The scares are pretty consistent and strong, plus it replicates the second movie pretty well, which I find to be one of the weaker entries to the franchise but if you're a fan of it, it has everything you'd probably want to see. However, the best part is the finale, which completely veers off and does something completely original which I won't spoil but let's just say it's really random, weird, and hauntingly beautiful for a Michael Myers maze. Everyone said "WTF," half in awe and the other half too confused to like it, but I loved it and it made the maze much better since I felt it was fairly standard at first, a B+ at most, but that end jumped it up to a --
'A'

 

ELI ROTH PRESENTS: TERROR TRAM
Now if you're a fan of Eli Roth, I don't know how much you'll get from this since I'm not sure what his touch on the tram exactly was. He's not in any of the videos and from what I know, he didn't direct or write any of them either. With that said, I think this is the best the Terror Tram has been since 2009, since it's very original and innovative in comparison to what it's been for the last half a decade. With many show scenes and set pieces, this gory clown trail is very entertaining but it gets bogged down by Universal not knowing how to operate the damn thing. With so many people crammed in all at once, this causes major back ups and at one point, there's literally a line in the middle of the thing just to get to the next portion, which ruins all the momentum and adrenaline the attraction built up. However, this is a really fun and freaky trip that only Horror Nights in Hollywood can provide while being on the backlot of a major motion picture studio on some of the world's most famous sets.
'A'

 

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: BLOOD BROTHERS
This was supposedly an "original sequel" to the movie that doesn't replicate the actual sequel to the franchise, but don't get too excited for that. This is actually just part 1 all over again, just reconfigured to be a bit scarier and darker than the maze in 2014 was (but nowhere near as good as the maze based on the remake was in '07 & '08 - which I consider the best maze of all time). With that aside, even though there's some good scares in here, this was my least favorite of the night but a lot of my group loved it the most. I just personally think there's more creative offerings in the other mazes.
'B'-

 

THE PURGE: GAUNTLET OF FEAR SCAREZONE
Do not forget to visit this little area as it's pretty awesome and will have no line to go through, but it's actually very much like an outside maze or like the Terror Tram. I got some major scares in here from the bushmen and a damn dude on stilts who somehow came out of nowhere. If lines are too long and you want a boost of adrenaline while on the upper lot, just run through this really quick (it's located in Universal Plaza, across from Shrek).

 

JABBAWOCKEEZ
I'm a fan of this kind of stuff, so my opinion is bias. So if you love dance crews and loud thumping music, this is a crowd pleasing detour to rest your feet for half an hour. It's similar to last year if you saw that one, almost too similar for my tastes, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Only see this late into the night if you've hit all the mazes or only have one left. Plan accordingly, as I said, it is a thirty minute show and can take a huge chunk of your time if you're trying to hit all the mazes.

 

THE EXORCIST
We decided to hit this right before closing because the line was long all night and figured we should do it last to ensure a short wait and we were right... it sported a 90 minute wait but was more like 10. As for the maze itself, it's going to be divisive. I've heard people say it's the worst, while others, myself included, will say it's hands down the best. It's easily my favorite of the year and maybe my second favorite of all time, while definitely the SCARIEST of all time, for me at least. I screamed "oh fuck" so many times and usually I'm very composed when going through mazes but I was practically shaking half way through. I had a very special experience though since nobody was in front of me and none of the scares were spoiled and I felt all alone for most of the way, getting targeted for every single scare. Design-wise, the maze is pretty lackluster - it's mostly dark rooms, animatronics/puppets/dummies and Reagan's room over and over again, but I think that works in this maze's benefit. Definitely do not miss this maze to get your own opinion on it as you may walk out like I did, terrified beyond belief... or you may hate it, but give it a shot haha.
'A'+

 

THE WALKING DEAD ATTRACTION
Luckily, we had time left over and we ran back up to the upper lot to hit this JUST as the park was about to close. I hadn't gone through this since it opened in July so I was fairly excited to go through. Unfortunately, it seemed like a lot of walkers were missing for the first 1/3 of the maze and I didn't get targeted for many of the scares. However, I thought set design-wise, the maze is pretty awesome. With that said, if you have to miss something, miss this since it's open year round and you can do it anytime.
'C'+

 

OVERALL
In my opinion, this is the best year Horror Nights has ever put together. ALL of the mazes are very strong and are all "can't miss" worthy. There's no weak ones in the batch and that's very exciting since a lot of good years were ruined by a bad egg (This Is The End maze last year, Clowns 3D the year before that). I will be heading back at least two more times, so do yourself a favor and make sure you experience it. If you've never gone before, this is the year to go. Keep in mind, the lines have been INSANE for opening weekend so you'll need to follow a very strict game plan and hustle from one maze to the next. I was VERY fortunate to see everything, including a show and go on a ride, and never have to wait more than 50 minutes but I know many others that can't say the same (I saw Exorcist had a wait time of 3 hours and 5 minutes at one point while FvJ and AHS were both 2 hours+). I have tips and secrets on the most effective game plan, but even that might not save you if Universal keeps overselling their event. See you in the fog!
'A'+

[DTH316]

I double posted so I thought I rectify the use of the thread! Hope you enjoy the review, this time with no spoilers.