Comfortably Numb: HHN 2015 part deux (a review for 2016)

[YourPallbearer]

Maybe I'm just over this event ...

Maybe my interests have evolved (or de-evolved) past it ...

Maybe I'm burnt out ...

Or maybe the emperor isn't wearing his clothes.

 

My thoughts of last year's event can be summed up with the following---

All the houses (the heart of the event) were solid but there wasn't a showstopper among them.

 

---- and that pretty much evokes the feeling I'm getting from this year (2016-You Won't Stand A Chance). Did THE RUSH OF FEAR, did everything the first night, left early the second (tonight), and still have one more evening to go (tomorrow).

We left early because of weather. Rained for three hours straight. Got drenched. We all had seen everything the previous evening so we did not feel compelled to stick it out repeating stuff while uncomfortable. So we opted to leave around 10:00 pm, and there lies the problem. It's just not compelling enough. Most of the houses (with the exception of Chance's) are solid vehicles but none are "wowzers" (Though some houses come close). Even some of the lesser years (2012, 2013) had one or two houses that were worth stopping the presses for (Gothic and American Werewolf respectively). This year, nuthin', nada.

With the second consecutive year of this (I'm sure) unplanned vibe I feel that the event is becoming comfortably numb. 

I'll write some details when I'm not bone tired.
Maybe tomorrow (our last day) I see it in a different light and change my mind? I hope so.

Edited October 6, 2016 by YourPallbearer

[criticalanalysis]

On 10/2/2016 at 1:06 AM, YourPallbearer said:

All the houses (the heart of the event) were solid but there wasn't a showstopper among them.

 

 

Other than TCM I agree, nothing stood out as being "wow" this year. Besides TCM, most were "good," which disappoints.

[YourPallbearer]

Didn't see anything too special about it (TCM) really but I only went on it once (was the most popular tent house they times I was there, wasn't about to wait 100 minutes to go on it again).

It was a solid, perfectly fine, house but it didn't stun me. Thought Halloween 2  was a wee bit more interesting (even though the hospital scenes became monotonous before the fire-y finale).

Was disappointed with Ghost Town (to the point where I think the original was actually better, though my memory of it is near nonexistent), great looking sets but the grandeur of slowly making your way towards the town itself (present in the 2004 original) was missing. Big minus for me. The outskirts consisted of a gallows and a wagon but behind those you can clearly see you were in a soundstage, which spoiled the atmosphere (the same happened with Krampus' facade; why was there a grandma rug on the floor?). The rain segment was brief but effective and the actors did the best they could with the material that was given but, frankly, popping out and firing a pistol at a guest's head is surprisingly not that frightening, and when it is accompanied by cliche dialogue like "take that Pinkerton!" and "stay away from my gold", it got stale pretty quick ("I'm putting you below snakes" would've been lame but at least it would've been a pleasant surprise). Have to give props; they sure did double down on the guns this time around, last time I distinctly remember there being a lack of firearms. Odd considering we're living in much more intolerant times for boomsticks. 
-----I ran through it four times and each of those times it was pretty empty, nowhere is this more evident than the main drag. 
Overall, the house could've been the next Gothic in terms of awe but it falls really short considering the aforementioned reasons, bummer.

Edited October 6, 2016 by YourPallbearer
typo

[YourPallbearer]

American Horror Story-
Long and baggy. An endless amount of scenes where somebody is getting eviscerated or some variant of that. Going in-between the circus wagons, during the sideshow segment, was the only memorably thing about it for me, and maybe I'd include that room with the multiple gimps. Would've probably understood the house a little more if I hadn't ducked out of watching the show after season one. What a laughable piece of crap that program is. With the multitude of adult-minded entertainment that is being produced during television's second golden age one would think the masses would latch onto something that isn't a poorly written, structureless soap opera with a bunch lecherous, unlikable characters. 

 

Walking Dead-
No interest in discussing this pointless crap much further but I will say that out of all the houses with this moniker I've been on (I opted out of two) this was the best one. Hopefully they won't bring it back and stuff any zombie related material in the back burner for the next decade (unless it is a sequel house to Dead Exposure. And even then that should live up to its predecessor).

 

Exorcist- This and Tomb of The Ancients  were "best in show" for me. With all the bedroom scenes it threatened (more than once) to get repetitive but somehow managed not to (also one touchy-feely-wall hall was great but two was a bit much). The spider-walk was done much better in Hollywood (in the most obvious way too), why they opted for a clunky looking/awkwardly positioned animatronic to be presented to guests so close is beyond me. Works best when coming down a stairwell you see above you in a wider space, not coming out of a closet-looking aperture right in front of you; wasted opportunity. The incorporation of the stone Pazuzu statue was a well played hand. And the Reagan's I saw were all great and were convincing as 12 year old girls. Aside from the gripes this house gets good marks.

 

Tomb Of The Ancients- Good house. Reminded me of an Egyptian version of The Hallows from 2008, lots of filaments and things hanging off the ceiling, claustrophobic environments and lots of weird creatures getting up close and personal. The glowing rune scene has to be the best bit, getting attacked on all sides is always good. 

 

Lunatics Asylum- Don't care about 3-D houses and this is no different. Just seems like an easy way to add an extra house and save on a bit of money. The best of these they've done in recent memory has got to be The Inbetweeners and I didn't like that all that much either. It's been the first time an icon has had a house in a really long time (I don't count last year's recycle house as "Jack's House"), wish they would've have treated the material better.

 

Krampus- Winter houses are always fun. Christmas' houses are even better (although this falls way short of the majesty that was Pyschoscarepy: Home for the Holidays) and this was no exception. However ---- a live Krampus should've really been in the house though. Disappointing to see all these inanimate dummies. The huge mis-opportunity here though was the snowman room. Why couldn't we trudge between several of these guys?

http://dragonmecha3000.tumblr.com/post/132832609445

 

Scare Zones---
 

Banshee's Lair: Time come up with something different. Interchangeable zone with Grown Evil  and a number of other vine stricken areas we've seen in the recent past. Why didn't they have a flying banshee on a wire or something? The zone is pretty but it's also pretty been- there-done-that.

 

Dead Man's Wharf- Nice looking. Foggy. All good stuff. The downside is it was cramped. Get a big crowd in there (which is almost always) and it isn't as effective. Minor quibble.

 

Chance-talkathon--- Ran through this quite a bit but didn't stick around. Looked like a photo-op. And not as elaborate as 2010's or even last year's.

 

Vamp '55- Good zone that was probably one more float away from being an all time fav. Enjoyed walking around and watching guests interacting with the characters. 

 

Survive or Die--- Same problem ailing Lair of the Banshee.

The same, barely redressed, theme in the same location year in and year out. Time to move on from post-apocalyptic. Come up with something else--- and better. 

 

Edited October 6, 2016 by YourPallbearer

[criticalanalysis]

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

Was disappointed with Ghost Town (to the point where I think the original was actually better, though my memory of it is near nonexistent), great looking sets but the grandeur of slowly making your way towards the town itself (present in the 2004 original) was missing. Big minus for me. The outskirts consisted of a gallows and a wagon but behind those you can clearly see you were in a soundstage, which spoiled the atmosphere

 

Entirely agree. Here's the original facade with soundstage lighting, no audio, no actors:

 

 

Compare that to the new one:

 

 

The new one is shorter, more boring, less expansive, looks "quicker" to design, and way too try hard (" LIGHTNIN' "), really? The original had a cowboy talking to the guests in a semi-serious, semi-threatening way. It was amazing! I don't recall any overly loud audio drowning out the house. It was fairly well let (not like the drab grey colors you see in a lot of HHN's houses today). You walked the entrance before you even entered the first room - making it feel like a town you entered. 

 

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

accompanied by cliche dialogue like "take that Pinkerton!" and "stay away from my gold", it got stale pretty quick

 

Tell me about it. Whoever comes up with and acts audio in these events is awful. Every "scream" sounds fake, every "line" sounds ridiculous and cheesy.

 

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

Have to give props; they sure did double down on the guns this time around, last time I distinctly remember there being a lack of firearms.

 

Disagree with the comment you made after this sentence, but yes I am THRILLED they had a spine at least in terms of this. Really, really good job.

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

With the multitude of adult-minded entertainment that is being produced during television's second golden age one would think the masses would latch onto something that isn't a poorly written, structureless soap opera with a bunch lecherous, unlikable characters. 

 

Absolutely agree. It does not translate to a house. Feels like a scarezone in here, and more a photo-op one than anything else. Nothing in this house impressed me. It didn't feel "long", the transitions between seasons were awful, it was absolutely not scary, and it feels like a house stay at home moms would like.

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

The spider-walk was done much better in Hollywood (in the most obvious way too), why they opted for a clunky looking/awkwardly positioned animatronic to be presented to guests so close is beyond me.

 

In general I don't know why they had such poor looking fake Reagan's. The spider-walk was awful (should have designed a contraption to make an actress do it. They had a year to do it). The head-spinning looked ridiculously stupid constantly spinning, spinning, spinning in a huge octagon (why?) room with zero other actors in it. Should've had a realistic body with an actual actress on a spinning contraption they can manually control sit in it with amazing makeup. The floating room was pretty well done but it should've been an actress floating (I don't care how they have to accomplish it, it should've been done). 

 

10 hours ago, YourPallbearer said:

The incorporation of the stone Pazuzu statue was a well played hand.

 

I think they had a unique idea on how to incorporate it but it would've been much better implemented if it were the first thing you entered into the soundstage (why was it not cold, either?). Then transition to the house.

 

I do agree with you the actresses were into it.

[Jediwhit82]

I've been going for 3 years now and this was the first time I have seen post apocalyptic.

[YourPallbearer]

4 hours ago, criticalanalysis said:

1.Disagree with the comment you made after this sentence

 

 2.it feels like a house stay at home moms would like.

 

3.I think they had a unique idea on how to incorporate it but it would've been much better implemented if it were the first thing you entered into the soundstage (why was it not cold, either?). Then transition to the house.

 

 

1. Though guns are being bought more than ever today, the other 50% of the country is completely grossed out by them to the point where many are calling for the heads of law abiding gun owners (in some cases quite literally). A bit intolerant if you ask me. "common sense gun control" is just a movable goal post to get rid of all the weapons. Look what happened to smoking if you don't believe me. 

Something else I'd like to add to Ghost Town ----- the schoolmarm scene should've had two rows of desks you walk between. Could've had a few fun nods to Schoolhouse. 

 

2. Yep. It's mostly housewives that watch the show.

 

3. Like two facades? The temple and then the house?

And yes, it absolutely should've been cold in those rooms. Forgot about that. I do not know how easy it would be to chill a particular room though ... 

1 hour ago, Jediwhit82 said:

I've been going for 3 years now and this was the first time I have seen post apocalyptic.

 

Walking Dead: Fall of Atlanta (2013): Dystopian landscape (element/sub-genre of post-apocalyptic; not quite the same thing but close enough).

 

Purge (2014)- Dystopian future.

 

Psychoscareapy Unleashed (2015): You're right. But humans running amuck, unchecked, and destroying property and life seems to be a staple in that area.

 

I guess what I meant to say is they've done the theme too many times here for it to be effective for a repeat customer.

ACID ASSAULT

SAWS AND STEAM

APOCALYPSE: CITY OF CANNIBALS

^ Three post-apocalyptic themes done in the same area three years in a row. 

 

 

[YourPallbearer]

The last excellent year was 2011. No bad houses and at least half were marvels (Nightingales, Poe, The Forsaken, Winter's Night). They even experimented not only with scare zone placement (Canyon) but with scare zones themselves (NightMaze). The only real flaw in the event was the theme itself. Kinda weak. The houses did not scream with a gambling or Las Vegas attitude. A lot of the houses were, oddly, historically minded (which I loved). Maybe the gambling aspect could've been enhanced by not being allowed to know which house you were entering until you were already inside? Just have a big question mark on the map signifying where a house is but you don't know which one. That edges close to a game of chance. I understand why something like that couldn't be done though. 

[Pandry]

On 10/6/2016 at 2:01 PM, YourPallbearer said:

The last excellent year was 2011. No bad houses and at least half were marvels (Nightingales, Poe, The Forsaken, Winter's Night). They even experimented not only with scare zone placement (Canyon) but with scare zones themselves (NightMaze).

 

And 2011 was also the last time Sting Alley was utilized. I still don't understand this. Such a simple area. Enclosed so fog hangs. Easy scares. I used to love going through the alley over and over just because of the great atmosphere.