Freak's Reviewtazm (Because I Gotta Put a "Z" in there Somewhere!)

[Freak]

Finally went to HHN last night. Did early entry and managed to hit up Krampus, FVJ, and Halloween twice. Early entry was great except that the day light kinda ruined the effects for some of the houses. It was nice though to knock out 2/3s of the content by seven. Lines got pretty bad around eight since it was sold out night,but early entry helped to get everything done. Now here is my overall synopsis of the mazes (Keep in mind some spoilers are ahead if you're still worried about them). 

 

American Horror Story: Don't care about the show, but I understand how the show works. Sets were pretty cool and I liked the transitions with the video screen archways. The boo holes seemed to have the same problem with FDTD in 2014 in that you could see where the actors would pop out from a distance as soon as you entered the room. I didn't really get any great scares in here. Maybe next time I'll get a better run-through, but for now, it's the weakest house of the event for me. Not TiTE bad, but could be better. Again, sets were good and had some small jumps at least. Overall: C

 

Krampus: I like how a lot of the rooms gave you the impression that you were inside of a house. There were some pretty good scares in here for me. Some scares you could easily see from the other end of the room which was annoying, but I at least liked some of the more unique scares in there like the snowman and the giant doll trying to scare you. Although not as bad as AHS, I didn't like that some of the scares you could see when entering the scene. Overall: B

 

Freddy Vs. Jason: Too bad this didn't make it into 747, but I don't think it would have made a difference anyway. I think this house had the best set design in any of the houses and the best scares. There were some really cool FX in there like the disappearing wall that turned into the boiler room. The only thing I really didn't like about the house was how the "twisting" lighting effect that was used in TiTE and Krampus was used twice in here. I get that it's a good transition tool, but something better cold have been done. Well, aside from that, this was the best house of the event for me. Great scares, well-done sets, and cool effects. Oh, and I liked this better than Orlando's rendition last year. I just wished that they could've included the underwater scene from Orlando's. That was great. Overall: A

 

The Exorcist: I knew that there was absolutely no way that this maze would meet the hype after all of the talk of this being Murdy's possible magnum opus. I mean, he's been wanting to do this for over a decade so there's no way it will fail, right? EP night reviews set my expectations low, but I actually liked this a lot more than I thought I would. I could see why people would hate this since more than half the maze is all black walls. Although I usually hate the black walls, I'm willing go easy on that aspect since the whole point of it was to "feel demon possessed" and take inspiration from the banned trailer. The room where everything was moving everywhere had some neat effects. I liked it more than I thought I would. Pretty good. Overall: B

 

Halloween: Hell Comes to Hattonfield: This is a close second for my favorite house. Got some great scares from Michael and the sets were great. I really felt like I was walking through the neighborhood and through the hospital. The ending was amazing. Don't have much else to say except that it was great. Overall: A

 

Eli Roth Presents: Terror Tram: Every. Single. Year. The Terror Tram SUCKS. It sucked less last year, but before it was always bloody terrible. It felt like they weren't even trying. This year I thought it was actually….okay. I got one really good scare, but I feel like I would have liked it more if I had a more pleasant experience, which I'll get to soon. They actually changed things up, which I'm really happy to see. The containers helped to deliver more scares and allowed for a few props to make things feel different. Now for the rant: The alternate paths are helpful to disperse the crowds when it gets packed, but when I went, it was light. Would not have made much difference where you would go. What really pissed me off is that they FORCED me to take the lame extra path they set up with nothing there. I wanted to go inside the clown mouth, but the attendant wouldn't allow me to go in there even if there was only SIX PEOPLE GOING THROUGH AND I WAS BY MYSELF. C'mon. If there's no one around, you SHOULD be allowed to pick where you can go. That's so stupid. I appreciate how they changed this up, but that stupid experience ruined it for me. Overall: C

 

The Walking Dead: Didn't bother. Line was too long. Just the same with more walkers anyway.

 

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Blood Brothers: After the abysmal TCM: Saw is the Law in '12, I didn't have very high expectations. This was the underdog for me. The guy at the beginning was AWESOME. He really delivered it for his acting. The whole house was very tight-spaced and in-your-face, allowing for great scares. Sets were not bad either. I doubt this was as good as Back in Business (Which I never saw) but was way better than '12. Very good. Overall: B

 

The Purge: Gauntlet of Fear: This was such a nice bonus for me when lines got too long. Scareactors were great and was really cool. The only thing is….what the heck is up with the Mummy props in there? Overall: B

 

Jabawockeez: I'll see it on my return visit next week.

 

Overall: I think this is my favorite event content wise. While there were a couple of things that were just good at best (TT and AHS), everything else was great. Very solid year. Oh, and I loved the mac and cheese bacon grilled cheese sandwich. Look forward to trying the tater tot nachos and the smores sandwich. I look forward to my future returns. 

[foodstampsFTW]

I meant to write my rant on the new terror tram movement but I was at Disneyland all of today but you nailed it. I starting walking towards the containers with no one in front of me and they made me walk back and take the shit path. People will generally move towards the shorter line, they don't have to do anything other than leave up to people's choice, there won't be any major backup. This wouldn't matter if they were the same, but they're not, one path is clearly better than the other. Also kinda agree with you on the 5pm early entry as especially some scene in FvJ are bad during the day. 

[AsylumSB]

Good review, Freak!  I agree with much of your observations (except TCM:SIL).  American Horror Story was aesthetically pleasing but scares were sparse.  We were able to choose our own way during a few runs through Terror Tram (even though the staff directed guests to a particular path),  Have fun on your second run...I admire you local folks for the ability to visit more than once...its a great event.