Cool Coolington's Opening Night Review

[CoolCoolington]

Okay so I'm new to posting in the forums, but I've been following y'all for probably about 7 years and this is my 11th year going to HHN.

 

I went opening night by myself and haven't read other reviews so my opinion has not been swayed. I went through all houses and scare zones except SAW and Blumhouse which i will update when i go back next weekend! 

 

Some spoilers!

 

SCAREZONES: 

 

The only one worth mentioning was Trick r' treat which was fantastic. Also the chainsaw clowns were awesome but they aren't a listed scare zone? Others were alright. Invasion costumes were too campy for me.  Better than some years before. I happy camper 7/10 

 

HOUSES:

 

EXPECTED TOP 3

1.Dead Waters

2. Shining

3. Fallen

 

TOP 3 

1. Scarecrow

2. AHS

3. Ash vs. Evil Dead

 

Ill go in order of the website

 

 

THE SHINING 5/10

 

Seriously no hotel exterior. Im not fully disappointed. The actors did great and had cool hideouts and costumes, but I'm a Scenery > Scares kinda guy and i expected a better facade and massive feel to this. I think they took to many notes from the Exorcist (Which worked well and i fooking loved). The repeat of the doors is eh. This house just didn't slap. Not many rooms stood out. Just wallpaper and hedges. Ill have to go through a few more times, maybe i was just tired being this was the second to last house i did.  

 

SAW 

 

Didn't get a chance to go through. I have super high hopes for this. I assume this is where all the gore is at because the rest of the event left me wanting bloodier scenes 

 

AMERICAN HORROR STORY 9/10

 

Slaps! Just when i was questioning this year! This was the last one i went through. They provided a cool facade nice use of projectors and tv's to introduce the seasons and though they didnt do all the scene i wanted to see they made a badass haunted house. Scary, Scenic and fun for fans of the series. (and a 20 minute wait [not including the second line lol]) 

 

HORRORS OF BLUMHOUSE 

 

Missed it (was originally planning on saving for return visit). Low expectations

 

ASH VS. THE EVIL DEAD 8/10

 

Now off the bat it was cool (nice party/fun vibe). Love the fire effect outside. The actors pull off the look and feel well. Every room felt like a live show. I wasn't crazy about it at first but its like one of those movies you watch and don't love immediately and then the next day find yourself thinking about it. Driving home i realized how much i liked this house and just like the show the gore made it stand out. Its no "Leave it to Cleaver" though, but Cool Coolington is happy  :-)

 

DEAD WATERS 7/10

 

This was my most anticipated! The scenery was there. The facade was super duper sick. The tilted floor was sick but i expected more blood/ sacrifice. It felt short. The costumes just were just not that cray. Also the mirrors were not well concealed and the swamp floor was way too obviously a rubber mat. Maybe i missed something here. Will have to revisit

 

FALLEN 4/10

 

I still didn't understand the theme before going in which is why i was like hell yeah this is gunna blow my mind. I left still not knowing the theme. Like i guess i get the hell, fallen angel thing. The costumes were cool but the atmosphere was weird to me. I liked Hades better. Should have been Gothicombs. 

 

SCARECROW 10/10

 

Kilt it! The scenery. The facade. The costumes. Not cheesy like i expected. Actually scared me. Im a sucker for the drop panel paintings. Huge assortment of HHN iconic effects (Pitch black room, Mirror Corn field etc) Everything flowed. I wub this one <3 

 

THE HIVE 5/10

 

Did anyone else keep running into things! Not terrible. I figured this would be the "eh good enough" house and was hoping to be wrong but it was the "eh good enough" house. Nothing too memorable. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2017 by CoolCoolington
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[duh1011]

Great review! I appreciate the level of detail you went into; just enough to give us more to look forward to! Glad to see you liked most of what you went through, and I'm looking forward to the finished review if you so choose to finish it with the last two houses

[Pandry]

Good review and I mirror most of your remarks. I thought Hive was pretty badass.  It felt cramped like Scarecrow and I absolutely loved the look of the vampires.

The Scarecrow actors were everywhere and it felt like a constant onslaught.  Loved it.  I didn't even have a chance to pay attention to the sets.

 

Trick R Treat was visually stunning.  Old school pumpkins back.  I didn't notice a whole lot of scareactors but it didn't matter as it was just such a great Halloween themed area.  Purge seems the same as two years ago.  But I liked how they had more live victims running around that would be randomly chased down and accosted.  I only went through Alters early and it was a waste.  Wouldn't have known it was a scarezone.  Just seemed like an advertisement area.  Invasion was very small and felt like just two character types - and not many at that.  Chainsaw clowns in Springfield were great and really giving it their all.  Walked through Festival on the way out and it was meh.  However, it's opening night and it's clear the storm still has an impact.  I know they'll all improve.  They always do.