HHNManics Opening Night Hollywood Review

[HHNManics]

Alright gonna start 3... 2... 1...

So I arrived around 3pm and waited in line for Early Entry. I was kinda Excited and was looking forward to this year. We entered the park and went to Harry potter. Got butterbeer. And headed to the Backlot where we first did AVED.

Ash Vs Evil Dead: 
I was really looking forward to this one after it got announced and all the good stuff I heard about it. After seeing it this truly is the worst maze since TITE3D. Not as bad. But it's pretty bad. I like the facade. I like the Ash's home facade along with the Cabin. A few costumes are cool. And a few Scares are good. This maze is so bland. It lacks ANY Comedy or charm the TV Show has. The Maze has more black walls than actually scenes in the Maze. The Scares are alright. The Sets are alright. The Costumes are alright. There is a heavy unbalance with the content in the Maze from Season 1 and 2. Being Season 1 heavy and missing a ton of stuff. It's not exciting at all to walk through. The Maze is just bad. I disliked it a lot. I'm leaning towards the original Maze was supposed to be Original Trilogy but that didn't happen which explains why we got what we got. Hopefully Murdy can do it in the Future and actually make a Good Evil Dead maze but this isn't a good one rather a bland and really bad one.

Set Design: 2.5/5
Costumes: 2.5/5
Scares: 2.5/5
Overall: C-

The next maze we hit was Saw: The Games of Jigsaw...

Saw: The Games of Jigsaw:
The Maze was alright. Fun but alright. It's pretty fun overall though. The Maze has absolutely no scares at all or tension aside from one scene. The Maze isn't as creative or crazy as I thought it could be. Soundtrack is eh... The Maze needed more interactive traps like the Barbed Wire Scene or the Hallway with Saws from Jigsaw. The Trap from Jigsaw is arguably the best part of the Maze but it felt incredibly unique. The Traps are kinda cool. Sets are good and Costumes are good. The Maze is fun but overall it's alright.

Set Design: 3/5
Costumes: 3/5
Scares: 0/5
Overall: B-

Next up we hit was AHS.

American Horror Story:
I'm not the biggest fan of Roanoke. But it did make a pretty amazing maze. The Scares are fantastic. Very tense maze. The Sets are amazing and the Costumes are incredible. The Maze is a lot of fun and very enjoyable. I like the inside Facade and the ending is good. Found that it relied too heavily on Pig Man for Scares but aside from that it's the best maze in the Backlot and beats last year's maze.

Set Design: 4.5/5
Costumes: 5/5
Scares: 4/5
Overall: A

We went back to the Lower Lot and while friends did Mummy ride me and another friend did Shining.

The Shining:
My god. So I loved it. So much. Might be my favorite Maze tied with Shadowlands from KSF. Maybe I'm hyping it up but it was truly perfect. The Black Hallways in this Maze are for Scares which don't annoy. Black Walls annoy me when they are used for transitions like AVED. There is one at the start but it's to transition from Hedge Maze into the Hotel. The Maze has amazing scares, Sets, and Costumes. First maze where the ground has had so much detail for me. The Maze has the amazing soundtrack going. Along with amazing moments like the Gold Room and the Here's Johnny Scene. The Ending is a perfect way to end off the Maze. The Facade is great. I loved the Maze so much. It's incredibly accurate to the Film and it's pretty fun. I loved it so much. The best Maze at HHN this year IMO.

Set Design: 5/5
Costumes: 5/5
Scares: 5/5
Overall: A+

We headed up to the Upper Lot and decided to go do the Terror Tram.

Terror Tram: 
Really short and bad. The Story makes no sense. The Jason Section is the best part but Freddy's Section was way too uninteresting and bad. Leatherface's Section is pretty short. The Scares are bad, Costumes are fine, Set Design is fine. Chucky looks awful with his Chainsaw Guys at the start and he had little to do with the Terror Tram. The Video at the end where Chucky threatened to kill us unless the Studio Manager promoted "Cult of Chucky" made me cringe so hard it made me not want to do
Terror Tram ever again. It's really really bad.

Set Design: 3/5
Costumes: 3/5
Scares: 1/5
Overall: C-

Then we went over to the plaza and decided to do the Horrors of Blumhouse.

The Horrors of Blumhouse:
I liked it a lot. The Purge section is the best part as it is fun and creative. It's pretty enjoyable. The Ending is cool. The Happy Death Day Section was eh I feel like I will like it more over time or when I see the Film. I actually really liked the Sinister Section. The Scares are meh. The actors haven't hit their beat yet but they will get better over time. However one scare actor in Sinister got me really good (The Bugul that comes out of the projector). There is some annoying black walls in the Maze along with as I said before HDD Section and Scares were meh. I feel like I will really love this maze in the future but for right now I really liked it and thought it was great!
Set Design: 4/5
Costumes: 4/5
Scares: 2.5/5
Overall: B+

Then we did Titans.

Titans of Terror:
Best Facade this year. Little to no black walls. Amazing Maze. I think it might be better than FVJ. The Maze is incredible. The Sets are amazing, along with scares, and Costumes. Has a lot of charm and Easter eggs that are amazing. The ending is amazing. It's a lot of fun. For a replacement maze this was perfect and absolutely phenomenal.

Set Design: 5/5
Scares: 5/5
Costumes: 5/5
Overall: A+

Finally we headed to Lower Lot and did Insidious.

Insidious: Beyond the Further:
Insidious was a lot of fun. I loved it. Got the card with the Password and entered the Maze. The Maze has some Fantastic Sets, Costumes, and Scares. Scares are incredible in the Maze. Happy they did one scene from the other chapters because people have seen them twice before. The "Insidious The Last Key" Section was amazing and quite fun. The Maze feels different than The Previous two versions very different. The Ending was pretty scary and nice. The Maze is better than 2013's Version but not as good as 2015's. Only issue is that there is a lot black walls but aside from that I loved the Maze.

Set Design: 4/5
Scares: 5/5
Costumes: 4.5/5
Overall: A

The Walking Dead:
Didn't care.

Jabbawockeez:
Didn't care.

Urban Inferno: A+ (A lot like Dark Christmas, loved it)
Toxic Tunnel: F (Reused Exterminatorz Costumes, too many strobe lights, Hated it)
Hell-O-Ween: B- (Cool Costumes, Scare Actors were Good, Sets were Good, No flame towers, energy was gone)

Rankings:
1. Shining
2. TOT
3. Insidious
4. AHS
5. BOH
6. Saw
7. AVED

Overall Event Grade: B

 

This year isn't as good as 2016. Not at all. But I do think The Shining and Titans of Terror are both very much the same quality as the best mazes last year if not possibly better.

Edited September 17, 2017 by HHNManics

[Sheev4Senate]

Glad to see a positive review of the event! Puts my worries a little more at ease.

[Barbie06]

2 hours ago, Sheev4Senate said:

Glad to see a positive review of the event! Puts my worries a little more at ease.

Haha same here!

[Mr.HHN]

But Ash vs Evil Dead is the best maze!

[dykealiscious]

I think what scares a person differs so much from one person to another that it's really hard to guide people as to whether or not they should spend/waste their money on these events. I have friends who can't stand being startled, and wouldn't remember a single detail about a maze because they were too busy being scared to death by people jumping out at them, and that was enough to give something an "A" rating. And others who aren't startled easy but maybe get really queesy around blood and guts. Some people rate things on the IP, movie, tv show, etc., fanboys, others are more into the art of the whole thing.

 

What I found out after going last year for the first time, is that the laughs and unpredictability of the experiences was all I needed to have a good time. Here's to hoping more of that this year.

[Heidi11223]

Curious what the password/card stuff is for the Insidious maze?? I'm going for my birthday on the 29th and would love to bring home a fun part of it if they are giving away something special! Is it something everyone knows and does? Or is it special thing that you have to know the password ahead of time and tell it to someone special to get the card? I haven't been to HHN since 2014 and I cannot wait to go! Thanks for the detailed reviews!

[DTH316]

2 hours ago, Heidi11223 said:

Curious what the password/card stuff is for the Insidious maze?? I'm going for my birthday on the 29th and would love to bring home a fun part of it if they are giving away something special! Is it something everyone knows and does? Or is it special thing that you have to know the password ahead of time and tell it to someone special to get the card? I haven't been to HHN since 2014 and I cannot wait to go! Thanks for the detailed reviews!

It's just a little fake business card, nothing really all that special on it. I could find pix, but I don't know if you want "spoilers." I liked when the password got you actual gifts, like from the mailman in Silent Hill. Even the Christmas cards last year for Krampus were at least pretty cool and interchangeable.

[Heidi11223]

18 hours ago, DTH316 said:

It's just a little fake business card, nothing really all that special on it. I could find pix, but I don't know if you want "spoilers." I liked when the password got you actual gifts, like from the mailman in Silent Hill. Even the Christmas cards last year for Krampus were at least pretty cool and interchangeable.

Oh ok... I didn't know they did anything like that at all! The Silent Hill and Krampus gifts sound really cool. I'd love to see pictures if you have any. I'm super bummed I missed Krampus, I bet that was an awesome maze! I loved that movie!