First Time at HHN Hollywood Review

[wow]

So 2017 was my first time to ever go to HHN in Hollywood, and I was very nervous considering how badly the reviews were at first. I’ve been following this year since the leaked list and I loved this lineup, even after my most anticipated(The Conjuring) was cut. After experiencing the event I was pleasantly surprised with the results; it was better than I expected. So with that, here’s my review:

 

Mazes(in order of how I did them):

 

The Shining: After The Conjuring was scrapped, this moved up to my most anticipated maze. I had my doubts of how they would scale the hotel but this maze exceeded my expectations in every aspect; including scares. Walking up to the facade, we realized we were the first to go in since they had JUST opened the maze, and damn. The facade had sooo much dread and Murdy’s narration and the music helped build my nerves as we entered into the Overlook Maze. This maze did a great job of giving off the atmosphere of the movie, and I was nervous the whole way through. The only fault I can name about this maze was the Blood Elevator, everyone in my group agreed it looked awful. But besides that, the lack of black walls in this maze in relation to the other mazes was pretty good and I enjoyed The Shining. A+ 

 

Insidious: Beyond the Further: The Insidious movies have consistently scared me, and after hearing how good the first two mazes were I was excited to finally experience an Insidious maze. The facade looked amazing, but the cardboard cutouts were a little lame. The Insidious Chp 4 sections were the only parts of the maze that actually did anything for me, with the exception of the Bride in Black in the Chp 1 Section. Her strobe wasn’t working and I didn’t notice her until I saw a hand in front of me, she got me good. The ending of this maze had me running out and I thought this was the scariest maze of the night. I think Universal should’ve just made this an Insidious: The Last Key maze because the transitions from movie to movie was kinda clunky and there were soooo many black walls and red doors in this maze(only maze that I’ll give a black wall pass on though). A-

 

Ash vs Evil Dead: Before I went to the event, I watched a ton of clips from the show to get caught up. When me and my group got to the maze I was the only one who actually knew what AvED was. This maze was fun, but man they missed everything about this show. Ash’s trailer through Ash’s House was nice, but until the cabin it was just black walls. This maze felt like they forgot a lot of stuff from the show, and it lacked passion. My favorite scene from the show, “Hello Pussies”, only said “Hello” in the maze. I think this maze was too censored, didn’t use enough from the show, and just lacked. It was still a fun maze though, just wish they did more with it(I wish I could go to Orlando since it seems like they NAILED their AvED maze). C-

 

Saw: The Games of Jigsaw: This was in the same boat as Insidious for me, in that I could finally experience a highly praised maze that was returning to HHN. This maze had more to look at than to be scared by, but the cast in here that was scaring was AGGRESSIVE. Jigsaw’s Minions were in your face, followed you, and weren’t afraid to nearly touch you they were so close. Seeing the traps in real life was pretty cool, but I still couldn’t get over the aggressiveness of the pig heads. Even the ops jumped out. Had it not been for the scareactors and the smells, I could understand how this felt like a museum more than a maze; I guess I just got a lucky walkthrough. B

 

American Horror Story: Roanoke: To me, this was the second scariest season of AHS after Asylum so I was excited to see Roanoke get it’s own maze. This maze was amazing to look at, but it didn’t really give off the dangerous and terrifying vibe of the Blood Moon. The “woods” scenes were very short and I wish they longer, but they were cool to look at. All the actors playing the Butcher and Pig Man were great, but I felt like they were everywhere. For a maze dedicated to one season, I wish they could’ve utilized more characters from the season. Matt, Shelby, Dominic, and Scathach weren’t even in the maze; and Scathach was the character who caused everything so I was definitely expecting her there. The ending was ok, definitely overhyped though. This maze was pretty good, but it relied too heavily on the Pig Man and could’ve used a few more characters and maybe some less light in the tunnel scene. Since I’m a big fan of the show this ended up being my favorite of the night, but if they do Asylum or Coven next year I’m expecting a lot more. A

 

After AHS my group and I did rides and ate dinner as a cool down. Jurassic Park in the Dark was fun and those Simpsons doughnuts are amazing. 

 

Titans of Terror Tram: This was my first time ever doing the Terror Tram, so I didn’t dislike it as much as everyone else seems to. The Leatherface actors were all aggressive, and I had a ton of fun on the Terror Tram. Hopefully next year isn’t the Purge and they do something original. B

 

The Walking Dead: Jesus Christ I’m glad I never experienced any of the prior mazes. I know they aren’t the same, but this maze was abysmal and so boring compared to the rest that night. Beautiful sets and actors giving it their all though, that’s about all the compliments I have. D

 

The Horrors of Blumhouse: I was actually excited for this maze. Purge Section was fun, but not scary to me. I hope they give that franchise a break and just let it rest for a few years. Happy Death Day was ok, we missed a lot of the scares but the actors we did see were pretty scary. I watched Sinister earlier this month with a group of friends and we all agreed it was pretty scary, so I was SO excited for the Sinister section, and it was amazing. I wish Sinister 2 did well in theaters so a full on Sinister maze could’ve happened at one point or another; I just loved the creepiness and scariness of the Sinister section and I felt it proved its potential. The conga lines and the finale in this maze were terrible, what was Murdy thinking ending this maze with Big Daddy!? Had Sinister not been in the maze, I would’ve given it something in the D+ through C range but I had a blast here so I’ll give it something better. B-

 

Titans of Terror: This maze was pretty fun. I expected TCM to be the scariest Section since I’m terrified of Leatherface but Freddy and Jason wowed me. I was surprised by how much they could fit into the Waterworld Queue, so I applaud the design team on that. Fun maze with fun scares. A

 

Final Thoughts:

 

Only got to see Hell-O-Ween due to Early Entry, so not gonna review the scarezones. Overall, I thought this year was fun, but the amount of black walls was bad. I’m expecting 2018 to be amazing with the potential of AHS Asylum, Conjuring, Halloween, and maybe The Strangers all happening in the same year. 

 

A- Overall

 

 

Side Note On Conjuring: After experiencing the event I’m glad Conjuring was scrapped. The property deserves better than hallways of black walls and I’m hoping that when it comes eventually they do it justice; this year definitely wasn’t its year.