Eleven's Not-So-Scary Halloween Family Nights - review

[Primusjim]

HHN 28

 

Eleven's Not-So-Scary Halloween Family Nights

 

Really glad we bought the Rush of Fear pass this year instead of Ultimate Frequent Fear like we had the last several years. HHN28 was the weakest year since at least 23. There were no standout houses in the league of Dead Waters or Scarecrow. Everything came off as so tame and restrained. Very little gore, and without Bill and Ted, absolutely no adult humor, foul language and sexy scantily-clad performers. The whole event was very out of balance and is becoming too family friendly. The food choices sucked as well. This was my 18th year attending the event.

 

-Houses-

 

Slaughter Cinema (7.5 out of 10) The movie trailers on the Drive-in movie theater facade were fantastic. I wish they were available to watch on the HHN website. The cheesy style of this house was right down my alley. It was like a B-Movie original version of the Silver Screams house from several years back. I wonder why certain locations always have good houses. This tent location has been excellent for years, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hive, etc. Meanwhile, the "new" tent location on the other side of Men in Black has had the worst house of the year, every year. The dummy in the "Sorority Sacrifice" room that is wrapped in a tenticle is my favorite that I've ever seen them use in at HHN. I love the expression on it's face. Another great detail was the human heads that had been carved like Jack O' Lanterns in "Pumpkin Guts." "Schittie's Kids" was another favorite, such a great 80's pizza arcade vibe in that room. The giant puppet head in "Midnight Snacks 2: The House Swarming" is also great.

 

2 - Poltergiest (7 out of 10) Having the facade be the inside of the unfinished pool with the house above it was a stroke of genius. I wish they would have had a small Overlook Hotel in the distance over the hedge maze at the entrance to "The Shining" house last year. Walking through earthen tunnels with coffins popping out is nice, I wish they would have fixed all the holes in the walls that were letting light in, though. I loved the mirror scare immediately after you entered the home. Lots of great effects, giant puppets, scrims to make walls disappear and move. I do think they went overboard with fans and rain.

 

3 - Dead Exposure 2 (7 out of 10) HHN has never been scary to me, I mainly go to enjoy the quality of the sets and costumes. But this house did manage to make me a little uneasy. You're concentrating so hard on figuring out where you're going that it's pretty easy for the scareactors to get the jump on you. From what I recall, the original Dead Exposure house didn't have much in the way of sets, so this is a big improvement in my eyes. Not super-detailed, but I like the way they had almost "Sin City" like highlights on everything. We managed a solo run through this house one night near 2 AM and it was pretty excellent.

 

4 - Scary Tales 3 (7 out of 10) Good facade, although I wish they could have done something to make the Wicked Witch's safety cable a little less visible. Amazing sets and costumes, some great smells. A very solid sequel house.

 

5 - Stranger Things (6.5 out of 10) No facade, that's unacceptable. I like how the house starts at the very beginning of the first episode. I like the incredible sets. I like the lookalike characters. I don't like that most of the demigorgans are just standing in the open with zero attempts at scares. With them being visible for so long, it's way too obvious that its just a tall dude in a tight bodysuit with a mask that sticks off at the shoulders. Always being fully upright doesn't help either. The lab scene with the glowing portal was beautiful.

 

6 - Trick or Treat Scarezone: The House (6 out of 10) I feel like my enjoyment for this maze is much lower because we just saw this IP as a Scare Zone last year. It's a well put together house based on a good movie, but I couldn't help walking through and looking at all the props and costumes that we had already seen last year. Just comes off as lazy and cheap. I fear we'll have a similar situation with "Killer Clowns from Outer Space" next year. Great facade inside the parade building, but it does make the retelling of the story feel jumbled and out of order. The disappearing Sam at the top of the stairs is a great effect. That exit line for this and "Seeds of Extinction"  - holy crap is that awful. My wife and I hauled ass around the park to get to the next attraction, we love walking. Exiting these houses was unbearably slow and lengthy.

 

7 - Carnival Graveyard (6 out of 10) This was an interesting and unique maze, I'm not sure why it never really blew me away. Maybe I just got annoyed with having to dodge the hefty amounts of water from the two guest activated triggers. The "Bungee Clown" overhead was always entertaining and there is a fantastic mirror fake-out near the end, but other than that, it was just okay.

 

8 - Seeds of Extinction (4 out of 10) No real facade. The walkways are too cramped to make for a convincing shopping mall. I think this is supposed to be a house in the same vein as "Scarecrow" and "Temple of the Ancients" and that's why everything is made to be claustrophobic, but it pulled me out of the experience. Plus, too much camo-netting was used and it was very obvious. The plant monsters didn't work either, not a fan.

 

9 - Halloween 4 (2 out of 10) *sigh* The last two Halloween mazes, based off the first two movies were excellent, especially the way they showed the hospital explosion and aftermath in the second one. But Halloween 4 is a terrible movie. There was no one out there asking for a haunt based on Halloween 4. This only happened because they already had all of the costumes and sets. It took no money or effort, and it shows. Looks cheap as hell. No facade. What is up with the lighting effect that flips between the guy in the hospital gown and Michael Myers? Is that supposed to blow our minds? "Woah, the big guy in the house based on a Halloween movie that is breaking necks is secretly Michael Myers?!"

 

10 - Blumhouse 2 (0 out of 10) Last year's Blumhouse maze sucked and no one wanted another one, but we got one anyways and it also sucked. A terrible haunt based on two terrible movies. Please stop it with the Purge already. Just awful.

 

-Scarezones-

 

Scarezones have been kind of useless for years. Ever since they became Selfie Zones, they are just annoying bottlenecks that keep us from the next attraction. This year was weirder than usual, the zones weren't evenly distributed around the park, leaving nothing but roaming chainsaw hoards in the whole back half.

 

1 - Killer Klowns from Outer Space (7 out of 10) Really impressive costumes and props from a super-cheesey movie shoehorned into a very small area. We loved the bubbles filled with smoke and the giant silhouette on the side of the building. Too bad they'll ruin it by giving us a house next year, based on the scarezone, based on the movie.

 

2 - Vamp 85: New Year's Eve (6.5 out of 10) This was a fun zone. With the 80's tunes and 80's musicians and icons as vampires, plus a decent stage show. The New York area of the park is great for scarezones. Because it's so open, it never really gets super congested like the other areas.

 

3 - Twisted Tradition (4 out of 10) We all love when they use the Jack O' Lanterns in the trees in this area, so that's cool. Other than that, there is very little to differentiate this zone from the Trick R' Treat zone from last year. My wife even thought they'd recycled the kids' costumes from last year's Trick R Treat zone. Some nice costumes and decorations, but mostly just an infuriatingly slow walk.

 

4 - Revenge of Chucky (3 out of 10) Didn't really do anything for me. The stage show was just okay. Some of the walkaround characters were pretty disturbing.

 

5 - The Harvest (1 out of 10) Waste of space. Weird displays for all of the IP houses with Scarecrow characters walking around? Felt like and afterthought. They can do a fun scarezone in this area if they try, "Scary Tales: Screampunk" from HHN25 was cool.

 

-Show-

 

- Academy of Villains: Cyberpunk (-69 out of 10) I hated pretty much everything about this show. As a big Bill and Ted fan, there was a very slim chance of me enjoying Cyberpunk, but the first Aov show was pretty good and the second was okay. The Iconic Fear Factor stage was a terrible venue for this dance show, it worked much better on the streets where people could move around if they were so inclined. The music was incredibly bad, and the T2:3D storyline was Dead on Arrival. Every segment of the show felt like it overstayed it's welcome (except for the audience participation dance off.) It's like they made a ten minute show and then had to stretch it to 45 minutes. (Or however long it was, felt like hours.) Competent dancing, though.

[PeoriaBJJ]

Im not gonna lie... I laughed all the way thru this. I'm picturing someone that needs coffee ASAP!

 

But I definitely agree with you on plenty.... H4 was blah, Blumhouse was just f**king awful, Slaughter Sinema was fantastic.... but giving Carnival Graveyard a 6??? For shame! I loved that maze! I didn't think this year was the strongest, but I def don't think it was the weakest ever. But you and I agree on plenty. Good review!

[zombieman]

22 hours ago, Primusjim said:

- Academy of Villains: Cyberpunk (-69 out of 10) I hated pretty much everything about this show. As a big Bill and Ted fan, there was a very slim chance of me enjoying Cyberpunk, but the first Aov show was pretty good and the second was okay. The Iconic Fear Factor stage was a terrible venue for this dance show, it worked much better on the streets where people could move around if they were so inclined. The music was incredibly bad, and the T2:3D storyline was Dead on Arrival. Every segment of the show felt like it overstayed it's welcome (except for the audience participation dance off.) It's like they made a ten minute show and then had to stretch it to 45 minutes. (Or however long it was, felt like hours.) Competent dancing, though.

 

FINALLY someone who liked this show more than I did

[StupidStupidDan]

1 minute ago, zombieman said:

 

FINALLY someone who liked this show more than I did

What, you didn't like the "cyber wave" and everyone doing the robot to fool the cyborgs?

[zombieman]

3 minutes ago, StupidStupidDan said:

What, you didn't like the "cyber wave" and everyone doing the robot to fool the cyborgs?

 

I was busy trying to gouge my eyes out with the forked straw I got with my drink.  

 

 

At least we know now the answer to the riddle: What do Cyberpunk and Fast & Furious have in common?

They both replaced far better attractions.

[OhHaiInternet95]

9 hours ago, PeoriaBJJ said:

Im not gonna lie... I laughed all the way thru this. I'm picturing someone that needs coffee ASAP!

 

But I definitely agree with you on plenty.... H4 was blah, Blumhouse was just f**king awful, Slaughter Sinema was fantastic.... but giving Carnival Graveyard a 6??? For shame! I loved that maze! I didn't think this year was the strongest, but I def don't think it was the weakest ever. But you and I agree on plenty. Good review!

I generally agree with him on CGY. A somewhat stronger version of Dungeon of Terror: Retold, IMO.

 

Biggest disagreement with the OP, as of right now, is Seeds.

Edited October 22, 2018 by OhHaiInternet95

[Primusjim]

1 hour ago, StupidStupidDan said:

What, you didn't like the "cyber wave" and everyone doing the robot to fool the cyborgs?

Those crowd participation images were impressively awful. But I did have a funny thought. If they do bring back Bill and Ted eventually (hopefully other people were demanding them back in the park-exit survey like I did, several times.) they could make fun of that aspect of the show pretty hard. I know the same director from the last several BnT shows also did Cyberpunk, but I just had this mental image of a butt appearing on a screen and everyone in the audience making fart noises.

9 hours ago, PeoriaBJJ said:

Im not gonna lie... I laughed all the way thru this. I'm picturing someone that needs coffee ASAP!

 

But I definitely agree with you on plenty.... H4 was blah, Blumhouse was just f**king awful, Slaughter Sinema was fantastic.... but giving Carnival Graveyard a 6??? For shame! I loved that maze! I didn't think this year was the strongest, but I def don't think it was the weakest ever. But you and I agree on plenty. Good review!

Yeah, as I said, I definitely feel like I should have enjoyed Carnival Graveyard more than I did, but it just never clicked for me.

[OhHaiInternet95]

5 minutes ago, Primusjim said:

Those crowd participation images were impressively awful. But I did have a funny thought. If they do bring back Bill and Ted eventually (hopefully other people were demanding them back in the park-exit survey like I did, several times.) they could make fun of that aspect of the show pretty hard. I know the same director from the last several BnT shows also did Cyberpunk, but I just had this mental image of a butt appearing on a screen and everyone in the audience making fart noises.

I think if they bring back B&T, they should take the house level back down to nine. And no mega-houses, please.

Edited October 22, 2018 by OhHaiInternet95

[zombieman]

36 minutes ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

I generally agree with him on CGY. A somewhat stronger version of Dungeon of Terror: Retold, IMO.

 

Okay, I'm gonna need more here.  HHN 16 is the only year I've missed since 2004 (damn kids being born and all).  I do recall DOT getting purely so-so reviews.  Aside from having a roadside tourist trap theme, was it basically a junkyard? 

 

Personally I think CGY is breaking new ground for HHN, having such an open layout.  Plan on seeing that concept being used a lot in the future.  Would you agree that CGY "feels" bigger than other houses this year?  That's due to seeing the same central scene from multiple angles.  It's a game changer.

 

 

27 minutes ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

I think if they bring back B&T, they should take the house level back down to nine. And no mega-houses, please.

Wait, they DO only have 9 houses this year!

 

Damn, forgot about Blumhouse again...

[OhHaiInternet95]

12 minutes ago, zombieman said:

 

Okay, I'm gonna need more here.  HHN 16 is the only year I've missed since 2004 (damn kids being born and all).  I do recall DOT getting purely so-so reviews.  Aside from having a roadside tourist trap theme, was it basically a junkyard? 

 

Personally I think CGY is breaking new ground for HHN, having such an open layout.  Plan on seeing that concept being used a lot in the future.  Would you agree that CGY "feels" bigger than other houses this year?  That's due to seeing the same central scene from multiple angles.  It's a game changer.

Wait, they only have 9 houses this year!

 

Damn, forgot about Blumhouse again...

Nah it was a roadside tourist trap, but it had a very similar feel to it--a lost amusement attraction, angry carny-types converting the pieces of the attraction to torture devices. Looking at the POV to Knott's Dark Ride, which CGY is arguably based off of, DoT was very similar from what I remember.

 

CGY didn't feel as "open" as I hoped it would. There was one scene where I would've noticed the "openness" if they hadn't advertised it. Like I said, it does have some very creative scares, even if the plastic barrels didn't do much for me. INCREDIBLE use of the mirror trick. And some nice gore (the tunnel of love)--strangly, I felt like this year was gorier than the last two years (disclaimer: I missed both AHSs).

 

Oh, and boy would it be nice if HoB didn't exist.

Edited October 22, 2018 by OhHaiInternet95

[zombieman]

58 minutes ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

INCREDIBLE use of the mirror trick.

 

Pls remind me.  I'm drawing a total blank...

[Tobias]

1 hour ago, zombieman said:

 

Pls remind me.  I'm drawing a total blank...

 

I could be wrong here, but I think I know what they're referring to...which is odd considering the mirror trick is well, not a mirror! (It did make me do a legit double take when I first saw it.)

[OhHaiInternet95]

19 minutes ago, Tobias said:

 

I could be wrong here, but I think I know what they're referring to...which is odd considering the mirror trick is well, not a mirror! (It did make me do a legit double take when I first saw it.)

Yeah, I guess I should’ve worded it a bit differently.

[zombieman]

Are we still talking Carnival Graveyard for this mirror thingy?  Even the PM is not bringing back any memories.  I am hopefully flying back out next week and will obsess until I understand

[Mog]

Great review, pretty much agree on most things.

 

I also noticed that it seemed far more family friendly this year. Maybe thats a reason why B&T got the axe?

Just my opinion, but I hated the new show. I saw it twice to give it a chance, but the audience participation just made made me want to puke. Luckily not many took part. The show only worked anyway if you were sat on axis with the projectors, otherwise you missed most of the visual FX. Hope B&T or something like it comes back next year.

 

Also this is the first year I have not got caught out by one of the roaming chainsaw hordes. The fact they have a security guy in a high-visibility jacket flanking them sort of spoiled any scares for me. I dont remember them being that visible in previous years??

 

 But I still had a great time and am looking forward to next year.

 

 

 

[zombieman]

I added a new poll question regarding AOV.  Wondering what people think...