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HHN Comedy Houses/Scarezones


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Let's talk about HHN Comedy Houses and Scarezones over the years.

Below is a list of every house/scarezone I could think of that was either overtly comedic or had dark humor threads.  

For completeness, some that I list are based on IP that were Comedy/Horror, yet were in no way comedic in their HHN representation.

 

HHN 28

SCAREZONE: Revenge of Chucky - While the Chucky insult segments provide direct comedy, the twisted toys based on our childhood memories is the indirect angle.

HOUSE: Slaughter Sinema - Even the homonym in the title implies comedy.  An instance where the queue video is laced with humor, yet the house itself is more straightforward scares.

HOUSE: Trick 'r Treat - Most recent example of an HHN IP that was considered in movie form to be Comedy/Horror.  In my opinion, not presented in a comedic fashion at all at HHN, nor do I think it was intended to be.

HOUSE: Blumhouse (Happy Death Day) - Comedy/Horror also played out straight for the most part, with the exception of the reoccurring "Nice one, Dickhead" throughout.

 

HHN 27

SCAREZONE: Invasion! - Everything about this zone screamed campy humor

HOUSE: Ash vs Evil Dead - unarguably a comedic IP played to the hilt with humor.

 

HHN 26

SCAREZONE: Vamp '55 - Not overtly comedic, but I think the high camp level came across as humorous

HOUSE: Krampus - Another film classified as Comedy/Horror, yet not presented as such at HHN

 

HHN 25

SCAREZONE: Psychoscareapy - Some of the mini shows were definitely comedic in nature

HOUSE: Run - The franchise itself was based on The Running Man, which was Comedy/Horror.  The national teams represented played on the stereotypical nationality characteristics.  Not overtly a comedy house.

HOUSE: American Werewolf in London - A Comedy/Horror movie played 100% straight at HHN

 

HHN 24

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: Giggles & Gore - The comedic aspects of clowns represented in gory terms

HOUSE: Dollhouse of the Damned - Absurd visualizations (i.e. human-skin rug, grown man baby) which came off as appalling or hilarious based on one's nature.

 

HHN 23

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: Resident Evil - By no means an overtly comedy house, nor was it intended to be.  The IP was clearly not comedy.  Just interesting to note the cutesy power up flowers and the walk through Meetz Meatz, referencing Leave it to Cleaver.  Again, I am NOT calling this a comedy house.

HOUSE: Cabin in the Woods - A Comedy/Horror movie played 100% straight at HHN

HOUSE: American Werewolf in London - A Comedy/Horror movie played 100% straight at HHN

 

HHN 22

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: Penn & Teller - A clear cut comedy house played in no way straight.  Very polarizing, and I would argue the least well received "comedy house".  I think it soured newcomers to comedy at the event.  What is interesting is that it followed BloodnGutz.  What went wrong?

 

HHN 21

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: HR BloodnGutz - Arguably the most beloved comedy house ever presented at HHN.  From the humor laced queue video to the machine gun wielding elves, this hit on every level for most.  This house was immediately followed by arguably the worst comedy house presented at HHN.

 

HHN 20

SCAREZONE: Zombie Gras - The comedic aspect is the absurdity of a zombie outbreak at a Mardi Gras celebration

HOUSE: Zombiegeddon - Clearly based on the Comedy/Horror movie "Fido" (check it out).  What is interesting here is that the queue video made this a comedy house.  Without the humorous queue video to set up the story, the house itself is pretty much straight laced.

 

HHN 19

SCAREZONE: Cirque Du Freak - Based on a Comedy/Horror movie.  I don't recall this zone being overtly comedic

HOUSE: Leave it to Cleaver - Besides BloodnGutz, another comedy house favorite at HHN.  Dark humor throughout.  Aspects of this house have been represented in MANY subsequent houses.  Most recently in Slaughter Sinema.

 

HHN 18

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: Creatures! - Dark Humor throughout

HOUSE: Doomsday - It's a bit of a stretch listing this science fiction IP as comedy, but the finale dance scene with Sol was ALWAYS played in a comedic way in the house.  The guys who played him went for broke.  You can find videos of it on Youtube.

 

HHN 17

SCAREZONE: None

HOUSE: Psychoscareapy: Home for the Holidays - As far as I know, this was the VERY FIRST attempt at HHN, mixing horror with comedy.  As it has been shown on both coasts, you cannot go wrong with a horror based Christmas theme.

 

Fright Nights through HHN 16

No attempt at comedy that I can find, however....

  • People Under the Stairs is classified as Comedy/Horror, but was not represented as such in the houses
  • It is arguable that Treaks & Foons at HHN 2002 was comedic, but it was in Toon Lagoon at IOA.  I did not attend.  Was it comedic?
  • JP Extinction at IOA - I was not there, but I see this coming across as unintended comedy due to the absurd nature.  Anyone have thoughts

 

 

 

On the Hollywood side, humor has been attempted on and off:

 

HHN 2018  (Hollywood)

HOUSE: None

 

HHN 2017  (Hollywood)

 

HOUSE: None

 

HHN 2016  (Hollywood)

HOUSE: Krampus - Played in a more humorous way than Orlando

 

HHN 2015  (Hollywood)

HOUSE: This is the End - A comedy movie played in a very comedic way at HHN. 

 

HHN 2014 (Hollywood)

HOUSE: Clownz 3D - Dark humor mixed with gore

 

HHN 2006 - HHN 2013 (Hollywood)

Murdy has been at the helm of HHN Hollywood since 2006.  The houses have been absent of comedy until Clownz 3D. 

Murdy is a huge Tweeter, and he always seemed to hint about his comedy houses as being ones that people would either love or hate.  I think that This is the End was the one that he had the most trepidation over.  I feel history has not looked kindly on that house.  Almost from the start, however, Murdy has occasionally presented scarezones with some dark humor.  He usually does this by presenting the a scarezone theme as an absurd concept (i.e. the pests are now exterminating people).  That in and of itself is humorous.  The 2018 scarezone Holidayz of Horror was almost entirely comedic, and was arguably the most well received scarezone at HHN Hollywood.

 

HHN Hollywood - the pre-Murdy early years

Comedy existed in some shows, but not houses:

  • Penn & Teller (1992)
  • Chucky's Insult Emporium (quite a few years)
  • Ghoulia Wild's Roadside Cuisine (1992)
  • The Wild, Wild, Wild Witch Hunt (1992)
  • Burn & Bury Swap meet (1992)

Buffy was a house in 2000, and although Buffy is considered Comedy/Horror, the 2000 house was played straight.

The WWE Undertaker house in 2000 was so incredibly bad it was funny.

House of 1000 Corpses had a humorous facade, as it featured Captain Spaulding.

 

 

So, what are your thoughts on these?  Have I missed anything?  

I think that when you see the larger picture, it puts comedy at HHN into a different perspective.

I was surprised to see how long it took to integrate comedy into the event.

It was Michael Roddy that made this happen in 2007, and with the exception of HHN 23, humor has been a part of HHN ever since.

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2 minutes ago, Twilight59 said:

What was the WWE Undertaker house like?

 

Ugh.  In 2000, HHN Hollywood had the bright idea to partner with WWF (as they were known at that time) and present a house based on the Undertaker.  It was called The Undertaker: No Mercy.

 

This was during the Undertaker's "Badass" phase of his character, where he was less of an undertaker and more of motorcycle badass.  If you don't remember that, don't worry.  Most people have out it out of their memories.  It was not a shining moment for the Undertaker or WWF.

 

The house was awful.  Lots of chain link fencing, fog, hubcaps attached to chain link.  Motorcycles revving.  People in biker attire as well as people in SPANDEX banging trash can lids.  I went that year on an RIP tour.  I will never forget that as we exited the house, our tour guide apologized that we had to see that house.

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19 hours ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

Happy Death Day is DEFINITELY comedy.

The repetitiveness level in that house was too much lol, here are four or five scenes of bedrooms and the same dialogue from the trailer and film and the parking lot scene and boom into The First Purge, I was like what??? XD 

I have to see hands down one of my favorite comedy mazes has to H.R. Bloodengutz Holidays Of Horrors, I respect that Universal try to do the same thing with Slaughter Sinema, it was a fun house but it wasn't the same way as Bloodengutz was like. Going through the different holidays and the little TVs and seeing our host talking about each one and stuff, it was awesome. I'd have to see Undead Presidents Day 2: The Re-Election is my favorite scene in that maze, Undead Lincoln and Washington nuking the white house and the world lmao

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37 minutes ago, HorrorUnearthed said:

The repetitiveness level in that house was too much lol, here are four or five scenes of bedrooms and the same dialogue from the trailer and film and the parking lot scene and boom into The First Purge, I was like what??? XD 

I have to see hands down one of my favorite comedy mazes has to H.R. Bloodengutz Holidays Of Horrors, I respect that Universal try to do the same thing with Slaughter Sinema, it was a fun house but it wasn't the same way as Bloodengutz was like. Going through the different holidays and the little TVs and seeing our host talking about each one and stuff, it was awesome. I'd have to see Undead Presidents Day 2: The Re-Election is my favorite scene in that maze, Undead Lincoln and Washington nuking the white house and the world lmao

Bloodengutz is undoubtedly on my wishlist for 30. I know I said that the only way I thought they could make a story out of it was for his ghost, but if he were to lead an escape from, say, Hellgate and hold a TV studio hostage, with the inmates "participating" in each of the shows, then I suppose it could work. But his ghost becoming a demi-god and turning his old studio into a TV nightmare world (think Gabriel from Supernatural) would work too.

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2 hours ago, OhHaiInternet95 said:

Bloodengutz is undoubtedly on my wishlist for 30. I know I said that the only way I thought they could make a story out of it was for his ghost, but if he were to lead an escape from, say, Hellgate and hold a TV studio hostage, with the inmates "participating" in each of the shows, then I suppose it could work. But his ghost becoming a demi-god and turning his old studio into a TV nightmare world (think Gabriel from Supernatural) would work too.

Yeah, I could see that I remembered when Slaughter Sinema was announced and I was hoping so bad that he was going to come back and basically take over the drive-in and bring more monsters and madness to life, something would be awesome you know. I'd say another comedy house would be Ash Vs. Evil Dead, I mean when it was announced, I didn't want it to be serious scary, I think the Evil Dead remake that came at 2013 did that job, I really wanted to see Ash monologuing and being his casual funny self from the show and this house did that and picked some really good scenes from the two seasons, they did a really good job with the maze and especially with the Ashy Slashy puppet popping out at the end and then Ash gloating about Jacksonville FL lol 

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On 1/15/2019 at 7:47 PM, OhHaiInternet95 said:

Happy Death Day is DEFINITELY comedy.

 

You are correct, sir!  I completely forgot about that and am quite proud that I was able to put all things Blumhouse out of my HHN memories - after only 2.5 months, no less!  I will add it.

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I'd say Giggles N Gore was definitely a fun little house, the many cool characters they had in that house and the many gags and stuff they still used on and even in Carnival last year, I hope we get another circus or carnival themed clown house, I can't get enough of those, I know people are probably getting sick of it in the Springfield zone but it's fun you know, as much as we would want Homer running with a chainsaw or Krusty The Clown chasing around or Sideshow Bob with a knife or something, I mean that's the only thing we could do which sucks but on the bright side, some of the zones turn out to be really awesome. 

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