SCARE ZONES
That's right, scare zones ARE BACK!! FINALLY! We only get four this year, but each are pretty cool. Let's see how they rank.
Face Off: In The Flesh
Wasn't all that impressed here. The coolest scare actor was a pirate that appears to be covered in barnacles and is rotting away. The theming is minimal, and while the main scare actors look impressive they are confined to a small stage. In other words: they don't do much scaring. Their "minions" are poorly themed, and aren't all that scary or impressive. It's not a must see.
Rating: 2/5
Rank: #4
Bayou of Blood
I didn't get to spend a whole lot of time in this zone, but I liked what I saw. The scare actors looked impressive and the theming was top notch. Here, we are transported to the swamps of New Orleans where a voodoo witch has her followers sacrificing guests so she can grow more powerful. It's a lengthy zone, and was home to a mini show where victims were sacrificed (the show was axed after guests complained it was too extreme).
Rating: 3.5/5
Rank: #3
Maskerade Unstitched
There's a party going on, but there's something not quite right here. The zone had a large make-shift (and impressive chandelier hanging over it. The costumes were mucho impressive, and the scare actors seemed to be on their A game. The few times I traveled into this zone I walked out with a smile. They did a lot with only a little. Good job guys.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rank: #2
The Purge: Anarchy
This was the zone I was anticipating the most, and BOY did it not disappoint. Here, we enter the world of The Purge where one night a year all crime is made legal including murder. Guests become targets as the happy-go-lucky and intense purgers roam the streets in search of blood. The theming was fantastic, the zone was large, the costumes were on point (and super impressive), and the zone had A LOT going on including a few mini-shows (like an auction where guests are given a chance to bid on several "victim" scare actors they can unleash the beast on. My bid was accepted. Note: guests are not able to purge, this is all for show. It's still cool though), a truck that would drive around and pick up victim scare actors, a large blinking Purge sign, several Purge props (like crashed cars, etc) and apparently motorcycles (though these were absent on the night I attended). I spent most of the night in this zone getting chased numerous times by scare actors with chainsaws, taking pictures, interacting with scare actors, and just generally soaking in that rich Purge atmosphere. This is easily my personal favorite scare zone I have ever visited.
Rating: 5/5
Rank: #1
HOUSES
Dracula Untold- Reign of Blood
The theming in this house was pretty nice, however it wasn't all that scary. I saw the film and wasn't crazy about it, so naturally I wasn't super psyched for the house. I didn't feel like I was sucked into the world of the film, and just want all that impressed in general. If you have to skip one house, make it this one. You won't be missing much.
Rating: 2/5
Rank: #8
Walking Dead: End of The Line
The largest house HHN has ever made. I've seen every Walking Dead house, and so I've kind of grown tired of it all. The facade was impressive (themed to the crumbling prison) and the detail inside was pretty great. There was a good deal of scares inside, and it did feel like I was traveling through the world of the fourth season. In the house you get to explore the prison, the supermarket (can't remember the name), the collapsed tunnel, and finally Terminus. I was looking forward to getting to walk into Terminus and explore that setting but not much was done with it (amounting to maybe 2-4 scenes total). I wasn't as impressed as I had hoped I'd be, but this is still a very nice house.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rank: #6
Giggles and Gore
For such a short house, it was fairly impressive. I'm not scared much by clowns, but I still jumped a few times and the theming was fairly nice. The theme here is that we are traveling through the warehouse where evil clowns are made. It's a cool story idea, however I'm just not all that scared by clowns. The costumes inside were ok. It's a short house, but the jaunt through was enjoyable.
Rating: 3/5
Rank: #7
From Dusk Til Dawn
Based on the tv series, we get to explore The Titty Twister as the sexy stripper inside vamp out and go on a search for fresh blood. There were some good scares inside, and most of the costumes were pretty good. The facade is the exterior of The Titty Twister complete with a barker yelling about tits and sex, I really dug it. The final scene is also pretty great with the Gecko brothers killing vampires and the lead stripper vampire dancing on a stage, also pretty intense, cool and impressive. The middle of the house is where we get to explore the bowels of The Titty Twister with both stripper vampires and feral vampires attacking us and unlucky consumers. This house was pretty great, and I'd say it's well worth your time.
Rating: 4/5
Rank: #5
Dollhouse of The Damned
Here we get to enter a cursed house where those unfortunate enough to not escape are transformed into cursed dolls. There are a few laughs, but as we travel deeper inside things get more dark, intense and scary. There were a LOT of really great top notch scares here. Let's face it, dolls are creepy and while I wasn't expecting much out of this house I walked out super impressed with what they did with the fairly simple premise. The costumes were top notch and each tended to vary quite a bit from each other from baby dolls in cribs, to a high chair doll that sucked its thumb when it wasn't lashing out at guests, to many many more. The final scene had two dolls attacking me from both side, naturally I freaked out. I'm not super scared by dolls, but I was scared quite a bit in this house and I really enjoyed the surprisingly great theming and the fact that the scare actors were on their A game. I'd actually say you should not miss this house.
Rating: 4/5
Rank: #4
Roanaoke Cannibal Colony
Based on one of history's really cool unsolved mysteries. Themed to the infamous colony that was left to fend for itself without food and goods for winter, we enter to find that the inhabitants have lost their minds and, desperate to survive, have resorted to cannibalism. The theming was very cool here, and it felt like I was traveling through the actual colony. The whole place smelled like fire, smoke, and roasting human meat. The actors inside are either tearing others apart or are lashing out at us, and as we travel deeper inside the pounding drums get louder and faster and the house gets more and more intense and crazed until puritans arrive to burn the whole unholy place to the ground. The costumes are simple but effective, but I really liked the backstory here. The house was fairly lengthy, and was easily one of my personal favorites of the night. I had a lot of fun inside, and would say DO NOT MISS IT.
Rating: 4.5/5
Rank: #3
Halloween
The theme here is we are traveling through scenes from the classic horror/suspense film. The facade is a beautiful recreation of the Meyers house, and we enter through the side. Once inside we find ourselves at the famous staircase where we then proceed to travel through the film from beginning to end. We get to see each death, and there are quite a few top notch scares including a room filled with numerous Michael Meyers some of which are props and some of which are real (you can bet I was cowering and screaming fuck this!) and a hallway where there appears to be a person dressed as Michael wearing a ghost costume but SURPRISE it's just a prop that Michael himself comes charging out of (I freaked out and ran for my life). This house wasn't quite American Werewolf in London from last year, but it was still a crap ton of super scary, intense fun and the detail inside was great (sone trick or treaters in the middle of the house are wearing Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween 3, such a cool touch). Michale came home, and we got the chance to travel there with him. I was a happy, happy camper.
Rating: 4.5/5
Rank: #2
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator
The backstory here is that we are worked for Weyland-Yutani sent to investigate a situation at one of their bases where research on those nasty Xenomorphs was being done. Naturally, things went south real quickly as Facehuggers latched onto faces, Aliens were born and Predators attacked the base to hunt the Aliens. Once inside we find ourselves trapped in the chaotic battle. Aliens are mainly out to attack us, but are also fending off Predators, Predators are there mainly to attack Aliens but aren't above killing off any human they run into, and the surviving humans are fending off Aliens while screaming things like MOVE MOVE MOVE, EAT IT, and GET SOME!!!! The house plays like an Alien house that just happens to have a few Predators inside, and it really feels like we have stepped into the world of Aliens. The detail inside is immersive and impressive, the Alien puppets were nice, and the Predator costumes were super impressive and richly detailed (Really loved them). I finally got to live the dream. The end scene wasn't great, but left quite an impression as we had to crouch down and boom it through a tunnel. I absolutely loved this house, an Alien house has been a passion project of the makers of HHN for quite some time now and this is the closest we are going to get. It's clear both the designers and scare actors were passionate about this house and the product is richly detailed, super scary, very intense, tons of fun, completely immersive, and just about perfect. I LOVED IT. DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT MISS THIS HOUSE!
Rating: 5/5
Rank: #1
Shows
Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure
These two most excellent dudes return to party once more at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. The theme this year is that they have to go undercover as students pledging Zac Efron's frat where students are dying by the dozens. It's up to Bill and Ted to find out who is behind the deaths and stop them. This was easily the best of their shows I have ever seen. The opening number was absolutely fantastic, and easily the sexiest one I have seen (set to Paradise City by Guns N Roses, complete with girls dressed as cheerleaders and such that then stripped down to underwear and danced. The opening also included a mini-wet t-shirt contest. I was in absolute heaven). The show itself was pretty damned funny, taking constant jabs at Disney including Magic Bands ("seems like a waste of money to me" says Bill), Frozen, and Avatarland ("Opening in 2075, when no one gives a fuck"). They also make fun of the owner of the Clippers ("I'm just an old man"), Shia LeBouf, the main somali pirate from Captain Phillips, Justin Beiber, King Joeffrey, 22 jump Street, Neighbors, Orange Is The New Black, TMNT, April O'Neal (where Megan Fox plays with her breasts), and many many more. The closing dance sequence was pretty great as well. The whole show was high energy and tons of fun. Everything we would want from a Bill and Ted show, and maybe a bit more too. DEFINITELY DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!
Rating: 5/5
So, there you have it, my review of Halloween Horror Nights 24. This event was definitely one of the better years I have attended. While I think the houses were more intense back in 2011, I think overall this could be considered the best year I've attended. It heralded the return of scare zones, copious amounts of fog both in houses and in the streets (you can bet I returned home smelling like fog and sweat, how I missed that smell), and the houses varied from meh to HOLY SHIT! I was quite impressed by this year, and if I could I would attend one more time. Let's hope I'm given the chance to travel to next year's event. Till next time, This is your roving reporter signing off from scare central. SCARE YA LATER!!!
Overal rating: 5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment