Just got back from Halloween Horror Night and it was another great year. This one may have been the best overall. When the Walking Dead is your worst house you're doing pretty good in that department. This year's Bill and Ted was solidly middle of the pack when compared to previous seasons. They toned down some of the sex (boo) and the jokes were a little less over the top risqué but the songs, "plot" and choreography was better than usual. The replacement for the Rocky Horror Tribute (boo again) called Jack's Carnage Returns was decent. Jack and Chance are both pretty blatant Joker and Harley Quinn ripoffs in mannerism and "joking" style and they lead a cirque and dance show that adds in "horror" elements by killing off "crowd members" in over the top gory magic tricks. The scare zones were decent but unspectacular this year, the best two were Scary Tales- Steampunk which had various twisted fairy tale characters mixed with horror and steampunk and the All Nite Die-In: Double Feature which has two segments a black and White section with all of the universal classic monsters (Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein's Monster, Invisible Man, Bride, Mummy, Etc...) and a "color" section with Chucky, Bride of Chucky, Freddy, Jason, the "Strangers", characters from from the Purge movies and more.
As far as the houses themselves, there are 9 and while none are quite as amazing as the AVP one from last year there were not any actual weak houses. Even the worst was pretty solid, but here's my ranking of them.
1) An American Werewolf in London- It's a very faithful recreation of the scenes from the movie, but the best selling point is the animatronics on the great costumes and static display areas. It is a redo from 2 or 3 years as part of the 25th anniversary, but it may be the second best haunted house of all time after last year's Alien Versus Predator house. Even if you've done it before, it's well worth the visit for just the transformation scene alone.
2) Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem - It's a fantastic "compilation" house combining the best scenes and monsters from the original IP houses. Lots of scenes from Jack, the Director, the Storyteller, the Usher and more. Really a fantastic well done house with amazing scenes and I only have it #2 because it's not as cohesive (obviously as a mishmash house) and doesn't have the amazing animatronics of An American Werewolf in London.
3) Asylum in Wonderland 3D - It's not a "scary house" as there are few jump scares and little horror and gore, but it's a spectacle for the eyes with all kinds of 3d, lasers, dark and glowlights, mirrors, rotating rooms and other optical tricks mixed with a fantastic "American McGee's Alice" style interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. Just a fantastic and artistic house albeit more trippy than scary or horrific. It's definitely a nice change up from the other houses emphasis on gore and "realism".
4) Body Collectors: Recollections - Is another mishmash/compilation house of the best scenes from Universal Original IP houses but this one mostly takes scenes and costumes from the many Body Collectors and Psychoscarapthy houses plus a few more realistic/serial killer IP houses the past. Excellent scenes of gore and mayhem with great makeup and scare actors all the way through.
5) Freddy versus Jason - Is another great house and it's a shame it's so "low" in my rankings. That's just a reflection on the greatness of the other houses though as there's little to find fault with in this one. The first section takes you through a movie set -realistic portrayal of lots of famous scenes around Crystal Lake with Jason's famous kills from the first couple of movies in abundance plus the shrine to his mother. The second section takes you through the suburbs of Elm Street (creepy eyeless jump rope twins and all) before taking you to the far more twisted and fanciful scenes (Freddy worm, long armed circus Freddy, vein marionette freddy, depp exploding blood bed, etc..) of Freddy's real life murder scenes and dream deaths. Plus a look inside the boiler room that made him into the monster it is. The final section is Freddy fighting Jason and vice versa plus scenes from the combo movie. All and all quite good, but I lowered the ranking as it seems more like a museum to the franchises and less of a true haunted house. It was more "look at this" and less audience interaction plus WAY too many Freddys and Jasons roaming around every corner.
6) Run: Blood, Sweat and Fears - Is another complete redo of an old famous house like An American Werewolf in London. It still works, but as its older it's less impressive imo. It's basically an unofficial house based upon the Running Man ie prisoners run through a "game show" of kill teams set in the 80s and early 90s. Some of the kills and scenes are quite good and original, but the best thing is the running scroll ala Hunger Games announcing which other teams have scored the most "points" by describing a horrific kill.
7) Insidious - Is a house based upon the three movies and featuring scenes from all of the movies as well as all of your favorite possessed characters and demons. Unlike American Werewolf and FVJ it's not movie set-realistic, in fact the exterior house that was supposed to represent the house from the first movie was the movie-set realistic house from last year's Halloween just repainted and plopped into the same place. Very lazy and the only time I was disappointed in Universal creative. The costumes are of course spot on but I was never a huge fan of these movies compared to the seri s base on Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Alien and Predator plus the great standalones like the fantastic Cabin in the Woods house from two or three years ago. Still good, just not as good as the first six. If you just get an ordinary ticket and don't get an express pass or have an annual pass extra hour like I did and you dont have time for everything, I'd skip this one and the next two.
8) Purge - Features scenes from the two movies. It's ok, just replicate everything I said about Insidious ie not movie set perfect, I don't like the movies as much so little nostalgia factor for me and it was solid with good costumes and gore just not amazing.
9) Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead - Features scenes from the last season of the walking dead which is why it's #9. Great costumes but there's no truly memorable set pieces like the Governors wall of heads, the prison scenes, and the barn from previous seasons AND houses of Walking Dead. Meh, lots of zombies and some scavengers/living cannibals but I'm done with Walking Dead as a house. Universal Creative can't get really imaginative like the original IPs and it's just not as visually stunning as even characters from Insidious and the Purge which at least have many memorable character designs. A house filled with generic zombies (albeit good ones with many disabled scare actors actually missing arms and/or legs being employed) just can only take you so far.
Finally the good news is that they kept open DiagonAlley this year so that plus adding a 9th house meant that regular person wait times were way down this year. I remember in years past that it was not unusual for the most popular houses to top 3 hours in wait for the regular ticket holders and even 30-45 minutes for us richers. This year even on a Friday night, the longest wait time I saw on anything for regular ticketholders was 75 minutes for FVJ and most of the houses like Jack Presents and Asylum were in the 35-45 minute range for regular ticket holders. So even as a regular ticket holder you should be able to at least see both of the shows, all of the scare zones and 5 or 6 houses.
As far as the houses themselves, there are 9 and while none are quite as amazing as the AVP one from last year there were not any actual weak houses. Even the worst was pretty solid, but here's my ranking of them.
1) An American Werewolf in London- It's a very faithful recreation of the scenes from the movie, but the best selling point is the animatronics on the great costumes and static display areas. It is a redo from 2 or 3 years as part of the 25th anniversary, but it may be the second best haunted house of all time after last year's Alien Versus Predator house. Even if you've done it before, it's well worth the visit for just the transformation scene alone.
2) Jack Presents 25 Years of Monsters and Mayhem - It's a fantastic "compilation" house combining the best scenes and monsters from the original IP houses. Lots of scenes from Jack, the Director, the Storyteller, the Usher and more. Really a fantastic well done house with amazing scenes and I only have it #2 because it's not as cohesive (obviously as a mishmash house) and doesn't have the amazing animatronics of An American Werewolf in London.
3) Asylum in Wonderland 3D - It's not a "scary house" as there are few jump scares and little horror and gore, but it's a spectacle for the eyes with all kinds of 3d, lasers, dark and glowlights, mirrors, rotating rooms and other optical tricks mixed with a fantastic "American McGee's Alice" style interpretation of Alice in Wonderland. Just a fantastic and artistic house albeit more trippy than scary or horrific. It's definitely a nice change up from the other houses emphasis on gore and "realism".
4) Body Collectors: Recollections - Is another mishmash/compilation house of the best scenes from Universal Original IP houses but this one mostly takes scenes and costumes from the many Body Collectors and Psychoscarapthy houses plus a few more realistic/serial killer IP houses the past. Excellent scenes of gore and mayhem with great makeup and scare actors all the way through.
5) Freddy versus Jason - Is another great house and it's a shame it's so "low" in my rankings. That's just a reflection on the greatness of the other houses though as there's little to find fault with in this one. The first section takes you through a movie set -realistic portrayal of lots of famous scenes around Crystal Lake with Jason's famous kills from the first couple of movies in abundance plus the shrine to his mother. The second section takes you through the suburbs of Elm Street (creepy eyeless jump rope twins and all) before taking you to the far more twisted and fanciful scenes (Freddy worm, long armed circus Freddy, vein marionette freddy, depp exploding blood bed, etc..) of Freddy's real life murder scenes and dream deaths. Plus a look inside the boiler room that made him into the monster it is. The final section is Freddy fighting Jason and vice versa plus scenes from the combo movie. All and all quite good, but I lowered the ranking as it seems more like a museum to the franchises and less of a true haunted house. It was more "look at this" and less audience interaction plus WAY too many Freddys and Jasons roaming around every corner.
6) Run: Blood, Sweat and Fears - Is another complete redo of an old famous house like An American Werewolf in London. It still works, but as its older it's less impressive imo. It's basically an unofficial house based upon the Running Man ie prisoners run through a "game show" of kill teams set in the 80s and early 90s. Some of the kills and scenes are quite good and original, but the best thing is the running scroll ala Hunger Games announcing which other teams have scored the most "points" by describing a horrific kill.
7) Insidious - Is a house based upon the three movies and featuring scenes from all of the movies as well as all of your favorite possessed characters and demons. Unlike American Werewolf and FVJ it's not movie set-realistic, in fact the exterior house that was supposed to represent the house from the first movie was the movie-set realistic house from last year's Halloween just repainted and plopped into the same place. Very lazy and the only time I was disappointed in Universal creative. The costumes are of course spot on but I was never a huge fan of these movies compared to the seri s base on Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Alien and Predator plus the great standalones like the fantastic Cabin in the Woods house from two or three years ago. Still good, just not as good as the first six. If you just get an ordinary ticket and don't get an express pass or have an annual pass extra hour like I did and you dont have time for everything, I'd skip this one and the next two.
8) Purge - Features scenes from the two movies. It's ok, just replicate everything I said about Insidious ie not movie set perfect, I don't like the movies as much so little nostalgia factor for me and it was solid with good costumes and gore just not amazing.
9) Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead - Features scenes from the last season of the walking dead which is why it's #9. Great costumes but there's no truly memorable set pieces like the Governors wall of heads, the prison scenes, and the barn from previous seasons AND houses of Walking Dead. Meh, lots of zombies and some scavengers/living cannibals but I'm done with Walking Dead as a house. Universal Creative can't get really imaginative like the original IPs and it's just not as visually stunning as even characters from Insidious and the Purge which at least have many memorable character designs. A house filled with generic zombies (albeit good ones with many disabled scare actors actually missing arms and/or legs being employed) just can only take you so far.
Finally the good news is that they kept open DiagonAlley this year so that plus adding a 9th house meant that regular person wait times were way down this year. I remember in years past that it was not unusual for the most popular houses to top 3 hours in wait for the regular ticket holders and even 30-45 minutes for us richers. This year even on a Friday night, the longest wait time I saw on anything for regular ticketholders was 75 minutes for FVJ and most of the houses like Jack Presents and Asylum were in the 35-45 minute range for regular ticket holders. So even as a regular ticket holder you should be able to at least see both of the shows, all of the scare zones and 5 or 6 houses.
