Archive for the ‘San Diego’ Category

Experience Silent Hill in the Flesh at HHN

Saturday, July 14th, 2012

Today at Comic-Con Universal Studios announced that the video game, turned movie franchise, Silent Hill will be one of the featured themed attractions at the 2012 Halloween Horror Nights events in Orlando and Hollywood. The Silent Hill announcement has definitely created a new amount of buzz among HHN fans and Haunt Stalkers.

Silent Hill has been a recurring theme on the annual HHN survey and this will be the first time they’ve transformed a video game property into a maze. In the past, themes have included exclusive iconic horror movies like Scream, Halloween, Friday The 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and A Nightmare On Elm Street. With both a new game and movie coming out this fall it all makes perfect synergistic sense as the “Welcome to Silent Hill” maze will be able to promote the release of the next installment of the video game Silent Hill: Book Of Memories as well as the release of Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, which hits theaters October 26 via Open Road.

During the Comic Con session they screened a brief teaser for the movie which started with a woman running from a grotesque mannequin beast through a warehouse. Then, as the woman is trying to approach a man strapped to a bed it’s revealed that they’re surrounded by a crowd of disfigured nurses holding an assortment of jagged blades and worse. Suddenly, as the girl begins the move, the nurses start to jerk to life, honing in on the sound of the two in the middle. Now just imagine experiencing this in real life!

The screening of these two incredible scenes from Silent Hill: Revelations 3D was followed by short introductory segment with Director Michael J. Bassett, Adelaide Clemens who plays Heather in the film, and Producer Samuel Hadida. Following the movie preview this trailer played:

As you could image, the crowd erupted into loud applause and then Silent Hill Producer Tomm Hullett, Creative Director for Halloween Horror Nights John Murdy, and Orlando Show Director Patrick Braillard took the stage. First to speak was John, confirming that Silent Hill was coming to Halloween Horror Nights in both Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort. He spoke of the origins of idea was reached after first meeting Tomm from Konami. “It was a perfect fit,” John admitted, “the passion for detail, I couldn’t be more thrilled with Konami helping bring Silent Hill to life.” Tomm, Creative Producer of several Silent Hill titles assured fans, “They did do their homework, and it’s going to be a cool maze.” When asked by the moderator what we will see of Silent Hill in the attraction, John was quick to reply, “All of it,” followed by, “With so much to draw from, we want to do as much as we can from it as we can.” He continued by praising the many great characters and environments they hope to recreate in the attraction, including Fog World, Other World, and many more. “First you’ll see the movie,” Michael chimed in, “then you’ll be in the movie.”

To further promote this announcement, HHN is currently giving away tickets to Halloween Horror Nights. You “just” need to follow @HorrorNights on Twitter and Tweet #UniversalHHN and #konamicode for a chance to win! For those Haunt Stalkers at Comic Con, simply stop by the Konami booth and you’ll get a chance to win HHN tickets after snapping a photo with The Nurse.

John Murdy confirmed via Twitter that the Hollywood maze will be located behind the Mummy attraction in the lower lot, replacing last year’s Hostel maze.

While we’ve already heard and seen proof of  The Walking Dead mazes terrorizing both parks, an official announcement on that property has not yet been made.

So far we like what we’re hearing from Universal for both their Hollywood and Orlando Haunts. We believe that both The Walking Dead and Silent Hill could be very scary mazes.  However, we’re also hoping that the similarities end here as we want to visit both haunts this year and have unique experiences at each one.

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Posted in Florida, Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, Horror Movies, Rumors, San Diego, Screaming Soon, Southern California | 4 Comments »

More Horror & Suspense At Comic-Con 2012

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

Down in San Diego the Comic-Con festivities have officially begun offering a robust line up of horror and suspense themed activities and panels. All you horror hounds and haunt stalkers should be very satisfied with this year’s offerings that range from Vampire Slayers to Haunted Hotels to The Walking Dead and beyond. To help you find your way to and through all the convention’s horror highlights here’s the Scare Zone’s list of all of Comic-Con’s scare-tivities.

Outside the Convention

The Haunted Hotel

The Walking Dead Escape

A&E Presents: The “Coma” Experience

 ZombieWalk: SanDiego’s March for Undead Rights

Inside the Convention

Horror & Suspense Sessions

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Posted in Conventions, Haunted Happenings, San Diego, Southern California | No Comments »

Check In to the Haunted Hotel at San Diego’s Comic Con

Monday, June 18th, 2012

Looking for a place to stay while at this year’s Comic Con in San Diego? Well look no further, as The Haunted Hotel still has some vacancies to fill. We think this is the perfect place to stay and scream before or after surviving The Walking Dead Escape or the other Comic Con offerings.

The Haunted Hotel will be open during Comic Con weekend on Friday, July 13, and Saturday, July 14 from 7 pm to 11 pm. Tickets are $16.99, but you might find some discount coupons in the downtown area that weekend.

The Haunted Hotel has been featured on the Travel Channel and was ranked by Haunt World as a top 13 haunt. We’ve also attended in past years and really had a great and scary time. Each year they continue to plus the scares and offer new frights, so even if you’ve been before we suggest another visit as you’ll never know what they have in store for all the Comic Con freaks lurking about.

If you’re anxious for some mid-summer screams (and, like us, just can’t wait another three months until official haunt season), head out to San Diego (no ticket to Comic Con needed). Just be sure to check in early, as the lines can get long for this popular haunt.

 

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Posted in San Diego, Screaming Soon, Southern California | No Comments »

Scare Zone’s Haunt Rankings: 2010

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

Well, the 2010 season is over, so it’s time to rank our favorites! Haunt experiences can be a highly individual and subjective experience; what may scare one person might not be frightening at all to another, and what scares you one night might fall flat on a return visit. For this reason, the Scare Zone writers will be providing separate rankings.

Also, please note that we’re ranking only those attractions we visited this year in the Southern California area only. There are a LOT of great haunts out there, but we just couldn’t get to them all. For a list of the places we visited and to read our full reviews, please click here.

Now, on to the list!

M. Leota’s 2010 Haunt Rankings

Best Sets/Props/Atmosphere:

1. Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

3. Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

Best Theming (consistent story/setting):

1. House of 1000 Corpses (HHN Hollywood)

2. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. Lighted hallway in Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Subway scene in Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

3.  School bus scene at the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

Scariest Maze:

1. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

3. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Containment (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

Best Scare Zone:

1. The Barricades (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Tie: Necropolis (Knott’s Scary Farm)/Klownz (HHN Hollywood)

3. Hell’s Bell Tower (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Maze Name:

1. Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Village of the Damned (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Value:

1. Theatre 68 ($10, or $9 with a canned good)

2. Knott’s Scary Farm (13 mazes for only $32 on certain nights)

3. Halloween Horror Nights Killer Deals Nights Pass ($59 for 9 nights)

Most Unique Experience:

1. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

3. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

Best New Maze for 2010:

1. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2009):

1. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

[No others worth listing.]

Best Overall Maze of 2010:

1. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

3. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Overall Haunt of 2010:

1. Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood

2. Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

3. Theatre 68

 

Matt E. Horn’s 2010 Haunt Rankings

Best Sets/Props/Atmosphere:

1. Reign of Terror (Thousand Oaks)

2. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. House of Horrors (The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds)

Best Theming (consistent story/setting):

1. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm) 

Best Individual Scene in a Maze:

1. Subway scene in Haunted Hotel (San Diego)

2. Freddy school bus scene at the Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

3.  Stretching Hallway (Theatre 68)

Scariest Maze:

1. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

 2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors:

1. Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again (HHN Hollywood)

2. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)

3. House of Horrors (The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds)

Best Scare Zone:

1. The Barricades (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Hell’s Bell Tower (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Lunaticz (HHN Hollywood)

Best Maze Name:

1. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

Best Value:

1. Knott’s Scary Farm (13 mazes for only $32 on certain nights)

2. Theatre 68 ($10, or $9 with a canned good)

3. Halloween Horror Nights Killer Deals Nights Pass ($59 for 9 nights)

Most Unique Experience:

1. Theatre 68 (Hollywood)  The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

 Best New Maze for 2010:

1.  Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

2. The Cage (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

3. Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2009):

1. Cornstalkers (Knott’s Scary Farm)

2. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

3. A Nightmare on Elm St.  (HHN Hollywood -compared to 2008 ‘Nightmare’ maze)

Best Overall Maze of 2010:

1. The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park (San Diego)

2. Friday the 13th: Kill Jason Kill (HHN Hollywood)

3. Submerged (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)

Best Overall Haunt of 2010:

1. Halloween Horror Nights, Hollywood

2. Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor

3. Theatre 68

Overall Assessment of 2010: It was really a great year for haunts! We were completely impressed by the reinvention of the Queen Mary’s Halloween event, and that visit was definitely a highlight for us this year. We also really liked the Haunted Trail, which took us from unique scene to unique scene on an outdoor trail throughout a park. Although we were initially skeptical of the return of the Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street mazes to HHN, we found them to be completely terrifying and two of the scariest mazes we went through all year. Finally, our visit to Theatre 68 was the perfect ending to our haunt season–you MUST get to this attraction! It has so many surprises and a lot of unique effects.

As for the bad: Knott’s really needs to step it up in 2011. They’ve been the rulers of Southern California haunted attractions for decades, but what they’re offering is no longer scary or unique. They still resort mostly to the same “monster around the corner” scare, and with increasing competition from HHN and Queen Mary, Knott’s can no longer rest on its reputation. We think Virus Z was a step in the right direction. We hope to see more elaborate sets like that. But most importantly, we hope they reevaluate their scare techniques, because we can see them coming from a mile away.

Also, our readers know we complained a lot about the crowd control issues at Universal. Man, that place was PACKED all month long! We hope they reconsider the way they process their multi-nights pass, as it took us almost 1.5 hours just to get in the park on the first night. They also may need to increase ticket prices and decrease the number of people they let in, as well as add a couple more mazes/attractions AND additional nights (like Thursdays and Sundays). We hope their impressive ticket sales this year leads to expansion in 2011.

We’re counting down to 2011 and can’t wait to see what all the haunts have in store for us. Scare Zone hopes to do more traveling next year…perhaps Florida, Pennsylvania, or Texas. Stay tuned for all the latest haunt news and rumors throughout the year!

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Posted in Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, Haunt Reviews, Knott's Scary Farm, San Diego, Southern California | 5 Comments »

Haunt Review: The Scream Zone at Del Mar Fairgrounds

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

As part of Scare Zone’s trip down to San Diego this past weekend (see our reviews of the Haunted Hotel and the Haunted Trail), we also visited the Scream Zone at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

Scream Zone

Ticket Booth at the Scream Zone

The Scream Zone is located along the race track area of the fairgrounds. They have three attractions: The Haunted Hayride, The Chamber (a maze), and House of Horrors (another maze). Interestingly, when you enter, they have signs posted that suggest in what order you should visit each attraction. They suggested the following order: The Chamber, The Haunted Hayride, and then House of Horrors. We thought this was a little odd, and we wondered (and guessed) why. It became obvious by the end of the night.

We actually tried to follow their suggestion, but The Chamber was having some kind of technical difficulty when we arrived and was shut down, so we headed for the hayride instead.

The Haunted Hayride

Scream Zone - San Diego County Fair

Haunted Hayride

Just like the L.A. Haunted Hayride, this was a tractor-pulled wagon with a bed of loose hay—no hay bales to sit on. Guests sit along the edges—or as was the case on our wagon, lie down in the middle of the wagon, crowding everyone. Which brings us to one problem we’ve realized with hayrides: if you get on a wagon with annoying people, you are STUCK WITH THEM for the entire ride. At least in a maze, if you don’t like the people around you, you can let a few others pass to put some distance between you. But on the hayride, you have to grit your teeth and bear it.

The hayride is about 20 minutes long, and it winds around the horse stables/barn area. Despite the nontraditional location, the sets and lighting do actually seem to blend in with the stables. It’s sort of a post-apocalyptic theme, with a lot of industrial-type sets and red lighting. The monsters are mostly zombies, with a few hillbilly types thrown in. There are a few fun surprises along the way, although we can’t say we got scared during the ride. However, plenty of people on our wagon were screaming, so the potential for terror does exist. The “big ending” is meant to be cool and frightening, but we found it to fall flat. And it’s a shame, too, because it does have potential. We won’t spoil it here, though. All in all, the sets were cool, the monsters were really into their roles, and a few of the scares were fun (but not exactly scary).

Our rating: 3 skulls

The Chamber

Scream Zone - San Diego County Fair

The Lackluster Entrance to The Chamber

This is a generic maze that consists of mostly black-light effects. There is the usual (played out) dot room, the splatter paint room, and some black-light murals on black walls. This maze actually might be improved if they made it 3-D. (If you have 3-D glasses left over from some other haunts, you might want to bring them along to enhance the scenery.)  There is one area with dead ends, so you do have to find your way out, which we didn’t find to be too difficult. Freddy Kreuger also made an appearance at the end–2010 is really his year! He’s been in almost all the haunts we’ve been to so far. Freddy really gets around.

Overall, this maze was too generic and lacked enough scares to make it really worthwhile.

Our rating: 1.5 skulls

House of Horrors

Scream Zone - San Diego County Fair

Outside the House of Horrors

Now this is what a maze should be! We were screaming from the moment we entered this maze. There isn’t one coherent theme in this maze, but many of the rooms were unique and offered great scares. There were monsters who appeared out of nowhere from within a rock wall, an exorcism room with rolling floors, monsters who appeared to be a piece of furniture (!), and pneumatic props that we actually thought were going to chop our heads off! There were also some black-light effects, in particular one room with many different doors that open into an actual maze (that you have to find your way out of). And beware, as one of the doors has a special surprise. There is also a section of complete, utter darkness, which is disorienting and truly scary. But that only heightened the fun for us.

The actors in this maze did a great job scaring the front, middle, and back of the groups. Sometimes, monsters will scare only the first person in the group every time, which does not make it very fun for the guest at the end. But the monsters in House of Horrors were great at remaining completely motionless until you passed, so that you really thought they were just a prop. This maze also had pretty good crowd control, letting only about 5 or 6 people in at a time, with plenty of time between groups (it probably helped that we were there on a slow night, as well).

This maze had a lot of different elements and some very effective scares. It’s also pretty long—it probably takes a good 10-15 minutes to go through. It’s definitely worth checking out.

Our rating: 4 skulls

And now we know the reason behind the Scream Zone’s “suggested” order of attractions: They suggest you see the worst attraction first and end with the best, probably so you go home happy. It worked (pretty much) for us.

Terror Tips

  • We’d say skip The Chamber, but it’s included in every combo ticket. And we do think both the Haunted Hayride and House of Horrors are worth seeing, so you might as well get the three-attraction pass ($27.99).
  • Bring some 3-D glasses for The Chamber.
  • Sit near the back of the hayride.
  • The food offerings are not very good, so eat before you get there.
  • Follow the suggested order of attractions.

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Posted in Haunt Reviews, San Diego, Southern California | 2 Comments »

Haunt Review: The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

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Our haunt adventure in San Diego continued with a stop at The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park.  Here we found two haunt experiences: Carnival of Carnage and The Haunted Trail. We weren’t quite sure what to expect from this haunt, as there wasn’t too much information available about it, but it turned out to be a really good (and scary) surprise!

The Carnival of Carnage

This is a maze featuring ”crazy carny folk.” You only can enter this maze with the VIP admission, and we were among the few who did dare to enter it. Before we went in, we overheard one worker telling another, “tonight must be extra scary, as we’ve had to escort 10 people out in the first hour.” We’re not sure if they were just staging us for the maze of if it was legit. Nonetheless, we did get a little nervous upon walking into this maze.

Once inside, we found the sets to be very simple, as it was just a labyrinth of painted plywood walls. The highlight was the fact that we were the only ones in the maze, so the monsters did come after us vigilantly. We also liked the fact it was a real maze with four different paths to take. This actually caused our group to get split up, leaving us to get scared alone. The maze has a memorable finale that will almost cause you to panic thinking you may never get out!

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Our Rating: 2.5 Skulls

Trail of Terror

This haunt has the unique distinction of being completely outdoors and is a mile long trail through the woods of Balboa Park. After going through the Carnival, our expectations weren’t very high, but quickly we learned that the trail was going to be the evening’s main event. The first scene sets the tone for the rest of the maze, with a very unique scare tactic involving attacking zombies and a shotgun. From there, we traveled down the trail, which only became more and more terrifying as we went from scene to scene.

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Other highlights of the trail include Freddy’s school bus (Universal: take note), the zombie kitchen, and the very dark and foggy house that ends with a chainsaw-wielding maniac in a hockey mask who attacks from a very unlikely location. What we really liked about this maze was the pacing of the scares. Victims… err guests, go through different haunted houses connected by the outdoor path. We also appreciated that there was continuity between the scenes. There wasn’t one continuous story per se, but all of the scenes seamlessly flowed from one to another, and they all had a consistent level of staging and effects. The setting also lended itself well to the authenticity of the horrors; we felt as if we really were lost on a trail of nightmarish terrors. We highly recommend that John Murdy and the Universal HHN crew come down and take some notes on how to stage an outdoor haunt, as this trail packs much more terror than their tram.

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Our Rating: 4.5 Skulls (our highest rating so far for 2010!)

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Posted in Haunt Profiles, San Diego, Southern California, Terror Tips | 13 Comments »

Haunt Review: The Haunted Hotel

Monday, October 11th, 2010

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Last night, Scare Zone took a trip down to San Diego to visit a few of their local haunts. Our first stop was the popular Haunted Hotel in downtown’s historic Gaslamp District. We arrived a few minutes before opening time, and there was already a line along the side of the building. The wait wasn’t too long, and they efficiently kept the line moving to get us into the hotel’s lobby. After a brief safety and rules spiel, we went down into the basement of the building.

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In the hotel’s basement, there was another line that was surrounded by some interesting set pieces, posters, and TVs playing horror movies (House of Wax). We were glad to see that they were breaking up the line and sending small groups into the hotel. However, we’re not sure what happened when we got to the front of the line as they decided to make our group larger than the previous ones.

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Once inside, “the stay” at the hotel begins with a haunted “elevator ride,” which is a scene we’ve encountered in many other haunts. After the elevator ride and a surprise scare, guests venture into various scenes of terror, some of which are every elaborate and others . . . not so much. We won’t spoil all the scares for you, but there were some highlights we have to share. First, there was the nursery with some demonic babies that would kill to get out. This was a unique set, and the scares were very effective. There also was the wolf forest with a giant animatronic werewolf and a wolf boy lurking about. Freddy’s boiler room also made an appearance and offered a good scare with the popular haunt icon (we would encounter Freddy a few more times in the evening) trying to trap you in the hanging pipes. The scene we were most impressed with was the subway train and tunnel: this was a very unique scene, and it gave us the biggest scare of the maze. It probably was one of the most memorable highlights of all the haunts we’ve been in this season.

We were disappointed that it didn’t last longer, as we made it through the maze in about 6 minutes, which is a fairly short haunt experience. In addition, we were stuck in a group, so we didn’t get scared very often. It felt like some of the scenes were disjointed, going from the elaborate setting of Freddy’s lair into a cheap polka-dot scare room. We would have liked to see a more cohesive storyline or at least a better explanation in the beginning of how “our stay” at the hotel is going to take us on a journey through various scenes of terrors. We also expected it to be a more intense experience. Although many of the actors did go all out to try to scare us, most of the scares fell flat or had bad timing.

Overall, the Haunted Hotel offers a fun time in downtown San Diego, and we can see why people like this haunt and find it to be scary. If we were in it alone or with a smaller group, the scare factor probably would have been much higher. Perhaps we just had bad luck with our timing as we went through the maze, as when we stopped in the Hooters next door afterwards, we could hear the screams from the Haunted Hotel echoing through the walls, so someone was obviously getting the mess scared out of them!

Our rating: 3 out of 5 Skulls

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Posted in Haunt Reviews, San Diego, Southern California | 6 Comments »