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Haunt Review: Hangman’s House of Horrors

Tuesday, May 28th, 2013

Artwork and Logo 2012Hangman’s House of Horrors is one of the premier haunts in Texas and one of the top charity-benefiting haunted houses in the nation! To date, they’ve terrorized over half a million victims and donated more than $1.8 million to local charities! This year marks their 25th anniversary and during the HauntCon Tour we were able to experience this venerable haunt in both a ‘lights on’ tour and in full ‘show’ mode.

During the time of our visit they were still running their 2012 theme - Hangman’s Drive-In Horror. They are currently working on creating a new show for the 2013 haunt season. From what we saw during the ‘lights on’ tour, they won’t (can’t) change around too many of the rooms inside but will make a few changes here and there to keep the experience as fresh as possible for their repeat Haunt Stalkers.

Hangman’s is an enormous haunt and will take a minimum of 25 minutes (at a running in terror pace) to get through. It includes a mix of  scareactors and animatronics within a wide array of rooms featuring elements like uneven floors, spinning tunnels, swinging bridges, claustrophobic hallways, and even a “find your way our” maze. Just about every traditional haunt element and character you can think of can be found inside this House of Horrors.

As our Haunt Stalkers know, we’re not big fans of haunts that don’t have a consistent theme. Going from a room with zombies, to a psycho clown circus, into an alien spaceship distracts us from the scares. Inconsistent theme transitions are  jarring to us and diminish the pseudo-reality of the experience. We can get into the idea that we’re in an alien invasion or demented circus, but don’t believe the two would coexists; unless we’re talking about the Killer Klowns from Outer Space.

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Hangman’s can easily be classified as one of the haunts that’s an amalgam of all things scary. However, they’ve cleverly derived an overarching story that helps them get away with it. By using the Drive-In Horror theme they’ve set the theme of being a terrifying journey through the varied world of horror movies. This is accomplished in the first scene where we’re in a creepy concessions stand that has a big screen playing various clips from classic horror movies. An usher then appears and motions us up to the screen, which impressively splits open to reveal a long spinning tunnel. This is our portal into the movies and the rather random scenes of terror to follow. The simple effort of establishing the maze as a trip through the movies made it easier for us be forgiving to their sporadic mix of themes and characters inside.

It probably wasn’t the best arrangement for us to do the lights-on tour before we went through the full haunt experience. On the tour we saw where the scares were and the secrets to their many special effects. Nonetheless, we still had a few scary moments during ‘show mode’ and even got lost for a few minutes inside the maze room (even though we had tried to memorize the layout). Inside Hangman’s we found some rooms to be much more elaborate than others. We won’t give it all away but there were some noteworthy highlights.

Our favorite room inside the haunt would have to be the room set to the original Night of the Living Dead. This room is one of their newer additions and they recreated the effect of the black and white movie by using flashing black-light against the white sketched sets and costumes creating the awesome effect of actually being inside the old black and white movie. This effect reminded us of one of our favorite HHN Orlando mazes from last year, Universal’s House of Horrors. There also were some very surprising scares inside the Living Dead graveyard and the best zombie scareactor we’ve encountered… ever! The haunt had scenes from Jurassic Park featuring a menacing giant Tex Rex head. There also were scenes from The Toxic Avenger, Sweeny Todd, Trick o Treat, and Friday the 13th. Some of these were interesting and more obscure horror movie references but most of the scenes were nicely recreated. We thought during the show that the Friday the 13th maze could of been much scarier if the scene had better lighting along with giving Jason and his mother more places to hide in. In addition to the movie scenes, there were the traditional clown, dolls, medical lab, and slaughter house rooms; to name a few.

Hangman 2HangmansHangman 4

In addition to the classic Hangman’s House of Horrors they have two side attractions: McDagenville and 3-D Wonderland. The former is a short but elaborately cannibalistic Hillbilly themed haunt with a few good scares inside but some of the scareactors did seem to get overzealous (annoyingly) in their roles. The latter, 3-D Wonderland, wasn’t intended to be scary but featured some extremely impressive 3D sets. It was akin to walking through the Alice in Wonderland ride at Disneyland.

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Even without the pre-tour we still don’t imagine that we would of found Hangman’s to be a terrifying intense experience. It does have consistent scares throughout the length of the attraction with most being the monster around the corner type of scares. What Hangman’s does offer is a frightfully fun adventure through a horror variety show. This works well as it’s the kind of haunt that newer haunters and seasoned haunt stalkers can both find enjoyment and scares in. During the HauntCon tour we truly appreciated the hospitality extended to us by the Hangman’s team. They’re very passionate about their haunt and are doing it for charity, which is extremely admirable. Hangman’s also features a very large haunt store where you can buy costumes, props, and just about anything else you would need to go trick o’ treating, or for your own home haunt.

If you are out haunt stalking in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we recommend that you be sure to include Hangman’s House of Horrors on your scare-itinerary as they are one of the top haunted attractions in Texas.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 skulls
  • Theming: 2.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls
  • Fright Value: 4.5 skulls

Overall Rating of Hangman’s House of Horrors: 3.5 Skulls

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Posted in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Haunt Reviews, Texas, Trip Report | 2 Comments »

Trip Report: HAuNTCon 2013 (Dallas, TX)

Friday, May 17th, 2013

hauntcon 2013

Scare Zone made the trek out to Texas in April to experience HAuNTCon, one of the larger yearly haunt conventions. We had a great time attending seminars, meeting professional and home haunters, and touring the tradeshow floor to see the latest and craziest offerings in the haunt industry. We did find the tradeshow floor be to rather small and sparse of vendors but the focus of the convention was the education sessions, most of which were free. So we still found the show passes to be a good value. More-so than the National Haunter’s Convention which we attended in 2011.

Of course, the top attraction for us was being able to tour the local haunted attractions. Each year, the convention travels to a new city, and one of the main reasons for this is to be able to take attendees to different haunts each year on its haunt tours. The Dallas/Fort Worth area has one of the largest concentrations of haunts, but we were still impressed to find out that the pre-show and weekend haunt tours would include approximately 16 different haunted attractions.

We will be providing separate, full reviews of the haunted attractions we visited that were also in full operational mode and open to the public during our visit. But our tours also included a private, behind-the-scenes look at many other haunted attractions, so we’ll be providing our thoughts on those in this post. We did miss one haunt on the tour–Zombie Manor. We have heard that this is a really great and well-themed attraction, and we’re sorry we missed it and won’t be able to provide our review.

Overall, we experienced some great attractions, some so-so attractions, and some kind of terrible ones. Our top 6 favorites are the following:

  1. 13th Street Morgue (located at Reindeer Manor) [will receive a full review in a separate post]
  2. Parker House
  3. Moxley Manor
  4. Hangman’s House of Horrors [will receive a full review in a separate post]  
  5. The Dungeon of Doom
  6. The Haunt House

Now here’s a look inside the haunts we toured during HAuNTCon 2013, from day 1 through day 2.

The Haunt House (Caddo Mills, TX)

Haunt House was voted as one of the best haunts in the country by HauntWorld in 2012. The haunt features an impressive facade that sets the stage for the detailed sets and intense scares inside. The attraction is very long, with winding paths that go up and down hill. The walls often close in on you, and the low ceilings promote a feeling of claustrophobia.  We really liked the great detail work they did on many of the sets, especially the interior rooms such as the library and the stairwell. Some of the “outdoor” scenes were more generic, but we saw many places for good scares. Overall, the theme didn’t come through to clearly to us, as their website provides a back story about a carnival dark ride gone awry. We didn’t see too much evidence of this theme. The owner of Haunt House is a long-time haunted attraction veteran, and he was on-hand to teach a few seminars at the convention. He has a lot of passion for his attraction and the industry, and this is one of the reasons why Haunt House will continue to be one of the best attractions in Texas.

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Fatal End, featuring “Dollz” (Downtown Dallas, TX)

This attraction changes its theme every 2 years. Currently, it’s themed to, as its name suggests, “dolls.” Specifically, “an old doll store and factory in an old abandoned warehouse in Downtown Dallas” in the early 1900s. The back story describes the dollmaker running out of doll parts and resorting to digging up bodies from the local cemetery. For the most part, this attraction sticks to its theme well. There are dolls and doll parts all over the maze, although more heavily used in some scenes than others. Sometimes the placement of the doll parts seemed a little haphazard. Our trip through the Dollz attraction was in show mode, but without actors. But we easily imagined actors in those creepy doll-face masks terrorizing guests. The flow of the maze was interrupted by some scenes that didn’t fit in very well, including an elaborate laboratory scene and a blacklight toxic waste scene with gas masks. In addition, the extremely loud industrial music piped throughout the maze definitely did not fit with the 1900′s time period at all (see our “Six Ways to Ruin a Haunt” article for our opinion about this). The maze was long and had some interesting scenes, but we’d like to see them work on the atmosphere and tighten up the theming.

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Slaughterhouse (Dallas, TX)

The slaughterhouse theme is very popular in haunted attractions, and it’s probably one of the easiest themes to pull off. Just hang a bunch of body parts/animal carcasses around, spread blood all over the place, and voila!–you’ve got a slaughterhouse haunt. So we were extremely disappointed to find that this Slaughterhouse attraction had almost no slaughter at all. We saw clowns, a child’s room, a grim reaper, werewolves, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and even Frankenstein. Really? Frankenstein in a slaughterhouse haunt??  Even more mystifying was the fact that we saw price tags remaining on some of the props (and yes, this was a lights-out tour in show mode with actors).  This kind of laziness makes us mad, honestly. The haunt also relied on a lot of loud noises, strobes, and firecracker poppers. We don’t recommend a visit to this attraction unless you get a very good discount coupon. As a “slaughterhouse” haunt, this attraction left us asking, “Where’s the beef?”

slaughterhouse exterior-1

Moxley Manor (Bedford, TX)

Moxley Manor is located in a small strip mall, and it’s glass storefront location isn’t as impressive as some of the facades of other attractions we visited. However, this smaller haunt packs a large punch. We were surprised by how long this haunt was once we were inside. The “manor” theming was  well done and consistent. There was  a good use fog, very dark areas, and disorienting lights to help increase the scares. It also had a high element of suspense where you’d see a ghoul in the distance who suddenly disappears behind the walls or into the fog only to reappear right in front or behind you. The actors were top-notch and got some scares from the veteran haunt crowd touring the maze that night. There were also actual maze elements, including a scene in which you have to find your way through a maze of white sheets. We think that this is one of the most frequently open haunts in Texas, as they’re always open for special events and holidays such as Super Bowl weekend, Valentine’s Day, ‘Scream Break’, Friday the 13th, and so forth. We thought it was fun and highly recommend checking it out whenever you can.

Parker House (Denton, TX)

This was one of the best attractions we experienced while in Texas. The theming, detailed sets, and actors were were top notch, and most importantly, the scares were excellent. The exterior facade sets the stage for the demented horrors inside the “Parker Funeral Home.” The first scene is a church-like interior, in which the deranged minister taunts the audience and also perfectly explains the important back story and also the rules of the attraction.  From the moment we entered the maze (through a very unexpected doorway), we were greeted with amazing sets and and innovative scares. There is also a large outdoor portion of the attraction, composed of a long trail through brush, trees, and eventually a graveyard. This outdoor section is littered with zombies and cannibal types, and a couple of nice sisters even invited us to “dinner.”  We were particularly impressed with the actors at this attraction. There were many who went way beyond the typical “boo” scare and took on a very interactive role with guests, remaining in character even as jaded haunters heckled them. They also did a great job pacing the groups through the maze, holding groups back if they got too close to the next group in front of them.

We also got a sneak peek of an all-new attraction currently being built for 2013, which looks like it will be pretty massive. Parker House should definitely be on your must-see list for 2013.

Milton’s Manor (Aledo, TX)

When we stepped into Milton’s Manor, we had an extreme case of Deja Vu—had we been here before? It turns out we had. This is the very same attraction that was featured at the Los Angeles County Fair from 2003 through 2006, then called “Scare at the Fair.” This attraction was developed by Shipwreck Productions, the team behind Queen Mary’s Shipwreck Halloween event (replaced by the current and superior “Dark Harbor“). Now retired, “Scare at the Fair” lives on in its new life as “Milton’s Manor,” located in an abandoned gas station. This 3D attraction has some well-done paintings and effects. There are plenty of hiding places for actors, and the 3D glasses further obscure guests’ vision. Although this sort of attraction is dated to us, it seemed to be a bit of a novelty to some of the locals on the tour. Perhaps this type of 3D maze hasn’t been as overused as in California. Regardless, it is a good 3D maze and worth checking out if you’re in the area.

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Creekside Manor (Midlothian, TX)

This is a brand-new haunt for 2013. We were lucky to get a preview of what’s in store for Texas locals this Halloween season. The owners have been hard at work building their new haunt from the ground up. This haunt has a great facade set amid tall trees. The interior is a typical haunted manor type of theme, and the sets are well done and very detailed. It was very obvious that they were inspired by Disney’s Haunted Mansion and Phantom Manor attractions. Even the opening spiel takes its cues directly from the former’s storyline. The hallways are extremely narrow, so if you have any type of claustrophobia, you might be a bit uncomfortable. We saw a lot of expensive (but impressive) animatronics used throughout the attraction. There were scenes with organ-playing skeletons, possessed children, and man-eating plants. Even without the scareactors inside this place , it was somewhat creepy to walk through, and we can only imagine how scary it will be when fully loaded with wall-to-wall creeps. At the finale of the haunt, guests venture into a short outdoor portion that we expect is pretty spooky at night.

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Tayman Graveyard (Midlothian, TX)

This haunt features three attractions: Tayman Funeral Home, Tayman Mines, and Fappy the Clown’s Theatre of Wonders.

Tayman Funeral Home is the best of the three and is the “main attraction.” This maze begins with an “insult” actor, there to tell you the rules and make jokes at guests’ expense. We suppose this is for comic relief, but the jokes felt pretty flat and lame. We’d prefer something to set the mood of the haunt instead. He also warned us that we’d have to crawl. The maze itself was well themed to an old haunted house, and yes, we did have to crawl through one section (which went on a bit too long). There were some interesting scenes and set design thoughout the house. After you make your way through the house, there’s a brief trail called Gravediggers Hollow that goes through the backwoods, where you’ll encounter some rogue zombies who didn’t make the proper final arrangements to get inside the Funeral Home. We could imagine it being rather freaky out there at nighttime.

Tayman Mines is a dusty and dry trek through wooden walls with minimal props. We went through during the day, so we can’t say how scary it might be at night (the owner’s dogs did provide a unstaged scare from behind a fence). There wasn’t much to look at during the day, so any scares will probably depend on a strong actor component and the darkness of the evening.

Fappy the Clown’s Theatre of Wonders is your standard 3D clown maze, with scenes we’ve seen many times before, such as black walls with neon handprints. We also passed through a perplexing vampire scene, which didn’t make much sense to us amid the carnival atmosphere.

If you’re going to make the trek out to this haunt, we suppose it’s worth seeing all of the attractions; however, the Funeral Home feels like the only major maze, with the others seeming more like “add-ons.” During haunt season they do offer a haunted hayride, which we imagine could be very good through the the back woods locations.

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Reindeer Manor (Red Oak, TX)

Reindeer Manor is “a real” Haunted House located on the outskirts of Dallas with a truly haunted past, and it’s been open to the public for more than 40 seasons. They were one of the first and are one of the oldest haunted attractions in the state of Texas, if not the world. This attraction is set up as a theatrical haunt, where you go from room to room to see ghostly and grizzly stories unfold. The haunt team here is very dedicated, composed mainly of boy scout volunteers. The theming of the rooms is extremely elaborate, making us wish that we could have had the full haunt experience versus the behind-the-scenes (lights-on) walk-through tour. Some of their stand-out scenes included a collapsing ceiling, the fiery pond, a room that rocks back and forth, and a giant, lightning-generating Tesla coil. Coupled with The Dungeon of Doom and 13th Street Morgue attractions, Red Oak is one the scariest parts of Texas you can visit during the haunt season.

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Posted in Dallas/Ft. Worth, Haunt Profiles, Texas, Trip Report, Year-Round Haunts | No Comments »

Scare Zone’s 2012 Top Haunts

Sunday, November 25th, 2012

Another Haunt Season has passed away, so now it’s time for us to reflect back and rank the best and worst of our 2012 haunt stalking.

As you all know, 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. In addition, this season, like horror movie victims, we split up and did some individual haunt stalking so we will feature separate rankings from both Scare Zone ‘terrorspondents’ M. Leota and Matt E. Horn.

We visited a few great haunts across the country, so this year’s rankings will include haunts we visited in California, New York, and Florida. For a list of all the places we visited and to read our full reviews, please click here. Now, on to our 2012 Top Haunts   

To understand the ratings please see our ratings guide.

 

M. Leota’s Rankings

Best Maze Design:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Haunted Play Presents Delusion: The Blood Rite
  3. Trick or Treat (Knott’s Scary Farm)
Best Maze Theme:
  1. Trick or Treat (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. La Llorona (HHN Hollywood)
Scariest Maze:
  1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law (HHN Hollywood)
  2. Reign of Terror
  3. Sinister Pointe

Coolest Scene in a Maze:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors – magician’s quarters
  2. Los Angeles Haunted Hayride: church
  3. Haunted Play Presents Delusion – Blood Rite: hallway/bathroom scene

Best Maze Name:

  1. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Deadrise (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw Is the Law (HHN Hollywood)

Best Scare-Actors/Monsters:

  1. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. The Walking Dead: Dead Inside (HHN Hollywood)

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2011):

  1. Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Fallout Shelter (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  3. Terror of London (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Scare Zone:

  1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Klownz (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Toyz (HHN Hollywood)

Most Unique Haunt Experience:

  1. Trapped (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  3. Blumhouse of Horrors

Best Value Haunt:

Knott’s Scary Farm

Best Maze of 2012:

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Stand Alone Haunt

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Theme Park Haunt

Knott’s Scary Farm

Matt E. Horn’s Rankings

Best Maze Design:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Alone (Howl O Scream)
  3. Tie: Dead End (HHN Orlando) & Gothic (HHN Orland0)
Best Maze Theme:
  1. Blumhouse of Horrors
  2. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  3. Tie: Gothic (HHN Orlando) & Circus of Superstition (Howl O Scream Tampa) 
Scariest Maze:
  1. Gothic (HHN Orlando)
  2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Saw is the Law (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Sinister Pointe

Coolest Scene in a Maze:

  1. Blumhouse of Horrors – Finale magic act on main theater stage
  2. Alone – Stretching steel hallway with machete man (Howl O Scream Tampa)
  3. Gothic – Cathedral balcony overlooking the church (HHN Orlando)

Best Maze Name:

  1. Pinocchio: Unstrung (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Deadrise (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Times Scare

Best Scare-Actors/Monsters:

  1. Alone (Howl O Scream Tampa)
  2. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  3. Blumhouse of Horrors

Most Improved Maze (compared with  2011):

  1. Uncle Willy’s Slaughterhouse (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Village of the Damned (Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor)
  3. Fallout Shelter (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Scare Zone:

  1. Ghost Town (Knott’s Scary Farm)
  2. Toyz (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Klownz (HHN Hollywood)

Most Unique Haunt Experience:

  1. The Haunted Play Presents: Delusion – Blood Rite
  2. Blumhouse of Horrors
  3. Tie: Alone (Busch Gardens) & Trapped (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Best Value Haunt:

Knott’s Scary Farm

Best Maze of 2012:

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Stand Alone Haunt

Blumhouse of Horrors

Top 2012 Theme Park Haunt

Knott’s Scary Farm

Scare Zone’s Worst Rankings

This is where we load up the buried skulls and drive them off to the crematory. Of course, being in the world of horror, we’re aptly aware that not everything will die immediately or forever, but until the sequels here’s our call for the worse of 2012.

Worst Design

  1. All Haunted Hollywood Sports Mazes
  2. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)
  3. Evil Dead (Knott’s Scary Farm)

Worst Theme

  1. All Haunted Hollywood Sports Mazes
  2. Tie: Virus Z (Knott’s Scary Farm) [Matt E. Horn] & Alice Cooper Goes to Hell [M. Leota]
  3. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)

Least Scary Maze

  1. Tie: All-American Armageddon & Cannibal Caverns (Haunted Hollywood Sports)
  2. Penn & Tell New(KD) Vegas (HHN Orlando)
  3. Terror Tram: Invaded by The Walking Dead (HHN Hollywood)

Worse Value

  1. Haunted Hollywood Sports
  2. Haunted Grimm House (Orlando)
  3. Tie: Times Scare & L.A. Haunted Hayride

Worse Haunt of 2012

Haunted Hollywood Sports

2012 Repass

This year we observed that the Haunt industry is rapidly growing with more haunts (good, bad, or worse) opening up all over the country and with Theme Parks extending their haunt offerings and calendars between September and October. There’s also a growing popularity with the general public as we saw, and experienced, some of the biggest crowd attendance at haunts across the country. Haunting is really a   popular world-wide pastime now.

‘Stand Alone Haunts’ really set the bar this year, giving us some of favorite experiences this season. In the Southern California area we were very fortunate to have two very unique, celebrity produced, haunts that really impressed and scared us – Blumhouse of Horrors and Delusion: Blood Rite. Both of these attractions seamlessly combined storytelling, state-of-the-art effects and scares. They were able to give haunt stalkers  something fresh and scary instead of just relying upon the standard haunt formula. Other places like Sinister Pointe and Reign of Terror also expanded their respectively unique haunt experiences; making them some of our highest rated haunts of the year.

For the theme park haunts such as Halloween Horror Nights (both coasts) and Knott’s Scary Farm, it was pretty much business as usual. They are still fun and provide quite a few thrills. However, it seems that this year many of the themes were either commercial tie-ins or recycled/remixed themes. There’s no question that Knott’s has made a nice come back and in our opinion is back on top as the best theme park haunt. Universal still has some of the most elaborate mazes in the business at both of their parks but as an overall Halloween experience Knott’s couldn’t be beat this year. We hope that in the coming years the theme park haunts work to refine and create more original mazes that not only capture our imaginations (and wallets) but continue to push the boundaries of fear.

As we’ve said before, we take haunting and our earned dollars seriously, so we don’t have tolerance for the haunts that are more interested in taking people’s money than putting effort into a quality production. While some of our reviews may seem harsh or scathing we’re doing our best to provide the best information on where to spend your money. We realize that for many, they will only choose 1 or 2 haunts to visit so with more haunts to see we want to help you find the best one.  With that said, there were many high-quality haunts and mazes that didn’t make our top list, but they did offer a great time and good scares such as Howl-O Scream, Then Empty Grave, and Fear’s Gate. We also acknowledge all of the great haunts out there that we didn’t get to this season, like The Haunted Hotel, Coffin Creek, and Eli Roth’s Goretorium just to name a few.

We thank all our fellow Haunt Stalkers and Haunt reviewers for joining us on our 2012 scare-ventures. We appreciate all of you who shared your own experiences and ratings with us this season and throughout the year. We appreciate all your support and engagement with our site, and we look forward to having more scare-ventures together.

Scaringly yours,

M. Leota & Matt E. Horn

Co-Founders & Writers,  Scare Zone

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Posted in Florida, Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Haunt News, Haunt Reviews, Howl-O-Scream, Knott's Scary Farm, New York, Southern California, Terror Tips, Travel Terrors, Trip Report | No Comments »

Haunt Review: Howl-O-Scream (Tampa) 2012

Tuesday, November 20th, 2012

Following HHN Orlando, the next stop on our 2012 Florida Haunt Stalk was Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream (HOS).  This year marked their 13th anniversary and it was our 3rd visit  to HOS. In our past visits, HOS has always exceeded our expectations with some of the best nontraditional scare tactics and themes we’ve experienced. For example, in the  2007 maze The Hunted, a young girl asked us if she could join our group until we catch up to her friends. After going through 1/3 of the maze she was suddenly grabbed and ‘killed’ by a slasher that had appeared out of nowhere. We completely fell for the setup and to this day it’s one of the most startling and memorable scares of our stalking careers. With memories like these, we were very excited to return and looked forward to seeing their new offerings including the Alone VIP maze experience.

THE HOWL-O-SCREAM EXPERIENCE

We arrived at the park about 40 minutes before the mazes officially opened. There was a backup of cars going into the parking lot but fortunately we spotted a second parking entrance that was wide open  just down the street.  Little did we know that it may of been easy to get in but was going to be hell to get out, but more on that later. As we stepped off the parking lot tram and walked up to the turnstiles we encountered another theme park haunt first – there were monsters lurking outside the park! There were guest running from monsters who were popping out from behind trash cans, the bushes, and the ticket booths. We’ve seen monsters chase people out of the park but never into the park! Thankfully, getting in was very fast and simple and once we walked into HOS there’s no question that they were determined to scare the shit out of us. The nontraditional scare tactics we’ve come to expect from HOS began right away with monsters disguised as park guests and employees alike were scaring people left and right as we made our way through the park. There was a guy sweeping the walkways who suddenly turned around to reveal a hideous face, a woman disguised as a guest with her arm in cast that was actually concealing a slithering surprise, and even the bushes were alive and ready to attack. Throughout the rest of the park, there were roaming hordes of monsters that have replaced the traditional scare zones. There was one official scare zone called Faded Memories which was a look back at the last 13 years of HOS. It wasn’t scary and really was just a section of walkway that had the signs from past mazes illuminated in the fog along with some former props and key characters.

After the headaches of HHN the night before, we were glad that we purchased the Front of Line (FOL) passes on this night. We went on a Thursday night but unbeknownst to us the following day was a school holiday, so as the night went on the park became extremely packed. With the combination of bratty kids, barely legal drunks, and a few over assertive guests the night could of been a disaster, but the HOS staff seemed pretty adept and prepared for this crowd. We also liked that throughout the night guests could still buy FOL passes if they started to feel overwhelmed by the lines. The park is very big so it helps with the crowd flow and we recommend in any of your future visits that you pick a path around the park and hit all the mazes and any rides you want to ride along the way as doubling back can be both time consuming and tiring. We did find some sections of the park to be difficult to navigate as they were extremely dark which is probably because they’re trying not to disturb some of the resting animals but it was also hard to find some of the mazes and there are a couple dead-end walkways.

When asked how does HOS rank overall compared to HHN we would have to say it’s a tie. Both parks have attributes that top the other. At HOS it felt more like we were at a scary Halloween party. The atmosphere across the park created a complete feeling of Halloween and they really pushed the boundaries on where and when they try to scare the guests. It also seemed that the staff from the bartenders to the maze staff  sincerely cared if we were enjoying the evening. The roaming monster hordes were also more active at HOS and the mazes seemed to have more monsters inside of them. HOS has some impressively designed mazes but HHN’s overall  maze quality is still a grade above with more unique themes and higher end effects.

While our HOS evening was enjoyable and scary, the frustration started when we were trying to leave the park. Even with FOL it took us all night to get through all the mazes and to go on a few rides (loved the new Cheetah Hunt) so we ended up staying past the closing time. This sealed our doom as we got caught up in the pack of drunks and brats making their way to their cars. It was utter chaos in the exit plaza and parking lot and for some unexplained reason the exit gate of the parking lot is only one lane so it took us nearly an hour just to get out of the parking lot. This is a major fail and the frustration of getting out nearly erased the good time we just had. We’ll chalk that up to a bad operations moment for them and focus our attention back on what you really want to know about, the mazes.

MAZES

To see details on our ratings please check the ratings guide.

Blood Asylum 

This mazes adds a new layer to the typical asylum theme with a creature running rampant throughout a mental hospital killing the other insane inmates. The addition of the creature brought some life (or death) to the story line and this maze also had the most grotesque scenes at HOS. They didn’t hold back with the blood and guts inside this deranged prison. When we went through this maze our timing was a little off as we got caught behind a slow moving group but their terrified reactions were fun to watch and also attracted an onslaught of monsters. They must of heard in the break room that they had some live ones as the further we got through the more and more monsters we encountered. For us the scares seemed a little redundant and there were no real recognizable or memorable monsters just bloodied inmates and officers. Call us crazy but this maze could of been better.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 skulls
  • Theming: 2.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 2 skulls

Overall Rating*: 2.5 skulls 

Circus of Superstition 3-D 

This maze was fantastic! As all of our haunt stalkers know by now, we find the clown theme to be tired and not scary. However, this maze has cleverly combined the Trickster icon and the park’s 13th anniversary with the theme of thirteen superstitions being showcased inside a circus filled with crazed clowns. Unlike the typical clown mazes where they try to be silly while scaring you, these clowns are sinister and pure evil. Lead by the Trickster who snidely welcomed us inside , we really felt like we were testing our luck in this maze. Inside, we were treated to superstitious fears such as opened umbrellas, broken mirrors  black cats, hat on a bed, spilling salt, and cracked sidewalks. The clowns attacked from all directions and some, on bungee cords, sprung out and got extremely close to us. On top of all that, this maze was in 3D bringing a whole new dimension of fear with the dramatic transitions from florescent bright rooms to dark passages, causing a very disorienting effect . The finale of the maze was one of the most suspenseful and heart pounding scares of the night with a walkway surrounded by ax wielding clowns. Seems we were pretty lucky to get out in one piece. 

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls 

Zombie Mortuary

 

Zombies is another theme we usually don’t find to be scary, but once again HOS has found a way to revive the living dead with the Zombie Mortuary maze. What was unique about this maze is that it isn’t set in some obscure post apocalyptic world but instead it’s in a place where zombies should call home, a funeral home. There were numerous surprise scares from below and the top, our favorite kinds. The sets were highly detailed too, taking us from the front door of the funeral home, through a chapel of grieving widows, into the embalming rooms, past the opened mortuary tombs and finally six feet under inside our own grave. The final scene inside the grave was one of the most haunting and memorable of the night. After the trip through Zombie Mortuary we think we’ll opt for cremation when the real time comes.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls

Nevermore

This was one of the mazes we were most looking forward to. This maze had incredible atmosphere and visuals but instead of being scared we just wanted to linger and look at all the details as we tried to figure out which of Poe’s Gothic tales we were experiencing. It’s obvious that more focus was placed on the design instead of the scare tactics. The costuming in this maze was immaculate and a lot of it reminded us of Disney World’s Haunted Mansion with mysterious bookcases, changing portraits and ghostly statues which would “suddenly come to life”. Many of the same scare tactics were repeated through this maze and while it was startling at have the statues lunge at us, this scare tactic became predictable fast (just look down at their feet to see which one is real). The highlights of this maze were the disorienting strobe light room themed to Poe’s The Mask of the Red Death and the room of The Black Cat. Overall, we would say that this maze was solid but as Poe said himself, “There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing, but which are too entirely horrible for the purposes of legitimate fiction”.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4 skulls 

Vampire Casino Ultimate Gamble: Condemned 

Photo: Happy Monday, folks! How about another house logo?

Back in 2007 Taste of Blood was one of the most unique Vampire mazes we’ve seen with the blood suckers hiding in an underground subway layer. Since that time Vampires have really fallen out of vogue and it seems they’ve decided to retired inside an abandoned Las Vegas casino… um-kay. We like that HOS has found new ways to spice up various themes such as the clowns and zombies but this time around they should let the vampires stay in their coffins. The maze is based inside a dark casino where one member of our group is given a flashlight and is supposed to guide  the way. The concept is cool and we give them an ‘A’ for effort but the actual effect fell flat. One problem was they gave the flashlight to some kids who were too scared to lead the way but also wouldn’t pass the flashlight to someone else. Since the maze actually had enough light to see without the flashlight, we just left the group behind in hopes of finding some menacing and scary vampires. Instead, without the flashlight to signal to the vampires that we were coming we missed just about every scare and they missed us. We will say that this maze did the Vegas theme better than HHN’s Penn & Teller New(KD) Vegas but that isn’t saying much. Hopefully next year they pay their light bill find new ways to re-illuminate these children of the night.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 skulls
  • Theming: 2.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1 skull

Overall Rating*: 2 skulls 

Nightshade Toy Factory: Mutation 

Awww, it’s the evil toy and doll maze. As I write this review I’m starting to think that maybe HOS had no originality at all, instead they’ve just mastered remixing popular haunt themes. Nonetheless  this maze was very fun and packed with a lot of scares. It was also rather long with room after room filled with what else; diabolical dolls, mutated teddy bears and possessed playthings. The maze also had a double ending with a chainsaw chase out that lead into a chamber with two side by side vortex tunnels. Like in any typical horror situation, our group split up and each tested our own fates inside the respective vortex tunnels. To it’s credit, The Nightshade Toy Factory really makes toy and gifts that keep on giving and killing.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4 skulls
  • Theming: 3.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 skull

Overall Rating*: 4 skulls 

Alone

The deranged Master Alexander Daedalus opened Minotaur Storage to house his vast collection of “cultural” remains. But now his sinister obsession with hoarding has expanded to stockpiling people. Escape this lunatic’s labyrinth or you will become part of his collection. Can you make it out ALONE? 

In an effort to save some money we opted to do this maze as two instead of Alone.  This maze was not cheap as it cost us $60 ($50 for completely alone) but it turned out to be a worthwhile experience. While we found it to be a little pricey as it was only $25 just 2 years ago,  it was obvious that the demand was there as it was sold out and there was a good number of disappointed guests who walked up expecting to get in but couldn’t.

Going in we were apprehensive and had no idea what to expect. I had experienced the Trapped maze at Knott’s Scary Farm earlier in the season but HOS has been doing this VIP maze experience for the past two years now. The maze didn’t have the typical monster jump from around the corner or “boo door’ type of scares. Here they play with your senses and the scare actors work their hardest to make sure we were uncomfortable and disoriented. This is a maze of wills and courage. As you’ll see in our ratings we really liked this maze but we don’t want to spoil it. We’re not sure if it’s the same year after year – we imagine it is. So, for those of you who plan to visit HOS next year please skip to the end and for those of you who want to take a room by room trip with us just highlight the following text to read on.

** SPOILER ALERT**

When we arrived for our appointment time the host gave each of us a fake body party as our admission ticket. There were a few people ahead of us and every 5 minutes they would let the next party in. We noticed that just about everyone was going in as groups of two or 3 (economies of scale).  Outside the gate stood a tall imposing guard who showed no emotion whatsoever. His demeanor gave us the clear indication that this maze was going to be no joke.  As we anxiously waited there was the sound of cats loudly screeching and crying which was both unnerving and annoying. When it was our turn he opened the gate and silently followed us for a few yards before disappearing in the fog. We made our way down the foggy tree lined walkway with the cat cries getting louder.

At the end of the path  we were confronted by a hillbilly man who had real snot hanging from his beard. It was very disgusting  to see that goo dripping out of his mouth and nose and disturbing as he got close, too close, to our faces. He never spoke. He just laughed, grunted, and screamed at us. After a few minutes he gestured for one of us to sit in a chair that was next to a tape recorder. He played a tape which explained the story of house’s owner, Alexander Daedalus, along with a brief safety spiel. The story sounded simple, we’re going in to see his collection of items and we’re not supposed to touch anything. 

After the taped message was over, the mute hillbilly became more irate and took out a butchers knife and quickly motioned us into the house. Once inside it was immediately obvious that the design quality of this maze was on a whole other level.  After going down a hallway a bellhop appeared and pushed us into an “elevator”. It was the typical elevator trick used in other mazes but this version was more frightening as the room suddenly got dark and felt claustrophobic. When it was dark we were also concerned as to where was the bellhop who had stepped inside with us. When the elevator ride was over and the doors opened we were inside an entirely different room. We made our way out of the elevator and into a two-story room filled with padded walls and and flowing white sheets. At the top was a woman who was floating above us wrapped in the sheets. She welcomed us and asked why did we come there. Before we could answer we were assaulted by some psychos who were hidden the padded walls. We quickly ran forward through a steel door that was at the end of the room.

We definitely didn’t end up in a safer place. We were now inside a narrow steel corridor which suddenly began to stretch away from us and the lights flickered. Suddenly a shirtless man with two machetes came running at us, with his blades slicing across the walls creating massive sparks. The lights flashed off and when they came back on he was standing behind us breathing down our necks.  He asked us our names and then started to threaten us with his machetes. They looked real enough and he promised he would cut us.  He then lunged at us and chased down the hallway into the next room.

As we caught our breath we were in a living room which looked like scene out of Hoarders. A lady jumped out at us and started to speak kindly to us. She asked if we want to see her collection of items but warned us not to touch anything. She knew our names and then brought to our attention that the items in the room were all made from skin, human skin! She began to tease that our skin would be good for her collection and we began to make our way down the path through the cluttered room to get away from her. There was another lady who grabbed at us from behind a bookcase and attempted to block our path. We found the exit door and as we left she bid us nice goodbye, slamming the door behind us.

We were now inside a brick wall room with no visible way to exit.  We weren’t sure where to go so we started touching the walls. After a few moments a side door opened and two inmates came in yelling at us for touching the walls. They separated us, taking us into a dimly lit room filled with wooden crate walls and sliding doors, looking like a cattle stockyard. One of us was taken quickly down the hall through the doors and the other was held at the entrance being harassed and asked who touched the wall. These inmates knew our names and we had to find our way through this room with them attempting to block our paths and keep us separated.

At the end of this scene we were pushed into a room where another “kind” lady greeted us. The room was filled with some fancy items and she began to engage us, asking us how do we like the master’s collection. She started showing us various bizarre artifacts and then picked up a giant vase. She spun it around and then dropped it on the floor. “Oh look what you’ve done” she screamed, “look what you’ve done.” We were told that we were in big trouble with “The Master” and we were immediately sent into the next room where a guy was chained to the wall and there was a mad scientist. It seems the guy had touched something as well and before we could say anything he was violently electrocuted in front of us. Another door opened in the wall and we were sent into a chamber where we were face to face with the Master and his pet Minotaur. It seems we’ve met the Devil himself.

The room looked like dungeon and was filled with coffins. The Master sat on a throne and we were told to beg for our lives. We engaged in some banter about who touched what, making us feel like children who were in a lot of trouble. After a few minutes he obviously had enough and commanded the Minotaur take out a giant power drill to “punish us”. The creature brought it dangerously close to us and then one of us was commanded to go into one of the coffins against the wall and wait for our fate. Once inside the coffin a staircase was revealed  which climbed up into a dark room where a Johnny Depp-like vampire-type creature was waiting. When we both got into the room he began to make sexual advances at both us but finally settled on the lady. He practically kissed her and in the meanwhile sent me, the guy, down a dark slide in the far corner of the room. The slide ended in another dimly lit room where a guy emerged from the dark. He suddenly whipped out a chainsaw and then chased us out of the house, one by one for one final scare. We were then standing alone outside the house and followed another foggy tree lined trail back to civilization, so we hoped. 

At the end of the maze we were out of breath, laughing, and shaking from the experience we just had. This summary can’t accurately capture the full ambiance of the maze or the quality of the scareactors. What we liked most about it were the interactions that pushed the boundaries of personal space and comfort. Unlike the traditional haunt mazes, it was also a personalized experience and it seemed like they didn’t want us to leave. It was freaky and somewhat titillating at the same time. We think it’s worth at least one visit, even if you’ve read this. We also recommend that you do try it alone or with no more than one other person. Of all the few VIP mazes we’ve now been in, so far this one is the best.

Alone Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 5 skulls
  • Theming: 4 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls
  • Fright Value: 3.5 skulls (*$6o up charge)

Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls 

 HOS Fright Value: 4.5 Skulls

Overall Rating of HOWL-O-SCREAM: 4 Skulls

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Haunt Review: Halloween Horror Nights Orlando

Sunday, November 4th, 2012

This haunt season we were  fortunate enough to make a trip cross country to check out Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights (HHN22). As the  22 indicates, this year marked the event’s 22nd anniversary and it was also our 3rd visit to the Orlando haunt.  After planning the trip we were disappointed to hear that they would be having 4 similar themes as HHN Hollywood (The Walking Dead, Silent Hill, Alice Cooper, and Universal Monsters). We were further disappointed to learn that the closure of the Jaws ride and sudden construction for the new Transformers ride would result in 1 less maze than in recent years. Ironically, the last time we attended Orlando’s HHN in 2007 (Carnival of Carnage), it was also the last time that both parks featured a few similar mazes (Friday The 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

As our trip got closer, we readjusted our expectations and looked forward to comparing the two HHN events against each other. In 2007, we actually found Hollywood’s versions of the mazes to be superior. To us, their sets were more elaborate and they did a better job of capturing the atmosphere and terrors of the respective movies. However, we also found Orlando’s original mazes to be the best of the two parks so the big question is how would the two compare this year?

THE HHN 22 EXPERIENCE

The similarities seemed to present themselves immediately upon arrival. Just like Hollywood, if you don’t have a Front of the Line (FOL) pass then you’ll be destined for a night of standing in long lines with minimal hope of being able to experience all of the mazes. As those who follow us on Twitter know, we weren’t able to secure FOL passes. It seems that the second day of the ’2 day/2 park’ tickets we had purchased during our 2007 visit couldn’t be upgraded online or via the phone to add the ‘Stay and Scream’ or FOL options. So, we weren’t able to upgrade our passes until we got to the park and by that time it was too late to get the FOL option which was sold out. Honestly, this entire ticket purchasing process was infuriating and the snarky attitude of the Universal “Guest Services” employee we dealt with really set a negative tone for the beginning of our evening. We would think that after 22 years, HHN Orlando would have figured out to sell tickets online but it seems that they still have quite a few operational issues to work out. In addition, to the ticketing, throughout the night we encountered other operational issues such as incorrectly posted wait times, pushy ‘blackouts’ working inside the mazes, backed up bathroom lines, and some rather hard to find mazes.

As we feared, the crowds began to quickly descend on the park and even though it was a Wednesday night it quickly became apparent that we would have our work cut out for us in order to experience all the mazes. With optimistism we began our journey through HHN22, trying to strategize how to stay ahead of the crowds as much as possible.

SCARE ZONES

 This is the first year HHN22 did not feature a iconic character or defined scare zones. Instead, they adopted the roaming street monsters which Busch Gardens over in Tampa began doing last year. While it wasn’t apparent during our visit, we later learned that all the construction within the park was tied into the event’s overall theme. Supposedly the story is that during construction an ancient cemetery was uncovered and released  an ancient evil called “The Iniquitas” . The Iniquitas then summoned various “Dark Legions” of zombies, vampires, warriors, beasts, female chainsaw wielding prisoners and “Halloween Traditionals”. To further enhance this story, there also was a online/in-park game entitled “Horror UNSEARTHED” which allowed guests to play and earn points for their favorite Dark Legion. The roaming hordes were actually more menacing and scarier than the scare zones in Hollywood and it did feel as if HHN22 had a deeper Halloween atmosphere across the park. Yet it also seemed more chaotic as we were being attacked by zombies, vampires, and the Halloween Traditionals all at the same time when we entered the park.

MAZES

Since HHN22 is already dead and buried we will share some more specific details of the houses in the review. To understand our ratings please check the ratings guide. 

Welcome to Silent Hill

 

This was definitely a different and better version compared to Hollywood’s. The story line was more linear with more variation of scenery

and scare effects. The maze begins with a more elaborate point of entry to the town of Silent Hill with a cop popping out of the bushes firing a gun at a demon that suddenly emerges from the other side of the road, placing us in the cross hairs of the gunfire. The effect of ash raining down highlights this scene as we made our way down the foggy highway and cross through the portal from Fog World to Otherworld. Inside, guests venture through a police station’s locker room and bathroom, to a hospital’s boiler room, and pass the abandoned carnival into the back alleys of the town Silent Hill. Similar to Hollywood, there were some very elaborate effects featured in the maze, such as bathroom mirrors with appearing and disappearing figures, the colossal Pyramid Head executioners, and the disfigured nurses -we have to say that the talent playing the nurses in Hollywood was better. Of course, there also was Robbie the Rabbit who had a more prominent presence in this version. In fact, there’s even a scene where he is seemingly daring  us to stick our hands inside a toilet- but the blackouts were trying to rush us so we didn’t get to experience that scare. We very much appreciated the fact that unlike Hollywood they didn’t add the ridiculous shit smell to the bathroom scenes. Overall, this maze felt like more like a journey through the world of the video game than in Hollywood where it felt like we were stuck on the same level of the video game. We do think Hollywood’s had a few stronger scares with better talent but this version’s content and layout was far more interesting and creepy.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 4.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 3 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4 skulls 

The Walking Dead: Dead Inside

Just like Hollywood’s version this maze blatantly promoted the show with tune-in messaging plastered all over the maps, signage, and just about everywhere else. While waiting in line, they played highlights from the previous season along with reminders to tune in which we had plenty of time to watch as this was a maze with a 30 minuted posted wait time that ended up being a whopping 75 minutes.

The maze is very similar to Hollywood’s, taking victims through the post-apocalyptic world of the television series, where we follow in the footsteps of the show’s human survivors, making our way from the devastated suburban hospital, through the streets of Atlanta, to the remote countryside, where we end up in an old barn. While the zombie’s makeup was impeccable and had the look of the show, there weren’t as many recognizable characters like we saw in Hollywood. Due to this maze being so “popular” the crowds were packed inside and it became difficult to tell the zombies a part from the guests, further minimizing the scare factor.  There were a lot of scares using  Universal’s signature “strobe-and-sound startle” scare effect and like  Hollywood the effect was overused becoming quickly predictable and almost annoying. There were also many predictable scares with zombies always popping out of a corner. Again, there were just too many people inside which prevented the  experience from becoming to scary and in this category, Hollywood wins. We did like the department store scene where zombies were lurking among the racks of clothes. However, outside of this scene the rest of maze was pretty forgettable.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2.5 skulls
  • Theming: 3 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 skulls

Overall Rating*: 2 skulls 

Universal’s House of Horrors

This maze was tucked in a back corner of the park and rather hard to find but we’re very glad we found it. Our initial thoughts were that this maze was going to a generic haunted house showcasing the not-so-scary and old Universal Monsters just like Hollywood’s similarly themed Universal Monster’s Remix maze, sans the dubstep music blasting inside. This maze however, is a creative and very scary experience. The maze begins by walking through a dimly lit hallway with posters and Boris Karloff sound clips from the classic movies of the monsters we’re soon going to encounter. We then make our way into a projection room which is the gateway to the classic horrors. Throughout the maze they use flashing black-light against the white sketched sets and costumes creating the awesome and temporarily blinding effect of being trapped inside old black and white celluloid film. In the first scene we found ourselves inside the Wolfman’s old world forest where Wolfmen lunged out of the set’s dark shadows. We then ventured into a catacomb maze with the Phantom of the Opera lurking about. Next we found ourselves in Dracula’s castle which featured a very cool scare with Dracula standing up on a balcony looking down at us and then he suddenly flings up his cape, disappears, and reappears at ground level-right in our face! Escaping the prince of darkness we turned a corner and had to duck down to crouch through a passageway inside the Mummy’s tomb. Aside from feeling trapped we were vulnerable to the Mummies who were laying in very close of proximity to us. Next we were in another forest with waterways and a quick but menacing appearance by the Creature of the Black Lagoon. We then made our way into Frankenstein’s castle, where the raging monster literally crashed through a wall creating one of the most surprising scares we’ve seen to date! The finale of the maze featured a room filled with giant film strips dangling from the ceiling with the flashing lights and all of the monsters attacking from every possible angle. We heard that this was the most scareactors they’ve ever put into a single maze scene and it was a very climactic end to a rather short but exciting maze.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 4.5 skulls
  • Theming: 4.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4.5 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls 

Dead End

Dead End is one of this year’s original mazes set inside a dilapidated haunted house where countless horrific acts had occurred in the past. This maze features the traditional haunted house tricks and aesthetics that you’d find in your local haunts but with Universal’s added level of sophistication.  We heard that is was actually inspired by 2010′s “Legendary Truth: The Wyandot Estate” maze and it reminded us a little of 2007′s “Dead Silence” maze. Dead End also felt similar to Knott’s Scary Farm’s Trick or Treat with rotted Jack-O-Lanterns sitting on the front porch and supernatural activity running rampant throughout the house. Inside the house you make your way through various rooms and the walls where you encounter a variety of ghostly, and monstrous inhabitants such as a girl with a broken neck, killer plants, and a photographer who’s already to take your picture with a family that’s impatiently waiting on a couch. In another scene there’s a very cool variation of the spinning tunnel room effect where the seemingly regular hallway fades into a spinning vortex as the lights dim down. There’s also the library room with books  floating above distracting us from the scareactors who begin to grab at us from behind the bookcases. In addition to the use of state of the art props and projection effects, the scareactors in this house were very skilled at timing the scares to keep frightening the long  line of people who were making their way through. This was maze very long but it was also one of the ones with the worse ‘blackouts’ who were being over zealous in trying to make us rush through the house. It became so annoying that we had to yell back at them to stop ruining the experience we’ve paid good money to enjoy and that actually seemed to work.  Overall, this was a beautiful and visually stimulating maze that captured the true essence of Halloween frights.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 5 skulls
  • Theming: 4.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 4 skulls

Overall Rating*: 4.5 skulls 

Gothic

Have to begin this review by saying this is one of the top mazes we’ve experienced anywhere this season. Of all the HHN 22 mazes Gothic was non-descript prior to our visit and we even contemplated skipping it for the Alice Cooper maze. Luckily we made a better decision and experienced one the best HHN mazes. This maze is fully decked out with incredible attention to detail creating a set that was so realistic that for a time we forgot we were inside a maze and believed that we were actually trapped inside a Gothic Parisian cathedral over ran by vengeful gargoyles. The gargoyle theme was very original as we don’t ever recall seeing these hideous creatures used in any maze before. It’s all gargoyles, all the time, inside this maze with no variation with other kinds of monsters but it’s very effective and they scare with an unmatched level of intensity from every imaginable and unimaginable direction possible - flying and diving out of every corner, the ceilings and even from below the floors. The size of some of the sets were breathtaking , one of which featured a precarious gargoyle’s eye view of the church  from a balcony ledge. There were also impressive visuals such as a hall of with candles, similar to the ones we saw earlier in the day on the Harry Potter Ride,  that simultaneously get blown out by the wind. There’s also a stone wall that hides a stilt walking statute that seemed to appear out of thin air. With many of the gargoyle statues blended in with real scareactors it was nerve racking to walk through the church’s dark hallways not knowing which gargoyles were really going to jump at us, which is extremely scary.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 5 skulls
  • Theming: 5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 5 skulls

Overall Rating*: 5 skulls 

Penn & Teller New(KD) Las Vegas 3D

We’re still wondering who thought it would be a good idea for Penn & Teller to have their own HHN maze. Yeah they can do some good magic tricks but they’re NOT scary. This maze was supposed the year’s comical offering but the theme was just corny and lame. While in line, we get see a video of how Penn and Teller have placed a tent over the entire city of Las Vegas creating a New Las Vegas – WTF? It seems some nuclear energy was used to make this transition with some very ill results. We remember back in 2007 when they had the “Jack’s Fun House 3D” maze and it seems that they recycled a couple those sets. Unfortunately the 3D was not an asset to this maze and unlike Hollywood’s recent 3D mazes such as “Rob Zombie’s House of 1,00 Corpses” and “Alice Cooper Goes to Hell,” the 3D effects in the maze were amateurish and didn’t have a significant impact in the maze experience  There were some clever parodies of Las Vegas with disgusting buffet displays, twisted slot machines with functional levers to pull, a tiger trick done by those “other” popular Vegas magicians-gone wrong and a cocktail waitress with 3 boobs. There’s also a zombie Elvis  marrying off an unlucky couple. The problem was that there was nothing particularly scary about the maze, there were quite a few rooms where nothing happened, and it was just plain bizarre. We’re glad that we only waited 20 minutes for this maze as a wait any longer would’ve made it an even bigger disappointment.

Ratings:

  • Haunt Design: 2 skulls
  • Theming: 2.5 skulls
  • Scare Factor: 0.5 skull

Overall Rating*: 1.5 skulls 

Alice Cooper Welcome to My Nightmare in 3D

 Unfortunately due to the length of some of the other lines and HHN closing the mazes at midnight, we were not able to experience this maze.  What we’ve heard is that we didn’t miss much and after watching an online video we didn’t feel too bad about missing this one.

REPASS

This year we would have to give the slight edge to Orlando as being the best of the two U.S. HHN events. While both have their own redeeming qualities, Orlando’s event is bigger with more variety and originality. We still think that our best trip to HHN Orlando was back in 2001 where all but one of the mazes (The Mummy) were original themes. We do like being able to experience some of the movie and TV based mazes but these concepts generally are not as scary as they are confined by the elements and scenes from the properties they’re based upon and come with an inflated expectation to be scary. Simply put, the original mazes have more unpredictability.

The frustrating elements we encountered at HHN22 seem to be prevalent at all major theme parks we’ve attended this season. Crowds, long lines, drunks and the feeling of being rushed the entire night in order to experience all the haunt offerings. We don’t expect Universal’s “Comcastic” management team cares too much as long as the turnstiles and registers keep clicking. As guests who traveled cross country we have to gripe about the ticket buying process, poor maze location signs, and inaccurate wait time postings. If these elements were better managed we probably would’ve been able to go through all the mazes, maybe catch one of the shows, and enjoy more of their rides (we really wanted to ride Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit coaster). The bad combination of all these issues did distract from our overall enjoyment of the evening.

Hopefully in the coming years as the construction wraps up around the park they’ll add back more mazes to accommodate the large crowds they draw. When asked if our trip to Orlando for HHN22 was worth it, we would say yes but we’re also not going to be rushing back anytime soon, especially if they continue to share more of the same themes with Hollywood.

 HHN 22 Fright Value: 3.5 Skulls

Overall Rating of HHN 22: 4 Skulls

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Posted in Florida, Halloween Horror Nights Orlando, Haunt Reviews, Trip Report | 3 Comments »

Santa Cruz Boardwalk’s Haunted Attractions

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4391

We recently visited the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and had the opportunity to experience all three of their haunted attractions: The Haunted Castle, Ghost Blasters, and Fright Walk. Dark rides and year-round haunts are hard to come by, so finding them in one location is a real treat. In addition, the Santa Cruz Boardwalk has a famous haunted legacy as it was the set for the classic 80s horror movie The Lost Boys. We didn’t spot any vampires lurking around, but it was daytime, so who knows what freaks come out at night.

Haunted Attractions

The Haunted Castle

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4388

Upon arrival at the Boardwalk, guests can see the large front facade of the Haunted Castle towering into the sky. This classic dark ride was revamped last year, and it now offers a new level of modern effects, fun, and scares. The ride’s vehicles look like a mix of a hearse and a Doombuggy from Disney’s Haunted Mansion attractions. The entire ride takes place in the lower levels underneath the Boardwalk, so the haunted journey begins with the vehicle spinning backwards and then quickly descending down a steep spiral track into the heart of the castle. Once inside, you encounter ghostly royalty, their undead servants, demonic pets, and vengeful monsters.

We were surprised at the level of detail in this ride, which comes to close to anything you’d find at Disneyland (we actually think it looks better than the recently added Winnie the Pooh and Buzz Lightyear rides). In addition to the effects and settings, the layout of the ride tells a linear story that gets darker as the ride goes on. There were some real surprise scares, but the ride isn’t about making guests freak out; it’s a “fun” adventure through a unique haunted world.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4402Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4399

4.5 Skulls

Ghost Blasters

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4428

The ghosts need to be evicted out of the old mansion, but they ain’t leaving willingly—so who you gonna call? Call yourself, as you and a fellow passenger are armed with a blaster gun and will have to shoot your way through the ghost-infested mansion.

This ride has a very cartoonish look with a lot of black light illuminating the vibrant set pieces. There are some fun special effects with a few surprising startles. The good thing about this ride is that it’s just as fun without the shooting game. In fact, the ghost blasting can distract riders from being able to focus on the ride around them. Nonetheless, if you get an all-day ride pass, it’s worth a couple whirls!

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4441Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4437Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4443

3.5 Skulls

Fright Walk

Santa Cruz Boardwalk__4392

This is a year-round walk-through haunted house. The attraction is akin to a dark funhouse with numerous animatronic props and sensor-triggered scare effects. We thought that there were a couple of interesting animatronic props and found some of the very dark passages suspenseful to walk through, but we were disappointed that there were no real scareactors inside, even though the warning signs say otherwise. Perhaps it’s difficult to keep the house staffed on a year-round basis, so they have to rely heavily on all the props. However, since it was haunt season, we expected to have at least one real-life monster scare us.

The Fright Walk would benefit from a makeover like the Haunted Castle received. They should also create a story theme for the haunted house so it doesn’t feel like a tour of an animatronic haunt museum. Perhaps this would be a good lair for The Lost Boys! If you’re a Haunt Stalker visiting the Boardwalk, this attraction is worth checking out once, but it doesn’t effect anything more than a few startling scares.

Ratings:

  • Set Design:2.5 Skulls
  • Scare Factor: 1.5 Skulls

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Posted in Disney, Haunt Reviews, Northern California, Trip Report, Year-Round Haunts | No Comments »

Trip Report: National Haunters Convention

Saturday, May 14th, 2011

We’re back from our trip to Pennsylvania and the National Haunters Convention, and boy, are our wallets empty!

Everything at the convention had a price tag: admission, seminars, haunt tour, costume ball. But we’ll get to all that in a minute.

First, we’d like to say that we had a really good time. We met some great people, saw some really cool haunt merchandise, toured some great (and not so great) haunts.  However, the convention still seems to be finding its groove, and we hope that in future years, they’ll be able to expand and provide even better offerings.

We arrived at the convention on Friday, and there were still quite a few empty booths. Vendors were still setting up, but overall, there was a good variety of haunt vendors and exhibitors, ranging from the guy who makes wooden coffins by hand in his garage to bigger, established names like Fangoria magazine and Midnight Syndicate.

Dream Scape Studios

Convention Floor

Loki

The convention offered a weekend full of classes (aka “Halloween University”). But every class had a price, ranging from $10 to $50 per class. In addition, it cost $25 for a floor pass for the weekend. This quickly drained our wallets and made us think twice about taking some of the classes.

But we did attend several of the classes, and although they were taught by experienced and knowledgeable people, some of the classes were better than others. One issue we found was that the depth and intended audiences of the classes seemed to be all over the map. One class seemed geared toward only professional haunt owners and operators, and the next class seemed to be for home haunters only. It wasn’t always clear from the class descriptions who would benefit the most from the classes. Also, once at the convention, there were no class descriptions posted anywhere, so if you relied on only the class name, you might find yourself surprised by the content once in the class.

One great part of the convention was the Q&A sessions held with the owners/managers from some of the biggest haunts in the Eastern U.S., such as the Bates Motel and Terror Behind the Walls (at Eastern State Penitentiary). Scare Zone took a side trip to check out Eastern State, and we managed to spot a bit of their haunt:

Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary

Friday night was the haunt tour, and being the haunt junkies we are, it was the part of the convention we were most looking forward to. The tour cost $175 and included bus transportation to two destinations: Scare Brothers and Fright Factory, each with four houses/mazes. We later found out that these two haunts are actually located in the same building in Philadelphia. (We’ll be providing a more detailed report of the haunts in a future post, including photos and videos.) The haunt tour also came with a “BBQ dinner,” which was frightening in itself. Tables had been set up in the queue/storage area of the haunt. The lighting was bad, and you could barely see what you were eating, which, considering the quality of the food, actually might have been a blessing. (Note that in the photo below, the lights were turned on AFTER dinner was over…hmm.)

Dinner Inside the Scare Brothers/Fright Factory

Outside the Scare Brothers/Fright Factory Haunt

Overall, $175 to tour two haunts seemed overpriced. We hope that in future years, the convention considers offering a cheaper alternative that allows guests to drive themselves and skip the dinner. Especially as the bus ride turned out to be a torture ride to Hell through Philadelphia traffic.

Saturday night was the costume ball, which cost $75. It did include dinner, but not drinks. The theme was “steam punk” (the current trendy haunt theme, so it seems), and there were some good costumes. It was a fun opportunity to mix and mingle with other haunters. But again, at $75, it’s a little too expensive. But judging by the amount of intoxicated haunters mingling in the parking lot afterward, it seemed that everyone had a really good time, so maybe $75 isn’t so bad.

If you’re a haunt employee, owner/operator, or even a home haunter, you should really check out one of the many haunt conventions that take place across the country in the spring of each year. We hope to see you at TransWorld or the Midwest Haunters Convention in 2012!

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Posted in Conventions, Pennsylvania, Trip Report | No Comments »

It’s time, kids!

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Greetings fellow haunt stalkers! Well, we can all congratulate ourselves on a successful haunting season! Tonight is what we wait 364 days for each year. We can’t believe it’s already Halloween!

Keep coming back to the Scare Zone as we recap all of our favorites for the 2010 season, give out awards, provide more terror tips, and start to take a look forward at the upcoming terrors of 2011. We’ll also  continue our coverage of horror movies and haunted attractions across the country and beyond.  Be safe out there tonight and enjoy your unpleasant dreams…

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Posted in Haunt Reviews, Horror Movies, Screaming Soon, Terror Tips, Trip Report | 1 Comment »

Haunt Review: Headless Horseman Haunted Hayrides

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

This past weekend Scare Zone headed east to continue our mission of seeing haunts across the country and beyond. This year our coast to ghost travels brought us to NY. Our favorite quote we heard while waiting in line at one of the haunts was “If you think New York is scary, you should see their haunts!”  This turned out to be true as the haunts in NY have a style all of their own. New Yorkers seem to have a tougher skin so in order to scare them these haunts have to pull out all the stops.  And they do, with scareactors that don’t hold back and who are not satisfied until they get a reaction out of everyone they terrorize.

Our first stop was at the Headless Horseman Haunted Hayride. This is a Scare Zone favorite and this was our 2nd visit to this classic haunt. This haunt is located in Ulster park, NY which is about 1.5 hours from NYC in upstate’s Hudson Valley region. The haunt covers over forty-five acres of property that includes foreboding woods, surreal ponds, fruit orchards and more. This season features 8 different attractions that includes an elaborate haunted hayride andcorn maze. They also have an old New England village featuring different shops and eateries. Hands down they have the best haunt shopping we’ve seen at any location. Our one question is with this set up why don’t they have decent bathrooms instead of the porta potties?  They’re also very strict about pictures and make you leave your cameras at the car. They have security that thoroughly checks, in a very noninvasive manner, for cameras. They also have the courtesy to explain why - because they don’t want their tricks and effects stolen by other haunts. This is understandable as the Hudson Valley is a very competitive haunt region. Nonetheless, it is disappointing that we couldn’t even get pictures from the village and the outside sets of some of the houses.

We were glad that we went on a Thursday night as the crowds were light and basically walked on to the next hay wagon that pulled up. After the hayride you are sent through all the mazes which feed into each other making the whole experience flow like a tale of terrors. From start to finish the whole haunting experience lasts nearly an hour and a half.

Escape of Prisoner X: The Haunted Hayride

prisonerx.jpg

This attraction has perfected the haunted hayride experience. Unlike rides that resides in ‘sue happy’ Southern California, guest are told to sit around the edges of the wagon with their feet dangling over sides. This seating arrangement really made us feel vulnerable. They also have a guide who narrates the ride and interacts with the scenes, similar to Universal’s tram tour guides. The setting is perfect for a haunted scarefest as the wagon rides through winding back roads through thick forestry and various sets. They also have a consistent storyline which changes every year. It was a little difficult to keep track of what was always going on as our guide’s narration and scareactor’s dialogue was often drowned out by the screams.  From what we could gather the story is about an escaped murderer, who was born in prison with supernatural powers, has escaped and is headed back to the town of Crow’s Hollow to continue his rampage. We’re in pursuit of Prisoner X (not sure why us)  and he has set up some frighting obstacles along the way to stop us. We also have to deal with the town folk who are suspicious of us riding through, thinking we may actually be helping Prisoner X. The effects on this hayride are just as good as any you’d fine in a theme park attraction with exploding buildings, shaky bridges, and dark tunnels. The theatrics work on this ride, as the wagon stops in each set where a scene is carried out ending with some fun and scary surprises. Without running the experience, the highlights include the swamp lagoon, the machine gun attack, the bruning of Crow’s Hollow, and the Prisoner X execution chamber. In between the scenes they also have monsters lurking in the bushes (some as bushes) and trees who jump out from the dark and the branches above. Our one disappointment is that it seemed we were on the wrong side of the wagon as most of the scenes played out on the wagon’s right hand side but the scares are equal dispersed. The narrator also wasn’t the best actress in the world and some of her attempts to add drama to a scene fell severely flat.

Rating: 4 Skulls

Lunar Motel

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This is one of the best werewolf themed houses we’ve been in. The story is simple, a motel in Crow Hollow is being overrun by attacking werewolves. The scares however, are very sophisticated and some of the best we’ve experienced. This house uses a lot of animatronics but doesn’t soley rely on them. These special props enhance every scene with wolves popping out of beds, busting through walls and floors. When we’ve been fully startled by these creatures the real monsters then  take the opportunity to scare you while you’re off guard. The story detail was also well noted with the people in the motel at first trying to help you escape before they get attacked themselves and are eventually transformed into werewolves as the scenes progress.

Rating: 4.5 Skulls

Glutton’s Slaughterhouse

Glutton's Slaughterhouse

Right next door to the Lunar Hotel is Crow Hollow’s world-renowned meat-packing factory. Mr. Glutton has been feuding with the neighbors and it seems that the employee disappearances at the Lunar Hotel could be attributed to the evil doings inside the Slaughterhouse. This maze is connected to the Lunar hotel and at first it was a little hard to tell where one ended and the other started. Nonetheless, the scares stayed at the same level and this is a very intense Slaughter house themed haunt. The monsters didn’t just scare us, they stalked us through the scenes. The props were very gory and there were some the most disturbing and disgusting set pieces we’ve encountered. The mutant pig heads that popped out of the walls were scaring the hell out of everyone. Pushing our way through the meat racks which had wet animal and human carcasses hanging was also unsettling. We could hear and smell the chainsaw but the maniac still managed to surprise us . They also had a unique scare involving a cattle prod!

Rating: 4.5 Skulls

Evil Reaping

Evil Reaping - Dark Harvest

This is the corn maze which begins right after we escaped the Slaughterhouse. This maze wasn’t very scary as the cornstalks were not tall and the the full moon illuminated the whole path, so we could see just about all the monsters before the attacked us. They did use an effective double scare tactic which got us a couple of  times on the path and there also is an impressive animatronic pumpkin monster inside. Outside of these few highlights, this maze was a let down after surviving Lunar Hotel and the Slaughterhouse.

Rating: 2.5 Skulls

The Nightshade Greenhouse Project  

Nightshade Experiment

This maze gets the award for the most original theme. This house is tied into the Crow’s Hollow lore with a story line about a scientist who uses a combination of decomposing human bodies from the remains of the prison inmates and highly corrosive chemicals to create a super fertilizer that is piped throughout the greenhouse to feed what could only be described as flesh eating plants. These cross breed plants are a hybrid of  reptile genes and vegetation creating some very creative and creepy sets. This house winds through the dimly lit greenhouse where the plants, their victims and the crazy scientist are all trying to get us to be the next meal. They had good scares as the setting allowed for some very good hiding places. But this house was more about the atmosfear and sets as opposed to pop out scares. We did find this house to be a little short compared to the others but it was the most memorable of the night.

Rating: 4 Skulls

The Feeding

Flesh They Crave - The Feeding

Guess they all can’t be perfect. This house takes us through the birthplace of Prisoner X. It seems that the laboratory he was born in was also the home of mutation experiments that were conducted on prisoners including his mother. There were  a few good scares but for the most part we were able to see all the monsters coming and the sets were not overly impressive. In this house we also encountered quite a few empty rooms so we may of gone through during an off time (break time?). The house did bring up the scares at the end of the house but overall it fell short of the others.

Rating: 2 Skulls  

The Mansion of Dahlia Blood

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The last house takes place inside an elaborate looking Haunted House that is back in the Crow’s Hollow village. This house combines illusions and traditional scares. Some of the most aggressive monsters where in this house. We really liked the room with the rocking walls and the  bar scene. The house finishes with us going out of the house (really still inside) into into the swamp where it’s a like a grand finale with the monster plants, werewolves, and mutant prisoner monsters stalking. Your only way out is by going back into the cornstalks which is a long air tunnel you have to push through only to find a final scare waiting for you at the other end. 

Our Rating: 4 Skulls 

Overall the Headless Horseman Haunted Hayride is a classic haunted attraction which every haunt stalker should make the trip to NY and experience for themselves. Year after year they add new scares and improve on the traditional ones. The location also adds to the setting offering a full nights worth of haunting fun.

Overall Rating: 4.5 Skulls (Out of 5)

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Posted in Haunt Reviews, Hayrides, New York, Terror Tips, Trip Report | 8 Comments »

Haunt Review: Universal Hollywood HHN – Take 2

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This past weekend, we finally got a second chance to use our Killer Deal pass and returned to HHN at Universal Studios Hollywood. We decided to dismiss the bad feelings we had after the disastrous opening night and act as if this were our first time going this season. This time, we didn’t bother with trying to eat at one of the City Walk restaurants and were in line before the gates opened. We also didn’t have to waste time getting our passes processed, so it was a much less stressful event getting in, which kept us in better spirits. This time around, we wanted to first see all the mazes we missed on opening night and then go through the Friday the 13th and House of 1000 Corpses mazes again (yes, we got in only three mazes in five hours on opening night). This time, we actually made it through all the mazes in less than three hours (sans Vampyre, which we intentionally skipped). We also took some time to slowly wander through the scare zones. Now we feel that we can provide our haunt stalkers with a thorough and complete review of HHN 2010.

Mazes

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Never Sleep Again

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This time around, we enter the reincarnated world of Freddy Kruguer based on the 2010 version of the movie. Once again, the Freddy theme was on point. The detailed sets accomplished the illusion of being in a constant nightmare state. There was the use of black light effects, fog, music, and animatronic props, which amplified the terrors we all dreamed off. The maze actually works backwards in reference to the movie timeline, with the opening scene being the Badham preschool, where Freddy allegedly began his sinister deeds, and concluding in his boiler room. Universal does a great job of building suspense in the first room with scratching sounds, Freddy chuckles, and shadows, letting us know that he’s lurking about but uncertain as to when he’s going to strike. From this point, the scares quickly get cranked up, and we were assaulted by Freddy from every direction throughout the rest of the maze. The scareactors had high energy (it was early in the night), and even if we saw the people in front of us get scared, they still were able to startle us. They also had many rooms with more than one scareactor, which allowed for them to ambush both the front and back of the group. The highlight in this maze was the stretching walls (which really surprised us) and the live body in the room of hanging body bags. Usually the hanging body bags are always dummies…not this time. While there is some familiarity between this maze and the 2007/08 versions, the maze was effective at finding new ways to use Freddy to scare us!

Our rating: 4 skulls

House of 1,000 Corpses

Dr. Satan's lair

This was our second time through this maze, and we waited only 25 minutes (the sign said 10 minutes) as opposed to the 80 minutes we waited the last time. We still didn’t see any special effects from the 3D. We did notice that they switched back and forth between red and blue lighting, which accents those colors in each scene, but it seems that the glasses are just good for blocking our peripheral vision so it’s easier for the scareactors to “get us.” The first quarter of the maze still lacked enough scareactors, making the first few rooms though “Dr. Satan’s murder ride” fairly dull. The maze feels as if it really gets going once you enter the house itself. Instead of sudden scares, this maze mainly relies on the sets and the scareactors acting out various scenes to create the horror. For the sudden scares, they rely a lot on a loud noise effects, in which a scareactor triggers a loud sound and flash of light when they suddenly enter the scene. This is effective the first couple of times but gets predictable by the end of the maze. The underground tunnels in the end offer the best scares. This maze does a great job at telling a story that is easy to follow, even if you haven’t seen the movie. It also has great talent that is able to accurately portray the full essence of the movie’s characters.

It’s also fun to note that this is actually the second time they’ve done a version of this maze. In 2000, they also had a version of HOTC, which we remember as being more terrifying. At that time, Rob Zombie was working to get his movie distributed by Universal.

Our rating: 3.5 Skulls

Friday the 13th: Kill, Jason, Kill

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This was our favorite from opening night, and it still is a winner. This time around, we were split from the crowd in front of us, allowing us get scared in almost every scene. This maze is the most suspenseful with its open and longer spaces, in which we know Jason is coming but we just didn’t know from where and what he’s going to do. The Jason scareactors are all big guys with detailed costuming (bald heads with hair patches) who get up and personal when they appear. There were times during the maze when we forgot that we were just in a maze, and it felt like Jason really wanted to kill us!  It also seems that they’ve perfected their timing, and the pace of the maze has the same energy of the movie, with Jason’s rampage getting faster and more violent was we ventured through. We also stopped and looked the detail of the face-grinding scene, which is hands down one of the goriest and most disturbing scenes we’ve encountered in a haunt.

Our rating: 4 Skulls

Saw: Game On

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Jigsaw is back in this obvious promotional vehicle for the upcoming Saw 3D. This maze has some very graphic scenes taken from the previous 6 Saw movies. We didn’t find ourselves getting really scared in this maze, nor did we see many people around us getting scared either. Instead, we were just fighting sensory overload as this maze packs a combo punch of sounds, smells, sprays, and other visceral effects. The noticeable changes from last year include the people competing to cut off their arms to fill a scale with their flesh and the guy who gets amputated by a contraption that twists off all of his appendages. The terror of this maze is created by the disturbing sets, and if you have a weak stomach, we suggest you sit this one out. Nonetheless, as last year’s name stated, it should be “Game Over” for this maze.

Our Rating: 2 Skulls

Chucky’s Terror Tram

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Someone at Universal has a crush on Chucky, as he keeps coming back to HHN, even though he’s no longer scary or relevant. The story goes that Chucky wants revenge for his mistreatment in Hollyweird, so he hijacks our tram and drops us off on the studio lot, where his army of evil dolls is waiting for us. From here, we go through the familiar Psycho set with Norman’s “mother” running around. Then La Llorona  haunts the path on the hill up from the Bates Motel to the Psycho house. Due to “budget cuts” or “consideration for the neighbors,” the sheet maze was removed, but they still had it partially set up, which is a big tease. We still don’t understand how noisy or expensive a sheet maze is. Especially when it’s followed by the World of the Worlds set, which is lined with pipes shooting flames into the sky. Isn’t that more costly and disruptive? They also managed to shoot an annoying amount of water at us during the Terror Tram maze, which just seemed unnecessary (it was already drizzling that night). At the end of he trail, the tram was waiting to take us back to the studio, but first Chucky takes one more stab at trying to kill us in the spinning tunnel.

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

We understand that there is only so much they can change each year with the Terror Tram, and it is a great people eater as they manage to get nearly 200 people on each tram and the whole experience lasts 25 minutes. The scareactors do work well at trying to scare a very large crowd every 5 minutes. We just would like to see some changes to the route. Maybe drop us off at a different location on the lot and have a maze through some of the other back lot sets. There are a few scares, but it doesn’t come close to being terrifying.

Our rating: 1.5 Skulls

Scare Zones

La Llorona

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This Scare Zone appears to have been made for the simple purpose of  marketing this year’s event to the local Latino community. The settings weren’t overly impressive, and this is a very short scare zone spanning only a few hundred feet. We also saw only three scareactors in this set, and they weren’t scary; but how scary can La Llorona, “The Weeping Woman,” be? Maybe they should have had her drowned children lurking about.

Our rating: 1 Skull

Nightmarez

This is the entrance gate ”scare zone,” but we really couldn’t decipher the nightmare theme tied to Freddy, as we were just assaulted by chainsaw-wielding clowns, so we though this was the Klownz scare zone (?)

Our rating: 0.5 Skull

Klownz

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

An ultra-violent gang of killer clowns take over “The Big Apple.” These psycho circus rejects were on the attack and going after everyone they could. There are some nice set pieces, and the chainsaw clowns were relentless. The scariest part was walking by the clown barker, who was spewing out insults to guests who dared to walk in his line of sight.

Our rating: 3 Skulls

Lunaticz

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This is a very dark and foggy scare zone featuring escaped loonies from an English asylum.The costumes and makeup were first class, and they make very good use of the park’s London street setting.  We were scared many times walking through this section of the park by the energetic and somewhat crazy scareactors. These “crazies” were even jumping out at people (including us) coming out of the bathroom, making guests turn right back around to go back inside.

Our rating: 3.5 Skulls

Freakz

Universal Halloween Horror Nights

This zone was similar to Lunaticz and Klownz, set up as a camp for cannibalistic sideshow performers rampaging through Paris. There were some scares here, but the energy wasn’t as high as the other two aforementioned scare zones.

Our rating: 2.5 Skulls

Pigz

What’s with all the “Z” at the end of the names (corny)? This is the lower lot scare zone featuring Jigsaw’s pig-faced disciples lurking with chainsaws. The scareactors are good at terrorizing some folks as they get off Universal’s Starway (the giant escalator) in the lower lot, but there wasn’t enough of them and they mainly went after young girls only.

Our rating: 1 Skull

Overview

Universal Hollywood deliveres an above-average haunt experience with top-notch productions, strong talent, and high levels of terror. They’ve come a long way from offering the event in only random years in the 1990s and early 2000s. They also have significantly improved their haunt offering since their relaunch in 2006.  2007-2009 were notably accomplished years for them. In fact, in 2007, Hollywood and Orlando had similarly themed mazes, and Hollywood’s were by far much better. This year, Universal seems to have fumbled with its ability to manage its growing popularity. The park’s infrastructure is now operating above capacity, which means big bucks for them but a diminished quality experience for guests. They haven’t increased their offerings to match the demand, which translates into longer lines and rowdy crowds. The mazes also suffer, as they become full, and after waiting 80 minutes, there is no way they can provide any full satisfaction in comparison with the time the guest spent waiting to get in. In order to truly get the best experience, guests have to pull many tricks (e.g., front-of-the-line passes, getting to the park at least a half-hour early, running to the back of the park first, etc.) and really plan ahead, which takes away from the joy of just going to experience the event.

If they want to stay in the game and give Knott’s more competition, which they are doing already, they need to get more mazes and think about branching out from their “movie only” concept, which seems to be limiting in the long run as the pains of securing the rights to different horror franchises isn’t a constant guarantee. They’ve already had to bring back Jason, Freddy, Chucky, and Saw for repeats. We think a combination of a few movie-based mazes with the addition of original terrors, like Orlando has, would help them grow the event. They have started in that direction with this year’s Castle Vampyre maze, and we hope they expand in that direction. One final thought, the La Llorona concept was an obvious marketing ploy and did not come across as genuine. She was featured on all the marketing materials, but many people were disappointed to find out she is featured only in a small scare zone and on a short portion of the terror tram. A maze devoted to her might have been more exciting.

We now know Universal can make some of the best mazes around, but they need to improve their overall operation in order to make this the premiere event it sets out to be.

Our overall event rating: 4 Skulls

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Posted in Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, Haunt Reviews, Southern California, Trip Report | 9 Comments »

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