- May 26, 2010
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Agreed! Gothic was impressive for sure, but I feel like the love is generated from it's pathetic competition. Had Gothic been a part of last year, I feel like it would not have been quite as popular. Dead End was great though, in that it mixed originality and good set design/effects, but unlike Gothic was uncomfortably scary (IMO). Best house of the night by far, though again I don't know how it would've held up had it been a part of last year's magnificent lineup.
Great points, compare Gothic to anything last year, and it doesn't look nearly as unstoppable. I think you hit the nail on the head on the -uncomfortably- scary... it really is UNCOMFORTABLE. The ghosts/spirits/poltergeists we're encountering are humanoid and are far more relatable than the behemoths in Gothic... but they're also far more ambiguous (unless you take the Unmasking the Horror Tour!). There's a certain degree of uncertainty here. Doesn't hurt that the e-prompts are insanely freaky... every single friend I brought through this house commented on the audio design. It drips with atmosphere.
I probably just had a bad run through Gothic, or maybe since it was my first ever haunt I was too nervous/guard was up to appreciate it. I was able to do Dead End twice and by far it was my favorite. There was a scareactor at the end who nearly had me jump out of my skin.
Wrong side of the bed? That marks the second time in HHN history where I literally fell over as a result of a scare (the first being the Distant Cemetery in Winter's Night, 2011). That scare is just so fiendishly creative and unexpected, I both love and loathe it.