I love HHN and I get scared very easily, especially at HHN. I’ve always loved HHN, but this was the first year I was disappointed by HHN. I know this is only preview night and I’ve got tickets to come back in a few weeks, so I’m really hoping it improves by then.
Here’s my spoiler free review:
1. Poltergeist: Hands down my favorite maze. Pretty effects heavy and really brings the movie to life. The most traumatizing movie from my childhood did not disappoint as a maze.
2. Stranger Things: Not even remotely scary, but man, is it absolutely gorgeous. The scale of some of it is super impressive. Possibly their best looking maze yet.
3. Universal Monsters: Way more black walls than I would’ve liked, but what was there I loved. Some solid scares and some really beautiful sets. I headed there first as soon as it opened and we had to wait about 20 minutes because they weren’t ready for opening.
4. Trick ‘r Treat: This is my favorite Halloween movie and it was so nice seeing it brought to life finally. Some nice scale to some of the scenes, but because of that it felt very short to me. It was also very light on any good scares.
5. Halloween 4: Unfortunately, nothing really to write home about. It’s not bad exactly, just not nearly as strong as the last two Halloween mazes. Too much use of a certain effect. They use it at least three times in the maze and it’s overkill. Anyone who’s done it will probably know what I’m talking about.
6. Horrors of Blumhouse Chapter 2:
Better than I expected it to be. Didn’t scare me at all, but they got pretty creative with Truth or Dare and Unfriended. Some really nice looking sets. Honestly, I didn’t care a whole lot for the third act of it. I’m hoping I like it more my next time I go through.
7. The First Purge: Hands down the worst maze I’ve ever been through at Horror Nights. Black walls galore. It must be about 40% black walls. Some nice “outdoor” environments, but none of the scares work at all and it’s just so ridiculously stale. Definitely skip this one.
I didn’t bother with TWDA.
I really liked the scarezones, with the exception of Toxxic Tunnel. The only thing I liked about it was that it eased up on the strobe lights so I could see where I was going. There was a medical emergency on our way back through the tunnel, so the lights were all on and we were stopped for a few minutes while they finished it up. Not sure what happened, but I hope everyone involved is okay.
Overall, the scares this year were just creatively bankrupt. It’s the same poop as last year, with the overkill on the “pop out of a window in a black hallway” Exorcist scare. They also recycled the scare from Sinister where someone pops out of a screen with projection on it. I saw it on at least three different occasions. Just because a scare works well doesn’t mean you need to beat it to death. Poltergeist had my favorite scare of the night. I yelled and jumped and it hadn’t me on Edge the rest of the maze.
Oh, and Terror Tram. I’m usually pretty lenient on the tram, and I enjoyed it. It’s really the same as it always is, but the props and costumes and makeup were really great. They also don’t touch on Hollywood Harry’s origin again at all, so if you didn’t see the tram a couple years ago, you won’t know who he is at all.
EDIT: Really surprised by all the positive reviews. Makes me think I must be going crazy, but the group I was with yesterday were equally unimpressed. We must’ve just had bad luck in terms of timing for the scares. Gives me a lot of hope I’ll enjoy it more when I come back in a few weeks.