So I decided to go back to about 2009 and onward to see exactly where these black wallz originated from. And after watching videos, honestly, there were 0 for the entire event of 2009 and 2010. Not one... single... black wall. Go ahead and look for yourself. When ideas were creatively bankrupt, they'd resort to a a dozen hanging sheets to go through and/or a hanging body room -- but even those had scenic on the walls. I'm 99% sure 07/08 were the same, but it's hard to find good video proof of those mazes.
But where did plain black walls come from? And I started to remember a lot of people requesting in 2010ish they wanted "darker mazes." Murdy obliged, saying some mazes will have really dark scenes. We'd then go in and there'd be the strings hanging down or a "feather ninja" tickling you. Again, this was in 2011 and the first I can remember it happening was La Llorona. It was brought back many years for a bunch of other mazes (since HHN is a huge victim of "if it works once, do it to death the next 3 years.") However, this isn't what we've seen a whole lot of in 2015, 2017, and this year.
I remember it was around 2011 where I personally started to think some mazes had a lot of "plain walls." As in, long corridors that are painted, but have no real scenic design, props against the walls, or dressing on them whatsoever. I thought this was mainly prevalent in The Thing and to a lesser degree in Alice Cooper. We would talk about the budget being stretched thin as to maybe why that's happening, because this is also when we got another new maze location with the JP venue, on top of the T2 venue.
So let's fast forward a bit because surprisingly I couldn't find a single black wall until 2013, and even that we forgive because it fits the theme, Insidious. Then there's a quick one in Evil Dead to transition to the basement. So quick, you'd think nothing of it. And then there's El Cucuy, which had the most complained about segment of a maze at the time, the long dark black corridor of nothing. BUT this corridor is always here for the Parisian Square maze, my guess is it's for some weird logistical reason. And you may remember it was fixed, because they put a random usher in there to pretend they were guiding the way, but really they were there to scare you.
So now 2014. And I actually guessed this was the first, since I personally could remember black walls being an issue here, but I figured there had to be an earlier occurrence that I couldn't remember. Maybe I was looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses? The proof is there and I couldn't find any. So ladies and gentleman, your first black wall violator was... American Werewolf in London. Yes, the maze you remember dearly, but my reviews for it called out these glaring issues. My quote: "Set Design - 7. It's a shame because the transitions are so HORRIBLE. Every time you exit a scene, it's a dark hallway. What the hell HAPPENED here? It's the only thing I can think about and it bugs, because it was so needless. Everything else looked great though." However, this maze got raving reviews. If we all banded together, maybe we could've stopped them sooner! So whatever happened that year in creative made them think, "hm, let's keep doing this." Because the issue was about to be a repeat offender.
2015's Crimson Peak was next, although not as heavily praised as a whole, HOWEVER was praised purely for it's set design even though there's three black hallways in the maze for no reason. Insidious, again, was also that year but is excusable due to the Further -- and that was again maze of the year. Did we praise the mazes with black walls so much and ask for darkness to the point that creative thought that's what we actually wanted? 2016's black walls are a bit more controversial to decide. The Exorcist was using them in an experimental manner. FvJ used overhead lights during these moments to blind/disorient you as you transition between the two stories before they collide. Halloween used it as a false finale after the hospital to transition before it's real finale which relied on darkness/black light. In other words, this wasn't a problem in 2016 either, as they were used creatively...
So what happened in 2014, 2015, 2017 (where it was most prevalent) and 2018? What are your theories? Is this simply budget cuts, a budget spreading thin, or a creative team going bankrupt with ideas? Or worst of all, did we bring this upon ourselves? As they say... careful... what you wish for.