Halloween Horror Nights 28 General Discussion

[Brian G.]

And that’s your opinion and we obviously don’t have to agree. I’m sure we’ll have more to discuss on this topic next year and if not and they go a more adult direction I’ll be here to say I was wrong.

I’m sorry I don’t buy this at all. This may very well have been passed around internally as an excuse, but it totally defies common sense. They’ve had multiple issues with this show for many years now with the Hollywood counterpart being abruptly canceled mid season. Universal was very obviously not comfortable with the show. They were even picky about talking about it in their FB live video last year. To your points a) the show doesn’t need a specific location and could be put on just about anywhere so the theater was irrelevant b) CLC seems to be extremely easy to work with and willing to license the characters. I have a friend who was working with them to license as an individual much less a big corporation like Universal.

Honestly it totally baffles me that people wonder why the show was cancelled when it was for so long in danger of being cancelled. I think we all knew it would happen sooner or later.
I guess it’ll be interesting to see if we ever see anything like that again.

We don't have to wait till next year.

We're literally a year removed from Purgers slicing victim's throats, putting bodies in a woodchipper, and spraying "blood" on guests as they walked by. This year, we had Chucky insulting guests using topics such as sex toys, murder, etc....There are countless other areas where there is no evidence of going soft for a family friendly environment, and nothing different than what they have been doing for years.

The removal of alcohol equates to trying to lessen the number of drunk idiots. Universal still likes money though so they would never cut it out altogether. Whatever the excuse is for the removal of B&T, still doesn't mean HHN is going family friendly. If we go with your rationale, it reads avoiding the PC police.

 

[Lucky Planet]

if they wanted to be family friendly, slaughter sinema and dead exposure would have never happened.
one had weird humor and gore
the other one was very extreme on your senses

 

[s8film40]

We don't have to wait till next year.

We're literally a year removed from Purgers slicing victim's throats, putting bodies in a woodchipper, and spraying "blood" on guests as they walked by. This year, we had Chucky insulting guests using topics such as sex toys, murder, etc....There are countless other areas where there is no evidence of going soft for a family friendly environment, and nothing different than what they have been doing for years.

The removal of alcohol equates to trying to lessen the number of drunk idiots. Universal still likes money though so they would never cut it out altogether. Whatever the excuse is for the removal of B&T, still doesn't mean HHN is going family friendly. If we go with your rationale, it reads avoiding the PC police.

I think the differences are subtle and it’s really more about changing perception than anything else. Everything you mentioned is perfectly fine for a family friendly atmosphere. Obviously family friendly in that context doesn’t mean preschoolers or anything, but I think parents of children in the 10-15 range wouldn’t have anything to complain about for the most part, five years ago that would be very different.

To be honest I would’ve felt the same way as you just a couple years ago. I think for me personally since I don’t attend anymore it kind of changed my perspective. I don’t care one way or another so I have no reason to want it to be one way or another. I preferred it to be an audult event and wouldn’t have wanted to believe it was changing. With a more objective view it seems more obvious to me now.

 

[Brian G.]

I think the differences are subtle and it’s really more about changing perception than anything else. Everything you mentioned is perfectly fine for a family friendly atmosphere. Obviously family friendly in that context doesn’t mean preschoolers or anything, but I think parents of children in the 10-15 range wouldn’t have anything to complain about for the most part, five years ago that would be very different.

To be honest I would’ve felt the same way as you just a couple years ago. I think for me personally since I don’t attend anymore it kind of changed my perspective. I don’t care one way or another so I have no reason to want it to be one way or another. I preferred it to be an audult event and wouldn’t have wanted to believe it was changing. With a more objective view it seems more obvious to me now.

What's different between now and 5 years ago besides the lack of shot girls, reduced alcohol, and no more B&T?

 

[Lucky Planet]

What's different between now and 5 years ago besides the lack of shot girls, reduced alcohol, and no more B&T?

bigger crowds lol

 

[Imperius]

I think the differences are subtle and it’s really more about changing perception than anything else. Everything you mentioned is perfectly fine for a family friendly atmosphere. Obviously family friendly in that context doesn’t mean preschoolers or anything, but I think parents of children in the 10-15 range wouldn’t have anything to complain about for the most part, five years ago that would be very different.

To be honest I would’ve felt the same way as you just a couple years ago. I think for me personally since I don’t attend anymore it kind of changed my perspective. I don’t care one way or another so I have no reason to want it to be one way or another. I preferred it to be an audult event and wouldn’t have wanted to believe it was changing. With a more objective view it seems more obvious to me now.

I mean the event has always been PG-13 so the 10-15 crowd has always been catered to.

 

[s8film40]

What's different between now and 5 years ago besides the lack of shot girls, reduced alcohol, and no more B&T?

Those are all things that on their own are mostly inconsequential to HHN on the whole but together they help to change the perspective people have of the event. I also don’t think we’ll ever see RHPS return for the same reason.

I know many people who feel a lot more comfortable taking children then they did before. Also I think anyone whose attended recent years will agree that attendance is way up amongst the younger crowd. It only makes sense for Universal to cater to their changing audience.

I mean the event has always been PG-13 so the 10-15 crowd has always been catered to.

Yeah, I agree. I think that demographic is growing and so they’re just paying a little more attention to catering that group in addition to the adults.

Stranger Things has also helped to grow the reach of HHN’s appeal to more mainstream groups. I suspect this event will be heavily attended by children and guests who might not have otherwise gone to HHN, helping to indroduce it to even more people.

Change is inevitable, you can’t expect HHN to just remain the same and stagnate. They have a business to run and they’re obviously doing something right.

 

[Legacy]

Those are all things that on their own are mostly inconsequential to HHN on the whole but together they help to change the perspective people have of the event. I also don’t think we’ll ever see RHPS return for the same reason.

I don't think you'll see RHPS back because it wasn't popular.

But, for real, if we get Hellraiser next year will everyone still say they're "toning down?"

 

[Brian G.]

Those are all things that on their own are mostly inconsequential to HHN on the whole but together they help to change the perspective people have of the event. I also don’t think we’ll ever see RHPS return for the same reason.

I know many people who feel a lot more comfortable taking children then they did before. Also I think anyone whose attended recent years will agree that attendance is way up amongst the younger crowd. It only makes sense for Universal to cater to their changing audience.

RHPS left because it wasn't drawing the crowds. It's an extremely niche Halloween property. There's also so many times a show can be repeated before it grows stale. I think 7 years with no change is a good run for that kinda IP.

The increase in children is an indictment of the families, not Horror Nights. Again, nothing new has been different other than the IP they get each year. Are we going to sit here and say AHS is a family-friendly property?

You're still not providing anything that supports your theory.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I mean the HHN might be friendly for the Manson family....

 

[Lucky Planet]

as long as sets are detailed and as long as costumes are detailed, i will be happy. if they can create puppets like in poltergeist, if they can do houses as big and long as carnival, if they can bring back the girls dancing on stages, or if they can bring back a dance show like bill and ted without having to deal with the problems. ill be happy.
im ok if theres no gore. hhn gore is silly. i rather have big puppets and i rather have more animatronics, i rather have bigger louder houses, more entertaining zones.

 

[s8film40]

But, for real, if we get Hellraiser next year will everyone still say they're "toning down?"

I don’t see any real difference between Hellraiser and like say Halloween or Friday the 13th other than it just being less popular.

Coincidentally one of my very first haunted house experiences actually included a pretty good Pinhead scene. It certainly wasn’t the scariest part of it though. I think I was probably 10ish at the time.

That being said if they have some stripper type girls in the streets again or perhaps a show with some adult humor or basically reverse any of the recent changes I’ll attend one night just to buy you guys a beer to celebrate me being wrong, haha.

The increase in children is an indictment of the families, not Horror Nights. Again, nothing new has been different other than the IP they get each year. Are we going to sit here and say AHS is a family-friendly property?

It doesn’t matter who’s responsible, the audience is changing and so the show has to change. It’s crazy to think Universal wouldn’t pay attention to who their audience is. I think they’ve done a great job of creating a good balance.

 

[shiekra38]

I mean the HHN might be friendly for the Manson family....

Ha!

We always went to HHN as a family when I was a kid...I would call HHN a "welcoming scary"...In that it exists to entertain and strives for the same vision as the parks...HHN has never been truly 'terrifying'....even when I was little

But perhaps that's just me

 

[MartyMcFly]

The actors are doing this with Uni's full blessing, at least in Vamp 85, the coordinators see them, they are hanging out in the open.
didn't someone said on here that this was part of the show? that they were hanging out together because it was part of the zone's theme? or something? i swear i can remember someone saying that the actors getting together to talk like that was done on purpose.

but either way, everyone can see them getting together to talk in the zone. so i have to assume Uni is okay with it

Yes that’s not what, I personally, was complaining about. I understand the interaction between the Actors being part of the show, but from where I was standing it was too frequent and not only with other scareactors, it was with people who were there as guests, who they obviously knew. Seemed more like gossiping and hanging out than acting.

 

[horrornights789]

I don’t see any real difference between Hellraiser and like say Halloween or Friday the 13th other than it just being less popular.

Hellraiser is MUCH gorier. If we get it next year it’ll probably be HHN’s first foray into an S&M themed gore house. Frank’s scenes alone outweigh the gore in Halloween(maybe not the 2018 requel though).

But for real is Hellraiser actually being discussed? It’s been brought up in the HW thread too

 

[UniversalRBLX]

HHN is popular. More popular = more families wanting to check it out.

The moment we see "stroller parking" for mazes, then we have a problem.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

If we get Hellraiser next year...:clap:

Though I would think that would mean no Killer Klowns...think they really only want one lesser known property. Then again, I think Stranger Things alone could carry the entire load of getting people to the event.

 

[Legacy]

But for real is Hellraiser actually being discussed? It’s been brought up in the HW thread too

No spec yet.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Yes that’s not what, I personally, was complaining about. I understand the interaction between the Actors being part of the show, but from where I was standing it was too frequent and not only with other scareactors, it was with people who were there as guests, who they obviously knew. Seemed more like gossiping and hanging out than acting.

Im on your side on this


But im saying, it happened so often and so in the open that uni has to know they do it and be ok with it.

We just dont know why they would

 

[JawsVictim]

I don't think you'll see RHPS back because it wasn't popular.

But, for real, if we get Hellraiser next year will everyone still say they're "toning down?"

Please don’t tease us like that. Hellraiser would be a nightmare come true.