My review, with some spoilers (on a spotty internet connection so will post a few times as I update so I don't lose everything).
Houses:
- Monstrous - this was far down my hype list as I wasn't thrilled by a Hollywood retread, didn't know the lure of the monsters, and it just wasn't in my wheelhouse but it was amazing! The baby blood suckers, wow. 10/10
- Insidious - I saw the first movie and that's it, I'm not a fan of the series, but holy crap is this house amazing! We had a group of girls in front of us getting all the scares in the beginning and they would stop and hug each other so there was a big gap. We got to the multi-scare room and they must have known that as they sprinted through. I lead my group and turned to my friends to make a comment about them when there was now nobody in front of us. Turn around and got a scare from Scareactor #4 (hope to make sense in the rest of my explanation) who was right in my face. Then SA #1 got me from the left, then SA #2 from the right, then SA #3 from my left, then SA #4 again coming out of their boo hole (they had walked right into the walking path for the first scare). Then I turned a corner and #4 got me again with their double boo hole. NEVER got anywhere near 5 scares in a single room, let alone 4 that really startled me. 10/10
- Ghostbusters - This was like 9 or 10 on my hype list, but boy did it deliver! It had an amazing multi-scare room as well that was amazing when you hit it right. Was confused by the "wet floor mat" by Pukey that didn't spray any water the whole week I was there. The GB battling Garaka (or whatever their name is) at the end was sometimes awesome, and sometimes the Scareactor couldn't be bothered to aim their proton pack at the lights on the wall. Overall, it was what I wanted in the first house that didn't deliver. Didn't like the movie at all, but the house was amazing. 9.5/10
- A Quiet Place - the silent gimmick didn't work as well as I had hoped, but everybody did pretty well playing along with it. LOVED the monsters (was super worried about them). The old guy yelling looked great, but then he just....sulked around after yelling. That took me out of it every time. Should have had him in a well lit area, where he screams, then an arm or something comes out and it goes dark (as I don't think the actor was fit enough for any kind of stunt). To have him scream, then just look down and pace back and forth made no sense when sound is what triggers the aliens to attack. 9.5/10
- Slaughter Sinema 2 - This was my #1 anticipated house and it definitely delivered, but didn't capture the lightening in a bottle like the first one that I had hoped it would. But my biggest gripe, which is going to sound ridiculously entitled, was the queue videos and the express line. Yes, I'm an Express snob and make no apologies about that, but the express queue meant that even when the line was backed up significantly, you only got a brief view and audio of the trailers playing. As soon as you went down the switchbacks to the "right side of the house", you couldn't see or hear anything. Did the house a bunch of times, and felt like I missed the new videos a lot! I saw Pumpkin Guts more than I saw anything from this year. At the end of the 4-row switchback, they really needed a second screen and speaker so that you could get up to speed with what was in the house. 9/10
- Goblins - I had this at the bottom of my hype list with Ghostbusters, but really enjoyed it. Nothing really stuck out, but it was a classic, solid HHN house that a decade or so ago might have been my favorite house of the year. Now it's just middle of the road for the event. Seemed like the Goblins might be trying to appease the Orcs/Ogres whatever with the feast? 7/10
- Sweets - not bad at all, but not great either. Liked the new layout for the location and had some GATs that I liked. Felt like it was the most violent house of the year which was pretty surprising. 6.5/10
- Triplets - not sure what was going on, but enjoyed the house. Kinda cookie cutter and nothing at all stood out, but enjoyed it. 6/10
- The Museum - not sure what the half Freddy Krueger / half Poltergeist guys were supposed to be, but was a good house. Had one awesome run through of the house, but the rest weren't that great. 6/10
- Universal Monsters - this house was pretty boring. Most of the scares were sound cues with characters stepping out from cover. Not really trying to scare you. It was like a PG13 horror movie scare where it has to be a "out of nowhere appearance" type scare. The story was also sooooooo hard to follow. They had transition areas where they had narration, but with a conga line you would step into the room mid-explanation, then leave the room before you could understand what the hell was going on. When the house is heavy on narration, you need to be able to hear the full narration to follow along. The timid/un-kinetic scares coupled with the impossible to follow narration really made this house the worst Monsters house BY FAR in my opinion. 5/10
Zones:
- Swamp - Loved it the first night we went. The misters vs just fog was a great touch and loved it when the ground was wet. After the first night, seemed like the zone was either not misted or was half done. That was disappointing, but this was my favorite zone in the location since Trick R Treat. 9/10
- Torture Faire - This was pretty much exactly what I expected (and feared). The props were great and the mini show was pretty entertaining, but there weren't nearly enough Scareactors for such a large zone and some, like pyramid head, were just wandering around and not really trying for scares. 7.5/10
- Queens - Didn't care for this zone at all, but the last 2 were so bad I had to put it here. Boring, but pretty. 6/10
- Blumbhouse - It did what it intended to do. Didn't get to see a dancing M3gan hoard. No real scares to be had. You expect one of these zones per year, this was unfortunately even weak for that expectation. 5/10
- S1n3s+3r & Surr#41 - just horrible. Not at all a scare zone. On our 3rd or 4th night going, finally saw them up on the scaffolding. Every other night, just boring chainsaws and a sign. Might challenge whatever the black chainlink fence zone for the worst of all time. Only giving it a 1 for the 1 time I saw them up on the stage. 1/10
Show:
Thought that Nightmare Fuel was AMAZING this year. Loved the whole show. Previous years around the 20min mark or so, I'm looking at my watch waiting for it to end...not this year! It was amazing and the ushers were on fire dancing pre-show. 10/10
Bars:
First off, it needs draft beer options. Draft beer was so hard to find during the event that for the first time ever, I didn't buy a blinky cup. Had to offer to pay the difference for a friend to get a signature drink so I could get the cup.
The Wolfman set up by the former Peacock bar...was gone? It was just a generic HHN selfie backdrop banner.
The HHN Bar was cool, but I thought there was going to be like 8 rotating scareactors, we saw the same 3 every single time. Maybe saw a different Punk guy from Heavy Metal Hell once. There was NEVER a line at the bar. I assume because of lack of non-alcoholic and beer options. Can't have the marquee bar be the weakest in terms of drink options. The lines for every Freestyle machine was longer than the bar.
Dead Coconut was OK. Only went once and it was hotter than hell upstairs. Either they had the A/C super low, or they had circulation off as it was hot, stuffy, and stagnant air. Walk by other times and there was a line out the door, hope the A/C issues were an anomaly or else feel bad for the people who were crowded in. Again, only went once, but didn't see/hear any kind of show and was there for a few rounds of drinks so that was disappointing.
Given the alcohol prices, and where this event has been before (and where HoS Orlando is right up the street) was very disappointed with the drink options this year. 6/10
