Maybe I just need to go through this house again, but man this house was a major whiff for me last night. Way too high concept and confusing for what is honestly a pretty fun hook, 1920s abolition era bar with witches making potions. That's very solid, but it leaned a little too hard into the more cult-y imagery rather than the more classic Halloween-y ideas which I think was a detriment. Feels like even if both were a little confusing, Case Files was at least fun nonsense your first run thru. I'll see what kinda story stuff I can pick up over time.
The scarea are very lacking, the actors were not given good triggers at all, and on their first night they didn't seem to be compensating for that yet energy wise. The scare movements themselves felt very Plexi impaired. No one lunged at me the whole time, no one got in my face or anywhere near me really. A lot of people walked out and quipped or laughed or did a grunt at me, and then slowly walked back into their spot. It felt like Icons without the giant plastic sheets, but if they didn't take advantage of not having giant plastic sheets. Meh.
I'll say one thing, I like the idea of the first half being very fun 1920s Flapper era flair and then the latter half being really dark and muted. In concept, that's a neat dichotomy and could make for a very interesting run. In execution, I just don't think either worked that well at all. And frankly, at the risk of coming off too mean, the one thing it reminded me of most was the Hotel house from HoS Orlando last year. Which for HHN, well....yikes.
Hope this gets much better in time.
