Universal Monsters: Unmasked (HHN 32)

[kingcooger]

One thing I haven't seen brought up is a phantom chandelier scare for this house. Are we thinking something similar to Monsters '19 with the static prop and sound effect or could we see some kind of animatronic/ actor controlled effect? Or since we have so many monsters and other sets will they forego a chandelier scare all together, it seems like Hollywood is going this route staying subterranean.

They mentioned the Paris Opera House specifically when talking about this house in Orlando, so why bother with the Opera House if you aren’t going to do the chandelier?

After the mask, it’s arguably the most iconic thing about The Phantom.

My preference is that the chandelier scene be different from their original execution of the idea. Something akin to the barrel trick in Carnival Graveyard, but make it a chandelier zooming over guests’ heads seems more appropriate/grand.

 

[Drummanmatt]

I’m hoping the rope pull scare for Hunchback from HHN29 comes back. That was brilliant!

 

[Kichkinet85]

A great house but felt like they only wanted to do one monster.

Spoiler: UM

The Phantom

The facade was great tho!

Spoiler: Facade

going under the bridge with the actor on top and it raining. Love any facade with the taming effect!

It was neat to see how they did the Invisible Man. The Hunchback 2nd facade was amazing. I only saw one of him tho. Dr. Jykell/Mr. Hyde were also cool but only saw a couple of them.

 

[Lucky Planet]

A great house but felt like they only wanted to do one monster.

Spoiler: UM

The Phantom

The facade was great tho!

Spoiler: Facade

going under the bridge with the actor on top and it raining. Love any facade with the taming effect!

It was neat to see how they did the Invisible Man. The Hunchback 2nd facade was amazing. I only saw one of him tho. Dr. Jykell/Mr. Hyde were also cool but only saw a couple of them.

That's really sad.

 

[Kichkinet85]

That's really sad.

What part is?

 

[Lucky Planet]

What part is?

Not much dr

 

[Lucky Planet]

I'm kind of pretty disappointed here. Sets and characters aren't as elaborate as the other monster houses. Not that much variety
Invisible man was pretty generic. It wasn't as great as mummy house. I don't know
Too much phantom.

 

[kingcooger]

I'm kind of pretty disappointed here. Sets and characters aren't as elaborate as the other monster houses. Not that much variety
Invisible man was pretty generic. It wasn't as great as mummy house. I don't know
Too much phantom.

Admittedly I haven’t seen the house yet (we don’t get there until mid October), but I have been wanting a Phantom solo house since his scene in 2009’s Silver Screams. Of the monsters appearing in this haunt, him and Dr. Jekyll have the easiest stories to translate to a solo house with the most chances for variety (kills, costumes, sets, etc).

Hearing he’s the focus just makes me happy.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Admittedly I haven’t seen the house yet (we don’t get there until mid October), but I have been wanting a Phantom solo house since his scene in 2009’s Silver Screams. Of the monsters appearing in this haunt, him and Dr. Jekyll have the easiest stories to translate to a solo house with the most chances for variety (kills, costumes, sets, etc).

Hearing he’s the focus just makes me happy.

Ok I'll explain a little more.
The house feels soft energy. Low energy. I'm Not staying that the actors are doing a bad job. No.
I think that's on purpose. I think he's meant to be "elegant" which means softer energy. The phantom itself is cool. But the rooms feel very repetitive. Most of the house feels like the same room over and over, kind of .
It is tnot bad at all by any means. I think I was just very spoiled by the mummy house in intensity and set design.
I'm sure this will grow on me. I just expected a little more variety

 

[NuteGunrayWasFramed]

The main problem with this house as opposed to the past two UCM houses is the lack of cohesion with the characters and lack of any story.There’s no reason for them to all be there except “they’re all in Paris.”

Also the house has weird pacing problems. You enter the sewers below the opera house and have a chance interaction with the phantom, but soon after you see one of the projection effects of Christine ripping off his mask. But his mask has already been ripped off? We literally just saw him with the mask removed. It seems like a weird decision to show you the phantom and then have a projection tease of him right after. The easiest solution/ most logical story decision would have been for that scare to be a fake out featuring a member of the mob or even the cop from the top of the facade.

Another completely botched execution is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The monster who is know for the dynamic between the two halves of himself and we don’t see transformation or even the calm and collected Dr. Jekyll?

Seems like they had no idea what to do with this house and made some really amateur storytelling mistakes along the way.

 

[Lucky Planet]

You reminded me.
-phantom never had his mask on that I remember. He kinda just looks like a zombie. Honestly he just resemble a zombie.
-Mr Hyde looks like a werewolf. He's literally just another yeti/ werewolf. He kinda looks terrible.
-3 way scare is not strong enough. Everyone is too far apart.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

The main problem with this house as opposed to the past two UCM houses is the lack of cohesion with the characters and lack of any story. There’s no reason for them to all be there except “they’re all in Paris.”

I had a feeling this was gonna happen when it was rumored and even more so when it was announced. They never clarified the story or the reason behind these 4 Universal Monsters coming together.

"They're all in Paris" is a great way to describe it and a great excuse lol. I always viewed this house as just giving the spotlight to each of the 4 Monsters in their very own dedicated sections. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, cause I could see it being quite difficult to come up with a logical/cohesive story for having these specific Monsters come together.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I had a feeling this was gonna happen when it was rumored and even more so when it was announced. They never clarified the story or the reason behind these 4 Universal Monsters coming together.

"They're all in Paris" is a great way to describe it and a great excuse lol. I always viewed this house as just giving the spotlight to each of the 4 Monsters in their very own dedicated sections. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, cause I could see it being quite difficult to come up with a logical/cohesive story for having these specific Monsters come together.

It isn't even about having a cohesive and logical story for them to be together
Invisible man really really got robbed. He's in like 2 rooms and it's a pretty bad room. Looks really cheap. He might as well not be in the house. They didn't do mirror effects with him or anything. It's one thing to not have a cohesive story and another to waste him.
Having 4 monsters was pretty terrible in that 2 of them are completely wasted. The more I think about the house the more disappointed I am. I don't think they fight or anything.

 

[Crypt Keeper]

It isn't even about having a cohesive and logical story for them to be together
Invisible man really really got robbed. He's in like 2 rooms and it's a pretty bad room. Looks really cheap. He might as well not be in the house. They didn't do mirror effects with him or anything. It's one thing to not have a cohesive story and another to waste him.
Having 4 monsters was pretty terrible in that 2 of them are completely wasted. The more I think about the house the more disappointed I am. I don't think they fight or anything.

Can't remember who brought it up (I think it was in the HHN Hollywood thread) but if it looks really cheap and out of place, Invisible Man could've been a late addition to the house. And dang, I was hoping there would've been some crazy blacklight mirror maze for Invisible Man.

Having them fight would've been pretty crazy ngl. Not sure what the story would be behind that, as it seems they couldn't even come up with one lol.

 

[Wigglepebbles]

I had a feeling this was gonna happen when it was rumored and even more so when it was announced. They never clarified the story or the reason behind these 4 Universal Monsters coming together.

"They're all in Paris" is a great way to describe it and a great excuse lol. I always viewed this house as just giving the spotlight to each of the 4 Monsters in their very own dedicated sections. Which isn't a bad thing I guess, cause I could see it being quite difficult to come up with a logical/cohesive story for having these specific Monsters come together.

My idea of a storyline would be:
The annual French science expo held at the Opera house features the brilliant minds of Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Jack Griffin being corrupted by their own discoveries; unbeknownst to them, the deformed monsters The Phantom and Quasimodo plot their brutal revenge against the French scientific organization for their endless mockery and lack of aid…

 

[Crypt Keeper]

My idea of a storyline would be:
The annual French science expo held at the Opera house features the brilliant minds of Dr. Jekyll and Dr. Jack Griffin being corrupted by their own discoveries; unbeknownst to them, the deformed monsters The Phantom and Quasimodo plot their brutal revenge against the French scientific organization for their endless mockery and lack of aid…

 

[GA-MBIT]

Mummy, Wolfman, and Dracula had trouble sharing the spotlight for a proper fight last year, a fight between arguably 5 different characters would be far worse when it comes to that.

Honestly, I thought it was pretty good. Sets are very pretty and it's cool to see the lower rung Monsters get some time to shine. Hyde got me pretty good at one point and the SIF is used real solid here. It felt like 4 different small houses, but that's okay for me honestly.

 

[cdogsumo]

Coming from the Hollywood thread to say—your sets are absolutely breathtaking. What you are all saying could very well be true about lack of cohesion and storytelling. But I can almost certainly say that the scale and detail of your sets are just insane to look at coming from the Hollywood event.

Okay back to the Hollywood thread now…

 

[Wigglepebbles]

Coming from the Hollywood thread to say—your sets are absolutely breathtaking. What you are all saying could very well be true about lack of cohesion and storytelling. But I can almost certainly say that the scale and detail of your sets are just insane to look at coming from the Hollywood event.

Okay back to the Hollywood thread now…

I agree, the facade and the Jekyll scene are phenomenal

 

[HHN Maddux]

Very much not a fan of Phantom becoming a Leatherface-style killer, doesn't fit him at all. Doesn't help that his section is the weakest.

One of the Hydes gave me my best scare on opening night, turned the corner and BAM right in my face! Although yeah, this is probably the weakest UM house so far. Lack of story and the Phantom sequence goes on for wayyyyy too long, leaving all the others to get one or two scenes each.