Halloween Horror Nights 32 (UOR) - Speculation & Rumors

[Casper Gutman]

Dark comedy houses are the best houses. Home for the Hollidays, Leave it to Cleaver, Slaughter Cinema, Scary Tales, H.R. Bloodengutz, etc. It’s where the event has the highest batting average. “HHN is serious business,” folks baffle me and unfortunately it sometimes feels like they hold more sway with the modern event planners. HHN works best with a wink.

(Atmospheric originals have the second highest batting average).

 

[Darko]

I mean the films made Charles a villain I loved to hate and a miserable son of a gun. The movie characters I liked the most in the franchise were the 2 most notable strong, female lead/supporting protagonists, Kyle and Nica.

As for a house, I just hope to see more barrel of monkeys again. Those goobers were so much fun in 28’s scare

Dark comedy houses are the best houses. Home for the Hollidays, Leave it to Cleaver, Slaughter Cinema, Scary Tales, H.R. Bloodengutz, etc. It’s where the event has the highest batting average. “HHN is serious business,” folks baffle me and unfortunately it sometimes feels like they hold more sway with the modern event planners. HHN works best with a wink.

(Atmospheric originals have the second highest batting average).

Definitely agree. A large portion of my favorite houses (such as Home for the Holidays) are dark comedy houses. They are almost always phenomenal houses.

 

[fryoj]

Speaking of , has there been any discussion how this house will actually work? Are they hiring little people to run the house?

I suppose I could see a story that a new “life size” doll has been created to avoid this( but would really render the house kinda pointless

I think an effective way to do a lot of it would be to have some sort of low speed "whip" at knee level that hits guests as they walk by. Nothing fast. Maybe a slow speed spinning piece of flexible plastic. Give the impression that chucky is running by and slashing you. You could air blowers to accomplish this too.

But beyond that, I'd think puppets or have the scareactors hidden from the waist down and leaning out of hole to make them look shorter.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Dark comedy houses are the best houses. Home for the Hollidays, Leave it to Cleaver, Slaughter Cinema, Scary Tales, H.R. Bloodengutz, etc. It’s where the event has the highest batting average. “HHN is serious business,” folks baffle me and unfortunately it sometimes feels like they hold more sway with the modern event planners. HHN works best with a wink.

(Atmospheric originals have the second highest batting average).

I think it works best when it's all condensed into one or two houses. 28 and 29, just way too much "bathos."

 

[Casper Gutman]

I think it works best when it's all condensed into one or two houses. 28 and 29, just way too much "bathos."

I strongly disagree. For one thing, 29 didn't even have a real original comedy house. What becomes flat and monotonous are endless, straight-faced jump scares. With a few exceptions like Killer Klowns, that's what most originals rely on, so it's particularly grating to get more of it from the other houses. It's why a skillfully executed tonal shift like Pier works so beautifully.

 

[Freak]

I strongly disagree. For one thing, 29 didn't even have a real original comedy house. What becomes flat and monotonous are endless, straight-faced jump scares. With a few exceptions like Killer Klowns, that's what most originals rely on, so it's particularly grating to get more of it from the other houses. It's why a skillfully executed tonal shift like Pier works so beautifully.

Eh…you could argue that Klowns kinda filed that “dark comedy” slot in the house line up.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I'd LOVE Death Eaters in Diagon. Would make the area feel more in line with the event, y'know? Tradeoff would probably be Gringotts no longer being a walk-on and the area not being a nice little quiet aside from the hustle and bustle of the event.

I know some people love Diagon being empty at night during hhn, ( me, myself I have enjoyed diagon during hhn many times) it's peaceful. Quiet. It's dark but comfy.
But if that area goes crazy with activity because of death eaters, that could be amazing too. Diagon being busy with people during hhn would be interesting. Might help with crowds everywhere else

Man, a Wolverine house. Talk about a surprise!

And I remain skeptical that the original Exorcist is a big enough draw to warrant inclusion on its own merits. It’s a classic film, no doubt, but generally it’s seemed like the motivation for properties like American Werewolf, Shining, and Exorcist comes from fannish designers really wanting to make the house - and they already made Exorcist, and it was great. Does it move the needle for most guests much more than an original?

PS: I’m very curious about the symbols in the NYC zone, but I’m pretty sure the top right one isn’t allowed in a Universal park.

Agreed. Chucky I'm okay with (if they use puppets), and Exorcist I'm straight up bummed about.

But it BLOWS my mind that we could see TLOU and Stranger Things at the same event.

I don't wanna be negative but exorcist is not that good for repeat visits. It's kinda boring theme wise. I REALLY hope that it's not an identical house like the one we had before. I'm hoping really hard that it is not an exact replica of the one we already had. There's not a lot you can do with exorcist but I hope it's different.
If it's the exact same as the one we had before? I might not visit it.

Honestly the problem I have with Child’s Play is the problem that I have with movies like Fight Club, or more recently even shows like Rick and Morty; the central character is misogynistic and a caricature of masculinity and a large number of fans miss that subtext and just like the character. I think the show has done a better job of exploring those themes largely because Mancini is less involved with the writing.

That’s not to defend Scooby Doo as a house choice, though I would prefer it over Chucky ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And it's interesting because you described the same problem with Freddy. Chucky and Freddy Kruger have basically the same issues you mentioned and if anything I think Freddy is more extreme in what you mentioned, but they are villains after all. So they weren't presented as good role models or for so many men to love them. I would say that Freddy Kruger is more problematic than Chucky, since Freddy doesn't love anyone. ( But Chucky has a soft spot for his kid and bride lol)
You can even add The Joker into that problem. The joker literally represents evil things but then they added Harley Quinn loving him and then a lot of couples will say that they wanna have a joker/ Harley type relationship

For Chucky at universal , it depends on who the victims for Chucky are and the dialogue. I know we had Chucky before, but I don't remember his dialogue from the scarezone

 

[Wesker69]

I cringe at the fact that all of you only keep mentioning the Chucky SZ...

Is nobody old enough to remember his house in 2009? Also as far as Chucky casting goes, they cast short scareactors under 5'4 (same for his appearance in the 20 Years of Fear SZ). No need for puppets.

Chucky has had a presence at the event in some capacity, not like Hollywood's Insult Emporium but he did show up here/there. Hell, in 1998 they promoted Bride of Chucky at the event heavily, complete with a parade float for the event's parade. Bryce (aka The Caretaker) performed the wedding ceremony.

 

[Rokweiler]

I cringe at the fact that all of you only keep mentioning the Chucky SZ...

Is nobody old enough to remember his house in 2009? Also as far as Chucky casting goes, they cast short scareactors under 5'4 (same for his appearance in the 20 Years of Fear SZ). No need for puppets.

Chucky has had a presence at the event in some capacity, not like Hollywood's Insult Emporium but he did show up here/there. Hell, in 1998 they promoted Bride of Chucky at the event heavily, complete with a parade float for the event's parade. Bryce (aka The Caretaker) performed the wedding ceremony.

I remember it. Didn’t go much for it back then either really. Wasn’t bad, wasn’t good, but the idea of shrinking you down to his size was pretty good so I’d be surprised if that isn’t utilised again.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I cringe at the fact that all of you only keep mentioning the Chucky SZ...

Is nobody old enough to remember his house in 2009? Also as far as Chucky casting goes, they cast short scareactors under 5'4 (same for his appearance in the 20 Years of Fear SZ). No need for puppets.

Chucky has had a presence at the event in some capacity, not like Hollywood's Insult Emporium but he did show up here/there. Hell, in 1998 they promoted Bride of Chucky at the event heavily, complete with a parade float for the event's parade. Bryce (aka The Caretaker) performed the wedding ceremony.

I remember it. Didn’t go much for it back then either really. Wasn’t bad, wasn’t good, but the idea of shrinking you down to his size was pretty good so I’d be surprised if that isn’t utilised again.

I don't really remember Chucky talking in that house besides generic movie lines from the speakers
But the scarezone had an actor talking for Chucky no?

The house, it was just the actors coming out of the boo holes and most of the house was random toys anyways. Not Chucky talking to people like in the scarezone

 

[Wesker69]

The house, it was just the actors coming out of the boo holes and most of the house was random toys anyways. Not Chucky talking to people like in the scarezone as well

Well yes... that is kinda the point of a house. It's for scares, not for full on convos with guests. Houses are for trigger scares, SZs are for interaction

And every IP uses audio from its source. Again, that's the point of using an IP. Sometimes new audio quotes are created depending on the situation.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Well yes... that is kinda the point of a house. It's for scares, not for full on convos with guests. Houses are for trigger scares, SZs are for interaction

And every IP uses audio from its source. Again, that's the point of using an IP. Sometimes new audio quotes are created depending on the situation.

I was wondering if they bring back the actor playing Chucky from the scarezone for the entrance of the end of the house.

 

[kingcooger]

I was wondering if they bring back the actor playing Chucky from the scarezone for the entrance of the end of the house.

Unless they figured out a way to do a grand entrance in that space, I wouldn’t think he would be at the beginning.

As well, houses aren’t really about interaction anymore (that died sometime around 2011-ish) so I don’t foresee that happening.

And furthermore, they are adapting the show, so I would expect voice clips, not a higher paid actor free to improvise lines that were not in the actual IP being adapted.

Again, I am excited for Chucky primarily because I enjoyed the 2009 house, think he’s a decent character, and like dark comedy houses.

My hesitation is the location as I wasn’t a huge fan of last year’s Blumhouse because it felt too tight during the Freaky section and had too many black walls during The Black Phone section. As this is the first time they have used this space and some new locations take them a bit of time to get in the groove of designing around, I am attempting to reserve my judgement.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

As well, houses aren’t really about interaction anymore (that died sometime around 2011-ish) so I don’t foresee that happening.

They did this with Beetlejuice in 2022.

 

[Acandrews12]

I remember it. Didn’t go much for it back then either really. Wasn’t bad, wasn’t good, but the idea of shrinking you down to his size was pretty good so I’d be surprised if that isn’t utilised again.

Universal has said that the house will be based on the tv show. So I don’t see that being utilized this year.

 

[kingcooger]

They did this with Beetlejuice in 2022.

Agreed.

This also kind of makes my point that it took ten-ish years for them to have improvisation in a house again.

I would like it, but houses just aren’t much for improvisation anymore. Would Chucky, like Beetlejuice, be a character that would benefit from breaking that trend?

Certainly!

But again, I don’t know that they have the space to pull something like that off in the F&F location. Unless they can really build up, or create a safe space for what I would imagine would have to be a puppet, it just doesn’t seem possible.

Now if they closed down the F&F ride entirely to day guests, could they build it somewhere in that queue (much like Beetlejuice had us seeing him in the queue) and pull it off?

Absolutely!

Edit: As well Evil Dead in 2013 and From Dusk Till Dawn in 2014 both had characters with microphones.

 

[Viator]

I am admittedly wondering in how much intergration Mancini would mean. Considering in the past, they’ve had that ability to have custom VO with Dourif and Tilly directly at the source (be it for HRRR, Starway, the announcement video, or even Titans of Terror Tram).

Feels like I wouldn’t rule out custom VO, even if it means both houses for Orlando and Hollywood are identical in a way to provide that

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This also kind of makes my point that it took ten-ish years for them to have improvisation in a house again.

Like Ghostbusters in 2019?

 

[Killer Klown]

Like Ghostbusters in 2019?

Or Stranger Things in 2018

 

[kingcooger]

Like Ghostbusters in 2019?

Ooh, good call!

Any others I missed?

I know for a time, they had said on the UTH tour that they enjoyed having those types of characters in houses, but then there was a gap of a few years before they returned.

Again, I would LOVE to have an interactive Chucky, I am just curious of the logistics given the location.

Heck, I would love them doing at least one per year and preferably more.

Or Stranger Things in 2018

I honestly don’t remember this one at all, who was it?