So I decided to travel with one of my buddies on our College's trip to HHN 19. We'll just call him: "Jumpy". He's what I like to refer to as a "Horror Virgin".
So me and Jumpy arrived at HHN 19 around 6:45 and finally got thru the gates around 7:00. It was Jumpy's first time at HHN so he had no idea what to expect. The first scarezone we hit was Lights Camera Hacktion: Chainsaw Drill Team Massacre. When Jumpy caught sight of his first Chainsaw Weilding Maniac he jmped back 5 feet and refused to move an inch further. I had to drag him thru the scarezone. I caught sight of one of the film crew approacing Jumpy. I could have warned him but that would have ruined all the fun. I watched as the film crew person told Jumpy to run. He jumped out of his skin and bolted out of the scarezone like his life depended on it, leaving me to give chase after him. This would be a recurring theme of the scarezones: Me walking hesitantly thru them and Jumpy running and dodging around them doing his best to avoid the scares (BTW, he failed).
Our first house of the night was Silver Screams where we had the good fortune to end up behind a scareactor who had decided to take a day off. We got to chat with him during the wait and follow him through the house. His name was "Alex" and he plays one the Usher's in the house. Overall Silver Screams was a superb house with excellent themeing throughout. In this house you'll travel through several famous scenes from reknowned movies incuding The Thing, The Phantom Of The Opera, The Strangers, My Bloody Valentine 3-D, Shaun Of The Dead, Army Of Darkness, and a few others. The Whole house is themed around a Possessed/Haunted Movie theatre called The Universal Palace. My Favorite parts were the Catacombs and dancing to "Don't Stop Me Now" during Shaun Of the Dead. Jumpy couldn't understand the concept of having fun during a haunted house and would stare at me dumbly while I did a few impromptu dances.
After Silver screams we split up from Alex (Even though I would end up running into him 2 more times during the night) and hit Saw. It kind of lived up to my expectations for it. The theme is that Jigsaw wants to see if you "Have what it takes to survive" and you are traveling through his lair from the 2nd film (Wilson Steele). The house is kind of like the Hallow from Last year. Lots of theming but not many scares (Except for the last room, which had me in hysterics).
Next we hit Leave It to Cleaver. This was a really fun house that had an entertaining queue vid to keep us occupied as we wait in the line. The house is more creepy than scary, but I loved it. I had plenty of opportunites to interact with the scareactors and I didn't waste any of them. My favorite convo: Me: "I want My Meat!!!" Scareactor: "You'll get it at the end of the tour!!" Me: BUT I WANT MY MEAT NOW!!!". The whole house was filled with happy smiling butchers, One was even smoking a pipe as he asked me which part I wanted...I replyed with the Ribs or the roast. Then, like a good butcher, he went to town with the part I asked him for...OMG I Love this house!!! Near the end you walk down a seemingly endless hallway of Chainsaw weilding butchers (Once again, I was in hysterics, screaming) which let out to the main shop where I got to meet Mr. Meetz and our old pal Meety who had one final surprise for me. Overall Cleaver was a fun house that had a few good scares but was mainly just alot of fun to walk through and experience.
After we were done with Cleaver Jumpy started to complain about how he was hungry so we stopped for a bite to eat. Once again Jumpy lived up to his name as I pulled a scare on him which resulted in Jumpy spilling his iced Tea on his lap. After our bellies were full we walked on thru City Of Cannibels (Jumpy staying on the outer sides of the scarezones, sprinting thru) and hit Frankenstein.
I was frankly psyched about the possible opportunity to meet C_D (An OU Forum Member and a Vaulter). The house was amazing in every way. I appreciated how they modernized the monster and the story. Universal did a very good job with this house, changing the telling but staying true to the Material. The Creature was everywhere in this house and he pulled alot of good quality scares on me and Jumpy (Who could constantly be found staying as far back as possible, using the walls as shields from the scareactors and running thru scenes at odd intervals). Frankenstein is my personal favorite movie monster of all time so of course this house was one of my top Favs of the night.
Jumpy's Most anticipated House of the Night was Wolfman, and that's the one we hit next. I was able to get in line but unfortunately for Jumpy as soon as I hopped in line a crowd of people cut in front of him, seperating us. Thus I cannot report how well Jumpy was in the house. This was the only house that truely made me feel like I had entered the world of the film. It was another cool house. My only complaint was that the forest scene was too short and didn't resemble what I had imagined it would be like. It wasn't extremely elaborate but it did have a few good scares here and there, and the actors were believable in their roles. In the morgue scene when one of the victims raised up and howled I muttered "Somebody shoot him or something". most of the scareactors seemed to be trying to defend us from the werewolf which was an interesting switch in what you usually find in your typical Haunted House. The Wolfman Makeup/costumes were also pretty well-done too.
Afterwards I hit Frankenstein Again. This time at the end I'm pretty sure I ran into C_D. I asked the monster if he was C_D and he growled in my ear. So that was cool.
A few minutes afterwards I met up with Jumpy and we hit Silver Screams again. It saddens me to see this house consistantly have a short-ish wait every time we hit it. It's a top quality house that most people overlook in their mad dash to hit SAW and Wolfman. It needs more guest appreciation in my opinion.
By the time we got out it was 1:30 and me and Jumpy made a last ditch effort to hit Dracula. We made it to see that the wait was short, so we jumped into the line. The detail was pretty cool, and by far was the longest/largest house of the night. It was filled with great "****-your-pants" scares and hot brides lashing out at you from corners, walls, windows and ledges. my only complaint was that I did not see dracula once in this house. Overall it was the scariest house of the night and I'm glad we had the time to hit it.
Once out of Dracula me and Jumpy met up with the rest of our school and headed back.
Overall I think that HHN 19 was better than HHN 18. This year was much scarier than last year's event and I'm glad about that. This year had more consistant theming throughout, better scarezones, better houses, better scares, and better quality. I also had more fun this year and spent more time being scared and running for my life. There were several times when guests would ask me if I was O.K., it was during these moments when I wanted to just slap them because OF COURSE I WAS O.K!!! I was having the time of my life and enjoying every second of it. I like being scared, it's a great rush. So the more scared I look the better I'm doing, but most people don't seem to understand this.
This was my 2nd time going to HHN and once again it was an overwhelmingly positive experience for me. There were no bad houses this year. Even though I liked some more than others they were all of a superb quality and had great scares. Most of the scarezones were great as well with decent stories behind them. If I could change one thing about the night it would be for me to spend more time in the scarezones as they were all extremely well put together and amazingly well themed. I am also happy to report that Jumpy made it out in one Piece and that he too agrees that it was a great experience and wants to definently do it again some day. So for all you "Horror Virgins" out there hurry up and buy your ticket to the Universal Palace Theatre and HHN 19 before it ends. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.
House Ratings
Silver Screams- My Favorite House of the night. 5/5
Saw- My Least favorite, but still of a superb quality. Not worth more than an hour though. 2/5
Cleaver- Funniest house of the night. So many opportunities to interact with the scareactors. really made the guests feel as though they were a part of the house. Consistent theming thrughout. 4/5
Frankenstein- Great re-imagining of the horror classic. this ain't yo momma's Frankenstein. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 4/5
Wolfman- Another good house. Decent amount of scares. Really felt like I had stepped into the movie. 3/5
Dracula- Scariest house of the night. Longest/largest house. Had the best scares and the most scares of the night. Truely terrifying and a great end to the night. 5/5
Spawning- unable to hit this one
Chucky- the wait was 60 minutes. NO WAY. didn't hit it.
Scarezone Ratings
Lights Camera Haction: Chainsaw Drill Team Massacre- Faily decent length. Had enough scares to go around. Lots of Chainsaw Weilding Maniacs. One chased me, made my night. 5/5
WOTD- Dark, creepy. Superb setting. Most Zombies were busy walking around and stopping for photos, thus not many were able to scare me. Wasn't their faults. 5/5
Apocalypse: City Of Cannibels- Few scares, not the greatest costumes. The helicopters, bursts of fire, loudspeakers, and spewing fire hydrant made it a top one for me though. Amazing setting. 5/5
Cirque Du freak- Surprisingly scary with vampires and other creatures that love to chase random guests (Including me). Loved the circus setting. 5/5
Containment- Dissapointing. Not enough smoke or scares to really staisfy. 2/5
Horrorwood Die-In - Fun Scare zone that lacked scares. It was fun to see your favorite movie villains in this one, but not enough theming or scares. 2/5
C_D: I was the one wearing the brown hollister sweater with a white skull T-shirt underneath. I had a white DC cap on.