Halloween Horror Nights 29 General Discussion

[Brian G.]

how many times did you see ghostbusters?



''

to be honest i never had a terrible run, i never saw too many empty spots, the effects worked every time i went,
i had worst runs on Us and depths of fear, much much worst on depths.

I mean, you not seeing doesn't change that effects broke and actors left - meaning there was empty spots.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

The outside city scene never was full for me. The demon dogs needed to be more intense. Stay Puft was kinda lame. Weak ending. Etc

The house starts strong and then just fades out into a fart.

 

[ReelJustice]

And in the scene with the “scareactor of the year” ops always rushed me through...

 

[ChaseTuff]

I wanted more scenes like the containment unit and the city scene. I wanted more ghost chaos with variety, instead of hugging to the film order.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I mean, you not seeing doesn't change that effects broke and actors left - meaning there was empty spots.

what i meant was i consistently saw all the roles even all the ghostbusters

 

[WasabiRyo]

The first "comedy" house was Creatures! in 2008 (the PsychoScarepy houses were never presented as "comedy").

In last twelve years since, there have been eight "comedy" houses (including Creatures and Ghostbusters). There are a couple that you could argue are comedy (like "Giggles and Gore"), and plenty with funny scenes (but that's just horror in general), but not many in the history of the event have boldly put "comedy" in the elevator pitch.

Creatures!
Leave it to Cleaver
ZombieGeddon
H.R. Bloodengutz
Penn & Teller
Ash vs the Evil Dead
Slaughter Cinema
Ghostbusters

I agree with this mostly but would argue that Psychoscarapy: Home for the Holidays was billed as pretty straight-up comedy (NO-PANTS SANTA).

As for the GB house discussion right here - I NEVER had a great run through this house with 10+ runs and I really really really went it ready to give this the benefit of the doubt knowing how closely the studios were watching this and their demands. The re-recorded dialogue detracted once you noticed. Never saw the first scare. empty empty boo-holes and transition walks. Never saw the Scoleri Bros. In fact the containment shutdown scene was always empty except for stilts ghost maybe twice. Dana in the chair just seemed like she gave the hell up after the first couple weeks in any cast. The only Buster that seemed to give a crap was the late replacement Ray. The Winstons were just. TERRIBLE. Final Gozer scene was meh (the last week she didn't even act; just crouched or paced). Dana and Louis scene was always great, and Janine was always fun though. And it was cool to high-five Venkman at the end (when he was there). To echo what a lot have said here -Beautiful recreation of sets, and a fanboy moment for movie fans, but as a house it was just so very mediocre.

 

[SeventyOne]

I agree with this mostly but would argue that Psychoscarapy: Home for the Holidays was billed as pretty straight-up comedy (NO-PANTS SANTA).

Grandma stabbed to death with cookie cutters. It was clearly tongue-in-cheek by the time guests went thru, even if it wasn't initially pitched as such. I always assumed it gave A&D an "aha!" moment that dark comedy really could work.

Dana in the chair just seemed like she gave the hell up after the first couple weeks in any cast.

In the actress' defense, it seemed pretty obvious the chair hands effect broke early on. Covered this in my review, but effects just don't seem to last 2 months, can't base a house around them long-term.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I would definitely consider PS to be comedy.

19 seemed like it had three houses with at least some element of comedy--LitC, Chucky, and Silver Screams (Shaun of the Dead).

For 28, I would consider SS, TrT and the HDD portion of Blumhouse to be comedy. I wouldn't consider ST to be a comedy, but it was obviously a family friendly property--and so, too, was Poltergeist (to a lesser extent, of course).

For 29, KK and GB were comedies, ST same as above, plus comedy in first room of HotC (not sure how it compares to LitC).

As long as they have to resort to lighter IPs because of rights restrictions, I would prefer keeping original comedy houses to a minimum.

Comedy houses work best when they're surrounded by plenty of scary houses. That's what comic *relief* means.

 

[WasabiRyo]

In the actress' defense, it seemed pretty obvious the chair hands effect broke early on. Covered this in my review, but effects just don't seem to last 2 months, can't base a house around them long-term.

Oh I know the effect broke after a bit and that absolutely it's not their fault. But I at least saw them making the best of it for me a while. They'd at least look scared or grab at the hands. But last few weeks? Every time I saw any SA in that position they more or less just sat there with the hand coming out of the bottom cushion just weirdly sitting there like a broken jack-in-the-box, uh the mechanism clearly visible in the bright space. Just unfortunate

 

[GA-MBIT]

I think that's the major issue of this year. If we were given GB, KK, Us, or anything like that on their own in an overall more scary event than 29 I could see them being recieved much more positively. We just happened to get a storm of more comedic and less naturally scary ideas than normal.

-Mouthbrooders turned out to look kinda goofy to some people
-Us relies more on it's creepy atmosphere than traditional boo hole jumpscares
-Corpses has it's share of ridiculous over-the-top moments
-Stranger Things doesn't even attempt to be scary.

Could Yeti (long lag times between scares), Nightingales (weak cast the first few weeks), Graveyard (teen story portions providing levity), and Monsters (Nowhere near Scarecrow/DE scary) ever really tip that scale back into balance?

 

[WasabiRyo]

I think that's the major issue of this year. If we were given GB, KK, Us, or anything like that on their own in an overall more scary event than 29 I could see them being recieved much more positively. We just happened to get a storm of more comedic and less naturally scary ideas than normal.

-Mouthbrooders turned out to look kinda goofy to some people
-Us relies more on it's creepy atmosphere than traditional boo hole jumpscares
-Corpses has it's share of ridiculous over-the-top moments
-Stranger Things doesn't even attempt to be scary.

Could Yeti (long lag times between scares), Nightingales (weak cast the first few weeks), Graveyard (teen story portions providing levity), and Monsters (Nowhere near Scarecrow/DE scary) ever really tip that scale back into balance?

I think the relatively high praise that houses like GG, Monsters, and Nightingales (and even Depths for some folks' runs) for once they found their groove and conversely the general poo-pooing of ST and GB will make it back to the higher ups due to the sheer agreement in opinion so many have (generally speaking). So as much as I loved this year for individual aspects, hopefully the pendulum swings back.

Problem is, also, that we're just internet people. We are a very very vocal group and we're heard - but we aren't looked at as the "Gospel Truth" of attendees. There's so many thousands that don't participate in any kind of forum/social media discussion or surveys. They just go, get drunk, hit a house or two, and Insta their pizza fries.

How Indeed does A&D reconcile us loudmouths with assumed opinions of Mr. Ordinary Citizen? Interesting to see what unfolds

 

[Lucky Planet]

I think the relatively high praise that houses like GG, Monsters, and Nightingales (and even Depths for some folks' runs) for once they found their groove and conversely the general poo-pooing of ST and GB will make it back to the higher ups due to the sheer agreement in opinion so many have (generally speaking). So as much as I loved this year for individual aspects, hopefully the pendulum swings back.

Problem is, also, that we're just internet people. We are a very very vocal group and we're heard - but we aren't looked at as the "Gospel Truth" of attendees. There's so many thousands that don't participate in any kind of forum/social media discussion or surveys. They just go, get drunk, hit a house or two, and Insta their pizza fries.

How Indeed does A&D reconcile us loudmouths with assumed opinions of Mr. Ordinary Citizen? Interesting to see what unfolds

Thats why they mostly focus on the park surveys.


I honestly think the placement of ghostbusters was reason for the hate as well.
If the ghostbusters house had been placed on a tent by men in black or where monsters was,and if Ghostbusters had not been advertised so heavily, i think the reaction would not be as bad, To be completely honest.
I think the fact that the house was shoved on everyone's face and the placement at the front of the park where the big houses go made expectations too high and it was set up for disappointment.
If the house had been where nightingales was and it wasnt featured on all the promo, i dont think the hate would be as big

 

[Legacy]

How Indeed does A&D reconcile us loudmouths with assumed opinions of Mr. Ordinary Citizen? Interesting to see what unfolds

In general, they ignore us. The screaming minority around here is a fraction of a percent of attendees, and they know it. More GSATs are conducting during a week of HHN than we have active posters.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I think that's the major issue of this year. If we were given GB, KK, Us, or anything like that on their own in an overall more scary event than 29 I could see them being recieved much more positively. We just happened to get a storm of more comedic and less naturally scary ideas than normal.

-Mouthbrooders turned out to look kinda goofy to some people
-Us relies more on it's creepy atmosphere than traditional boo hole jumpscares
-Corpses has it's share of ridiculous over-the-top moments
-Stranger Things doesn't even attempt to be scary.

Could Yeti (long lag times between scares), Nightingales (weak cast the first few weeks), Graveyard (teen story portions providing levity), and Monsters (Nowhere near Scarecrow/DE scary) ever really tip that scale back into balance?

I agree that they should've gone minimal with the creatures in Depths. But its spiritual predecessor received lots of complaints about no aliens.

There's nothing wrong with relying on atmosphere, ESPECIALLY with a conga line. That + the eels is what made Depths work for me, in spite of everything.

The Nightingales cast was terrific from the second week on. Found it and Depths to be every bit as scary as Scarecrow, for different reasons.

So do we know what the general ranking of GSATs was like, since that's (totally understandably) the metric they listen to?

 

[WasabiRyo]

Thats why they mostly focus on the park surveys.


I honestly think the placement of ghostbusters was reason for the hate as well.
If the ghostbusters house had been placed on a tent by men in black or where monsters was,and if Ghostbusters had not been advertised so heavily, i think the reaction would not be as bad, To be completely honest.
I think the fact that the house was shoved on everyone's face and the placement at the front of the park where the big houses go made expectations too high and it was set up for disappointment.
If the house had been where nightingales was and it wasnt featured on all the promo, i dont think the hate would be as big

Yeah they focus a lot on the surveys, and they are an invaluable tool for gauging guest response. But this has always been my issue with these from my working as a surveyor for companies to working in the pop culture industry is that it's still just a selection of people. How many people taking the surveys came one time, loved Ghostbusters for the sake of it being Ghostbusters and gave it huge positive feedback, which it arguably (based on what I've seen here) might not be what *we* want to see. Same with ST.

All I'm saying is, while I'm firmly in the better balance/more scary camp, some out there are just attracted by the big huge names. Basically I don't envy the job planners have trying to strike a balance to make the most money and make people like us happy.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Thats why they mostly focus on the park surveys.


I honestly think the placement of ghostbusters was reason for the hate as well.
If the ghostbusters house had been placed on a tent by men in black or where monsters was,and if Ghostbusters had not been advertised so heavily, i think the reaction would not be as bad, To be completely honest.
I think the fact that the house was shoved on everyone's face and the placement at the front of the park where the big houses go made expectations too high and it was set up for disappointment.
If the house had been where nightingales was and it wasnt featured on all the promo, i dont think the hate would be as big

I disagree but only in a certain sense. I agree that the hate wouldn't be as much if it weren't the headliner or front and center of the park, but I'd argue Ghostbusters doesn't fit anything lower than a major SS location.
If it were crammed in a parade building or MiB tent, I don't know if it'd be doing the IP justice. Ghostbusters is a classic evergreen horror-adjacent property that has been going strong for around 35 years at this point. Especially in the eyes of A&D, there's no way it could've gone anywhere else.

I think the issue is, is that all it takes to be a headliner IP? Big brand recognition and a source material with at least a middling tie to supernatural/horror elements? I certainly would've believed that prior to 29. But seeing the backlash against the house, it proves that that isn't enough. Ghostbusters was missing that X factor to really spur it into being a great headliner. I'm not gonna be the one to attempt and figure out what that factor is, but I certainly know it was needed and sorely missing.

 

[Brian G.]

Thats why they mostly focus on the park surveys.


I honestly think the placement of ghostbusters was reason for the hate as well.
If the ghostbusters house had been placed on a tent by men in black or where monsters was,and if Ghostbusters had not been advertised so heavily, i think the reaction would not be as bad, To be completely honest.
I think the fact that the house was shoved on everyone's face and the placement at the front of the park where the big houses go made expectations too high and it was set up for disappointment.
If the house had been where nightingales was and it wasnt featured on all the promo, i dont think the hate would be as big

the flaw in this argument is that same situation happened with Stranger Things last year and did not have the same issues.

 

[Lucky Planet]

the flaw in this argument is that same situation happened with Stranger Things last year and did not have the same issues.

But Stranger things last year was a lot better than ghostbusters,
I mean, the house was a lot nicer.

 

[Brian G.]

But Stranger things last year was a lot better than ghostbusters,
I mean, the house was a lot nicer.

Right. It all came down to the execution; and sometimes, even that’s not enough. Some things just don’t click. Nothing to do with the location or any of the things you mentioned.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I just think it was hyped too much. Advertised too much.

What i meant was that even with the flaws it had, if it wasnt a headliner house and if this year had a stronger IP house, maybe expectations on it wouldnt be as high

Im not denying the flaws it had, but if we had IT or something big like that, i think some guests might have given ghostbusters a little bit of a pass