So here's my review of the event: overall, I think it's fine. Really, it's alright, but I do believe paying full price for this is just a middle finger. I still prefer HHN but I think it was fun, and I did everything really quick which kinda left my friend and I going "Dang, that was it?"
Positives:
- Nightmare on Camp Crystal Lake absolutely craps all over Terror Tram. The acting is phenomenal and this was the best thing of the night. So fun and actually scary. The costumes were great as well, and I like the representations of Freddy. This was awesome, cant have enough praise over it.
- The Exorcist Forbidden Screening: This was really fun, I didn't know what to expect and I kind of wondered why HHN never did anything like this before. That said it kinda just ends out of nowhere and feels like something was missing, but I think they could improve around it.
Alright's:
- IT: It's fun, and someone else put it best - it feels like KSF had the rights to IT and what they'd do with the property. A lot of the scenic feels cheap, but the costumes are better in person and the maze is pretty lengthy and I actually got some good scares. That said the immersion is not always there, and at times feels a bit thrown together. Timing scares needs to be better too.
Terrible's:
- The Conjuring: Oh brother. I love these movies, they legitimately are fun, but the whole guided aspect of it really kills it for me. Everything felt SO cheesy and forced, and I think this really needs a new approach. It was the first thing my friend and I did and it kinda left a bad taste in our mouth, but good thing it wasn't reflective of the whole event. I think the Nun paining is really well done though, HHN should work on a scare like that. Anyways, I feel this property has so much potential that's just unfortunately wasted.
- Arkham: Oh man. I'm a huge DC fan, and an Arkham games fan. The beginning was so promising, kinda reminded me of something KSF would do, but everything afterwards just felt like a walkthrough attraction/ museum. I was legitimately bored in this, but the Joker actors are really fun, and I feel kinda bad that they're subjected to these type of environments. Nothing really "feels" like Arkham here, not to mention the weak designs/ scares.
- NOISE BLEEDS. Seriously. It's so bad, it kind of became a running joke among some other people we met in line.
Overall, it was okay. Some of it was fun, and there's a lot to be improved on and I know WB has the capability to take this thing up a notch. That said, I wouldn't pay full price (I went on a discount a friend had from working at the studio). My friend and I thought "Hey that wasn't that bad", but it's something one and done. I still think HHN is better with immersion, but WB has some really cool properties that I think could be taken a step above. Maybe this might be a "every other year" kind of thing for me. This honestly felt like a test run, and my biggest wonder was where they could go from here, and what they wanna do from here. I think the market in SoCal is saturated as it is when it comes to haunts, so WB IMO doesnt offer anything brand new (IPs aside).
This event could be much better, but it also needs to decide whether it should.