Thanks, Wolf! I hope the group doesn't permanently transition over to
Facebook, though. I enjoy the e-mails!

On Dec 24, 2009, at 3:31 PM, chainsawwolf wrote:

> I set up a CSW group over at Facebook. I think I sent out invites to
> all my Facebook friends, but feel free to join if I missed anyone.
> I'll try to merge a lot of the content from here over there, and may
> eventually transition the whole thing.
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I set up a CSW group over at Facebook. I think I sent out invites to all my
Facebook friends, but feel free to join if I missed anyone. I'll try to merge a
lot of the content from here over there, and may eventually transition the whole
thing.

I agree, very creative Wolf!
Happy Holidays to all fellow CSWs

Looking forward to seeing everyone at HHN20!

(and some of you in May if all goes as planned :-)

Mike

On Thu, Dec 24, 2009 at 12:41 AM, SpooN <sithlordmaster0666@...>wrote:

>
>
> Well written already bringing back that itch. Well I must say I really
> didn't get a chance to do much this past year and it really got depressing.
> Here's hoping for more in the year to come.
>
> SpooN
>
>
> Mike <fubar1120@... <fubar1120%40yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> >Very nice Wolf. Here is to a great Christmas and a happy New Year to all
> my CSW brothas and and sistas. Can't wait for HHN20!
> >
> >Cheers!!!
> >
> >F.U.B.A.R.
> >
> >--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com <chainsawwolf%40yahoogroups.com>,
> "chainsawwolf" <chainsaw@...> wrote:
> >>
> >> (With no apologies to by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> 'Twas the fright before Christmas, and all 'cross the net
> >>
> >> Not a wolfie was posting, no HHN news yet;
> >>
> >> The bodybags were hung in the warehouse with care,
> >>
> >> In hopes that HHN 20 soon would be there;
> >>
> >> The costumes were nestled all snug on their rack,
> >>
> >> While faint scents of burlap brought memories back;
> >>
> >> And Jim in his 'kerchief, and Shady thought of last year,
> >>
> >> And each settled down with a nice tall cold beer,
> >>
> >> When on my computer there arose so much chatter,
> >>
> >> I logged on as admin to see what was the matter.
> >>
> >> Away to the messages I flew like a flash,
> >>
> >> Scanned all the postings and threw some in the trash.
> >>
> >> The moon on my poster from "Corpse Bride" did glow
> >>
> >> Gave the feeling of mid-night to objects below,
> >>
> >> When, what to my work weary eyes should appear,
> >>
> >> But a post from John and Ali, to meet George for a beer,
> >>
> >> And then came the rumors that flew in so quick,
> >>
> >> I thought for a moment it must be a trick.
> >>
> >> More rapid than eagles the postings they came,
> >>
> >> And they listed the houses, and called the scarezones name;
> >>
> >> "There's, ---------! and , ---------! and --------! and ------!
> >>
> >> One house is, --------! another ------! and there's, --------- and
> --------!
> >>
> >> About the queue of Disaster! the big soundstage, the small!
> >>
> >> Now post away! post away! post away all!"
> >>
> >> As new victims that before the scaractors fly,
> >>
> >> When they meet with an creature, shout out and cry,
> >>
> >> So up to new records the post counts they flew,
> >>
> >> With plenty of info, and all of it true.
> >>
> >> And then, in a twinkling, there arrived in my mail
> >>
> >> The blueprints and artwork in every detail.
> >>
> >> As I was shaking my head, and turning around,
> >>
> >> Aiello and TJ arrived in the chat room, just hanging around.
> >>
> >> They discussed all the details, from Bill & Ted to the streets,
> >>
> >> And promised to show up at all the CSW meets;
> >>
> >> A bundle of info they had posted in "files",
> >>
> >> And I almost could see all the CSW'ers smiles.
> >>
> >> Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!
> >>
> >> These posts were like roses, and the files were a cherry!
> >>
> >> A droll little post showed up on the site,
> >>
> >> And I knew that old Spook had shown up for the night;
> >>
> >> Mike poured some a frosty cold beer through his teeth,
> >>
> >> And the foam it encircled his beard like a wreath;
> >>
> >> Then a cadaverous face and a skeletal belly,
> >>
> >> Made Kevin shake like a bowlful of jelly.
> >>
> >> Carl was once chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
> >>
> >> But now he's one trimmed down chainsaw, almost half of himself;
> >>
> >> A wink from Ray Keim and a Nod of Gromoll's head,
> >>
> >> Soon gave us to know I we'd have plenty to dread;
> >>
> >> They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
> >>
> >> And created the website; then smiled with a smirk,
> >>
> >> And laying out houses, more fears to expose,
> >>
> >> Finner brought cookies, everyone wanted those;
> >>
> >> Raven sprang into action, to the team gave more candy,
> >>
> >> Which was greatly appreciated by Monkey and Andy.
> >>
> >> But I heard Colin exclaim, ere I woke from my dream,
> >>
> >> "Happy Christmas to all, HHN XX will be quite a scream!"
> >>
> >
> >
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Well written already bringing back that itch. Well I must say I really didn't
get a chance to do much this past year and it really got depressing. Here's
hoping for more in the year to come.

SpooN

Mike <fubar1120@...> wrote:

>Very nice Wolf. Here is to a great Christmas and a happy New Year to all my CSW
brothas and and sistas. Can't wait for HHN20!
>
>Cheers!!!
>
>F.U.B.A.R.
>
>--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "chainsawwolf" <chainsaw@...> wrote:
>>
>> (With no apologies to by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)
>>
>>
>>
>> 'Twas the fright before Christmas, and all 'cross the net
>>
>> Not a wolfie was posting, no HHN news yet;
>>
>> The bodybags were hung in the warehouse with care,
>>
>> In hopes that HHN 20 soon would be there;
>>
>> The costumes were nestled all snug on their rack,
>>
>> While faint scents of burlap brought memories back;
>>
>> And Jim in his 'kerchief, and Shady thought of last year,
>>
>> And each settled down with a nice tall cold beer,
>>
>> When on my computer there arose so much chatter,
>>
>> I logged on as admin to see what was the matter.
>>
>> Away to the messages I flew like a flash,
>>
>> Scanned all the postings and threw some in the trash.
>>
>> The moon on my poster from "Corpse Bride" did glow
>>
>> Gave the feeling of mid-night to objects below,
>>
>> When, what to my work weary eyes should appear,
>>
>> But a post from John and Ali, to meet George for a beer,
>>
>> And then came the rumors that flew in so quick,
>>
>> I thought for a moment it must be a trick.
>>
>> More rapid than eagles the postings they came,
>>
>> And they listed the houses, and called the scarezones name;
>>
>> "There's, ---------! and , ---------! and --------! and ------!
>>
>> One house is, --------! another ------! and there's, --------- and --------!
>>
>> About the queue of Disaster! the big soundstage, the small!
>>
>> Now post away! post away! post away all!"
>>
>> As new victims that before the scaractors fly,
>>
>> When they meet with an creature, shout out and cry,
>>
>> So up to new records the post counts they flew,
>>
>> With plenty of info, and all of it true.
>>
>> And then, in a twinkling, there arrived in my mail
>>
>> The blueprints and artwork in every detail.
>>
>> As I was shaking my head, and turning around,
>>
>> Aiello and TJ arrived in the chat room, just hanging around.
>>
>> They discussed all the details, from Bill & Ted to the streets,
>>
>> And promised to show up at all the CSW meets;
>>
>> A bundle of info they had posted in "files",
>>
>> And I almost could see all the CSW'ers smiles.
>>
>> Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!
>>
>> These posts were like roses, and the files were a cherry!
>>
>> A droll little post showed up on the site,
>>
>> And I knew that old Spook had shown up for the night;
>>
>> Mike poured some a frosty cold beer through his teeth,
>>
>> And the foam it  encircled his beard like a wreath;
>>
>> Then a cadaverous face and a skeletal belly,
>>
>> Made Kevin shake like a bowlful of jelly.
>>
>> Carl was once chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
>>
>> But now he's one trimmed down chainsaw, almost half of himself;
>>
>> A wink from Ray Keim and a Nod of Gromoll's head,
>>
>> Soon gave us to know I we'd have plenty to dread;
>>
>> They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
>>
>> And created the website; then smiled with a smirk,
>>
>> And laying out houses, more fears to expose,
>>
>> Finner brought cookies, everyone wanted those;
>>
>> Raven sprang into action, to the team gave more candy,
>>
>> Which was greatly appreciated by Monkey and Andy.
>>
>> But I heard Colin exclaim, ere I woke from my dream,
>>
>> "Happy Christmas to all, HHN XX will be quite a scream!"
>>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

That is amazing, Wolf!! Great job.

On Dec 23, 2009, at 8:58 PM, chainsawwolf wrote:

> (With no apologies to by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)
>
> 'Twas the fright before Christmas, and all 'cross the net
>
> Not a wolfie was posting, no HHN news yet;
>
> The bodybags were hung in the warehouse with care,
>
> In hopes that HHN 20 soon would be there;
>
> The costumes were nestled all snug on their rack,
>
> While faint scents of burlap brought memories back;
>
> And Jim in his 'kerchief, and Shady thought of last year,
>
> And each settled down with a nice tall cold beer,
>
> When on my computer there arose so much chatter,
>
> I logged on as admin to see what was the matter.
>
> Away to the messages I flew like a flash,
>
> Scanned all the postings and threw some in the trash.
>
> The moon on my poster from "Corpse Bride" did glow
>
> Gave the feeling of mid-night to objects below,
>
> When, what to my work weary eyes should appear,
>
> But a post from John and Ali, to meet George for a beer,
>
> And then came the rumors that flew in so quick,
>
> I thought for a moment it must be a trick.
>
> More rapid than eagles the postings they came,
>
> And they listed the houses, and called the scarezones name;
>
> "There's, ---------! and , ---------! and --------! and ------!
>
> One house is, --------! another ------! and there's, --------- and
> --------!
>
> About the queue of Disaster! the big soundstage, the small!
>
> Now post away! post away! post away all!"
>
> As new victims that before the scaractors fly,
>
> When they meet with an creature, shout out and cry,
>
> So up to new records the post counts they flew,
>
> With plenty of info, and all of it true.
>
> And then, in a twinkling, there arrived in my mail
>
> The blueprints and artwork in every detail.
>
> As I was shaking my head, and turning around,
>
> Aiello and TJ arrived in the chat room, just hanging around.
>
> They discussed all the details, from Bill & Ted to the streets,
>
> And promised to show up at all the CSW meets;
>
> A bundle of info they had posted in "files",
>
> And I almost could see all the CSW'ers smiles.
>
> Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!
>
> These posts were like roses, and the files were a cherry!
>
> A droll little post showed up on the site,
>
> And I knew that old Spook had shown up for the night;
>
> Mike poured some a frosty cold beer through his teeth,
>
> And the foam it encircled his beard like a wreath;
>
> Then a cadaverous face and a skeletal belly,
>
> Made Kevin shake like a bowlful of jelly.
>
> Carl was once chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
>
> But now he's one trimmed down chainsaw, almost half of himself;
>
> A wink from Ray Keim and a Nod of Gromoll's head,
>
> Soon gave us to know I we'd have plenty to dread;
>
> They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
>
> And created the website; then smiled with a smirk,
>
> And laying out houses, more fears to expose,
>
> Finner brought cookies, everyone wanted those;
>
> Raven sprang into action, to the team gave more candy,
>
> Which was greatly appreciated by Monkey and Andy.
>
> But I heard Colin exclaim, ere I woke from my dream,
>
> "Happy Christmas to all, HHN XX will be quite a scream!"
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Very nice Wolf. Here is to a great Christmas and a happy New Year to all my CSW
brothas and and sistas. Can't wait for HHN20!

Cheers!!!

F.U.B.A.R.

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "chainsawwolf" <chainsaw@...> wrote:
>
> (With no apologies to by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)
>
>
>
> 'Twas the fright before Christmas, and all 'cross the net
>
> Not a wolfie was posting, no HHN news yet;
>
> The bodybags were hung in the warehouse with care,
>
> In hopes that HHN 20 soon would be there;
>
> The costumes were nestled all snug on their rack,
>
> While faint scents of burlap brought memories back;
>
> And Jim in his 'kerchief, and Shady thought of last year,
>
> And each settled down with a nice tall cold beer,
>
> When on my computer there arose so much chatter,
>
> I logged on as admin to see what was the matter.
>
> Away to the messages I flew like a flash,
>
> Scanned all the postings and threw some in the trash.
>
> The moon on my poster from "Corpse Bride" did glow
>
> Gave the feeling of mid-night to objects below,
>
> When, what to my work weary eyes should appear,
>
> But a post from John and Ali, to meet George for a beer,
>
> And then came the rumors that flew in so quick,
>
> I thought for a moment it must be a trick.
>
> More rapid than eagles the postings they came,
>
> And they listed the houses, and called the scarezones name;
>
> "There's, ---------! and , ---------! and --------! and ------!
>
> One house is, --------! another ------! and there's, --------- and --------!
>
> About the queue of Disaster! the big soundstage, the small!
>
> Now post away! post away! post away all!"
>
> As new victims that before the scaractors fly,
>
> When they meet with an creature, shout out and cry,
>
> So up to new records the post counts they flew,
>
> With plenty of info, and all of it true.
>
> And then, in a twinkling, there arrived in my mail
>
> The blueprints and artwork in every detail.
>
> As I was shaking my head, and turning around,
>
> Aiello and TJ arrived in the chat room, just hanging around.
>
> They discussed all the details, from Bill & Ted to the streets,
>
> And promised to show up at all the CSW meets;
>
> A bundle of info they had posted in "files",
>
> And I almost could see all the CSW'ers smiles.
>
> Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!
>
> These posts were like roses, and the files were a cherry!
>
> A droll little post showed up on the site,
>
> And I knew that old Spook had shown up for the night;
>
> Mike poured some a frosty cold beer through his teeth,
>
> And the foam it  encircled his beard like a wreath;
>
> Then a cadaverous face and a skeletal belly,
>
> Made Kevin shake like a bowlful of jelly.
>
> Carl was once chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
>
> But now he's one trimmed down chainsaw, almost half of himself;
>
> A wink from Ray Keim and a Nod of Gromoll's head,
>
> Soon gave us to know I we'd have plenty to dread;
>
> They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
>
> And created the website; then smiled with a smirk,
>
> And laying out houses, more fears to expose,
>
> Finner brought cookies, everyone wanted those;
>
> Raven sprang into action, to the team gave more candy,
>
> Which was greatly appreciated by Monkey and Andy.
>
> But I heard Colin exclaim, ere I woke from my dream,
>
> "Happy Christmas to all, HHN XX will be quite a scream!"
>

(With no apologies to by Clement Clarke Moore or Henry Livingston)



'Twas the fright before Christmas, and all 'cross the net

Not a wolfie was posting, no HHN news yet;

The bodybags were hung in the warehouse with care,

In hopes that HHN 20 soon would be there;

The costumes were nestled all snug on their rack,

While faint scents of burlap brought memories back;

And Jim in his 'kerchief, and Shady thought of last year,

And each settled down with a nice tall cold beer,

When on my computer there arose so much chatter,

I logged on as admin to see what was the matter.

Away to the messages I flew like a flash,

Scanned all the postings and threw some in the trash.

The moon on my poster from "Corpse Bride" did glow

Gave the feeling of mid-night to objects below,

When, what to my work weary eyes should appear,

But a post from John and Ali, to meet George for a beer,

And then came the rumors that flew in so quick,

I thought for a moment it must be a trick.

More rapid than eagles the postings they came,

And they listed the houses, and called the scarezones name;

"There's, ---------! and , ---------! and --------! and ------!

One house is, --------! another ------! and there's, --------- and --------!

About the queue of Disaster! the big soundstage, the small!

Now post away! post away! post away all!"

As new victims that before the scaractors fly,

When they meet with an creature, shout out and cry,

So up to new records the post counts they flew,

With plenty of info, and all of it true.

And then, in a twinkling, there arrived in my mail

The blueprints and artwork in every detail.

As I was shaking my head, and turning around,

Aiello and TJ arrived in the chat room, just hanging around.

They discussed all the details, from Bill & Ted to the streets,

And promised to show up at all the CSW meets;

A bundle of info they had posted in "files",

And I almost could see all the CSW'ers smiles.

Their eyes -- how they twinkled! their dimples how merry!

These posts were like roses, and the files were a cherry!

A droll little post showed up on the site,

And I knew that old Spook had shown up for the night;

Mike poured some a frosty cold beer through his teeth,

And the foam it  encircled his beard like a wreath;

Then a cadaverous face and a skeletal belly,

Made Kevin shake like a bowlful of jelly.

Carl was once chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

But now he's one trimmed down chainsaw, almost half of himself;

A wink from Ray Keim and a Nod of Gromoll's head,

Soon gave us to know I we'd have plenty to dread;

They spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,

And created the website; then smiled with a smirk,

And laying out houses, more fears to expose,

Finner brought cookies, everyone wanted those;

Raven sprang into action, to the team gave more candy,

Which was greatly appreciated by Monkey and Andy.

But I heard Colin exclaim, ere I woke from my dream,

"Happy Christmas to all, HHN XX will be quite a scream!"

Thanks, Dave! I hope you have a great time and a safe trip to Orlando!

                Thank You! I will give a mini trip report here when I get
back,   co incedently I am listening to "Night on Bald Mountain" as a type this
         signed
                         Dave




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks, Dave! I hope you have a great time and a safe trip to Orlando!

Kevin

On Dec 22, 2009, at 10:47 PM, david guillot wrote:

> Happy holidays to all. PS i will be going to Orlando around new
> years. which park(s) I don't know. It will be by mutual agrement as
> to where.
>                   signed
>                               Dave
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Happy holidays to all. PS i will be going to Orlando around new years. which
park(s) I don't know. It will be by mutual agrement as to where.
                  signed
                              Dave




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

To all of our HHNs friends and family we wish you all happy holidays, and a
safe New Years Eve.



Jim & Judy



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks! I, too, would like to bestow my Happy Holiday wishes to the
group members!

On Dec 22, 2009, at 12:01 AM, Just Me wrote:

> Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season...
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season...

That's great wolf...

"...serving you for over 25 years!"




________________________________
From: chainsawwolf <chainsaw@...>
To: chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wed, December 9, 2009 7:30:11 PM
Subject: [chainsawwolf] Re: JMR

 


--- In chainsawwolf@ yahoogroups. com, "tmac2hill" <tmac2death@ ...> wrote:
> I also believe it would be wise if Universal will promote Mike Aiello
> into JMR's position. I feel he would be a great fit. He has a love
> for Movies and Horror and has controlled the B and T show the last
> couple of years.

... and he makes a damn fine sausage!







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "tmac2hill" <tmac2death@...> wrote:
> I also believe it would be wise if Universal will promote Mike Aiello
> into JMR's position.  I feel he would be a great fit.  He has a love
> for Movies and Horror and has controlled the B and T show the last
> couple of years.

... and he makes a damn fine sausage!

Yes as wolf said he is gone.  It is a little more complicated then the way wolf
put it, from what I heard.  But I wont discuss personal issues here or anywhere
else.

Anyways I wish him the best, but HHN will be fine and its in good hands.  Some
of you dont remember, but JMR left the company for a couple of years in around
2004-2005.  And HHN went on without a hitch.  TJ has had a strong hand in the
event for years, so there will be no drop off.  I also believe it would be wise
if Universal will promote Mike Aiello into JMR's position.  I feel he would be a
great fit.  He has a love for Movies and Horror and has controlled the B and T
show the last couple of years.

tmac


--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "chainsawwolf" <chainsaw@...> wrote:
>
> I can confirm that JMD did indeed tender his resignation to Universal last
week, and Universal accepted it. I have no other information than that.
>
> I imagine that this was a difficult decision for all involved, and there can
be little profit in idle speculation. I wish Michael well wherever his path
leads him.
>
> --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@> wrote:
> >
> > This is a very interesting turn indeed as he was the "face" of the event for
many years.
> >
> > --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Who is JMR?
> > >
> > > --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure
everyone here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
> > > >
> > > > I don't know anything else about the situation.
> > > >
> > >
> >
>

We here at National Halloween, Horror, Haunted House and Hearse Convention are
trying something new and different.

A Christmas promotion!

This year, on April 30th, 2010, our convention will be touring HORRORFEST at
Shady Brook Farms! One of Pennsylvania's premier haunts of 13 haunts fame!

Tour includes:
- Bus Ride from the Hotel where the convention is held to the Farm &back again.

- A delicious catered Barbeque Dinner upon arrival!

- Bonfire and Marshmallow Roast.

- Barn of Horror Haunted House - Walk through as a guest with lights off, sound
on and actors in place.

- Alien Encounter Haunted House - Walk through as a guest with lights off, sound
on and actors in place.
NOTE: this is a 3D attraction, if you've ever wanted to do your own 3D haunt,
LEARN HOW HERE!

- Hayride with a Shady Brook staff member to explain Hayride of Horror and
Holiday Light Show. You will get to see both the Hayride of Horror Hayride as
well as some of the Light displays visible for the hayride during Christmas time
with explanation of the 'switch' over event.  If you ever wanted to double your
season length, and have a christmas show at your haunt, THIS IS THE TOUR TO BE
ON!!

- Barn of Horror BEHIND THE SCENES TOUR - Lights on, Sound off, Guided tour to
tell you "how they did it!" (Length of tour as time permits)

- Alien Encounter 3D Haunted House BEHIND THE SCENES TOUR - Lights on, Sound
off, Guided tour to tell you "how they did it!" (Length of tour as time permits)
NOTE: this is a 3D attraction, if you've ever wanted to do your own 3D haunt,
LEARN HOW HERE!

Video of Horrorfest is available at www.haunttour.com

So what and where are the savings?

For every 2 haunt tour tickets purchases, we will provide 2 *FREE* VIP floor
passes valued at $25 each.
A savings of $50! As always, passes are good for the duration of the convention.

Certificates to be delivered by Christmas.

The special Christmas sale is only available for 1 week only,
from Monday December 7th, 2009 to Monday December 12th, 2009.

Tour tickets may be purchased at:
http://www.nationalhauntersconvention.com/buy_tickets.htm

For each tour ticket purchased, you will receive an equal number of *FREE* VIP
passes!
Please remember that tickets need to be purchased in multiples of two!
(So you would need to purchase 2 or 4 or 6 or 8, etc.)

Be sure to print out this email and "accidentally" leave it on the kitchen table
for your significant other!
Subtle hints always work best! :-)

The National Halloween, Horror, Haunted House and Hearse Convention
April 29th - May 2nd, 2010
Valley Forge Pennsylvania
www.nationalhalloweenconvention.com
and
www.nationalhauntersconvention.com

Hope to see you there!

Interesting information, Wolf. Thanks for sharing! I wonder why he
resigned...

On Dec 6, 2009, at 1:26 PM, chainsawwolf wrote:

> I can confirm that JMD did indeed tender his resignation to
> Universal last week, and Universal accepted it. I have no other
> information than that.
>
> I imagine that this was a difficult decision for all involved, and
> there can be little profit in idle speculation. I wish Michael well
> wherever his path leads him.
>
> --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > This is a very interesting turn indeed as he was the "face" of the
> event for many years.
> >
> > --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > Who is JMR?
> > >
> > > --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am
> sure everyone here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
> > > >
> > > > I don't know anything else about the situation.
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I can confirm that JMD did indeed tender his resignation to Universal last week,
and Universal accepted it. I have no other information than that.

I imagine that this was a difficult decision for all involved, and there can be
little profit in idle speculation. I wish Michael well wherever his path leads
him.

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@...> wrote:
>
> This is a very interesting turn indeed as he was the "face" of the event for
many years.
>
> --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@> wrote:
> >
> > Who is JMR?
> >
> > --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure
everyone here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
> > >
> > > I don't know anything else about the situation.
> > >
> >
>

This is a very interesting turn indeed as he was the "face" of the event for
many years.

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "lioninfire" <lioninfire@...> wrote:
>
> Who is JMR?
>
> --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@> wrote:
> >
> > Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure everyone
here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
> >
> > I don't know anything else about the situation.
> >
>

JMichael Roddy.

On Dec 4, 2009, at 5:17 PM, lioninfire wrote:

> Who is JMR?
>
> --- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure
> everyone here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
> >
> > I don't know anything else about the situation.
> >
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Who is JMR?

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@...> wrote:
>
> Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure everyone
here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
>
> I don't know anything else about the situation.
>

Looking at his facebook, it seems that something is going on... I'm just not
sure what.

--- In chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com, "bigdaddyfnwolf" <WCWMAG@...> wrote:
>
> Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure everyone
here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
>
> I don't know anything else about the situation.
>

Great well written Review, many good solid points. The one thing that stuck out
was Make it Scary, I think that is harder to do because of sheer volume of
people and the 30 minute switches of casts. When you have a congo line of people
it is hard not to see scares coming in advance and they layout makes all the
scares not hard to figure out were there coming from.

The UTH tour proved that fact to me as you walk through the sets you can see the
set up is a method that all Theme park haunts use as there size makes it hard
for them to things that Large Haunts(Netherworld, Headless Horseman, 13th gate
style houses) can do.

So I don't see HHN or HOS being able to make there events a lot scarier because
of the crowds and building layouts.

--- On Thu, 11/26/09, Mike <fubar1120@...> wrote:

From: Mike <fubar1120@...>
Subject: [chainsawwolf] F.U.B.A.R.’S HHN19 Ripped From the Silver Screen
Review
To: chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com
Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009, 6:41 PM







 













Hey there,



It is once again time for me to give my usual long ass review for this year's
HHN. This year I will not neccessarily be doing a room by room, turn by turn
look at the houses as I normally do, however some of the houses I will. I'll be
more focused on what worked and what did not. I will be highlighting some areas
of each house though from time to time. I sometimes will refer to particular
scareactors or people for special reasons, but in general I will try not to make
this a shout out fest. I will however try to offer criticism without bashing and
offer alternate takes of what I am critiquing.  I tend to be hyper critical of
things I am passionate about and just want to try to be respectful in doing so.



I had the opportunity to visit the Palace Theater and the twisted world of
Julienne Browning a total of 9 nights this year and I had one awesome time! I
generally visit HHN during the second half of the run to let the actors get into
their roles, let Uni creative make changes and so I can get the best experience
I can. Sometimes props get mauled and such, but I did not hear much of that this
year thankfully.



I had some reservations with the theme to this year when it was announced as I
really enjoy Universal Creative's original themes, characters and stories and
don't really get into the movie tie in houses. I have to say that overall the
all movie event that was Ripped From the Silver Screen was well done and had
enough originality and true HHN feel to keep me very interested. I was
disappointed in the website this year and I feel that our icon never really got
the full treatment. I liked the back story of The Usher Julienne Browning and
the Universal Palace Theater and felt it was appropriate and creepy, but did not
even compare to what we got last year in Bloody Mary. That said, I was prepared
to experience the event for less the story and more the houses and scare zones
as the stars. Seeing I experienced almost every night starting off doing Stay
and Scream, I never got to experience the front of the park movie screen and
Usher characters scaring guests
  as they entered. I came in late on one evening and stood and watched the screen
and a bit of scaring but feel that I missed out a bit on this. The make up
looked good, but the actors were just standing around for the most part, but it
was nearing 10pm at this point. The movie screen was well done and effective per
usual.



I'll move on to reviewing the houses from this year which I really feel were the
stars of the show. No other year can I say that there was not a stinker in the
whole bunch of 8 houses. Every one had it's strengths and were solid. None
approached the rankings of best house ever, but they were all pretty good. Even
the worst of them would have been middle of the pack perhaps in an average year.
I will grade the houses on a 5 skull scale. 5 being the best and working down
from there. So here we go….



#1 -5 Skulls- Dracula: Legacy in Blood



I know a lot of people will bash me for picking this as my favorite, but it is a
personal taste thing here for this one. I have always enjoyed the vampire bride
mythos and it was great to finally see it portrayed in a house. I really wonder
if I would have liked Dracula as much as I did if I did not go on the Unmasking
the Horrors tour. They did an excellent job in delivering the back story and I
fell for it hook, line and sinker. I will refer to the tour now and again to
help illustrate the back story. The whole premise of "The Calling", a night when
Dracula is summoning brides to come to him and give themselves and their souls
over to him in exchange for immortality. I thought was just gothic and
horrifically beautiful in vampire lore. Or course all men will be impaled on
pikes outside the castle, but women will have the honor of becoming one of
Vlad's true brides who enjoy immortality and everlasting vitality or a feral
bride who only gets the
  immortality. They will have the lovely honor of having a body that will
continue to degrade through time, rotting and becoming skeletal until they are
dust. This story brought me to a great starting point every time a entered the
castle. The façade, with the castle walls and tower and numerous pikes holding
the bodies and heads of men whom Vlad the Impaler has triumphed. A dining table
sits among the carnage for Vlad to survey his work (depicted from an ancient
wood carving). The lights and fog were beautiful and helped to set up the
feeling of dread and horror. Very well done. As you enter the castle, the brides
in beautiful wedding dresses splattered around the bodice with blood, are very
aggressive in making you a victim, hissing and lunging. Stone statues seem to
come to life as you turn a corner. You enter a library and a bride floats above
you, pausing and drifting away. This was one of the best effects in the house.
Very creepy! The sight of
  seeing her above you and then the fluidity of her drifting away just sent
chills down my spine. Very effective. Out onto the tower and the feral bride
reaches down to you from above in the "dog house". Nice use of levels here and
scares coming from above and ground level. The "fluffy" room with Renfield
squirting you was cool as the design made you want to look into the cell and
look at the animals. Just when you see Renfield you realize that it is too late
and you get sprayed in the face or if you are running away you got it down the
back. The characterization here was very Bram Stoker and I liked the make up and
costume. The cage on the face effect was nice and seemed to echo Coppola and
maybe 13 Ghosts. The coffin room had a nice winding path to it and I recall
getting many hisses coming at me from all angles. I think this is also were I
saw my first Dracula.I had heard that there were three versions of him in the
house and I only fully saw when he
  was kind of batlike. Very dark here so I can't say I saw a lot. I had heard on
the tour that the coffins in this room have all been used. Hmm, that is creepy.
And the chandelier hanging above is almost completely made of bones, many of
which are real human bones. I loved the archway area with the mirrors. It had
great depth and shadow. The creepy brides just hung back in the shadows and that
is when you got a nice hiss in the ear from the other side. The further you go
in the house you see more and more of the decaying feral brides and they are
very aggressive. I liked the corner where a feral bride is entangled between two
dead bodies, lunging out as you pass. I noticed a female body with the brain
hanging out of the top of the head. I wonder if this was the same prop used for
Dorothy in Scary Tales 3 last year? The last room is a treat as you come to an
open room with a contraption of some kind in the middle. There are spikes that
are dripping blood
  and the level beneath this that has crushed body parts on it. It seems that the
dark prince has taken a small bit of pity on the feral brides and has devised
this method of giving them a tiny bit of relief for their thirst for blood. On
the tour it was told that the creative team dubbed this contraption "the
squeezinart" . Good humor from the guys on a dark subject. As you can tell I
really enjoyed Dracula: Legacy of Blood. I do want to mention some of the
problems with this house too. Firstly, just like Body Collectors; Collections of
the Past last year, this house suffered from issues in the early evening when
the sun was still out. Your eyes could not adjust until halfway through the
house, maybe around the coffin room, and this was a major issue. I wonder it
there is anything that Uni can do to fix this issue. Maybe adjust lighting
levels a bit and as the sun falls adjust them back. I don't have an answer but
it is a major flaw of the house. Another
  flaw is also one of my main reasons for liking the house. That is the back
story. I really wonder how much the average guest picks up as they go through
and without doing the tour, how much I would have gotten from it. Back story is
a great thing and I love that Uni creative goes to the levels they do, but I
wish there was some better way, maybe in the map, to deliver these wonderful,
detailed stories to the guests. Overall, I feel that this was the best house
this year.



Fun Memory; Getting a "bite" on the neck or some fun call out from vampy bride
Amanda almost every time through.



#2- 4 3/4 Skulls- Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned



I had some early doubts about this one as I am not a big Frankenstein fan in
terms of from how scary the character is. The story is quite tragic and I just
felt it may not translate well to HHN. Universal Creative did a fantastic job in
modernizing the story and characters and making it a top notch spectacle. The
ruins of Dr Frankenstein' s castle beckon you forth. The smell of burning wood
is thick in the air and the embers glow around the edges of the castle. Dr
Frankenstein has been busy rebuilding his lair and he intends on bringing forth
all new abominations from his lab. The style used in this house is fresh and new
with walls being stitched up and all kinds of experiments and electrical
structures being used. The steam punk style is prevalent and effective in the
monsters and décor. I really liked the use of the green lights on the Alphas. I
like what they did with the look of the monsters and how they named them after
the Greek alphabet. The
  effects used in the opening hallway with the projection of the monster grabbing
a person and mauling them was well done and just the kind of effects that
separate HHN from most of all the others in the haunt industry. This projection
served not only as a cool show to look at, but a great distraction. As guests
watched the monster mayhem, a tall alpha comes at you from the right. I saw many
people jump a mile here. The good doctor's lab with the recording playing in the
background and all of his experiments spread around the room including an ape
arm and body spread out for research, felt authentic and real. Another strength
of this house was the proper recycling of old props. From the leg sawing scene
to the use of the Fly pods, everything seemed to fit here. The old stoves/
furnaces were cleverly used to hide an ambushing monster. Old props from "random
acts of terror" were used for lab scenes featuring The Bride. Not too sure I
liked the look of her
  though. I really liked the room on the right with all of the limbs hanging. It
was very gory and with that sliding body rig made for some great loud scares.
The heart rip scene played out nicely and got a big reaction with guests. Poor
Fritz, he never had a chance! The finale played out nicely with some pretty
aggressive acting and ping pong scares. The good doctor hanging from above as he
received his just reward for creating life when he should have not delved where
man should not. Ironic ending as his own creations kill him off.  I would list
this house extremely close to the top and found it to be very solid in every
way. I actually can not find anything wrong with it other than I prefer the
Vampire storyline better. Well done!

Fun Memories ; Having on numerous occasions friends working in this house give
some extreme attention to me and either go forehead to forehead with me,
grunting my name "FUBAR!!!" or in the case of CD at the end, bear hugging me and
practically pick me up two feet off the ground to the dismay of the teenage
girls behind me as I hammed it up screaming. I recall the girls crying out "THEY
BETTER NOT TOUCH ME!!!" Good times!



#3- 4 1/2 Skulls- Leave It to Cleaver



Oh the twisted depravity of Leave It to Cleaver! What sick fun for the whole
family! I just loved the dark and fun theme of this house. As one of the
Fangoria houses this was set up beautifully by the queue video of the brilliant
Mike Aiello and young cannibal Caden, you just knew you were in for a treat
visiting Meetz Meats! I had a blast watching those public service style
messages. "Your meat and you!" Classic! The outside facade of the meat packing
plant had a nice authentic feel with the loading dock and Meetz Meats sign with
the sadistic smiling face, the old fifties style bike and other props set around
the entrance. Onward into the front office area where I made sure to punch in
every time through. The portrayal of the characters with their happy masks and
the "Gee Golly" tone is what made this one. It feels so wrong but it is so fun.
The little tikes in the school area with the slaughtered pig hanging like a play
thing and then the room with the
  stacked cans of product shows things are about to go bizarre. What could
possibly be in those cans? Take a few more steps around the corner and you see
hanging torsos of a female form. Hmmm, how about that arm in the garbage
disposal? Great effect that received a number of reactions from laughs to
screams. Excellent gore in the conveyor belt scene and the pens of victims.
Loved the guy in the ice cream man suit hanging with the marks on him like a
side of beef. Shank, flank, brisket? Mr. smiling worker is ready to cut you off
a fresh filet with his trusty electric knife. The room with the pile of
processed meat on the ground and the lady on the conveyor belt split into three
parts was so gross and put a smile on my face due to the amount of gore here.
The cold storage scene with the sounds of chainsaws and the splatter of blood on
the curtains was a nice effect as you expected the forms of human shapes to come
out and get you. The ending was so
  unexpected with the store front and the final product waiting for purchase. And
the smiling face of Samuel Meetz himself. Nice touch and reverse ending from
what you might expect. Out the door you go and there is Big Boy with his large
bladed chainsaw. Great climax and build up in tension. The best thing of this
house was the interaction between the guest and the actors. You could walk
through and talk to each and every worker of the meat packing plant and they
would ad lib and come up with some extremely funny remarks. Unfortunately, I
found that the two cast were very different and this did not occur all the time.
I think that it was cast A that was always game for the interaction. The sets
and progression of this house and overall dark tone of the humor was very
reminiscent of Psychoscrapy which I commend. This style of house break up the
monotony of things and gives you an unexpected laugh, if you are twisted enough
to find cannibalism funny that
  is. Leave It to Cleaver was simply the funniest house this year and extremely
well done.



Fun memory- This could be long if I started listing all of the memories of  the
interactions I had in this house, but the one that stands out is the guy that
took a look at me and my size and tilted his head and said, "wow, I'm glad I get
paid by the pound. We are gonna get a lot of meals out of you!". I could have
been offended, but I appreciate that fact that the actors are willing to take
things to the edge and just go for it. Funny stuff!



#4- 4 1/4 Skulls- Wolfman



I've never been a huge fan of bipedal Wolf men and prefer the quadruped variety
like An American Werewolf in London. If you are doing two legged I would like to
see a completely transformed beast ala The Howling. Anyway ,seeing that this is
a house for the upcoming film that is a re-imagining of the Claude Rains
classic, I understand the type of Wolf man being presented so I knew going in
that I will take it as that. I just don't find that style very scary or
threatening. I had hoped to see open ,outdoor landscapes on the sound stage sets
and for the most part, I feel that Uni succeeded. The opening gypsy town was
nice in detail, but had only one actor. The wooded area came next and had a
larger feel to it than it really was as I saw it on the tour. Between the
mixture of real and fake trees and the grass and low laying fog, they pulled off
a believable forest setting that was inhabited by more then just Wolf men. Props
have to go out to Finner who amped
  it up every time a group of CSWers went through this section. Warning other
guests to not trust the wolves and that they are everywhere. Good stuff. The
Wolf man costumes in this area seemed pretty good looking and the make up was
top notch. I am glad that the film will feature Rick Baker effects as he is "the
Man" on werewolf stuff. You could see that he had his influence on these effects
too. I liked how the Wolf man would seemingly come out of no where to jump out
of the woods and into your path. Nicely done! The wolf on the outside of the
tavern looked to be pretty angry about being up on that wall. I noticed a lot of
taxidermy in the houses this year. The tavern itself was a standard, turn of the
century bar complete with a wench behind the bar cleaning glasses and a Wolf man
jumping out of no where at you. Overall, it was not my favorite scene. Onward to
the morgue that had an undertaker asking incessantly "Have you seen this man
about the
  village?" while he pulled the sheet from the corpse that has been mauled in an
attack. The far side of the room featured a man that had on a gurney that had
claw marks all over him and may just be starting to transform. Many times
through this room I noticed that this area was unmanned. The crypt scene was
done nicely with candles and the decaying relatives of our main character
Lawrence Talbot. The "easter egg"on the wall was most fitting. I learned on the
tour that the inscriptions in Latin say " Stay on the roads, keep clear of  the
moors". Taken directly from An American Werewolf In London. Nice touch from Uni
creative as a homage to another great Universal Werewolf feature. The lunatic
asylum area was fairly conventional and did not offer much in the way of scares
but I realize it is following movie lines. The transformation here was one of
those timed effects that you may or may not catch. I think I only caught it
twice and I had to have gone
  through at least 10 times. The effect was not all that great anyway, but a nice
effort and attempt to do a werewolf transformation in a house. The real meat of
the house was the overhanging walls that you walked through as the Wolf man
jumped directly over you and the last scene featuring the circle of stones and
the running Wolf man/ hunter scene. I felt that the sets in these areas and the
manner at with guest had scare actors above and on both side was great. It
created a feel that you don't get often in haunted houses and it did feel
"outside". The finale with the hunter worked beautifully each time and once the
Wolf man (Danno) hung over me at the end of the ramp. Nice touch! The bass of
the shotgun blast was loud and effective and then you get the last Wolf man
coming around the last stone to the right to get you one last time. Should have
used silver bullets Mr. hunter man! Overall a solid house with nice costumes and
make up, strong sets and
  effects. Too bad that Wolf Man was so short of a house as it really hurt the
tension that had been building. Before you know it, you are at the end. Another
problem I had with this house is that the acting was much too rigid and every
time through was the same. Almost every line I heard was delivered the same way
as the last. To some this my be good, as there is a consistency there, but for
me, who went through this one 10+ times it got a bit old. I wonder if the cast
was told they had to keep it the same and to not deviate due to agreements with
the film studio. Wolf man was another solid house in the end.



Fun Memory; The totally out of character Hammer, coming over to me in the asylum
area and saying "Lunch on Sunday?" Totally unexpected and funny!



#5- Silver Screams- 4 Skulls



I had heard some things about Silver Screams regarding the films that would be
depicted in it and immediately thought of All Night Die In and it's sequel.
Being the icon house this year and that it was located in the parade building
(site of my fav house last year, Scary Tales 3) had me excited. I was not too
thrilled with the choices of the films, but figured that Uni would deliver with
great sets and cinematic flair. The facade was better than I expected with the
outside of the Universal Palace theater looking decrepit and haunting and
suddenly it is ALIVE. Unbelievable effect that is eerie and spectacular. The
Usher points at you, issuing you forward into his twisted world of film. The
smell,. clearly of popcorn, fills your senses. You pass the ticket booth and see
scattered popcorn and popcorn buckets. Old seats and curtains hanging, feeling
just like an old theater. Then you come to the "set up" intro hallway with a
movie poster of the film you are
  about to be pulled into. The Phantom of the Opera, Julienne Browning personal
favorite movie is first. Before I go on from here, I just wanted to say that the
"set up" hallways are both neat in the iconic trinkets and props from the movies
and the posters themselves, but they sure are a waste of space. Definitely a pro
and a con thing with this idea. I did like some of the props such as the flowers
and cricket bat for SOTD and the Book of the Dead for Evil Dead, bourbon bottle
and dynamite for The Thing,  but the feel was just kinda strange as you were set
up with another film and it felt a bit too constrictive to the flow of the
house. Anyway, just my thoughts on that. Opera was started very nicely with a
live action scene that had special lighting and color tones to make it look like
a flickering black and white silent film. It was an effect that had me smiling
from ear to ear and doing a double take the first time through. Not much scaring
here, but
  the extra loud pipe organ and the phantom on the right definitely got a few
people. Nice start. I may be a bit hazy on order of the rest so bare with me
here, but I think that My Bloody Valentine was next. I did not like the original
film and despised the 3D remake, but all in all Uni created a threatening
environment that was one of the best in the house. The Harry Warden miner actors
were aggressive and everywhere. They were popping out of hallways, behind sheets
and would not leave you be. The gore factor was pretty high and the sets were
really realistic with the hospital setting. My favorite part was the bright
lights that were behind many of the miners. It made for a nice effect that both
blinded you and looked really nice as the fog combined with the lights for nice
theatrics. The Strangers was next I think and while I did like the film, I
wondered how it would translate to a house. I felt it worked on certain levels
as the sets were very
  realistic and well done and the characters looked exactly like the film. It
always blows me away how Uni can make such incredible looking house settings.
From All Night Die In to Psychoscrapy: Home For the Holidays, these sets are so
cool! The sound effects and lighting were top notch with the fire alarm beeping
and the constant sobbing of the girl in the background and the fluttering
curtain in the windows, it all worked. Unfortunately, the actors did nothing.
They just stood there and let you walk by. The shorter dark haired female lunged
at me once, but overall it was very flat. The fact that Army or Darkness or
Medieval Dead was in this house had me a little excited when I had heard about
it, but it was really done poorly. The single stretch of the Pit Witch scene
with two actors just did not work. I went through a couple times and saw no one.
Again, it just screams "throw in" to me. Next I think was the back stage area
with the hanging patrons and
  The Usher urging you forward. Nice work with the air hose! I saw so many great
scares with that and the awesome effect of the flashlight cutting through the
fog. I liked this area as it did connect with the back story of The Usher, but
wonder if the space could have been better used in some of the smaller areas
such as The Thing or SOTD. The brings me to The Thing which I understand why it
was in this house, being one of my favorite horror films and that it was a
"given" to recycle seeing they have all of those props left laying around from
HHN17, but hold on, if you are going to do it, do it right! The sets looked ok,
the music was there as expected, but to see the animatronic not working, sitting
there static …again….poor, poor, poor! Then they just had a MacReady looking
guy, distracting you, telling you to look in the rafters and then the same
character that you see in Horrorwood comes out for a scare. The area is so small
and reeks of "throw
  in". Why bother? Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite horror comedies and I
think that it is pure genius. I was excited to see it portrayed here, but seeing
that it is a comedy figured it might be a hard sell. The Winchester was done
perfectly and looked amazing in the detail. The Queen playing on the Juke and
the tone of everything was exact. Where they went wrong again was the acting.
The actor playing Shaun, just stood on the pool table, cue in hand, yelling to
"run" and "get going" or whatever he was saying, but it just fell flat. The
zombie sitting in a booth did nothing and sure, zombie Ed dancing was funny, but
it did not add a lot to the scene. I really was pissed that the zombie hands/
shadow effect was not working. That would have added a nice level of a
threatening tone to the scene and it is just too bad I did not see it. For a
scene about zombies, there sure was not enough. I am trying to recall how the
ending happened and from which
  scene it transitioned from, but I really don't remember much except that it was
weak. Which is too bad as the rest of the house was pretty solid. It was not too
big on scares but the sets and effects were nicely done. The main thing I keep
thinking to myself is that if they cut out The Thing and Army of Darkness and
maybe the backstage scene, would it made for a better house? Did they try and do
too many movies within one house? I feel that this is the main fault of the
house. If they perfected other scenes and made it more scary, then it would have
made the house more solid. Quality over quantity in my mind.



Fun Memory; Smelling that popcorn and seeing that facade change for the first
time.



#6- SAW- 3 ½ Skulls



I like the SAW series somewhat and felt that for a major crowd draw, this could
actually be ok. The fact that it was in the Jaws queue had me a bit worried
though. I wondered how they could construct an industrial setting inside an
outdoor queue line. The queue of the house had all these posters with victims in
traps and stuff from the movies and I really thought that it detached the guest
from the fact that they are about to experience the movie for real. The Wilson
Steel sign out front was a nice touch and more fitting. I was immediately
impressed with the faithful depiction of SAW as soon as I walked in the house.
The industrial setting, the music, the fuzzy TVs with the puppet Billy on them
and another nice touch, video of the guests walking through the room, it was all
there. It made you think that you were on camera and being watched by Jigsaw.
The voice over by Tobin Bell added a lot too as his voice is SAW. You needed
that 100%. Each room you
  entered was either a victim/ trap scene from the movies (reverse bear trap, arm
trap, barbed wire trap, drill trap, face razor trap etc) and they were all done
precisely like the films or scenes with pig face Jigsaw coming at you. The gore
factor was pretty good here, witness the corpse with half a head sitting against
a wall or the beautifully done prop of Jigsaw laying in the hospital bed. Very
fine detail and realism there. The scene with the hanging pig heads was filler,
but watch those heads! Someone might head butt them! The ending was a ping pong
scare scenario with multiple pig face actors and for the most part I think that
it worked. I saw many people running out of that house and laughing or
screaming. Those guys were pretty aggressive! The feel of the house was just
like the films and I loved the words written on the walls (cherish your life).
With all the consistency to the films and attention to detail came the worst
part of the house, the
  timing of the traps. If you walked through and missed a trap effect go off, you
missed the key scenes. You could theoretically walk through and miss all the
traps. It is just too dependant on the timing and it ruined it for me on several
occasions. Especially when the house is the most anticipated and has B&T right
next to it, you know you will have long lines.  This should have been in a sound
stage and they should have pulsed groups through so you saw all the effects. The
fact that it was in the Jaws queue did not ruin the house per say, but the
timing and inability to stand and watch the scenes unfold did. We had several
flashlight Nazis yelling at us to keep moving and it was annoying! The house
itself is very well done, but the execution and the fact that so much depended
on the timing of the traps kept this from being higher on the list.



Fun Memory; Entering the first room and hearing Tobin Bell's voice as Jigsaw and
seeing Billy the doll on the TV and thinking, yep, I am in SAW.



#7- Chucky, Friends Till the End- 3 Skulls



I am not a huge fan of Chucky. I feel it is a lame excuse for a horror character
and he is not scary in the least bit. I was not looking forward to this house
that much, but I had heard a few things that sounded like it might be fun. That
is the key word with the Chucky house- FUN. I really liked the Good Guys doll
box façade outside, but did not really get the rock music at the queue. The
vortex worked well in both story (to shrink you down to Chucky's size) and also
in execution as it really threw me for a loop. Too bad the shrinking down part
was contradicted by the sign hanging in the toy store proclaiming that Chucky is
now life size. Anyway, the store scene with all the boxes of Chuckys was a nice
set up for the latter scenes of misfit toy mayhem. I really liked the Barrel of
monkeys room as the vines were made from the actual monkeys, strung together and
the jungle scenery was colorful and quite interactive. Then all of a sudden out
of no, there
  comes the red and golden monkey guys. They were very much in your face and
definitely got a lot of scares. As did the stuffed animal room. I personally
jumped a mile the first time through when I was looking over my shoulder
speaking with one of my friends when the whole wall of stuffed animals came
charging at me with a crazy screeching sound. Very cool! I also liked the very
loud etch a sketch boo doors. Very effective! The Chucky masks also worked well
as they did seem to creep a lot of people out. The Barbie room was a little
twisted with the Barbies being all melted and such, but the kicker was all the
expletives and nasty insults that were written on the walls by I assume Tiffany.
"Barbie is a whore!" Great stuff! I liked the baby powder smell too in this
room. Cool that they can do that. The army man room was fun too as they were yet
another nostalgic toy from my youth brought back in a twisted way. Overall the
house was much better than
  expected. The main reason I say so is that I had fun. Pretty much every time
through I was laughing and seeing more and more. It was a standard fun house
style haunt, but made fun by the addition of Chucky and the inventiveness of the
toys. It would have been higher on the list but Saw got the #6 slot due to the
incredible detail and faithful quality that it achieved from its source
material.



Fun Memory; Army Man Mythspinner calling my name and saluting me.



#8- The Spawning- 2 1/2 Skulls



Yet another of Fangoria's houses, The Spawning was supposed to be a B monster
movie where you are sent into the sewer system of Wyandot county Ohio to
investigate a blockage in the water works only to discover there are nasty
critters to blame. The set up is standard B shlock so I was game. I liked the
facade depicting the outside of the sewer/ water works building and the water
ram bursting periodically to scare the guests. Nothing special but ok. You enter
the building and see the control panels and unmanned monitors and you know that
something is wrong. You progress into the sewers and the sets I have to say were
pretty good looking. Very believable in tone and size with pipes and chains and
grating here and there. Then my whole experience is interrupted by seeing one of
the sculders or whatever they were called. Oh boy! What pathetic looking
costumes! Silly sleestak looking masks with a torn bandage looking suits. Yikes!
I did however like the light
  up green eyes and thought that they were effective when they stood back in the
darkness, but overall, the star of the show was weak. The thing about B movies
is that typically you get a cool monster at the end that justified watching a
pretty crappy film. This had no pay off and to further the bland quality of the
monsters, the rest of the house was just the same pipes and grates over and
over, no changing areas except the eggs that you see that the creatures have
laid and the strobe room. That room did a pretty good job at disorienting, but
really did not reflect something with the storyline and had no purpose. I wish I
saw some more creativity with maybe different styles of aesthetics that gave the
impression that the creatures were transforming the sewers ala Aliens or that
you maybe saw more than one kind of creature. All you got were the same 4 1/2-5
foot sleestaks.  Not to mention, this is a sewer and where is the water? There
definitely needed to
  be more water effects. I also recall the ending being very lame.



Fun Memory;  Buying a 22oz Fosters and jumping into line and getting to the
house before I finished even 1/3 rd of the beer. I had to chug the remainder and
I was a bit buzzed going through. Not so much to do with the house per say, but
just a different experience none the less. LOL!



So there are my reviews of the houses this year. I have to say I was pretty
impressed. As I stated earlier, there really was not a stinker in the bunch.
None were the best ever type houses but all were solid and made repeated trips
through each enjoyable. I really wish Universal would try and integrate some
multi path scenarios and try for some pulsing next year. I know I am dreaming,
but I always look for improvements and this could help. Also, what is the deal
with Uni and animatronics? I am not a huge fan of them, but you would think that
a huge company like Universal could get them right. Year after year it is the
same thing and they never work right. Just saying, but it is kinda sad that they
can't get it right and Knott's and Netherworld do it big time every year! I
would also like to see the return of more queue videos. Aside from the excellent
Leave it to Cleaver video, there was not any to speak of. Videos have their
purpose and if used right
  create tension and back story and give the poor shleps in line something to
watch for 90 minutes.



Shows



I only did B&T as I really dislike Rocky Horror Picture Show so I will give my
thoughts on Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure.



I like B&T, but don't get onto it like a lot of people and really respect the
genius that is Mike Aiello. He is super talented and I love how he mixes the pop
culture stuff and delivers a highly entertaining show that rings true to so many
people. If has to be hard to hit upon the right mix and still have some
semblance of story. This year was no different as it had many colorful
characters and situations that kept a smile on my face and the audience laughing
and dancing in their seats. I'm not too big on the dance stuff, but it all
worked pretty well for the most part. The light saber dance number was nice as
the whirring blades were both a cool visual effect as well as an auditory feast.
That number felt like it went on for a bit too long though. Song selection was
very good and kept it all very upbeat. My favorite parodies were Bruno ( are you
looking at my cooglesack?) and the William Shatner/ Kirk stuff. Very funny! The
Random Twilight Sequence bit
  (I…cried….when… .you….died… .in….Har…ry… Pot..ter…) was funny
and the Alternate Swear Words bit (That girl sure has a nice Shia LaBeouf) in
the pre-show was great! As was the Michael Roddy new cast. Dick Johnson and Rob
Cox! Nice! The show overall was a fun experience that ran a bit long and had a
few too many dance numbers, but a solid show in the end.



Scare Zones



Let me preface this by saying that I love scare zones and look forward to them
every year. I recall being so disappointed in the scare zones from HHN17. 
Luckily I then received a renewed appreciation for Universal's work last year
that it gave me much anticipation for this year. The Skoolhouse and pumpkin
patch were incredible and my favorite attraction ever at HHN. And that is saying
a lot being that I have attended the past 12 years. This year however I really
feel that Universal took a step back. The zones were much too small and they
were greatly reduced in effectiveness by that stupid NO SCARING ON THE SIDEWALKS
rule. What the hell is that! Take away both space in an already small area and
give the guests safe zones. Just retarded!  The very small areas were also
poorly situated in the cases of A:COC and Cirque Du Freak. Both suffering in
regards to a cluster of crowd and in the case of New York a restricted use of a
larger space. That area should
  be huge! Cirque was in a small circular area that forced people to just group
up in and it became over crowded and the actors could not even move and do their
jobs. Also, I felt that Horror Wood was much too much a photo op. I realize the
average guest likes this, but it seriously reduces the enjoyment of the zone for
the people that want to get what they expect from a Halloween event and that is
to get scared. The use of masks were also very hit or miss this year with the
better ones being from WOTLD and Containment, but some in Horror Wood and the
prosthetics and head pieces in A:COC were terrible. Masks are ok in houses
because you only see them briefly and you may not see the gaps and neck lines,
but on a street you can see everything and you can scrutinize the thing for long
periods of time. It just does not work well. Anyway, I am getting well ahead of
myself so let me now rate the scare zones this year in the same manner as the
house scale was
  done;



#1- War of the Living Dead- 5 Skulls



As many of you know I love zombies and I am a bit of a WWII buff too so my
interest in this one was obvious. There had been some discussion regarding the
depiction of the warring sides here and I thought that Uni was wimping out a bit
and not using Nazi zombies to avoid a PC backlash. They even changed the wording
on the website and seeing this I lost a bit of faith that this one would be as
good as I hoped. Luckily, the aesthetics and effects helped to create a
believable backdrop in scope. Two opposed forces locked in an epic struggle
through all eternity and you are caught in the crossfire! Sounds good to me and
WOTLD did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the sets and
props. Everything had the appropriate WWII feel and all of the vehicles helped
the depth and layers here. The cannon in the front amongst the sandbags was a
nice starting point, as the loud sound effect of the cannon going off was a nice
touch. The compressed air
  effects on the zombie soldiers guns surprised me and again added a nice effect
that I don't think guests expected. The concrete bunker with the flamethrower on
top was probably my favorite set piece. It had a very authentic look to it and
the detail of the bullets holes was well done. The flamethrower zombie helped to
round out the look of the artwork on the website so it was good to see the use
of fire. The set pieces of the sides of houses and barns were surprisingly
effective in look and use as a prop that the zombie could use as cover. I
figured that they may not be effective due to the size, but they blended in
nicely. The music in this area was a mixture of military marching band style
songs and speeches by FDR and also some House of 1000 Corpses music which I
liked quite a bit. The costumes and overall look of the zombie soldiers was one
of the big positives to me. The quasi German look and the American looks held up
a belief that you did not
  need the actual flags or depiction of Swastikas to sell this story. Uni
achieved what I thought you they would not and it was good to see. The masks and
make up was excellent. I am not a fan of masks in scare zones, but these were
excellent in design and blended nicely with the low light levels. The weapons
and helmets were fitting and again, the pressurized air effects were good. The
acting was a mixture of good shambling zombie movements and what you would
expect soldiers to move like. I really think that you needed both to sell this
area. I wish more of the actors were doing the zombie movements. There was one
guy on I think cast B, that has his movements down so good. I think I recall
someone saying his was C.J. anyway, he had this great, slow, almost drunken look
to him and then he would come alive and with lightning speed stick his hand in
your face mere inches from touching you. And he would also do his slow routine
and then take off at full
  sprint down the street after a guest. He was very effective and I wish I saw
more of this style. The lighting was very good too with very low levels and the
flame thrower helped to break it up, brightening up things from time to time.
The barb wire lighting effects on the street was cool too. Sound effects, such
as the cannon and the bullets whizzing by were perfect. It all had an authentic
feel to it which I appreciated.  The use of fog was also done well that added a
subtle smoke-like quality here. CSW member Brooke had her hands full as special
effects tech and she did a great job!  Overall, I liked this street the best. I
really wish that there was a bit more scaring going on and unfortunately there
was way too much photo ops stuff here too. It really destroys the mood and I
wish Uni would try and avoid this from happening. An excellent scare zone none
the less.



Fun memory- Watching guest after guest jump a mile after CJ ran at them or came
within inches of grabbing their face.



#2- Lights, Camera Hacktion!- 4 ½ Skulls



I am not a huge fan of the whole chainsaw thing, but I do respect their place at
HHN and actually enjoy seeing people get freaked out and put themselves in
mortal danger trying to get away. I find it all entertaining every year, but
personally don't think that it is that scary. Anyway, I had very low hopes for
this zones as I thought that it might be a lame themed attempt at getting
chainsaws in an all movie event. The back story of a film crew getting mauled by
actors taking it all too serious sounded pretty funny, so I was game. I imagined
that victims would be used in force and I feel that in the past victims have not
been used effectively. The sets were what I expected with various cameras,
tracking rigs and sets with lighting rigs and craft services tables. It all had
the feel I expected. Nice to see the fake saws buried deep within some of the
sets. The cast is what totally made this zone. The chainsaw guys are aggressive
as usual and full of
  attitude and intimidation. They are covered in blood from their victims and I
liked to see this level of gore. The interaction with the film crew victims was
just a riot to watch! Seeing Colin stick that guy in a trash can and saw him
into next week what hysterical! Seeing piles of victims in the middle of the
street, priceless! And seeing Captain Clipboard Brendan jumping and scaring
guest after guest with a clipboard, worth the price of admission. Great show set
after set and night after night! I really liked the new surgical silicon that
was used in this zone. The depth of the wounds was amazing and realistic. Again,
the blood used here was very good.. I wish I could have seen some gags involving
cut off limbs or prosthetics like that. Would have been over the top and gory,
but it would have been unexpected and real considering that there are chainsaw
in use here. The reason Hacktion gets such high marks from me is because of the
entertainment value
  and because of the fun I see out of the cast and the guests. It was good to see
the Chainsaw Drill Team finally get their own zone too. Wolf made an excellent
coordinator  and it was great to be able to visit him and chat. Excellent job by
all involved. I feel that the "No scaring on sidewalks" rule hurt Hacktion the
most. The drill team are relentless and they should not be contained and
restricted in the areas that they can scare. In years past I have seen chainsaw
guys chasing guests right into bathrooms. I know that there has always been
rules such as not running after guests and no Leather face moves and stuff. But
the no scaring on sidewalks rule is terrible for the event. It goes beyond
safety concerns and ruins a good thing. Not to mention it limits the size of the
overall zone. I would have also liked to see some bigger saws used in this area
too. The one at the end of Cleaver was a surprise and I had heard that saw was
modified to look like a
  bigger saw blade and was really just a regular sized one. However they did it,
it looked awesome and it would have been nice in Hacktion too. The saws looked
like they got beaten on this year as they were dropping like flies. I wonder if
we will see all new saws for HHN20?



Fun Memory- Halloween night shenanigans. Seeing the cast of Containment being
chased by Hacktion and seeing the previously great bearded, long haired Monkey
all clean cut and doing his best Clark Kent impression Halloween night.



#3 Horror Wood Die In- 4 Skulls



I had high hopes for this one hoping that lightning would strike the same Mel's
area again after the super Skoolhouse zone last year. The simple idea of horror
movie characters coming out of the drive in screen would be sure to deliver. The
set up was nicely done with the Moon Light Drive in sign stating that there was
a Horror Film Festival scheduled tonight. The sign was one of my favorite set
props built this year for sure. The drive in screen while a bit small was
effective with a mixture of horror film clips and old school drive in
advertisements. Concessions! Popcorn and soda! Let's all go to the movies! Good
stuff! Of course The Usher would pop up from time to time here too. The many
cars and vans with the speaker stand mounted next to them was also nicely done.
The concession stand with the fun signs and artwork was another of my favorite
sets here. Overall the characters depicted here were spot on, Norman Bates,
Nosferatu, The Strangers, Regan,
  Zombies, monster from Ghost Story, Mrs Ganush from, Drag Me To Hell, a monster
from The Thing, They were all good, however the use of masks here was very tough
in full light and the masks sticking out of collars and such. The thing monster
was cool, but Ghost Story and Nosferatu were a little less than stellar. The
look of Frankenstein' s monster was also weak and the inclusion of Tony Montana
from Scarface in a HHN scare zone is silly. He is not a horror character so why
was he here? Sure he was riddled with gunshot wounds and he is carrying a gun,
but he does not belong. I know a lot of people liked him here and he was quite
funny, but I was disappointed to see Uni decide to include a character like this
at HHN. End of rant. The biggest problem here was again the photo op scenario
here. How can actors act if they are talking pictures every 2 seconds? It takes
all flow of atmosphere out of the zone and makes it a very "un" scare zone. The
scaring that
  I did see was pretty good, with Regan being very creepy freaking guests out and
Nosferatu banging the side of the van. The Strangers family hunting down people
and the character from Ghost Story screaming for people to get off the cars. The
zombies were not portrayed in a scary way at all and were more funny than
anything. Dancing and using the severed limbs they carried as guitars.
Frankenstein' s monster was poor in make up and character as he screamed at
people and chased them. Norman Bates was the best in my mind for faithfulness to
character and also scaring. Not too sure what some of the characters were
supposed to be from like the cheerleader and the maiden looking lady with the
scratches on her face. The Thing monster was pretty fun and freaked out many
guests too. The use of the drive in screen also played as a determent to the
zone as the music in the drive in ads did nothing to create tension or dread.
Maybe some more horror movie music would
  have served the purpose. Overall this zone was very disappointing and was too
congested and could have been a fun experience for horror movie fans. Instead it
turned out to be a lame photo op area with not a lot of scaring going on.
Between the characterizations and the bad masks and the photos, Horror Wood will
not be remembered in my mind as a great scare zone. Another thing is that there
are too many repeated characters from Silver screams. I am not sure if that was
intentional for consistency or maybe as a cost saving measure, but I did not
like it. Horror Wood would be lower on my list if it were not for how bad the
others were.



Fun Memory; Even those I did not think the character belonged in Horror Wood,
Tony Montana was pretty funny. Tony came over to my group and started staring me
down. I said "nice cocaine under your nose Tony". So he continued to stare me
down. So I said to him "Guys I think I'm about to get that grenade launcher
stuck up my culo". Tony just looks at my and says" You cockaroach!" It was so
funny and it was great to see the actor know the role and know just how to
reply, unlike the guy playing Shaun in Silver Screams.



#4 Cirque Du Freak- 3 ½ Skulls



So Cirque was another of the movie tie-ins that I felt was a poor choice for
HHN. Basically the source material is from a series of teen books and the
upcoming movie (released in October) that looked to be a light hearted film and
not something I would associate with true horror and HHN. That said, I had
minimal hopes for Cirque and I was at least hoping for some cool looking freak
show characters and sets. The fact that Uni decided to recycle the pumpkin patch
area in central park from last year as a connector from Horror Wood to Cirque
was ok by me. I loved that area last year and was thrilled to see the flickering
Jack O lanterns and hear the chilling music once again. It was not quite as good
this time as you did not have the Bloody Mary pumpkin blow out effect nor the
trick or treating skool kids, but it was a nice aesthetic to blend with the
purple lights of Cirque. As you approach you see the carny style lights and hear
the music and the rotund
  barker urges you forward. "Our Vampaneze don't bite…….hard." That guy was
highly effective as the scripted stuff worked great, but the improve was the
best! I loved when our group approached, mostly all wearing red CSW shirts, the
barker says "What's the matter fellows, the internet is closed tonight?"
Priceless! Onward in the main area of the small zone where several stages were
set up and upon them danced and pranced a series of freaks. The bearded lady
Madame Truska, Evra the snake boy, the double barrel bellied guy Rhamus
Twobellies, the poor guy who appeared to be all nose (not sure of his name), the
main vampire from the story (Larten Crepsley) with his small caged dancing
spider. The area also had several characters of stilts including a set of blond
female twins with did nothing but stand there and another brain guy with a large
forehead. He was a bit more effective with scaring as he swooped down on
unsuspecting guests. Then there were
  these small, 4 foot cloaked creatures that were also doing a fair bit of
scaring. The bulk of the scaring was being done by the Vampaneze. This mixture
of male and female actors in Victorian style purple and black dress wearing
fangs and nasty dispositions were every aggressive and I really enjoyed watching
them work. They hissed and screeched and stalked guests relentlessly. It was
probably the best scaring I witnessed this year in the streets. Chris Thompson
using that high pitched squeal was very intimidating and cleared his area every
time he came through. He is a very aggressive scare actor who should get some
props. Jessie Cate and Jessie Reiss were also very good over here as Vampaneze.
Overall Cirque was better than I expected and it is mostly to do with the level
of detail to the sets and characters and the aggressive scaring of the
Vampaneze. Some of the characters were pretty goofy, but that is just following
the film so I can't blame HHN.
  Nice use of contacts and teeth here on snake boy and the Vampaneze. The music
was a mixture of themes from the film which I felt were excellent. Tribal
rhythms and chants intermixed with orchestral pieces. Lighting was very vibrant
with purples and oranges and greens and plenty of fog too. The one annual HHN
freak you would expect to see here, The Rat Lady, was kinda tucked always to the
side. Not sure if this one due to film rights and that they did not want her in
the direct same area, but if you weren't careful you might miss her and her
handlers. I liked that they changed things up a bit and made her an actual rat
complete with a snout, whiskers and rat teeth. Good usage of an HHN classic even
though she was off to the side. It is too bad this area was positioned like it
was as it was too small and circular, causing crowds to mingle and congest too
easily. It really hurt the area and the actor's ability to scare. However I did
see it as a positive
  that most of the Vampaneze used to their advantage, taking the opportunity to
sneak up on guests amongst the crowd and get a good startle scare. I had heard
of a scare tactic that the Vampaneze were doing during the opening weekend that
was deemed too scary and they were told to stop. It involved one of the vamps to
identify a particular guest that looked very scared and then target them and
start chanting `Vampaneze, Vampaneze!!" and every Vampaneze scare actor would
converge of this one guest. Wish I saw that as it sounds awesome! Too bad that
Uni does not condone such tactics as it shows their lack of true scares at HHN
and their inability to go over the top. Guess they are thinking about safety,
but this is the same mentality that gave us the sidewalk scaring rule. If I
wanted a lame, not too scary event I would go to Disney. Overall, Cirque Du
Freak was a decent zone with lots of detail and surprisingly good scares.



Fun Memory; The barker asked me what the skull beads were that I wore on my
wrist. I told him and he asked if they were from a loved one. So I asked my
friend George if he were a loved one and that got a good laugh. The barker then
says, "At least you know your limited options". Good times!



#5 Containment- 3 Skulls

Containment sounded so much like the film Planet Terror on the basis that it
involved an experimental bio-toxin that is released into the air as a green
mist. Anyone unfortunate to breath in the mist becomes a melting zombie person.
I loved Planet Terror and all it's B movie, GrindHouse goodness and saw this
being extremely fun. Oh well! Missed opportunity Universal! The set up was ok,
with some very decent masks of different stages of melting people. Some with
just boils and drippy looking wounds (Scully you rock!), to muddled, pus filled
faces to faces that are completely drooping off, hanging off in ribbons. Nice
job on the make up and masks! Costumes ranged from regular victim to shirts and
jeans to bio-suits and masks. The sets were almost none existent with large blow
up decontamination tents and containers of the agent that was sent airbourne by
snow machines in a soapy, bubble form. Annoying, itchy and stinky. Just glad
that they did not do all
  out foam like Toxic City back in 2003. The yellow bacon lights created some
cool lighting that helped in the tension/ emergency scenario. Too bad the green
lighting fog was blown away too quickly. I pictured a wall of green fog for this
zone. One you had to pass through and you would not see the melting people until
you they were inches from you. Nope. No such thing. The green fog only worked
every so often and at best was just for look, not function as I hoped. The music
was pretty good as I had hoped for music from Planet Terror and I got just that.
There was severe audio bleed from the end of this zone down to the start of
WOTLD. I could hear bullets whizzing by in Containment and Planet Terror in
WOTLD. A bit too close maybe? The side walk rule hurt this area again as the
space that was used without the sidewalks was much too small and really limited
the actors to what they could do. Of course, reviewing Containment would be
incomplete without
  mentioning the Military Doomsayers on the intercom, Rocco and Greg. Firstly,
let me just say what a fantastically entertaining job these guys do every year.
The scripted stuff is said in a manner that keeps it fresh and the improve stuff
is worthy of a comedy club. They tailor their comments and insults to friends
and HHN board members and make it worth while to just come over and say hello.
Even though Containment failed on many levels, the inclusion of the guys up on
their truck spouting off those lines made this area fun indeed. Thanks for the
laughs Rocco and Greg!



Fun Memory; Having Rocco tell me to hunker down to avoid the green fog and
continuing to tell me to "Hunker, Hunker!!, Hunker!!!, Hunker!!!, until I was
sufficiently low enough to the ground for my safety. Even though everyone in the
area was standing or walking by looking at the guy in the CSW shirt who looked
extremely funny trying to go as low as I could go. Good times!



#6- Apocalypse- City of Cannibals- 1 Skull



I had no idea what to expect from this one when it was announced, but was very
happy to see the New York area being used. It is such a big area that lends
itself perfectly to scare zones. This one was being described as an end of the
world scenario were underground creatures/ cannibals were coming up from their
dwellings and snacking on the citizens of the city. The artwork on the website
showed these mutant creatures with big eyes and I wonder if we might see the
return of the knuckle grunts for 2005 or something like them. Boy was I wrong!
The costumes and make up for the creatures was some of the worst I have ever
seen at HHN. Some decent airbrush work on the bare chest male actors who wore
these silly looking head pieces that were bald on top with some dreads or
something on the sides and back. It looked terrible! I felt bad for these actors
as they looked pathetic. I saw some of the actors in early pictures in which
they were crawling on the ground
  and stuff. That depiction worked pretty good and I know if probably was a pain
for the actors, but at least it gave the appearance of something not human. The
actors I saw were just walking around and not even trying to make none human
movements, not even snarling or anything. They looked goofy and unmotivated. I
don't know if this was the stage managers fault or the actors and I have no idea
what the original character was supposed to look like or how they were supposed
to move, but by the third week of the run and until the last night, they were
horrible. It was a scare zone I could care less if I saw more of and that is
saying a lot. I usually love walking through scare zones and see what they offer
for unique elements and acting. A:COC (yes, a cock) was something out of a
lesser haunt and it is surprising how bad it was. I expect a lot more of
Universal and HHN. The sets and props were all recycled stuff such as the school
bus for Skool House and an
  overturned jeep from JP. They did not even try and cover up the Jurassic Park
logos on the jeep. Oh wow! I fire hydrant that is spraying water! Some police
barricades! Other elements were almost equally lame as a soundtrack of sirens
and helicopters and fireball blasts on the rooftops. Been there, seen that guys!
What is Lord of the Rings music doing playing in this zone? Weird and almost as
if they did not even consider what would make this work better as a scare zone.
The victims here were also ineffective as there were city people walking around
with for some reason, shards of glass sticking out of their faces. Cool make up,
but what was that all about? A guy walking around with a box that said "Peanuts
$2.50'. ???WHAT??? I did not get what they were doing here at all and it
probably only visited A:COC a total of six times during my 9 nights of HHN. Why
not use more of the large New York street setting too? All that was used was a
small section over
  by Twister and it did not work was it interfered with the lines for the houses
and just seemed to be it's own little own theme. Weird. It was uninspired,
uncreative and embarrassing. Definitely a low point for HHN scare zones in my
opinion.



Fun Memory; walking over to get in line for Frankenstein and talking with a
member of my group and all of a sudden the girl next to him who appeared to be
texting on a phone, straightened up and screams at my friend "SOMEONE HELP
ME!!!" Pretty funny as it caught us off guard a bit.



Honorable Mention- Shadows of the Past



I had heard some insider info that Uni was planning on doing something special
for the fans during the last week of the run and they did not disappoint. I
really can't critique it too much as it was a last minute, added scare zone that
I was very grateful for and would not want to appear like I did not seem
appreciative. Shadows of the Past utilized Sting Alley which has always given us
fun zones because of it's intimate, tight confines and many curves and nooks and
crannies. The set up was simple. Tons of fog, red lights and a mixture of
horror/ HHN movie music themes and sound bites. A mixture of characters and
icons from past HHN events were positioned around the zone and many were
surprising. Some where a given and there were some notable omissions
(Storyteller, Eddie, Director, Bloody Mary) but some nice surprises too. Cindy,
Dr Albert Caine's lost daughter who only had her presence only as a painting and
again lying dead in a casket in HHN16
  Screamhouse: Resurrection, was alive and very creepy. Standing by her Daddy's
side and saying things like, "My daddy is gonna pull out your insides". Or on
one occasion I saw her playing hop scotch. It was very good to see Cindy brought
to life finally. The Usher standing on a staircase motioning you to be quiet
with his finger up to his lips hushing you and standing cutting the fog with his
flashlight. This was a nice effect that stood out to me. Jack the Clown, as over
used as he is and ever the crowd favorite, stood behind another gate and stairs
setting hanging down cackling at guests. People can not get enough of Jack!
Other characters included Eelmouth, a vampire, Skool Kids, Pumpkin headed
demons, a collector from Body Collectors. It was a nice mixture to tease the
past and future of HHN. You could tell that all of this was put together fairly
quickly as a lot of the characters were in black robes. Some of the prosthetics
like the vampires brow
  and Jack's make up might not have been up to snuff in regards to quality, but
it was much appreciated none the less. The inclusion of many members of  the
Universal Creative team in the area and Uni media doing interviews with fans
gave this a different, exciting feel as it had been said that this was a teaser
for next year as well as an extra for the fans. The area quickly became a
crowded mess as it can be expected, by it definitely was intimate. I was very
thankful for the extra scare zone and want to thank all of Uni Creative for
doing this. It was very fun and added something new to the mix. Just seeing
Cindy brought to life finally made it all worth it.



Streets Wrap Up



So streets were a big disappointment this year and definitely a step back from
HHN18. I really hope that Uni considers all of these things for next year and
treats the houses and the scare zones equally or close to it. I know that the
budget is bigger for the houses, but I really feel that they skimped this year.
Size of the areas and the side walk rule ruined things big time! Unimaginative
make up and costuming did not help. Lack of direction in acting and consistency
also hurt. WOTLD was excellent, but not one of the best ever and that was the
high water mark this year. Hacktion was very fun, but in the long list of SZ of
the past it was not that great. Less photo ops and efforts to make it less scary
should be a focus. Go all out for the 20th year and give the streets the
attention they deserve.



Halloween Horror Nights 19: Ripped From The Silver Screen was solid year in my
opinion and it was mostly because the houses were all great. I did not expect to
like this year as much as I did as I had feared that an all movie themed event
would ruin the originally of HHN and just be a media and marketing mess of a
year. Universal Creative did a great job at making mundane and aged movie
properties fresh and interesting and created some fun B movie attractions as
well. Overall, not the best year ever, but it was solid enough that I had a
blast!



Next year I hope Universal pulls out all the stops and makes the most of the
opportunity that is HHN20. I hope we don't only get a second helping of HHN16
and get all the old icons and houses again. I am sure there will be elements of
that for sure, but please help start this new decade of HHN with some new
original ideas, themes and characters. I have heard the rumor of Jack getting
married to Chance and that all the previous icons would be guests of honor at
the ceremony. I really hope we don't see that. It sounds like the easy way out
and one that would be made for the marketing and the average guests in mind.
Always money is the target and I know that original ideas are usually pushed
aside for well know stuff. I understand that tried and true, well known
properties usually mean big money at the gate. Just look at the movie industry
where all we get is remakes and sequels. But in the end the majority of those
are crap and I hope that is not what we
  get next year at HHN20. Time will only tell and until then we can only guess
and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure the Universal Creative team will do their
usual awesome job whatever we get. JUST MAKE IT SCARY!!!So onward to that dead
time of year for us haunt fans and we can hope to hear some rumors in the summer
months. Thank you very much if you are still reading and a special thanks to
Universal and the Creative team who put on this whole show. Thanks for bringing
back the Unmasking the Horror Tour too. Thanks to all of my friends who work the
event and who I got to enjoy the event with every night I attended. I had a
great time at the Universal Palace.

























[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I haven't heard anything like that, so I am treating this as a rumor.

On Dec 3, 2009, at 11:40 AM, bigdaddyfnwolf wrote:

> Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure
> everyone here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.
>
> I don't know anything else about the situation.
>
>
>

Kevin Contini



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Maybe he hates Comcast like the rest of us  :-)


   ----- Original Message -----
   From: bigdaddyfnwolf
   To: chainsawwolf@yahoogroups.com
   Sent: Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:40 AM
   Subject: [chainsawwolf] JMR



   Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure everyone
here would like to wish him well on future endeavors.

   I don't know anything else about the situation.





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Just heard that JMR is no longer with Universal, if true I am sure everyone here
would like to wish him well on future endeavors.

I don't know anything else about the situation.

Thanks for your excellent review FUBAR.

At a time when the past Halloween is becoming a distant memory, it was
really good to reminisce with what must be one of the most detailed HHN
reviews i have ever read.

I just can't wait for the rumours for HHN 20 to start rolling in, so i
can look forward to the next one.

Thanks again

AG


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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hey there,

It is once again time for me to give my usual long ass review for this year's
HHN. This year I will not neccessarily be doing a room by room, turn by turn
look at the houses as I normally do, however some of the houses I will. I'll be
more focused on what worked and what did not. I will be highlighting some areas
of each house though from time to time. I sometimes will refer to particular
scareactors or people for special reasons, but in general I will try not to make
this a shout out fest. I will however try to offer criticism without bashing and
offer alternate takes of what I am critiquing.  I tend to be hyper critical of
things I am passionate about and just want to try to be respectful in doing so.

I had the opportunity to visit the Palace Theater and the twisted world of
Julienne Browning a total of 9 nights this year and I had one awesome time! I
generally visit HHN during the second half of the run to let the actors get into
their roles, let Uni creative make changes and so I can get the best experience
I can. Sometimes props get mauled and such, but I did not hear much of that this
year thankfully.

I had some reservations with the theme to this year when it was announced as I
really enjoy Universal Creative's original themes, characters and stories and
don't really get into the movie tie in houses. I have to say that overall the
all movie event that was Ripped From the Silver Screen was well done and had
enough originality and true HHN feel to keep me very interested. I was
disappointed in the website this year and I feel that our icon never really got
the full treatment. I liked the back story of The Usher Julienne Browning and
the Universal Palace Theater and felt it was appropriate and creepy, but did not
even compare to what we got last year in Bloody Mary. That said, I was prepared
to experience the event for less the story and more the houses and scare zones
as the stars. Seeing I experienced almost every night starting off doing Stay
and Scream, I never got to experience the front of the park movie screen and
Usher characters scaring guests as they entered. I came in late on one evening
and stood and watched the screen and a bit of scaring but feel that I missed out
a bit on this. The make up looked good, but the actors were just standing around
for the most part, but it was nearing 10pm at this point. The movie screen was
well done and effective per usual.

I'll move on to reviewing the houses from this year which I really feel were the
stars of the show. No other year can I say that there was not a stinker in the
whole bunch of 8 houses. Every one had it's strengths and were solid. None
approached the rankings of best house ever, but they were all pretty good. Even
the worst of them would have been middle of the pack perhaps in an average year.
I will grade the houses on a 5 skull scale. 5 being the best and working down
from there. So here we go….

#1 -5 Skulls- Dracula: Legacy in Blood

I know a lot of people will bash me for picking this as my favorite, but it is a
personal taste thing here for this one. I have always enjoyed the vampire bride
mythos and it was great to finally see it portrayed in a house. I really wonder
if I would have liked Dracula as much as I did if I did not go on the Unmasking
the Horrors tour. They did an excellent job in delivering the back story and I
fell for it hook, line and sinker. I will refer to the tour now and again to
help illustrate the back story. The whole premise of "The Calling", a night when
Dracula is summoning brides to come to him and give themselves and their souls
over to him in exchange for immortality. I thought was just gothic and
horrifically beautiful in vampire lore. Or course all men will be impaled on
pikes outside the castle, but women will have the honor of becoming one of
Vlad's true brides who enjoy immortality and everlasting vitality or a feral
bride who only gets the immortality. They will have the lovely honor of having a
body that will continue to degrade through time, rotting and becoming skeletal
until they are dust. This story brought me to a great starting point every time
a entered the castle. The façade, with the castle walls and tower and numerous
pikes holding the bodies and heads of men whom Vlad the Impaler has triumphed. A
dining table sits among the carnage for Vlad to survey his work (depicted from
an ancient wood carving). The lights and fog were beautiful and helped to set up
the feeling of dread and horror. Very well done. As you enter the castle, the
brides in beautiful wedding dresses splattered around the bodice with blood, are
very aggressive in making you a victim, hissing and lunging. Stone statues seem
to come to life as you turn a corner. You enter a library and a bride floats
above you, pausing and drifting away. This was one of the best effects in the
house. Very creepy! The sight of seeing her above you and then the fluidity of
her drifting away just sent chills down my spine. Very effective. Out onto the
tower and the feral bride reaches down to you from above in the "dog house".
Nice use of levels here and scares coming from above and ground level. The
"fluffy" room with Renfield squirting you was cool as the design made you want
to look into the cell and look at the animals. Just when you see Renfield you
realize that it is too late and you get sprayed in the face or if you are
running away you got it down the back. The characterization here was very Bram
Stoker and I liked the make up and costume. The cage on the face effect was nice
and seemed to echo Coppola and maybe 13 Ghosts. The coffin room had a nice
winding path to it and I recall getting many hisses coming at me from all
angles. I think this is also were I saw my first Dracula.I had heard that there
were three versions of him in the house and I only fully saw when he was kind of
batlike. Very dark here so I can't say I saw a lot. I had heard on the tour that
the coffins in this room have all been used. Hmm, that is creepy. And the
chandelier hanging above is almost completely made of bones, many of which are
real human bones. I loved the archway area with the mirrors. It had great depth
and shadow. The creepy brides just hung back in the shadows and that is when you
got a nice hiss in the ear from the other side. The further you go in the house
you see more and more of the decaying feral brides and they are very aggressive.
I liked the corner where a feral bride is entangled between two dead bodies,
lunging out as you pass. I noticed a female body with the brain hanging out of
the top of the head. I wonder if this was the same prop used for Dorothy in
Scary Tales 3 last year? The last room is a treat as you come to an open room
with a contraption of some kind in the middle. There are spikes that are
dripping blood and the level beneath this that has crushed body parts on it. It
seems that the dark prince has taken a small bit of pity on the feral brides and
has devised this method of giving them a tiny bit of relief for their thirst for
blood. On the tour it was told that the creative team dubbed this contraption
"the squeezinart". Good humor from the guys on a dark subject. As you can tell I
really enjoyed Dracula: Legacy of Blood. I do want to mention some of the
problems with this house too. Firstly, just like Body Collectors; Collections of
the Past last year, this house suffered from issues in the early evening when
the sun was still out. Your eyes could not adjust until halfway through the
house, maybe around the coffin room, and this was a major issue. I wonder it
there is anything that Uni can do to fix this issue. Maybe adjust lighting
levels a bit and as the sun falls adjust them back. I don't have an answer but
it is a major flaw of the house. Another flaw is also one of my main reasons for
liking the house. That is the back story. I really wonder how much the average
guest picks up as they go through and without doing the tour, how much I would
have gotten from it. Back story is a great thing and I love that Uni creative
goes to the levels they do, but I wish there was some better way, maybe in the
map, to deliver these wonderful, detailed stories to the guests. Overall, I feel
that this was the best house this year.

Fun Memory; Getting a "bite" on the neck or some fun call out from vampy bride
Amanda almost every time through.

#2- 4 3/4 Skulls- Frankenstein: Creation of the Damned

I had some early doubts about this one as I am not a big Frankenstein fan in
terms of from how scary the character is. The story is quite tragic and I just
felt it may not translate well to HHN. Universal Creative did a fantastic job in
modernizing the story and characters and making it a top notch spectacle. The
ruins of Dr Frankenstein's castle beckon you forth. The smell of burning wood is
thick in the air and the embers glow around the edges of the castle. Dr
Frankenstein has been busy rebuilding his lair and he intends on bringing forth
all new abominations from his lab. The style used in this house is fresh and new
with walls being stitched up and all kinds of experiments and electrical
structures being used. The steam punk style is prevalent and effective in the
monsters and décor. I really liked the use of the green lights on the Alphas. I
like what they did with the look of the monsters and how they named them after
the Greek alphabet. The effects used in the opening hallway with the projection
of the monster grabbing a person and mauling them was well done and just the
kind of effects that separate HHN from most of all the others in the haunt
industry. This projection served not only as a cool show to look at, but a great
distraction. As guests watched the monster mayhem, a tall alpha comes at you
from the right. I saw many people jump a mile here. The good doctor's lab with
the recording playing in the background and all of his experiments spread around
the room including an ape arm and body spread out for research, felt authentic
and real. Another strength of this house was the proper recycling of old props.
From the leg sawing scene to the use of the Fly pods, everything seemed to fit
here. The old stoves/ furnaces were cleverly used to hide an ambushing monster.
Old props from "random acts of terror" were used for lab scenes featuring The
Bride. Not too sure I liked the look of her though. I really liked the room on
the right with all of the limbs hanging. It was very gory and with that sliding
body rig made for some great loud scares. The heart rip scene played out nicely
and got a big reaction with guests. Poor Fritz, he never had a chance! The
finale played out nicely with some pretty aggressive acting and ping pong
scares. The good doctor hanging from above as he received his just reward for
creating life when he should have not delved where man should not. Ironic ending
as his own creations kill him off.  I would list this house extremely close to
the top and found it to be very solid in every way. I actually can not find
anything wrong with it other than I prefer the Vampire storyline better. Well
done!
Fun Memories ; Having on numerous occasions friends working in this house give
some extreme attention to me and either go forehead to forehead with me,
grunting my name "FUBAR!!!" or in the case of CD at the end, bear hugging me and
practically pick me up two feet off the ground to the dismay of the teenage
girls behind me as I hammed it up screaming. I recall the girls crying out "THEY
BETTER NOT TOUCH ME!!!" Good times!

#3- 4 1/2 Skulls- Leave It to Cleaver

Oh the twisted depravity of Leave It to Cleaver! What sick fun for the whole
family! I just loved the dark and fun theme of this house. As one of the
Fangoria houses this was set up beautifully by the queue video of the brilliant
Mike Aiello and young cannibal Caden, you just knew you were in for a treat
visiting Meetz Meats! I had a blast watching those public service style
messages. "Your meat and you!" Classic! The outside facade of the meat packing
plant had a nice authentic feel with the loading dock and Meetz Meats sign with
the sadistic smiling face, the old fifties style bike and other props set around
the entrance. Onward into the front office area where I made sure to punch in
every time through. The portrayal of the characters with their happy masks and
the "Gee Golly" tone is what made this one. It feels so wrong but it is so fun.
The little tikes in the school area with the slaughtered pig hanging like a play
thing and then the room with the stacked cans of product shows things are about
to go bizarre. What could possibly be in those cans? Take a few more steps
around the corner and you see hanging torsos of a female form. Hmmm, how about
that arm in the garbage disposal? Great effect that received a number of
reactions from laughs to screams. Excellent gore in the conveyor belt scene and
the pens of victims. Loved the guy in the ice cream man suit hanging with the
marks on him like a side of beef. Shank, flank, brisket? Mr. smiling worker is
ready to cut you off a fresh filet with his trusty electric knife. The room with
the pile of processed meat on the ground and the lady on the conveyor belt split
into three parts was so gross and put a smile on my face due to the amount of
gore here. The cold storage scene with the sounds of chainsaws and the splatter
of blood on the curtains was a nice effect as you expected the forms of human
shapes to come out and get you. The ending was so unexpected with the store
front and the final product waiting for purchase. And the smiling face of Samuel
Meetz himself. Nice touch and reverse ending from what you might expect. Out the
door you go and there is Big Boy with his large bladed chainsaw. Great climax
and build up in tension. The best thing of this house was the interaction
between the guest and the actors. You could walk through and talk to each and
every worker of the meat packing plant and they would ad lib and come up with
some extremely funny remarks. Unfortunately, I found that the two cast were very
different and this did not occur all the time. I think that it was cast A that
was always game for the interaction. The sets and progression of this house and
overall dark tone of the humor was very reminiscent of Psychoscrapy which I
commend. This style of house break up the monotony of things and gives you an
unexpected laugh, if you are twisted enough to find cannibalism funny that is.
Leave It to Cleaver was simply the funniest house this year and extremely well
done.

Fun memory- This could be long if I started listing all of the memories of  the
interactions I had in this house, but the one that stands out is the guy that
took a look at me and my size and tilted his head and said, "wow, I'm glad I get
paid by the pound. We are gonna get a lot of meals out of you!". I could have
been offended, but I appreciate that fact that the actors are willing to take
things to the edge and just go for it. Funny stuff!

#4- 4 1/4 Skulls- Wolfman

I've never been a huge fan of bipedal Wolf men and prefer the quadruped variety
like An American Werewolf in London. If you are doing two legged I would like to
see a completely transformed beast ala The Howling. Anyway ,seeing that this is
a house for the upcoming film that is a re-imagining of the Claude Rains
classic, I understand the type of Wolf man being presented so I knew going in
that I will take it as that. I just don't find that style very scary or
threatening. I had hoped to see open ,outdoor landscapes on the sound stage sets
and for the most part, I feel that Uni succeeded. The opening gypsy town was
nice in detail, but had only one actor. The wooded area came next and had a
larger feel to it than it really was as I saw it on the tour. Between the
mixture of real and fake trees and the grass and low laying fog, they pulled off
a believable forest setting that was inhabited by more then just Wolf men. Props
have to go out to Finner who amped it up every time a group of CSWers went
through this section. Warning other guests to not trust the wolves and that they
are everywhere. Good stuff. The Wolf man costumes in this area seemed pretty
good looking and the make up was top notch. I am glad that the film will feature
Rick Baker effects as he is "the Man" on werewolf stuff. You could see that he
had his influence on these effects too. I liked how the Wolf man would seemingly
come out of no where to jump out of the woods and into your path. Nicely done!
The wolf on the outside of the tavern looked to be pretty angry about being up
on that wall. I noticed a lot of taxidermy in the houses this year. The tavern
itself was a standard, turn of the century bar complete with a wench behind the
bar cleaning glasses and a Wolf man jumping out of no where at you. Overall, it
was not my favorite scene. Onward to the morgue that had an undertaker asking
incessantly "Have you seen this man about the village?" while he pulled the
sheet from the corpse that has been mauled in an attack. The far side of the
room featured a man that had on a gurney that had claw marks all over him and
may just be starting to transform. Many times through this room I noticed that
this area was unmanned. The crypt scene was done nicely with candles and the
decaying relatives of our main character Lawrence Talbot. The "easter egg"on the
wall was most fitting. I learned on the tour that the inscriptions in Latin say
" Stay on the roads, keep clear of  the moors". Taken directly from An American
Werewolf In London. Nice touch from Uni creative as a homage to another great
Universal Werewolf feature. The lunatic asylum area was fairly conventional and
did not offer much in the way of scares but I realize it is following movie
lines. The transformation here was one of those timed effects that you may or
may not catch. I think I only caught it twice and I had to have gone through at
least 10 times. The effect was not all that great anyway, but a nice effort and
attempt to do a werewolf transformation in a house. The real meat of the house
was the overhanging walls that you walked through as the Wolf man jumped
directly over you and the last scene featuring the circle of stones and the
running Wolf man/ hunter scene. I felt that the sets in these areas and the
manner at with guest had scare actors above and on both side was great. It
created a feel that you don't get often in haunted houses and it did feel
"outside". The finale with the hunter worked beautifully each time and once the
Wolf man (Danno) hung over me at the end of the ramp. Nice touch! The bass of
the shotgun blast was loud and effective and then you get the last Wolf man
coming around the last stone to the right to get you one last time. Should have
used silver bullets Mr. hunter man! Overall a solid house with nice costumes and
make up, strong sets and effects. Too bad that Wolf Man was so short of a house
as it really hurt the tension that had been building. Before you know it, you
are at the end. Another problem I had with this house is that the acting was
much too rigid and every time through was the same. Almost every line I heard
was delivered the same way as the last. To some this my be good, as there is a
consistency there, but for me, who went through this one 10+ times it got a bit
old. I wonder if the cast was told they had to keep it the same and to not
deviate due to agreements with the film studio. Wolf man was another solid house
in the end.

Fun Memory; The totally out of character Hammer, coming over to me in the asylum
area and saying "Lunch on Sunday?" Totally unexpected and funny!

#5- Silver Screams- 4 Skulls

I had heard some things about Silver Screams regarding the films that would be
depicted in it and immediately thought of All Night Die In and it's sequel.
Being the icon house this year and that it was located in the parade building
(site of my fav house last year, Scary Tales 3) had me excited. I was not too
thrilled with the choices of the films, but figured that Uni would deliver with
great sets and cinematic flair. The facade was better than I expected with the
outside of the Universal Palace theater looking decrepit and haunting and
suddenly it is ALIVE. Unbelievable effect that is eerie and spectacular. The
Usher points at you, issuing you forward into his twisted world of film. The
smell,. clearly of popcorn, fills your senses. You pass the ticket booth and see
scattered popcorn and popcorn buckets. Old seats and curtains hanging, feeling
just like an old theater. Then you come to the "set up" intro hallway with a
movie poster of the film you are about to be pulled into. The Phantom of the
Opera, Julienne Browning personal favorite movie is first. Before I go on from
here, I just wanted to say that the "set up" hallways are both neat in the
iconic trinkets and props from the movies and the posters themselves, but they
sure are a waste of space. Definitely a pro and a con thing with this idea. I
did like some of the props such as the flowers and cricket bat for SOTD and the
Book of the Dead for Evil Dead, bourbon bottle and dynamite for The Thing,  but
the feel was just kinda strange as you were set up with another film and it felt
a bit too constrictive to the flow of the house. Anyway, just my thoughts on
that. Opera was started very nicely with a live action scene that had special
lighting and color tones to make it look like a flickering black and white
silent film. It was an effect that had me smiling from ear to ear and doing a
double take the first time through. Not much scaring here, but the extra loud
pipe organ and the phantom on the right definitely got a few people. Nice start.
I may be a bit hazy on order of the rest so bare with me here, but I think that
My Bloody Valentine was next. I did not like the original film and despised the
3D remake, but all in all Uni created a threatening environment that was one of
the best in the house. The Harry Warden miner actors were aggressive and
everywhere. They were popping out of hallways, behind sheets and would not leave
you be. The gore factor was pretty high and the sets were really realistic with
the hospital setting. My favorite part was the bright lights that were behind
many of the miners. It made for a nice effect that both blinded you and looked
really nice as the fog combined with the lights for nice theatrics. The
Strangers was next I think and while I did like the film, I wondered how it
would translate to a house. I felt it worked on certain levels as the sets were
very realistic and well done and the characters looked exactly like the film. It
always blows me away how Uni can make such incredible looking house settings.
From All Night Die In to Psychoscrapy: Home For the Holidays, these sets are so
cool! The sound effects and lighting were top notch with the fire alarm beeping
and the constant sobbing of the girl in the background and the fluttering
curtain in the windows, it all worked. Unfortunately, the actors did nothing.
They just stood there and let you walk by. The shorter dark haired female lunged
at me once, but overall it was very flat. The fact that Army or Darkness or
Medieval Dead was in this house had me a little excited when I had heard about
it, but it was really done poorly. The single stretch of the Pit Witch scene
with two actors just did not work. I went through a couple times and saw no one.
Again, it just screams "throw in" to me. Next I think was the back stage area
with the hanging patrons and The Usher urging you forward. Nice work with the
air hose! I saw so many great scares with that and the awesome effect of the
flashlight cutting through the fog. I liked this area as it did connect with the
back story of The Usher, but wonder if the space could have been better used in
some of the smaller areas such as The Thing or SOTD. The brings me to The Thing
which I understand why it was in this house, being one of my favorite horror
films and that it was a "given" to recycle seeing they have all of those props
left laying around from HHN17, but hold on, if you are going to do it, do it
right! The sets looked ok, the music was there as expected, but to see the
animatronic not working, sitting there static …again….poor, poor, poor! Then
they just had a MacReady looking guy, distracting you, telling you to look in
the rafters and then the same character that you see in Horrorwood comes out for
a scare. The area is so small and reeks of "throw in". Why bother? Shaun of the
Dead is one of my favorite horror comedies and I think that it is pure genius. I
was excited to see it portrayed here, but seeing that it is a comedy figured it
might be a hard sell. The Winchester was done perfectly and looked amazing in
the detail. The Queen playing on the Juke and the tone of everything was exact.
Where they went wrong again was the acting. The actor playing Shaun, just stood
on the pool table, cue in hand, yelling to "run" and "get going" or whatever he
was saying, but it just fell flat. The zombie sitting in a booth did nothing and
sure, zombie Ed dancing was funny, but it did not add a lot to the scene. I
really was pissed that the zombie hands/ shadow effect was not working. That
would have added a nice level of a threatening tone to the scene and it is just
too bad I did not see it. For a scene about zombies, there sure was not enough.
I am trying to recall how the ending happened and from which scene it
transitioned from, but I really don't remember much except that it was weak.
Which is too bad as the rest of the house was pretty solid. It was not too big
on scares but the sets and effects were nicely done. The main thing I keep
thinking to myself is that if they cut out The Thing and Army of Darkness and
maybe the backstage scene, would it made for a better house? Did they try and do
too many movies within one house? I feel that this is the main fault of the
house. If they perfected other scenes and made it more scary, then it would have
made the house more solid. Quality over quantity in my mind.

Fun Memory; Smelling that popcorn and seeing that facade change for the first
time.

#6- SAW- 3 ½ Skulls

I like the SAW series somewhat and felt that for a major crowd draw, this could
actually be ok. The fact that it was in the Jaws queue had me a bit worried
though. I wondered how they could construct an industrial setting inside an
outdoor queue line. The queue of the house had all these posters with victims in
traps and stuff from the movies and I really thought that it detached the guest
from the fact that they are about to experience the movie for real. The Wilson
Steel sign out front was a nice touch and more fitting. I was immediately
impressed with the faithful depiction of SAW as soon as I walked in the house.
The industrial setting, the music, the fuzzy TVs with the puppet Billy on them
and another nice touch, video of the guests walking through the room, it was all
there. It made you think that you were on camera and being watched by Jigsaw.
The voice over by Tobin Bell added a lot too as his voice is SAW. You needed
that 100%. Each room you entered was either a victim/ trap scene from the movies
(reverse bear trap, arm trap, barbed wire trap, drill trap, face razor trap etc)
and they were all done precisely like the films or scenes with pig face Jigsaw
coming at you. The gore factor was pretty good here, witness the corpse with
half a head sitting against a wall or the beautifully done prop of Jigsaw laying
in the hospital bed. Very fine detail and realism there. The scene with the
hanging pig heads was filler, but watch those heads! Someone might head butt
them! The ending was a ping pong scare scenario with multiple pig face actors
and for the most part I think that it worked. I saw many people running out of
that house and laughing or screaming. Those guys were pretty aggressive! The
feel of the house was just like the films and I loved the words written on the
walls (cherish your life). With all the consistency to the films and attention
to detail came the worst part of the house, the timing of the traps. If you
walked through and missed a trap effect go off, you missed the key scenes. You
could theoretically walk through and miss all the traps. It is just too
dependant on the timing and it ruined it for me on several occasions. Especially
when the house is the most anticipated and has B&T right next to it, you know
you will have long lines.  This should have been in a sound stage and they
should have pulsed groups through so you saw all the effects. The fact that it
was in the Jaws queue did not ruin the house per say, but the timing and
inability to stand and watch the scenes unfold did. We had several flashlight
Nazis yelling at us to keep moving and it was annoying! The house itself is very
well done, but the execution and the fact that so much depended on the timing of
the traps kept this from being higher on the list.

Fun Memory; Entering the first room and hearing Tobin Bell's voice as Jigsaw and
seeing Billy the doll on the TV and thinking, yep, I am in SAW.

#7- Chucky, Friends Till the End- 3 Skulls

I am not a huge fan of Chucky. I feel it is a lame excuse for a horror character
and he is not scary in the least bit. I was not looking forward to this house
that much, but I had heard a few things that sounded like it might be fun. That
is the key word with the Chucky house- FUN. I really liked the Good Guys doll
box façade outside, but did not really get the rock music at the queue. The
vortex worked well in both story (to shrink you down to Chucky's size) and also
in execution as it really threw me for a loop. Too bad the shrinking down part
was contradicted by the sign hanging in the toy store proclaiming that Chucky is
now life size. Anyway, the store scene with all the boxes of Chuckys was a nice
set up for the latter scenes of misfit toy mayhem. I really liked the Barrel of
monkeys room as the vines were made from the actual monkeys, strung together and
the jungle scenery was colorful and quite interactive. Then all of a sudden out
of no, there comes the red and golden monkey guys. They were very much in your
face and definitely got a lot of scares. As did the stuffed animal room. I
personally jumped a mile the first time through when I was looking over my
shoulder speaking with one of my friends when the whole wall of stuffed animals
came charging at me with a crazy screeching sound. Very cool! I also liked the
very loud etch a sketch boo doors. Very effective! The Chucky masks also worked
well as they did seem to creep a lot of people out. The Barbie room was a little
twisted with the Barbies being all melted and such, but the kicker was all the
expletives and nasty insults that were written on the walls by I assume Tiffany.
"Barbie is a whore!" Great stuff! I liked the baby powder smell too in this
room. Cool that they can do that. The army man room was fun too as they were yet
another nostalgic toy from my youth brought back in a twisted way. Overall the
house was much better than expected. The main reason I say so is that I had fun.
Pretty much every time through I was laughing and seeing more and more. It was a
standard fun house style haunt, but made fun by the addition of Chucky and the
inventiveness of the toys. It would have been higher on the list but Saw got the
#6 slot due to the incredible detail and faithful quality that it achieved from
its source material.

Fun Memory; Army Man Mythspinner calling my name and saluting me.

#8- The Spawning- 2 1/2 Skulls

Yet another of Fangoria's houses, The Spawning was supposed to be a B monster
movie where you are sent into the sewer system of Wyandot county Ohio to
investigate a blockage in the water works only to discover there are nasty
critters to blame. The set up is standard B shlock so I was game. I liked the
facade depicting the outside of the sewer/ water works building and the water
ram bursting periodically to scare the guests. Nothing special but ok. You enter
the building and see the control panels and unmanned monitors and you know that
something is wrong. You progress into the sewers and the sets I have to say were
pretty good looking. Very believable in tone and size with pipes and chains and
grating here and there. Then my whole experience is interrupted by seeing one of
the sculders or whatever they were called. Oh boy! What pathetic looking
costumes! Silly sleestak looking masks with a torn bandage looking suits. Yikes!
I did however like the light up green eyes and thought that they were effective
when they stood back in the darkness, but overall, the star of the show was
weak. The thing about B movies is that typically you get a cool monster at the
end that justified watching a pretty crappy film. This had no pay off and to
further the bland quality of the monsters, the rest of the house was just the
same pipes and grates over and over, no changing areas except the eggs that you
see that the creatures have laid and the strobe room. That room did a pretty
good job at disorienting, but really did not reflect something with the
storyline and had no purpose. I wish I saw some more creativity with maybe
different styles of aesthetics that gave the impression that the creatures were
transforming the sewers ala Aliens or that you maybe saw more than one kind of
creature. All you got were the same 4 1/2-5 foot sleestaks.  Not to mention,
this is a sewer and where is the water? There definitely needed to be more water
effects. I also recall the ending being very lame.

Fun Memory;  Buying a 22oz Fosters and jumping into line and getting to the
house before I finished even 1/3 rd of the beer. I had to chug the remainder and
I was a bit buzzed going through. Not so much to do with the house per say, but
just a different experience none the less. LOL!


So there are my reviews of the houses this year. I have to say I was pretty
impressed. As I stated earlier, there really was not a stinker in the bunch.
None were the best ever type houses but all were solid and made repeated trips
through each enjoyable. I really wish Universal would try and integrate some
multi path scenarios and try for some pulsing next year. I know I am dreaming,
but I always look for improvements and this could help. Also, what is the deal
with Uni and animatronics? I am not a huge fan of them, but you would think that
a huge company like Universal could get them right. Year after year it is the
same thing and they never work right. Just saying, but it is kinda sad that they
can't get it right and Knott's and Netherworld do it big time every year! I
would also like to see the return of more queue videos. Aside from the excellent
Leave it to Cleaver video, there was not any to speak of. Videos have their
purpose and if used right create tension and back story and give the poor shleps
in line something to watch for 90 minutes.

Shows

I only did B&T as I really dislike Rocky Horror Picture Show so I will give my
thoughts on Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure.

I like B&T, but don't get onto it like a lot of people and really respect the
genius that is Mike Aiello. He is super talented and I love how he mixes the pop
culture stuff and delivers a highly entertaining show that rings true to so many
people. If has to be hard to hit upon the right mix and still have some
semblance of story. This year was no different as it had many colorful
characters and situations that kept a smile on my face and the audience laughing
and dancing in their seats. I'm not too big on the dance stuff, but it all
worked pretty well for the most part. The light saber dance number was nice as
the whirring blades were both a cool visual effect as well as an auditory feast.
That number felt like it went on for a bit too long though. Song selection was
very good and kept it all very upbeat. My favorite parodies were Bruno ( are you
looking at my cooglesack?) and the William Shatner/ Kirk stuff. Very funny! The
Random Twilight Sequence bit (I…cried….when….you….died….in….Har…ry…Pot..ter…)
was funny and the Alternate Swear Words bit (That girl sure has a nice Shia
LaBeouf) in the pre-show was great! As was the Michael Roddy new cast. Dick
Johnson and Rob Cox! Nice! The show overall was a fun experience that ran a bit
long and had a few too many dance numbers, but a solid show in the end.

Scare Zones

Let me preface this by saying that I love scare zones and look forward to them
every year. I recall being so disappointed in the scare zones from HHN17. 
Luckily I then received a renewed appreciation for Universal's work last year
that it gave me much anticipation for this year. The Skoolhouse and pumpkin
patch were incredible and my favorite attraction ever at HHN. And that is saying
a lot being that I have attended the past 12 years. This year however I really
feel that Universal took a step back. The zones were much too small and they
were greatly reduced in effectiveness by that stupid NO SCARING ON THE SIDEWALKS
rule. What the hell is that! Take away both space in an already small area and
give the guests safe zones. Just retarded!  The very small areas were also
poorly situated in the cases of A:COC and Cirque Du Freak. Both suffering in
regards to a cluster of crowd and in the case of New York a restricted use of a
larger space. That area should be huge! Cirque was in a small circular area that
forced people to just group up in and it became over crowded and the actors
could not even move and do their jobs. Also, I felt that Horror Wood was much
too much a photo op. I realize the average guest likes this, but it seriously
reduces the enjoyment of the zone for the people that want to get what they
expect from a Halloween event and that is to get scared. The use of masks were
also very hit or miss this year with the better ones being from WOTLD and
Containment, but some in Horror Wood and the prosthetics and head pieces in
A:COC were terrible. Masks are ok in houses because you only see them briefly
and you may not see the gaps and neck lines, but on a street you can see
everything and you can scrutinize the thing for long periods of time. It just
does not work well. Anyway, I am getting well ahead of myself so let me now rate
the scare zones this year in the same manner as the house scale was done;

#1- War of the Living Dead- 5 Skulls

As many of you know I love zombies and I am a bit of a WWII buff too so my
interest in this one was obvious. There had been some discussion regarding the
depiction of the warring sides here and I thought that Uni was wimping out a bit
and not using Nazi zombies to avoid a PC backlash. They even changed the wording
on the website and seeing this I lost a bit of faith that this one would be as
good as I hoped. Luckily, the aesthetics and effects helped to create a
believable backdrop in scope. Two opposed forces locked in an epic struggle
through all eternity and you are caught in the crossfire! Sounds good to me and
WOTLD did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the look and feel of the sets and
props. Everything had the appropriate WWII feel and all of the vehicles helped
the depth and layers here. The cannon in the front amongst the sandbags was a
nice starting point, as the loud sound effect of the cannon going off was a nice
touch. The compressed air effects on the zombie soldiers guns surprised me and
again added a nice effect that I don't think guests expected. The concrete
bunker with the flamethrower on top was probably my favorite set piece. It had a
very authentic look to it and the detail of the bullets holes was well done. The
flamethrower zombie helped to round out the look of the artwork on the website
so it was good to see the use of fire. The set pieces of the sides of houses and
barns were surprisingly effective in look and use as a prop that the zombie
could use as cover. I figured that they may not be effective due to the size,
but they blended in nicely. The music in this area was a mixture of military
marching band style songs and speeches by FDR and also some House of 1000
Corpses music which I liked quite a bit. The costumes and overall look of the
zombie soldiers was one of the big positives to me. The quasi German look and
the American looks held up a belief that you did not need the actual flags or
depiction of Swastikas to sell this story. Uni achieved what I thought you they
would not and it was good to see. The masks and make up was excellent. I am not
a fan of masks in scare zones, but these were excellent in design and blended
nicely with the low light levels. The weapons and helmets were fitting and
again, the pressurized air effects were good. The acting was a mixture of good
shambling zombie movements and what you would expect soldiers to move like. I
really think that you needed both to sell this area. I wish more of the actors
were doing the zombie movements. There was one guy on I think cast B, that has
his movements down so good. I think I recall someone saying his was C.J. anyway,
he had this great, slow, almost drunken look to him and then he would come alive
and with lightning speed stick his hand in your face mere inches from touching
you. And he would also do his slow routine and then take off at full sprint down
the street after a guest. He was very effective and I wish I saw more of this
style. The lighting was very good too with very low levels and the flame thrower
helped to break it up, brightening up things from time to time. The barb wire
lighting effects on the street was cool too. Sound effects, such as the cannon
and the bullets whizzing by were perfect. It all had an authentic feel to it
which I appreciated.  The use of fog was also done well that added a subtle
smoke-like quality here. CSW member Brooke had her hands full as special effects
tech and she did a great job!  Overall, I liked this street the best. I really
wish that there was a bit more scaring going on and unfortunately there was way
too much photo ops stuff here too. It really destroys the mood and I wish Uni
would try and avoid this from happening. An excellent scare zone none the less.

Fun memory- Watching guest after guest jump a mile after CJ ran at them or came
within inches of grabbing their face.


#2- Lights, Camera Hacktion!- 4 ½ Skulls

I am not a huge fan of the whole chainsaw thing, but I do respect their place at
HHN and actually enjoy seeing people get freaked out and put themselves in
mortal danger trying to get away. I find it all entertaining every year, but
personally don't think that it is that scary. Anyway, I had very low hopes for
this zones as I thought that it might be a lame themed attempt at getting
chainsaws in an all movie event. The back story of a film crew getting mauled by
actors taking it all too serious sounded pretty funny, so I was game. I imagined
that victims would be used in force and I feel that in the past victims have not
been used effectively. The sets were what I expected with various cameras,
tracking rigs and sets with lighting rigs and craft services tables. It all had
the feel I expected. Nice to see the fake saws buried deep within some of the
sets. The cast is what totally made this zone. The chainsaw guys are aggressive
as usual and full of attitude and intimidation. They are covered in blood from
their victims and I liked to see this level of gore. The interaction with the
film crew victims was just a riot to watch! Seeing Colin stick that guy in a
trash can and saw him into next week what hysterical! Seeing piles of victims in
the middle of the street, priceless! And seeing Captain Clipboard Brendan
jumping and scaring guest after guest with a clipboard, worth the price of
admission. Great show set after set and night after night! I really liked the
new surgical silicon that was used in this zone. The depth of the wounds was
amazing and realistic. Again, the blood used here was very good.. I wish I could
have seen some gags involving cut off limbs or prosthetics like that. Would have
been over the top and gory, but it would have been unexpected and real
considering that there are chainsaw in use here. The reason Hacktion gets such
high marks from me is because of the entertainment value and because of the fun
I see out of the cast and the guests. It was good to see the Chainsaw Drill Team
finally get their own zone too. Wolf made an excellent coordinator  and it was
great to be able to visit him and chat. Excellent job by all involved. I feel
that the "No scaring on sidewalks" rule hurt Hacktion the most. The drill team
are relentless and they should not be contained and restricted in the areas that
they can scare. In years past I have seen chainsaw guys chasing guests right
into bathrooms. I know that there has always been rules such as not running
after guests and no Leather face moves and stuff. But the no scaring on
sidewalks rule is terrible for the event. It goes beyond safety concerns and
ruins a good thing. Not to mention it limits the size of the overall zone. I
would have also liked to see some bigger saws used in this area too. The one at
the end of Cleaver was a surprise and I had heard that saw was modified to look
like a bigger saw blade and was really just a regular sized one. However they
did it, it looked awesome and it would have been nice in Hacktion too. The saws
looked like they got beaten on this year as they were dropping like flies. I
wonder if we will see all new saws for HHN20?

  Fun Memory- Halloween night shenanigans. Seeing the cast of Containment being
chased by Hacktion and seeing the previously great bearded, long haired Monkey
all clean cut and doing his best Clark Kent impression Halloween night.

#3 Horror Wood Die In- 4 Skulls

I had high hopes for this one hoping that lightning would strike the same Mel's
area again after the super Skoolhouse zone last year. The simple idea of horror
movie characters coming out of the drive in screen would be sure to deliver. The
set up was nicely done with the Moon Light Drive in sign stating that there was
a Horror Film Festival scheduled tonight. The sign was one of my favorite set
props built this year for sure. The drive in screen while a bit small was
effective with a mixture of horror film clips and old school drive in
advertisements. Concessions! Popcorn and soda! Let's all go to the movies! Good
stuff! Of course The Usher would pop up from time to time here too. The many
cars and vans with the speaker stand mounted next to them was also nicely done.
The concession stand with the fun signs and artwork was another of my favorite
sets here. Overall the characters depicted here were spot on, Norman Bates,
Nosferatu, The Strangers, Regan, Zombies, monster from Ghost Story, Mrs Ganush
from, Drag Me To Hell, a monster from The Thing, They were all good, however the
use of masks here was very tough in full light and the masks sticking out of
collars and such. The thing monster was cool, but Ghost Story and Nosferatu were
a little less than stellar. The look of Frankenstein's monster was also weak and
the inclusion of Tony Montana from Scarface in a HHN scare zone is silly. He is
not a horror character so why was he here? Sure he was riddled with gunshot
wounds and he is carrying a gun, but he does not belong. I know a lot of people
liked him here and he was quite funny, but I was disappointed to see Uni decide
to include a character like this at HHN. End of rant. The biggest problem here
was again the photo op scenario here. How can actors act if they are talking
pictures every 2 seconds? It takes all flow of atmosphere out of the zone and
makes it a very "un" scare zone. The scaring that I did see was pretty good,
with Regan being very creepy freaking guests out and Nosferatu banging the side
of the van. The Strangers family hunting down people and the character from
Ghost Story screaming for people to get off the cars. The zombies were not
portrayed in a scary way at all and were more funny than anything. Dancing and
using the severed limbs they carried as guitars. Frankenstein's monster was poor
in make up and character as he screamed at people and chased them. Norman Bates
was the best in my mind for faithfulness to character and also scaring. Not too
sure what some of the characters were supposed to be from like the cheerleader
and the maiden looking lady with the scratches on her face. The Thing monster
was pretty fun and freaked out many guests too. The use of the drive in screen
also played as a determent to the zone as the music in the drive in ads did
nothing to create tension or dread. Maybe some more horror movie music would
have served the purpose. Overall this zone was very disappointing and was too
congested and could have been a fun experience for horror movie fans. Instead it
turned out to be a lame photo op area with not a lot of scaring going on.
Between the characterizations and the bad masks and the photos, Horror Wood will
not be remembered in my mind as a great scare zone. Another thing is that there
are too many repeated characters from Silver screams. I am not sure if that was
intentional for consistency or maybe as a cost saving measure, but I did not
like it. Horror Wood would be lower on my list if it were not for how bad the
others were.

Fun Memory; Even those I did not think the character belonged in Horror Wood,
Tony Montana was pretty funny. Tony came over to my group and started staring me
down. I said "nice cocaine under your nose Tony". So he continued to stare me
down. So I said to him "Guys I think I'm about to get that grenade launcher
stuck up my culo". Tony just looks at my and says" You cockaroach!" It was so
funny and it was great to see the actor know the role and know just how to
reply, unlike the guy playing Shaun in Silver Screams.

#4 Cirque Du Freak- 3 ½ Skulls

So Cirque was another of the movie tie-ins that I felt was a poor choice for
HHN. Basically the source material is from a series of teen books and the
upcoming movie (released in October) that looked to be a light hearted film and
not something I would associate with true horror and HHN. That said, I had
minimal hopes for Cirque and I was at least hoping for some cool looking freak
show characters and sets. The fact that Uni decided to recycle the pumpkin patch
area in central park from last year as a connector from Horror Wood to Cirque
was ok by me. I loved that area last year and was thrilled to see the flickering
Jack O lanterns and hear the chilling music once again. It was not quite as good
this time as you did not have the Bloody Mary pumpkin blow out effect nor the
trick or treating skool kids, but it was a nice aesthetic to blend with the
purple lights of Cirque. As you approach you see the carny style lights and hear
the music and the rotund barker urges you forward. "Our Vampaneze don't
bite…….hard." That guy was highly effective as the scripted stuff worked great,
but the improve was the best! I loved when our group approached, mostly all
wearing red CSW shirts, the barker says "What's the matter fellows, the internet
is closed tonight?" Priceless! Onward in the main area of the small zone where
several stages were set up and upon them danced and pranced a series of freaks.
The bearded lady Madame Truska, Evra the snake boy, the double barrel bellied
guy Rhamus Twobellies, the poor guy who appeared to be all nose (not sure of his
name), the main vampire from the story (Larten Crepsley) with his small caged
dancing spider. The area also had several characters of stilts including a set
of blond female twins with did nothing but stand there and another brain guy
with a large forehead. He was a bit more effective with scaring as he swooped
down on unsuspecting guests. Then there were these small, 4 foot cloaked
creatures that were also doing a fair bit of scaring. The bulk of the scaring
was being done by the Vampaneze. This mixture of male and female actors in
Victorian style purple and black dress wearing fangs and nasty dispositions were
every aggressive and I really enjoyed watching them work. They hissed and
screeched and stalked guests relentlessly. It was probably the best scaring I
witnessed this year in the streets. Chris Thompson using that high pitched
squeal was very intimidating and cleared his area every time he came through. He
is a very aggressive scare actor who should get some props. Jessie Cate and
Jessie Reiss were also very good over here as Vampaneze. Overall Cirque was
better than I expected and it is mostly to do with the level of detail to the
sets and characters and the aggressive scaring of the Vampaneze. Some of the
characters were pretty goofy, but that is just following the film so I can't
blame HHN. Nice use of contacts and teeth here on snake boy and the Vampaneze.
The music was a mixture of themes from the film which I felt were excellent.
Tribal rhythms and chants intermixed with orchestral pieces. Lighting was very
vibrant with purples and oranges and greens and plenty of fog too. The one
annual HHN freak you would expect to see here, The Rat Lady, was kinda tucked
always to the side. Not sure if this one due to film rights and that they did
not want her in the direct same area, but if you weren't careful you might miss
her and her handlers. I liked that they changed things up a bit and made her an
actual rat complete with a snout, whiskers and rat teeth. Good usage of an HHN
classic even though she was off to the side. It is too bad this area was
positioned like it was as it was too small and circular, causing crowds to
mingle and congest too easily. It really hurt the area and the actor's ability
to scare. However I did see it as a positive that most of the Vampaneze used to
their advantage, taking the opportunity to sneak up on guests amongst the crowd
and get a good startle scare. I had heard of a scare tactic that the Vampaneze
were doing during the opening weekend that was deemed too scary and they were
told to stop. It involved one of the vamps to identify a particular guest that
looked very scared and then target them and start chanting `Vampaneze,
Vampaneze!!" and every Vampaneze scare actor would converge of this one guest.
Wish I saw that as it sounds awesome! Too bad that Uni does not condone such
tactics as it shows their lack of true scares at HHN and their inability to go
over the top. Guess they are thinking about safety, but this is the same
mentality that gave us the sidewalk scaring rule. If I wanted a lame, not too
scary event I would go to Disney. Overall, Cirque Du Freak was a decent zone
with lots of detail and surprisingly good scares.

Fun Memory; The barker asked me what the skull beads were that I wore on my
wrist. I told him and he asked if they were from a loved one. So I asked my
friend George if he were a loved one and that got a good laugh. The barker then
says, "At least you know your limited options". Good times!

#5 Containment- 3 Skulls
Containment sounded so much like the film Planet Terror on the basis that it
involved an experimental bio-toxin that is released into the air as a green
mist. Anyone unfortunate to breath in the mist becomes a melting zombie person.
I loved Planet Terror and all it's B movie, GrindHouse goodness and saw this
being extremely fun. Oh well! Missed opportunity Universal! The set up was ok,
with some very decent masks of different stages of melting people. Some with
just boils and drippy looking wounds (Scully you rock!), to muddled, pus filled
faces to faces that are completely drooping off, hanging off in ribbons. Nice
job on the make up and masks! Costumes ranged from regular victim to shirts and
jeans to bio-suits and masks. The sets were almost none existent with large blow
up decontamination tents and containers of the agent that was sent airbourne by
snow machines in a soapy, bubble form. Annoying, itchy and stinky. Just glad
that they did not do all out foam like Toxic City back in 2003. The yellow bacon
lights created some cool lighting that helped in the tension/ emergency
scenario. Too bad the green lighting fog was blown away too quickly. I pictured
a wall of green fog for this zone. One you had to pass through and you would not
see the melting people until you they were inches from you. Nope. No such thing.
The green fog only worked every so often and at best was just for look, not
function as I hoped. The music was pretty good as I had hoped for music from
Planet Terror and I got just that. There was severe audio bleed from the end of
this zone down to the start of WOTLD. I could hear bullets whizzing by in
Containment and Planet Terror in WOTLD. A bit too close maybe? The side walk
rule hurt this area again as the space that was used without the sidewalks was
much too small and really limited the actors to what they could do. Of course,
reviewing Containment would be incomplete without mentioning the Military
Doomsayers on the intercom, Rocco and Greg. Firstly, let me just say what a
fantastically entertaining job these guys do every year. The scripted stuff is
said in a manner that keeps it fresh and the improve stuff is worthy of a comedy
club. They tailor their comments and insults to friends and HHN board members
and make it worth while to just come over and say hello. Even though Containment
failed on many levels, the inclusion of the guys up on their truck spouting off
those lines made this area fun indeed. Thanks for the laughs Rocco and Greg!

Fun Memory; Having Rocco tell me to hunker down to avoid the green fog and
continuing to tell me to "Hunker, Hunker!!, Hunker!!!, Hunker!!!, until I was
sufficiently low enough to the ground for my safety. Even though everyone in the
area was standing or walking by looking at the guy in the CSW shirt who looked
extremely funny trying to go as low as I could go. Good times!

#6- Apocalypse- City of Cannibals- 1 Skull

I had no idea what to expect from this one when it was announced, but was very
happy to see the New York area being used. It is such a big area that lends
itself perfectly to scare zones. This one was being described as an end of the
world scenario were underground creatures/ cannibals were coming up from their
dwellings and snacking on the citizens of the city. The artwork on the website
showed these mutant creatures with big eyes and I wonder if we might see the
return of the knuckle grunts for 2005 or something like them. Boy was I wrong!
The costumes and make up for the creatures was some of the worst I have ever
seen at HHN. Some decent airbrush work on the bare chest male actors who wore
these silly looking head pieces that were bald on top with some dreads or
something on the sides and back. It looked terrible! I felt bad for these actors
as they looked pathetic. I saw some of the actors in early pictures in which
they were crawling on the ground and stuff. That depiction worked pretty good
and I know if probably was a pain for the actors, but at least it gave the
appearance of something not human. The actors I saw were just walking around and
not even trying to make none human movements, not even snarling or anything.
They looked goofy and unmotivated. I don't know if this was the stage managers
fault or the actors and I have no idea what the original character was supposed
to look like or how they were supposed to move, but by the third week of the run
and until the last night, they were horrible. It was a scare zone I could care
less if I saw more of and that is saying a lot. I usually love walking through
scare zones and see what they offer for unique elements and acting. A:COC (yes,
a cock) was something out of a lesser haunt and it is surprising how bad it was.
I expect a lot more of Universal and HHN. The sets and props were all recycled
stuff such as the school bus for Skool House and an overturned jeep from JP.
They did not even try and cover up the Jurassic Park logos on the jeep. Oh wow!
I fire hydrant that is spraying water! Some police barricades! Other elements
were almost equally lame as a soundtrack of sirens and helicopters and fireball
blasts on the rooftops. Been there, seen that guys! What is Lord of the Rings
music doing playing in this zone? Weird and almost as if they did not even
consider what would make this work better as a scare zone. The victims here were
also ineffective as there were city people walking around with for some reason,
shards of glass sticking out of their faces. Cool make up, but what was that all
about? A guy walking around with a box that said "Peanuts $2.50'. ???WHAT??? I
did not get what they were doing here at all and it probably only visited A:COC
a total of six times during my 9 nights of HHN. Why not use more of the large
New York street setting too? All that was used was a small section over by
Twister and it did not work was it interfered with the lines for the houses and
just seemed to be it's own little own theme. Weird. It was uninspired,
uncreative and embarrassing. Definitely a low point for HHN scare zones in my
opinion.

Fun Memory; walking over to get in line for Frankenstein and talking with a
member of my group and all of a sudden the girl next to him who appeared to be
texting on a phone, straightened up and screams at my friend "SOMEONE HELP
ME!!!" Pretty funny as it caught us off guard a bit.

Honorable Mention- Shadows of the Past

I had heard some insider info that Uni was planning on doing something special
for the fans during the last week of the run and they did not disappoint. I
really can't critique it too much as it was a last minute, added scare zone that
I was very grateful for and would not want to appear like I did not seem
appreciative. Shadows of the Past utilized Sting Alley which has always given us
fun zones because of it's intimate, tight confines and many curves and nooks and
crannies. The set up was simple. Tons of fog, red lights and a mixture of
horror/ HHN movie music themes and sound bites. A mixture of characters and
icons from past HHN events were positioned around the zone and many were
surprising. Some where a given and there were some notable omissions
(Storyteller, Eddie, Director, Bloody Mary) but some nice surprises too. Cindy,
Dr Albert Caine's lost daughter who only had her presence only as a painting and
again lying dead in a casket in HHN16 Screamhouse: Resurrection, was alive and
very creepy. Standing by her Daddy's side and saying things like, "My daddy is
gonna pull out your insides". Or on one occasion I saw her playing hop scotch.
It was very good to see Cindy brought to life finally. The Usher standing on a
staircase motioning you to be quiet with his finger up to his lips hushing you
and standing cutting the fog with his flashlight. This was a nice effect that
stood out to me. Jack the Clown, as over used as he is and ever the crowd
favorite, stood behind another gate and stairs setting hanging down cackling at
guests. People can not get enough of Jack! Other characters included Eelmouth, a
vampire, Skool Kids, Pumpkin headed demons, a collector from Body Collectors. It
was a nice mixture to tease the past and future of HHN. You could tell that all
of this was put together fairly quickly as a lot of the characters were in black
robes. Some of the prosthetics like the vampires brow and Jack's make up might
not have been up to snuff in regards to quality, but it was much appreciated
none the less. The inclusion of many members of  the Universal Creative team in
the area and Uni media doing interviews with fans gave this a different,
exciting feel as it had been said that this was a teaser for next year as well
as an extra for the fans. The area quickly became a crowded mess as it can be
expected, by it definitely was intimate. I was very thankful for the extra scare
zone and want to thank all of Uni Creative for doing this. It was very fun and
added something new to the mix. Just seeing Cindy brought to life finally made
it all worth it.

Streets Wrap Up

So streets were a big disappointment this year and definitely a step back from
HHN18. I really hope that Uni considers all of these things for next year and
treats the houses and the scare zones equally or close to it. I know that the
budget is bigger for the houses, but I really feel that they skimped this year.
Size of the areas and the side walk rule ruined things big time! Unimaginative
make up and costuming did not help. Lack of direction in acting and consistency
also hurt. WOTLD was excellent, but not one of the best ever and that was the
high water mark this year. Hacktion was very fun, but in the long list of SZ of
the past it was not that great. Less photo ops and efforts to make it less scary
should be a focus. Go all out for the 20th year and give the streets the
attention they deserve.

Halloween Horror Nights 19: Ripped From The Silver Screen was solid year in my
opinion and it was mostly because the houses were all great. I did not expect to
like this year as much as I did as I had feared that an all movie themed event
would ruin the originally of HHN and just be a media and marketing mess of a
year. Universal Creative did a great job at making mundane and aged movie
properties fresh and interesting and created some fun B movie attractions as
well. Overall, not the best year ever, but it was solid enough that I had a
blast!

Next year I hope Universal pulls out all the stops and makes the most of the
opportunity that is HHN20. I hope we don't only get a second helping of HHN16
and get all the old icons and houses again. I am sure there will be elements of
that for sure, but please help start this new decade of HHN with some new
original ideas, themes and characters. I have heard the rumor of Jack getting
married to Chance and that all the previous icons would be guests of honor at
the ceremony. I really hope we don't see that. It sounds like the easy way out
and one that would be made for the marketing and the average guests in mind.
Always money is the target and I know that original ideas are usually pushed
aside for well know stuff. I understand that tried and true, well known
properties usually mean big money at the gate. Just look at the movie industry
where all we get is remakes and sequels. But in the end the majority of those
are crap and I hope that is not what we get next year at HHN20. Time will only
tell and until then we can only guess and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure the
Universal Creative team will do their usual awesome job whatever we get. JUST
MAKE IT SCARY!!!So onward to that dead time of year for us haunt fans and we can
hope to hear some rumors in the summer months. Thank you very much if you are
still reading and a special thanks to Universal and the Creative team who put on
this whole show. Thanks for bringing back the Unmasking the Horror Tour too.
Thanks to all of my friends who work the event and who I got to enjoy the event
with every night I attended. I had a great time at the Universal Palace.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!