HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS 2018 REVIEW

The classic monsters overlooking it all

After taking a couple years off from the event, the girlfriend surprised me September 19 with an early birthday present...tickets to Halloween Horror Nights 2018! With more houses than ever, and a 1980s theme, this year promised to be bigger and better than ever. Was it? Well, let's take a look!

Here. We. Go.

PRICES, PARKING, AND ALL THE NON-FUN STUFF

So right off, I am going to redirect you to my 2014 review. Why? Because that review goes over pricing, parking, the walk into the park, and all the other nuts and bolts of getting into the event. This stuff is all the same, except the prices, naturally, have increased. So take a second, read that review over, and learn all about getting into the event...I'll wait....ah, welcome back. Yes, you read that right, the tickets and parking are even more expensive this year.

The start of CityWalk

With that out of the way, I will focus the rest of this on what we all go to the party for--the fun stuff!

THE SCARE ZONES

Universal wants you to not only enjoy the houses, but getting there as well, so they set up themed scare zones throughout the park. Sometimes, these can be some of the most fun things to do, as was the case in my 2014 review and the Face Off zone, which was great. Sometimes, though, these zones are less than impressive--we had both this year. Let's have a look at each of them.

The story behind this Scare Zone is that Chucky from the Child's Play movies has brought a bunch of other toys to life to wreak havoc. I came into this one with mixed feelings--I have never been a fan of the Child's Play movies, but the concept of the toys coming to life seemed interesting. Unfortunately, the payoff wasn't quite there. We went through this area a couple times, and each time there were a couple toys wandering aimlessly, and the character actors seemed uninterested. There was a stage where, presumably, Chucky would make an appearance, but we never saw the show...or Chucky for that matter, which I am okay with--when I heard this was going to be a Scare Zone I pictured a bunch of midgets dressed as Chucky chasing me around, so for as bad as this zone was, at least it wasn't that!

She was kind of scary and into it at least

As you enter Universal Studios, you do so on a street that runs all the way to the other side of the park--this stretch is where you will find about half the houses, and is almost always where the headliner houses are. Every year, there is a Scare Zone taking up about half of this road, and this year that zone is The Harvest. As a child of the Midwest, I am a big fan of the whole harvest/scarecrows/pumpkins angle on Halloween, so I was excited to see this zone--walking through it made me less so. There were a few pumpkin spooks on stilts, but this area largely seemed an elaborate advertisement of the more popular houses--albeit pretty cool advertisements. We didn't spend much time in this zone either, but my girlfriend/photographer did snap the following pictures on the way out.

Pure Evil

They built this house where?

I think I've seen this before

Wrong way!

What are the lights telling you?

Remember when I said the whole thing about pumpkins and scarecrows? THIS is what I was picturing! Located in Central Park, a fantastic place for Scare Zones, Twisted Tradition is what you want out of a Scare Zone--it's decorated very well, the characters are creepy and were really into it, and walking through the area was actually a little scary! Oh yeah, and there were pumpkin things everywhere! They have mutant pumpkin people, Jack-o'-lanterns hanging from trees, and amazing pumpkin decorations all around. Twisted Tradition is easily the best Scare Zone of the year, and one of my all-time favorites.

Awesomeness

Gross, but so cool

Welcome to my zone

The general theme of this year's Halloween Horror Nights was a return to the 1980s (we've seen this already with Child's Play, and you'll see more of this later when we look at the houses). Vamp '85: New Year's Eve is almost exactly what it sounds like--it's themed to New Year's Eve 1985. I bet if I think real hard, I can remember New Year's Eve 1985.

The decoration of this zone is impressive--there are two stages, one designed to emulate the Times Square ball drop, and the other showcasing a deceased hair metal band. The area blared 80s music all night, which is always a nice touch, and the general feel of the zone was really cool. Call me crazy, but when I hear the name "Vamp '85", I am picturing a bunch of vampires, but instead we get zombie versions of Prince, D.M.C. of Run-D.M.C. fame, and L.L. Cool J, among others. Not that this in and of itself is a bad thing, it's just that they didn't really do much other than walk around. There was also random 80's looking zombie people roaming about--one guy was carrying a cassette player and asked if I add any cassettes on me--he walked about before I could joke about having Dead Kennedys and Dead Milkmen tapes. One absolutely awesome thing that happened in this area--this woman posing as a news reporter covering the story of the outbreak approached people to ask them questions--she came up to my girlfriend and asked her what she thought about what was going on around her as the camera operator shot it. This was a really cool, unique interactive experience. I can't comment on the stage show, as, regrettably, we missed this, but even without it, Vamp '85 was a cool zone.

They're not gonna take it anymore!

10...9...8...

It's Killer Klowns From Outer Space, and it's pretty much what you expect. We glanced into this zone but skipped it because it didn't look interesting in the least.

THE HOUSES

In spite of everything else going on during Halloween Horror Nights, it's the houses we really come for. As I said before, we were presented with ten different houses this year. Let us imagine we are entering the park and walking straight ahead, hitting the houses along the way then moving clockwise throughout the park. Following this route, the first house we come across is... 

Yes, the first house you come across this year is the headliner! Combining elements of the first season and the second season of the hit Netflix show, this house immediately takes you into the world of Hawkins, Indiana. If you are a fan of the show, you will certainly want to enter this house. You will recognize so much, and plenty of detail went into this one. Particularly good about this house is when you walk through the portion that is designed to resemble the Byers household--you feel like you are in the actual house! This is not only one of the coolest parts of this house, but also one of the overall best experiences of the entire event. Another nice touch is the actors--when we went through this house, we saw Joyce, Hopper, Dustin, and Lucas, and they all, especially the girl playing Joyce and the guy as Dustin, looked just like the actual actors! My only complaint about this house is coming across the Demogorgans far too early and far too often. 

Hurry! Hurry! Step right up! The story here is an abandoned carnival is overrun by the clowns and other misfits who used to work there. I am a sucker for anything with a carnival theme, so I liked this house from the moment I stepped into it. The first couple rooms you go through here are really cool--rusted out scraps of rides and signs are everywhere, and the ambiance is very creepy. This gets a little less so as you make your way through the rest of the house, with the clowns and others jumping out to scare you, but there are a couple wacky interactive things, such as pushing a button that doesn't spray you, but does spray the person in front of you! We went through this house twice, but unfortunately, the timing was off, so we saw every single scare coming both times. Still, this one is worth doing for the props alone.

The Wicked Witch has terrorized the land of fairy tales, turning the characters you know and love into hideous monsters! As soon as you enter this house, you know you are in for something. That first room is very spacious, dark, and ominous, and sets the mood perfectly. Depending on your timing, you may see something really cool in this room--the first time we went through, there were no characters in the there, but the second time we arrived, the Wicked Witch herself (or himself, we suspect) was hovering above us, shouting, and even flying! This added touch adds a lot of awesomeness to an already cool house. Take the time to identify the characters--the Three Little Pigs area is especially awesome. The biggest misstep in this house is the Little Mermaid/underwater area. It doesn't look very creepy, and the weird fish people things are just...weird, but not in a good way.

One thing you will notice with these houses is the ones based on movies or shows do a good job of making you feel like you are in the movie or show, and Poltergeist certainly does that! As you walk in you are met by really, really cold air, and the first time we went through, even colder rain. It put me in mind of a particularly brutal torture scene from Saw 3.

That's the one

If you can avoid freezing to death, you get the groundwork of the story about to unfold in front of you, and if you have ever seen the original Poltergeist film, you will have a great appreciation for the detail they put into this house. The scares are decent, and the characters in the house are intense. The best part of this house is the props and mechanics, which are breathtaking. If you are going to HHN and you have not seen this movie, do yourself a favor and watch it before you go--your appreciation for this house will be much greater!

If you have seen Happy Death Day, you will recognize this house right from the get-go. The baby-faced killer jumps out to scare you around practically every corner, but that is it for the scares. What makes this house unique, and is by far the coolest thing about it, is how it follows the main theme of the movie--I don't want to spoil this in case you have not seen this movie, but if you have seen it, you will appreciate what this house does. Oddly, once this portion of the house is over, we enter another Blumhouse production, based on The Purge. If you have read my reviews of The Purge films, you know I am not a huge fan, and going from the Happy Death Day part of this house to the Purge part of it feels like a huge drop off. Mercifully, the Purge rooms are few, but it is quite a disappointing way to end an otherwise cool house. 

Ever wanted to be in the movies? Slaughter Sinema gives you that chance, but you may regret your decision! While most of these houses have limited exterior design, this one brings the awesomeness well before you step foot in it.

Walking up to the house

I will get back to this in a moment. You enter the house, and the first room you are in looks like a drive-in theater lobby. From there, you enter a room that has movie posters and props for a fictitious film, with a mock radio ad for the movie playing. The room you enter after that puts you in the movie. I cannot state enough how fantastic this house is. There are a total of 10 movies you walk through, and every one of them is very well done. If you are a fan of old B-movies, you will absolutely love this house. We liked it so much we went through it three times this night. As if all this wasn't enough to make this an incredible house, when the sun goes down, they actually show trailers on the screen outside the house for the fake movies inside the house! While I have loved many of the houses over the years, Slaughter Sinema is by far and away my all-time favorite.

A zombie outbreak is causing chaos in Paris, and you are trapped in it! Walking up to the house, you see a bunch of military stuff, so my expectations for this house were low right from the start--in years past, any sign of military anything meant loud machine guns, guys screaming, and little else--this was not that at all! As you walk into the house, you hear loud announcements about the infected and not letting the chemicals get on you--you then receive quite a surprise! This room is very dark, and the strength of it is playing with your senses. If you pay close enough attention, you will see hints of where you are, and when you enter the catacombs, the creepiness factor intensifies. We both liked this house quite a bit more than we expected to.

A meteor strikes Earth, eliminating people and resulting in alien people plants. Walking through this house, I couldn't help but think "It's Jordy Verrill walking through Life After People"--and that's certainly not a bad thing! To drive home the point of just how much these things have taken over the planet, the setting is the deserts of Arizona--the juxtaposition of the vegetation in the desert was surreal and actually really cool. There was something about this house that just seemed off--I think the awe of walking through what seemed a desolate place took me mentally out of where I was, so the scares turned out to be minimal--still, this house is worth doing simply for the oddity of it. 

Aside from my love of the 1980s making me want to attend this year's event, this house, based on the movie of the same name, REALLY made me want to come out and play. If I were to make a list of my ten favorite horror movies of all time, Trick 'r Treat would certainly be on it, so my excitement level coming in to this one was pretty high--I was not disappointed. Just as in the movie, the rooms all tie in together, and the scenes are phenomenal. Mr. Kreeg welcomes you with a shotgun blast as he is trying to kill Sam, you come across practically every character from the movie as you go about your journey, and you get the sense you are in the movie. I somehow only briefly saw one werewolf chick the first time we went through, but I saw them all the second time, and they look terrifying. The house also ends with quite a bang. This is another house that had a little going on at the front of it.

Hello Sam!

We went through this house twice, the second time coming near the end of the night (it was the final house we did), and the second time we went through it was possibly the greatest thing to ever happen at Halloween Horror Nights--we were the only people walking through the house when we entered, so we had every room to ourselves! Not only did this eliminate having annoying people around, but it gave us more time to check out and appreciate the details of the house, and many of the characters in the house became much more playful than normal. After we left, we talked about how much we would pay to have this experience in every house. If you're a fan of Trick 'r Treat, you will love walking through this one.

Our final house takes us to Haddonfield. Based on the 1988 film, this oddly specific house has a lot to live up to when compared to the Halloween house from 2014, and it comes up short. We start off in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, where we find other inmates acting awkward, though Michael makes short work of one of them, which is nice. We then wander around, having Michael after Michael coming after us. This is the problem with this house--too many Michaels. This is fine when they are spread out, but at one point, my girlfriend saw three of him at once, taking you out of the moment. The Michaels did provide a couple good scares though, and the appearance of Dr. Loomis at the end was really cool. I was a little disappointed with this house, but it was still fun for what it was.

RANKING THE HOUSES

It was tough to rank the houses this year because they were all so good! But this is a tradition of ours, so here are the results--the number after the house is where my girlfriend ranked the house.

10. Seed of Extinction (10)

9.   Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (9)

8.   Carnival Graveyard: Rust In Pieces (7)

7.   The Horrors Of Blumhouse (8)

6.   Dead Exposure: Patient Zero (5)

5.   Stranger Things (4)

4.   Scary Tales: Deadly Ever After (3)

3.   Poltergeist (6)

2.   Trick 'r Treat (2)

1.   Slaughter Sinema (1)

THE REST

There is also a large stage show titled Academy of Villains: Cyberpunk. This seems to be some sort of light show with acrobats and dancing, which sounds really cool, but unfortunately, we just didn't have the time to work this one into the night--maybe next year.

It should also be noted that many of the rides are also open during the event. Though it is an awesome ride, we skipped Revenge of the Mummy; another great one we skipped was Rip Ride Rockit. We did make time for Gringotts and Men In Black, both of which we love, and, for the first time, tried Fast & Furious Supercharged--if only I could have those twenty minutes of my life back. The biggest tragedy of this ride is knowing how awesome the ride they took away to put this disgrace in was. 

The moon looking all cool

Universal also does a good job with giving directions to the houses throughout the park, via large signs.

Signs like this

And this

I'm not sure what pizza fries are but they have those too

Another thing  to point out is that chainsaw wielding lunatics just kind of roam around different areas outside the scare zones, so that's something to keep an eye out for. Also keep an eye out for the more subtle touches throughout the park. My favorite under this category was spotted by my girlfriend...

Wonderful!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Before I get to the good stuff, there are a few complaints I have about the event, and some are ones I have had every year: 

Unlike in some other parks, where you are sent through the houses in groups, Universal sends you through in a constantly moving line. The problem with this approach is you OFTEN see the scares coming before you get to them. 

I would LOVE to see more theming near the back of the park. There is practically nothing between the Vamp area and Blumhouse to even remind you that you are at a Halloween event. The same thing, to a bit of a lesser degree, happens on the other side of the park. 

A lot of the characters in the houses use voice recorders for the scares. I understand that these guys and gals have to yell and scream all night, and that can take it's toll on your voice and throat, but the recorders they use just sound artificial and cheap. 

My main complaint is the same thing it is every year--Universal does a wonderful job immersing you in these houses, making you feel like you are really in the world they created...and then you see the Universal employees. I'm not talking about the characters, I am talking about employees just standing in every couple rooms, dressed like a regular employee, leaning against a wall, looking bored out of their minds as they point in a direction and move their other hand in a motion telling everybody to hurry up and get through this already--a couple times they actually yell at you to keep moving and hurry along. This takes you completely out of the moment, and can ruin the entire experience. The best example of this this year was with Seeds of Extinction--the story of the house is that humans are now extinct, yet every other room we have a human telling us to get moving! I get it--you have these people there to make sure nobody is doing anything stupid, but you do not have to have them acting in this manner. Dress them like they are a part of the scene. Instead of having them move you along like they are herding cattle, have them get into the scene and yell out something along the lines of "The only escape is this way!" Even better, set up cameras in each room and have somebody monitor them, taking these jackasses out of the room completely. 

Other than these things, Universal really outdid themselves this year. This was easily the best night we ever experienced at Halloween Horror Nights. For the first time in the years we have gone, all the houses were really good, with no duds at all. When you look at Seeds of Extinction at the bottom of my list above, don't think it's a bad house--it's actually a really good house, it's just that the houses this year are really, really good. Twisted Tradition and Vamp are really fun scare zones as well. It will cost you a lot of money, you will have to deal with the things I mentioned above, but more so than any other year I have gone, Halloween Horror Nights 2018 is worth it. I very much recommend going this year, especially if you are a fan of the 1980s. This was the best production the park has put in in the years we have gone. 

Til next year...