Halloween Horror Nights Orlando

Friday, 14 October 2011 20:00

By Matt Sedlar

This was my fourth year at Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando, and I'm admittedly a huge fan of what Universal puts together every single October. The detail and scale of their attractions pretty much beats every single Halloween event out there. Whether it's actually scary or not is something else, which brings me to 2011. Something was a little off this year. The mazes fell generally into three categories: Scary and amazing to look at, amazing to look at but not really scary, and pretty terrible and not scary. Thankfully, only a couple of mazes fell into that last category, but so many fell into the second that I was disappointed.

Some notes: This is 100 percent my opinion, and you should by no means take it as gospel. Because I had the Express Pass, I went through five of the eight mazes twice (and each scare zone several times). You'll never get the same experience twice, and I don't believe it's fair to judge an entire event based on one miserable trip through. Also, Universal's photo policy was inconsistent. The posted signs said "No Flash Photography," but the line control people asked guests to put away their phones and cameras before entering. This means I have zero photos of the mazes. Boo to HHN line control.
 

Click to Enlarge

Photos by M. Sedlar, 2011

Now the part you've been waiting for, my comments.

The Mazes

Winter's Night: The Haunting of Hawthorn Cemetery: I really wanted to like this. The sets in here were beautiful, for lack of a better word to describe a "haunted house." Haunting? Anyway, my issue with this maze was that it was just too bright. The majority of it takes place "outside" in the cemetery, so not a lot of dark spaces for the actors to hide. Some very cool effects involving forced perspective and one scare actor without legs crawling amongst the graves (his/her legs were hidden under the set). Bonus geek points: a Weeping Angel statue from Dr. Who is the first scare in the maze.

The Thing: I've heard some negative comments about the version of this maze in Hollywood. I can't speak for that, but I had a lot of fun in here both times I went through. Maybe it's because I'm a big nerd for Carpenter's The Thing and I haven't seen the prequel. My favorite part wasn't actually a scare. There's a transition between the research station and the spaceship that has you walking "outside" in Antarctica, and they really nailed that with the wind and cold. Lots of fun and some good scares.

Nightingales: Blood Prey: This was absolutely my favorite maze. The concept (nurses who are actually monsters preying on the injured and dead in the trenches of WWI) was unique, and it had plenty of scares. The constant flashes of artillery fire and noises in here made it difficult to see where the actors were coming from. And the nurses catching live prey (which resulted in a little spray of water) was well done. I don't mind the water effects as long as Universal doesn't use them too much (see: Saws N Steam below).

H.R. Bloodengutz Presents Holidays of Horror: H.R. Bloodengutz is the host of a public access television midnight movie show in Ohio, and apparently he loves torturing his producer using methods inspired by the different holidays. Some mildly amusing jokes in here (in the Thanksgiving section, that's not a turkey and I don't want to think about how it was stuffed), but practically no scares. At times it wasn't even that interesting to look at. There's an actual model train circling around Santa's workshop in the Christmas section. That has to count for something, right?

Saws N' Steam: This maze was ridiculous, and not in a good way. The setup was fantastic (very similar to the plot of BioShock but with a creepy twist), and the first room had a really cool effect involving a scrim. But after that, every room was an excuse to get you wet. In one room toward the end, there was a large actor in a suit that looked like a knock-off of BioShock's Big Daddy standing behind a veil of water. He would splash guests as they walked by. Completely unnecessary and not scary. Bonus annoying points: Why was the Express Pass line almost as long as the normal queue? Not cool, Universal.

Nevermore: The Madness of Poe: I like that this maze was inspired by Edgar Allen Poe and had literary references. Sure, everyone knows Poe's more famous works like "The Raven" (at least by name if not by content), but there were plenty of lesser-known stories on display in here, like "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Mask of the Red Death." Overall, there were some good scares and a lot of detail.

The In-Between: I usually don't like 3D effects in haunted houses, but there were some insanely creative scares in here. The story is that a couple college kids playing some kind of satanic board game unlock a portal to another dimension. There were your standard black light effects, but what really stood out were the costumes. A couple of actors had cloaks on and when they got close, they would throw open the cloaks and their entire costume would flash lights. It was trippy and disorienting. Bonus geek points: The Monty Python poster on the wall in the college dorm room.

The Forsaken: Even more impressive than a maze based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe is a maze inspired by Columbus' doomed fourth ship (mostly fictional; although he lost a ship - the fourth - in his final voyage to the New World). The maze takes place in a Spanish fort under attack by the dead crew members of the lost ship. Not really a scary maze, but a lot of great sets, including one open area in the middle of a "storm" and a walk underneath the decks of a tilting ship. Bonus geek points: I'm just guessing here, but the actors' costumes appeared to be inspired by John Carpenter's The Fog, which had a similar story.

The Scare Zones

7: Near the main entrance, some actors sitting on sets inspired by the seven deadly sins. A lot of chainsaws, which is pretty typical for Universal. Meh.

Acid Assault: See the video and pictures above. Not particularly scary, but the effect of walking through a city with the buildings crumbling around you was clever and nicely done.  

Nightmaze: "Quick, grab some black sheets from one of the warehouses. We'll string them up and call it a scare zone!"

Canyon of Dark Souls: Like the nearby Grown Evil, it was fun but a little too small. In fact, the two scare zones were so close together that it was a little jarring. At least there was tons of fire. Fact: You can't have a Halloween Horror Nights without fire. 

Grown Evil: My favorite scare zone. The lighting and the music were perfect. The actors blended in with the scenery, even when they were wearing stilts. I'm not sure why it was called "Grown Evil," other than there was a lot of foliage around. The actors were dressed up as bats and ravens, which I guess grow up around foliage. Nitpicking aside, it was great.

Your Luck Has Run Out: A dark, fog-filled alley near Acid Assault that had more ladies and gambling references. It was scarier than 7, but a little too short.  

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