For my biggest fan & supporter Christian_ who commented on my blog last year so he could read later, and then forgot until I reminded him <3.
Overall:
I was excited going into this year because of the 6/3.5 split in Original vs IP. Don't get me wrong- the IPs are always amazing and have a lot of work put into them, but the originals are always the ones that surprise you with the creativity. So seeing the increased amount of houses, it sounded good to me! However, they all felt very random and as if they pulled 2 random words out of a hat... (Coven & The Roaring 20s / Prison & Monsters / 1950s House of the Future & Bugs / Subway & Mutants / Fiesta & Chupacabra / Pier & Undead Fisherman <- Tell me I'm wrong- they don't go together LOL... except maybe dead mans per). But the originals kinda outsold this year, whoops. Anyways, it was an overall good year with some flops but the GREAT really making up for it. Let's get to the ranks bestie.
10. The Weeknd: After Hours Nightmare
Oh this house was dog shit served on a platter. Imagine this- you're standing in a 40 minute line and the entire time you have his god awful music BLARING as if you are at this mans concert so loud you can barely hear yourself talk. You finally get into the house... and there is nothing of substance. Of all 10 this house had the least amount of scare actors, which is insane considering it was not the very end of the night and this is the house they keep flexing the hardest in their advertising? Like- I am talking extremely minimal amount. There is absolutely no storyline that this house tries to give you. The effort feels minimal and the only way anyone can convince me they enjoyed this is if they are a fan of his music. Bottom tier- would not recommend.
9. Bugs: Eaten Alive
I had such high hopes for this house?? Everyone I went with had this as the house they were least excited for, and I was over here defending it saying that its set in the 1950s house of the future and they have material to work with to surprise us with. I was wrong. She was just okay. There were some cool special effects they included in this one. Kind of just average and nothing to write home about.
8. Fiesta De Chupacabra
From the release- I was a bit skeptic of her. A fiesta had me on the fence of whether it would be a hit or miss. However, I do love my creature features... so I was definitely excited to see if this one would be as iconic as Yeti: Terror of the Yukon a few years back. Except..... she wasn't a creature feature. This was just a murderous village type house. Truly, it just did not fit a preconceived vision I had for it, and the direction it took instead was just kind of a let down... & the features of the chupacabra just looked like old pieces from a werewolf house. They just looked like regular wolves.
7. Spirits of the Coven
I really wanted to love this one. I mean... Flapper Girl Witches??? Can you put two more separate, yet iconic, things together? However, it just kind of felt like something I have seen before. It promised originality, and truly I just got a witch house that wasn't in the woods (for once) which was nice, but it really did not leave any sort of impression that wowed me. I would recommend her, but she was just kinda basic.
6. Hellblock Horror
Without a doubt in my mind, this was the house they came up last minute with due to the Netflix IP dropping out. Was it amazing? No. However, considering she never had a line longer than '20' minutes, and I truly just walked right in to it, it was very refreshing after the 40+ minute waits all night. The whole prison thing, meh, the whole monster inmates thing, meh- but there was this one really amazing room where you walked in and the lights became blinding to where as soon as you walked out there was someone waiting for you. That was fun. I had low expectations, but they exceeded them.
5. Descendants of Destruction
So, here we are at my preseason favorite. She was my pick, and somehow... this was also the longest line of the night, which was surprising. This one spoke to me- it was set in a subway of a post apocalyptic world and there were mutants. I really was hoping they went for a claustrophobic feeling (being in a subway and all) that never really came to me, but it was a very solid house. There were some cool elements like hand costumes being poked through holes in the wall, and at one point one of the scare-actors costumes hit me in the face which I kind of stanned. I don't think it met the expectations I had for it, but it did leave me satisfied and I enjoyed her.
4. Universal Monsters: Legends Collide
I will be the first to admit that I am that bitch that shits on Universal and them not letting them classics go. We've moved on, I don't care about the 30s. And like... The Mummy vs Dracula vs Werewolf? She sounded a mess. However, Universal stans them & they put time, money, and effort into this one. The Mummy was the main star in this one- you start off by walking into a beautiful set of ancient Egypt & a pyramid and that energy was upheld throughout. There were appearances from the other 2, but I liked the direction this one took and going from The Weeknd into this one where the scare-actors were just around every corner? It was a major hit for me.
3. Halloween
They like... just did a Halloween house 3 years ago or something, so I was not excited to see Mr. Myers return this soon. I do think Halloween as a series is overrated, and it is my least favorite of the iconic 70s/80s huge name slasher. The house was very true to the original movie and they always do an amazing job of immersing you into that movie whether you are a fan of it or not. The final room in this house was amazing, with your standard multiple fake props of him with a few blended in and waiting to pop out at you. It was overall, a really amazing house.
2. The Horrors of Blumhouse
The first two Blumhouse houses they did? A whole ass mess. Awful pacing, extremely unbalanced for the featured movies, and really just too much Purge. However, they took a few years off having one and came back with this masterpiece. What they did with Freaky? I was pleasantly surprised. It just worked really well, and then the same thing with The Black Phone. Once again, you just kind of got to walk through the movies, it was extremely immersive, and it was just very well done, and also a 50/50 balance between the two. I will say I had a preference to the Freaky half just because my spot in line was better meshed with the pacing of the house- but the Black Phone portion did not disappoint either.
1. Dead Mans Pier: Winter's Wake
I had extremely high expectations for Dead Mans Pier after it was announced, and they were exceeded with this one. The set for this one was just- jaw dropping and amazing. It was a true 360 experience. Typically, the roof is just a roof, but there was even stuff above you going on that just added to the scene setting throughout. I have nothing negative to say about this one- it by itself is almost worth the price of admission to Halloween Horror Nights & will rank up there with some of my all time favorite houses from this event specifically, and all of the ones I like to do with my halloween season. Amazing. We stan.
