Halloween Horror Nights 24: Preview!

I was privileged enough to catch the Team Member Preview of Halloween Horror Nights 24 last night.  Even though I didn't get to see all the houses, I had a chance to see the scarezones, Bill & Ted, and 6 out of the 8 houses.  In summary, it seems much of the energy went into the houses this year.  My initial hour in the event was not impressing me much, but when I finally started going into houses, my opinion of the event drastically changed.  This could shape up to be a very good year!  I'm going to keep this preview review as short as possible since I don't want to gauge my total overview of the event from the preview night.  The reviews below are only based on Preview Night.   Some, if not ALL of these can change come opening night-end of the event.

Shows

Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure

Pros: FROZEN, MAGIC BANDS, CAPTAIN AMERICA


Cons: Recycled Material, Lack of Laughs, Odd Pop Culture References, needs some script revisions. 

GRADE:  C-

Streets

Bayou of Blood

Pros: Good street atmosphere

Cons: Lack of scareactors and execution, needs some revisions - could be good come opening night!  It was missing the human sacrifices too for previews.  

GRADE:  C

MASKerade: Unstitched

Pros: EVERYTHING.  This scarezone just WORKS! Beautiful costumes, immersing atmosphere.

Cons: None.

GRADE:  A+

Face Off - In the Flesh

Pros: Good Photo Op Area, Great Costumes, Interactive Scareactors!  Those guys work it!

Cons: Wide pathway, lots of empty space.

GRADE:  B+

The Purge: Anarchy

Pros: Sets, Music, Sound, and the Auction.  Great atmosphere.

Cons: Scareactors need to get into their groove, lack of good scares/intensity of the films.

GRADE:  B

 Houses

AVP: Alien vs. Predator 
GRADE: A++

Best house of the night.  Sets, movie references, PUPPETS, facehuggers, Alex! Totally floored by this house.  One of the best they've done in years.  A geek's wet dream!

From Dusk Till Dawn 
GRADE: D

Rather dull.  Sets were nice to look at, but it lacked scareactors and had too much empty space.  My least favorite of the night.

Dracula: Untold - Reign of Blood 
GRADE: B

Enjoyed this house.  Good atmosphere and sets.  Plenty of good scare areas.  Scareactors seemed to be into their roles.  Mix Castle Vampyr with a little of Gothic (HHN 22)/Nightingales (HHN 21).

Dollhouse of the Damned 
GRADE: A++

Second favorite of the night.  Creepy and sometimes downright disturbing.  This is a house on some major drugs.  Great sets and creativity.  Scareactors on their game! Great scares.  Love the entrance too!

Giggles & Gore Inc.
GRADE: A

Mix Nightshade Toy Factory from Howl O Scream with Leave it to Cleaver (for the whacky factor).  Some fun sets and super creative.  Good scares too.

Roanoke- Cannibal Colony 
GRADE: A-

Great sets, good theming.  Creepy and immersive with it's small and tight walk area.  Good placement of scareactors.

Summary

Putting my faith in this year.  With what I have seen, this could shape up to be an amazing one!  I also found it interesting that they grabbed some ideas from Howl O Scream (Bayou and Dolls).  Houses are almost ALL great.  Scarezones are OK, but I think they will improve.  Bill & Ted, well we will just see what the script department does.  Great job to the HHN Creative team this year. Looking forward to the "real thing" on Friday!

Visit my Flickr Page for some pictures: Flicker - HHN 24