Halloween Horror Nights 29: Retro rampage

Universal is back with the premier Halloween event in the country, deciding to go with a retro vibe this year, highlighting the neon nights of the 1980s. On the heels of the incredible 28, HHN 29 continues to prove why Universal is one of the best in the haunted industry.

Houses:

Stranger Things- A returning theme from last year, this year’s house focuses on seasons two and three. Last yeah many thought that the first house was well designed and beautiful, but was lacking in the scares department. Once again, the house is aesthetically amazing. Rather it be the cabin scene with the Mind Flayer attacking from above, to the final battle at the Starcourt Mall, the house provides massive sets that are filled with people. While still not exactly the scariest house, it is a drastic improvement from last year. There is a feeling of repetition for visitors who went last year, but it is nowhere near as bad as the Walking Dead years. Much better iteration this year, but hopefully this gets a break for a year or two.

4.25 / 5

Jordan Peele’s Us- Despite my issues with the movie itself, I went into this one expecting the story to create a good house. This attraction lived up to my expectations. Going from the fun house all the way to the underground labs, this movie follows the plot of the movie well. This is both a good and a bad thing, because if you are unfamiliar with the movie the change in scenery will be confusing. People in our group hadn’t seen it and were wondering what exactly was going on. The house does succeed even with this issue, because the actors in this house absolutely kill it. This have an intensity that is rarely seen at a theme park event. A really good house with actors deserving all the credit.

4.5 / 5

Universal Monsters- Always a joy to see the classics get the spotlight. A no gimmicks needed love letter to the monsters that made Universal, this is a great house at giving a modern, darker twist to these characters. Great to see characters like the Phantom and the Hunchback get some due respect and their own scenes too This did a great job respecting these classic monsters and provided some great misdirection scares. The set design was incredible too, managing to invoke a feeling of the settings of the classic movies, while still making them much more grim and violent then what would’ve come nearly a century ago. A great house.

4.5 / 5

Nightingales: Blood Pit- A sequel to the amazing Nightingales: Blood Prey from HHN 21, this house follows the demonic Nightingales as they feast during a particularly vicious run at the Roman coliseums. Easily one of the goriest houses in a long time at HHN, Blood Pit revels in violence. A horrible smell like rotting meat permeates throughout the entire house, and the setting is impressive, making you feel like you are trapped in this Roman nightmare. The actual design of the Nightingales is somewhat weak, as the masks for the actors are more funny than scary. Also, the scares are lacking in this house, missing out on the intensity of the original house from years ago. Still, an enjoyable house overall that is worth it just for the immense carnage.

4 / 5

Depths of Fear- Great preshow room for this one. The house takes place on a deep-sea station that has picked up a lifeform that is infecting the crew and making monsters. The preshow features the captain warning people to stay away, but of course, like all stupid horror characters, you head inside anyways. This is a fun one, reminiscent of a lot of the body horror sci-fi films from the 1980’s like The Thing. The house does a great job at making the setting feel real, while making the creatures feel as ridiculous as possible. This is not a bad thing, as it fits the theme well and the puppetry of the creatures is very well done, showing off how skilled Universal has gotten in their designs. This is in the same location as Slaughter Sinema from HHN 28 and this feels like the perfect follow-up to that house. It is a house that is fun and as silly as possible, while still managing to get great scares.

4.75 / 5

Yeti: Terror of the Yukon- A spin-off to the entertaining Swamp Yeti portion of the Slaughter Sinema house, this year the Yeti gets a full house to shine in. Set inside a wooded area during some serious snow, you travel through cabins, the woods, through the Yeti’s home and other locations as the local population is under siege by bloodthirsty Yetis. This one manages to keep the humor from Slaughter Sinema, while also manages to be dark and violent. There are some brutal scenes in this house, including people being ripped apart. What is impressive is that violence is well used as a misdirection device, allowing for great scares. The Yeti’s themselves are massive and imposing, yet the house is designed in such a way that they manage to stay well hidden until going for their scares. An intense and incredible house.

5 / 5

Ghostbusters- This house looks amazing. The sets look straight out of the movie. From the firehouse to Dana’s apartment to the hallways of the hotel with Slimer flying around, this is ripped straight from the film. The effects are great, with ghosts appearing using some classic illusion tricks to great puppetry. The actors in the house all look really close to the film actor’s and help to create the immersion. If your goal is to experience the movie in person, this is as close as you can get. Unfortunately, the kind of forgot the scares. Completely. For how well designed this house is, it is a shame that it just doesn’t work well as a haunted house. There was obviously passion for this house, but in the end, it just comes off as weak.

2.75 / 5

Killer Klowns From Outer Space- After the incredible scarezone from last year, the Klowns return with their own house. This house is pure joy. You can tell that the team behind the event love this movie and it comes through in the design. Bright and colorful and loud, the house is a love letter to this ridiculous film. The monsters are designed exquisitely and look like they just walked off the screen. The house recreates everything from the town’s backstreets, to the big top, to the showdown with Klownzilla. The final room is a chaotic room full of Klowns blaring the theme song. This house definitely is helped by knowing the movie, but if you do, this is an incredible house.

5 / 5

Graveyard Games- The highlight house of this year. Join teens that have decided to play around in the graveyard and the residents are not happy about it. This house is incredible. The graveyard looks amazing, feeling like a place that has many years of bad history, and is filled with lots of cramped claustrophobic areas. The vengeful spirts are intense, coming out of seemingly everywhere, including walls that just disappear in an impressive special effect. The house seems to just keep up the pressure, creating an experience that you usually don’t find at a theme park. This is one of my favorite houses I’ve had the pleasure of doing it HHN over the years, and I hope this is one that gets a revisit in the future.

5 / 5

House of a 1000 Corpses- This is one a pure showcase of chaos in haunted house form. Replicating the Rob Zombie film, this house allows you to visit Captain Spaulding, Otis, Baby, and all the other fun family members of the Firefly Clan. This house spotlights the absurdity and excess of the film, which feels like a live-action cartoon. This a house that continuously builds the intensity and tension, leading to the showdown with Dr. Satan and then trying to escape. The actors all seem gleefully insane, and have an edge to them that makes it obvious they are enjoying their work. This is another great house for the event, and easily the best of the IP houses and knows how to bring the scares.

5 / 5

Scarezones:

Zombieland Double Tap- Based around both the new and original movie, this one highlights a lot of broken-down cars filled with bodies, porta potties daring those passing by to open, and theme park rides carrying fresh victims. The design of the zone is cool and uses the New York area of the park to nice effect. However, there have been multiple zombie scarezones in the park over the years, and this is the weakest one I can remember. There just doesn’t seem to be that many actors on the streets, and there wasn’t a whole lot of non-zombie characters to offer any type of high-powered scares. It just felt like the amount of people on the streets didn’t come close to the amount needed to fill the size of the zone. However, the soundtrack of the area was awesome, and like stated earlier, the design of the zone was cool. Weakest zone of the year.

3 / 5

Rob Zombie HellBilly Deluxe- Based on his debut solo album, this zone is a trip into the demented mind of Rob. The album blasts over the speakers with videos playing on the San Francisco rooftops. Pyro blasts off on top of rigging holding lights and signs declaring the zone. This area lets you know exactly what you are getting into. This zone was always packed when we went inside, making moving through the midway hard. Despite this the actors managed to provide scares, while taking advantage of misdirection from dancing girls on the side and photo ops. This feels like the prime Universal scarezone, managing to provide good scares while also allowing for people to get in photos and people watch, making it a great spot to draw crowds to. If you love the music and work of Rob Zombie, this zone will of course get bonus points as well. Even if you don’t, this is still a great zone that feels like something from years ago.

5 / 5

Anarch-Cade- For awhile now the scarezone at the entrance of the park has been the weakest at the event year after year. Usually they are sparsely themed areas that are more photo-op than scarezone. That changed this year. Anarch-Cade is easily the zone of the year. A neon-nightmare filled with flashing lights and arcade machines, this introduces the 80s theme perfectly. The actors are energetic, weaving in and out of the lights providing great scares. The music blares while stilt walkers take pictures, and monsters run around garnering loud scares. This zone is the barker at the front of the carnival, luring the crowd in. Unbelievably good and hopefully a sign of the quality of the entrance zones from now on.

5 / 5

Vanity Ball- Wander into this zone to witness the celebration of beauty. Well, a warped version of it. Models wander the zone, flesh hanging off from surgery designed to make them achieve beauty perfection. A catwalk sits in the center of the zone, where bloodied models do their strut while a barker taunts the onlookers. Another great zone. The makeup work on this one is brutal, and the actors are both scary and hilarious. The fact that this zone is also set in the Hollywood section of the park just feels perfect to. Another great zone near the entrance of the park that sets the tone for the overall event.

5 / 5

Vikings Undead- Located in the Central Park area of the park, this zone is in sharp contrast to the rest of the zones. While the rest of the zones are loud and bright, this zone is more subdued, with fog pouring in with a dark, gloomy soundtrack that is only broken by screams from those who have ran into the Vikings. Another strong zone for this year. The zone feels like the typical Central Park zone, taking advantage of the narrow streets to make a claustrophobic zone that elicits great scares. Great prop work on the sides using execution methods like the Blood Eagle do a great job of distracting to allow scares to hit hard. The only issue with this zone is that at times it felt like there was a slight lack of actors for the amount of people walking through. Still, another great one.

4.75 / 5

Shows:

Academy of Villains: Altered States- It’s Academy of Villains. At this point if you are going to the event, you know if you enjoy this style of show or not. For those who do, this is the strongest year since their first appearance. Providing a simple narrative that has some fun humor and good setups for the various acts, the story is there just enough to make it work. The acts themselves are varied and entertaining, with a contortionist being the highlight of them all. Another high-energy show, it still does feel like the major drawback for this show is putting it in a place where the crowd sits down. One of the best aspects of the first couple shows were that the stage was set in an area to draw in crowds like a siren and allowed interactions that got the crowd pumped. Still, this is an enjoyable show that continues to show the impressive work of this troupe.

4.5 / 5

Halloween Marathon of Mayhem- How did it take this long for Universal to do a lagoon show for HHN? Seriously, this is an incredible use of technology that they already had on site and does a great job providing a sort of overview for the event. This show uses water fountains, video projection and lasers to provide accompaniment to video clips from the various movies and shows that are a part of the event. A show that provides a nice hyping up the event, it is a quick 20-minute show that is maybe the most entertaining show in awhile at HHN. Please let a version of this return.

5 / 5

Overall:

Universal continues to show why they are the leaders in theme park haunted events. Halloween Horror Nights continues to be a powerhouse, providing sets that are movie-quality with scares designed around the huge crowds they get. You can feel the passion of the creative team in every single part of the event and it is an absolute joy to get to experience the event. This is another incredible year and sets things up nicely for next year. HHN 30 is next year, and if the quality of this event is any sign, we are looking forward to an absolute classic of an anniversary next year.

5 / 5