Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Part 3

* American Horror Story: Roanoke



Roanoke starts with the human sacrificing colonists and the Butcher. We enter a small replica of the beautiful house. The ghosts of the colonists attack throughout the house. The scene with bloody items  (no idea what they were) moving by themselves on the wall was weird and I didn't remember anything like it on the show. The nurses who murder people based on their names and ghost Edward Phillippe Mott appear, but the figure most seen is the Pig Man. I didn't really find him that iconic of a character and it was similar to the Saw maze. The backwoods cannibal family is included with the stomach churning leg flaying scene. Overall, this maze was on par with the meh season of American Horror Story.

* The Walking Dead



This year, The Walking Dead maze is a permanent fixture in the park. Because it's not going to be torn down any time soon, it's much more immersive and realistic than it has been in previous years. The rooms where people wait look just like the hospital Rick woke up in complete with missing ceiling tiles, blood splatter and bloody handprints on the wall, and random hospital stuff and trash. I love that they included the iconic bicycle girl, one of the first zombies Rick ever encounters. The fire effects in the next room were the best I've seen at such an event and felt realistc. The windows with zombies crowding around them were a nice touch to make it feel like the zombie apocalypse. The truck with the dismembered zombies was unexpected and so were the pens with numerous zombies. My only gripe is that too many of those zombies are stationary and obviously statues. This maze is on much larger scale than any I've seen before and very high quality. This was one of my favorites.

* Insidious: Beyond the Further



I do not like the Insidious movies and I do not like this maze. The last Insidious maze from 2 years ago had surprising scares, but this one is completely lackluster. The first room is clearly the one they used for The Exorcist and there's no scare in it. There is an overabundance of dummies in the maze. They just don't inspire fear. People seem to be committing horrific acts of murder, but it doesn't work as a jump scare. The man strangling his daughter in her bed and the woman possibly going to stab her infant are creepy in theory and not so much in the maze. The narration throughout the maze was more annoying because it was hard to hear at times. The screams of the ghosts grew repetitive. The best part of the maze is the makeup of the demon at the beginning and the Tiny Tim song Tiptoe Through the Tulips. This one had the longest wait probably in anticipation of the new movie, but I was extremely underwhelmed by the maze. The end is similar to the Titans of Terror maze, but half of the Insidious villains looked goofy rather than scary.

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights gets better every single year. This year, the RIP tour was reintroduced, which was a little different. It includes a delicious buffet dinner, 2 alcoholic beverages, valet parking, and a guide through all the mazes plus the Terror Tram. This means that my group cut in front of the entire line for each maze, but there was very little rest time or breaks in between. I would have liked to go on the rides instead of backtracking and riding them later. In the 4 hours we walked around, there were 2 bathroom breaks and no time to just rest. It's tiring walking around for so long and a little rest time would have been nice. Other than that, the RIP tour is worth the money and I hope it's slightly re-evaluated for next year. I can't wait for next year to see what other movies they will bring to life.

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