The Origins of Horror (HHN 34)

[TheCodeMan95]

I didn't necessarily take what she said as meaning the zone will actually stretch to music plaza - but I'd absolutely love to see the zone back in Illumination Ave. It genuinely makes such a massive difference

 

[Boodini]

The way the description includes “carved tributes” makes me imagine a moody gothic entrance zone with a statue of Freddy Fazbear.
Joking aside, stone statues of characters from the event as live scareactors would go kinda hard, not to say that’s happening but still.

 

[Tobias]

And so begins the announcements for the zones, fittingly starting with this year's entrance zone.
For me it sounds akin to 28's The Harvest which was plenty fine, and in all honesty considering how last year's zone barely even counted as one, there's a lot of opportunity for this one to be an improvement.

I don't put too much on the shoulders of an entry zone, since the purpose of them at this point is a nice little welcome to the event, potentially showing the theme of the year and giving a little taste of what's inside. A decaying conservatory with tributes to the houses this year plus crows and gargoyles lurking about can absolutely fit the bill here, so I do hope we get a nice bit of theming here.

Also, the zone possibly getting back into Plaza of the Stars/Illumination Ave can certainly help as the past two years have been rather tiny. Wasn't too bad with Oddfellow as he had his caravan off to the side with his constant presence, but last year didn't and boy did that show in the worst of ways.

 

[Kooks]

This scarezone does sound promising, and I really like the concept… but I had similar thoughts going into last year’s Duality of Fear. Universal is great at hyping up their attractions.. it’s part of the marketing game. The badass artwork, the intriguing description, mid summer scream panel, “choose your path”… all turned out to be the most barren, empty, uninspired scarezone I have ever personally seen… so… I’m taking all the promotion with a grain of salt..

 

[HHNSK]

It certainly seems like they’ve taken to heart some of the criticisms of last years event regarding overall cohesion, theming and scarezones to heart. I’m optimistic hearing comments from Sauls and Mike as well as reading the descriptions now of the first two zones. This sounds like the perfect way to kick off the night!

 

[saint.piss]

 

[GA-MBIT]

I hope it feels sufficiently "Halloween-y". I get that you don't want to repeat yourself too much, but I think "Halloween" always works pretty well as a theme. I always love when at least one part of the event is connected to the actual imagery and aesthetics of the holiday. Pumpkins, graveyards, autumn colors. The event just doesn't feel right without it; it's just a bunch of vaguely horror-adjacent concepts without that seasonal core to tie it all together.

 

[velocicoasterswife]

I hope it feels sufficiently "Halloween-y". I get that you don't want to repeat yourself too much, but I think "Halloween" always works pretty well as a theme. I always love when at least one part of the event is connected to the actual imagery and aesthetics of the holiday. Pumpkins, graveyards, autumn colors. The event just doesn't feel right without it; it's just a bunch of vaguely horror-adjacent concepts without that seasonal core to tie it all together.

Seems like Cat Lady is gonna take on most of the Halloween aesthetic. Personally, I'm hoping this one is all wrought-iron and stained glass and tangled vines. I want lots and lots of creepy old mansion in my creepy old mansion scare zone!

 

[GA-MBIT]

Seems like Cat Lady is gonna take on most of the Halloween aesthetic. Personally, I'm hoping this one is all wrought-iron and stained glass and tangled vines. I want lots and lots of creepy old mansion in my creepy old mansion scare zone!

To me, "creepy old mansion" can definitely pull off a traditional Halloween vibe! I just hope they lean into it in those ways! I love all the hopes you mentioned, I totally agree. Gargoyles, mossy stone, if we're going really crazy ... maybe even some ghouls?

Something adjacent to how they handled the Graveyard zone a few years back would be really cool! Some traditional Halloween elements that are usually used as the base for crazier or sillier concepts, but are instead used barebones and portrayed completely, deathly serious. I thought that zone was wonderful, and truly eerie in a way that most zones can't actually capture through all of the irony and bombast.

 

[saint.piss]

I just hope this scarezone is an actual scarezone. Not a lightly themed entrance area. From what they've said it seems it'll be a full on scarezone but you never know