Going into the event, I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this house. I was familiar with Bray Wyatt and the Wyatt Sicks, so I firmly knew we could get a really fun house of this. Now did I expect to go through this house 15 times over my visits and this becoming a comfort house a la' Case Files from 2021? Nope! But I'm honestly glad it did!
You can absolutely tell this was a passion project, so it can definitely hit fans in the feels while also throwing everyone into fun sets and some pretty darn good scares, too. One of the biggest scares I got for the season was in that TV hallway, with both the Fiend and Uncle Howdy popping out at the same time which sent me into quite a back bend. Mercy could get me pretty darn good with that air blast, too.
I also feel the Huskus scene makes far better use of that cage set that was in Hellblock Horror. While in HH it always felt like the Yeti in there was trying to hide, Huskus is commanding attention in that room being loud as heck, plus there's more going on outside the cage which helps.
Can't forget the Fiend at the end of the house, too. I really love how animated the scareactors have gotten with him compared to Opening Night. Lotta' great movements, including one who can grab the door and whip into the back bend which was killer to see, and the same one got a wicked scare on my friend and I as once the lights in the scene went out they swooped in to be right next to us when the lights came back up.
And as mentioned before, I love this house has a queue video complete with custom footage for the event. Helps out folks who may not know who the Wyatt Sicks are, and it just shows how much care was put into this.
As you can see, I can go on and on about this house. It truly became a comfort house, and not every house can do that. No matter where this ultimately ranks for me, this house is something special for me. Massive props to the designers, the casts, the show director and so forth, I'm so glad I got to experience this house a whole lot.
Finally, and I think most importantly. I've always felt Horror is a broad spectrum, it can come in many different forms and from many different things. I know there's folks out there who hem and haw over something that may not fit their personal definition of Horror, but I'm really happy HHN goes in directions like this. It's not only a treat for those like me who do know wrestling and the material, but I've also encountered a bunch of folks who know nothing about wrestling, but they ended up enjoying the house! That's always great! It adds variety to the event and it can introduce folks to things they may not have known they'd enjoy, and I feel that's something a big event like HHN should strive for.