Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2013 Review

“HHN strikes again with one of his best performances in years”

Going back to 8 houses and streets full of zombies, Halloween Horror Nights Orlando 2013 has an impact that has been lacking in recent years. Last year was pretty mediocre, and I won’t even get into how awful the Bill & Ted show was. This year started off pretty well when our food runner at T-Rex at Downtown Disney told us how all the people who went to HHN were raving about it. I’ve heard this over the years, but I love going in with high expectations. I mean, isn’t that what we should expect from an event that charges us an arm and a leg (start getting used to my silly zombie jokes)? Well this year, it’s well worth the price of admission and will definitely be hailed as the best Halloween event of 2013.

Since this is the first annual Halloween Horror Nights review, let’s go over the rules for how we classify houses based on our two factors. Each receives a score of Ehh, Sub-par, Mediocre, Good, Great or Amazing.

  1. Scream generator: How many scares did each house produce?
  2. Explode heads: How cool and interesting are the images and decorations in each house.

Of course there are occasional ROFL houses and total BUSTS. We will identify them each year to keep your expectations at a good level. Check all parts of your body, because it’s time to start the review!

# 1 – Evil Dead

Scream generator: Amazing

Explode heads: Amazing

Wow, what a house! Visually stunning from the moment you see the Evil Dead sign, this home will blow your mind. They did a good creative job with the Book of the Dead (you won’t spoil it all here), and you will know what I’m talking about when you pass this house. There are many scares in this house, including many detour scares (my favorite kind!). Almost all the actors look like something out of the movie. They look scary and are gloriously yelled at. Be sure to stay a bit behind the group in front of you to maximize your chances of fear in this house. It’s scarier and worth it for the screaming.

# 2 – An American Werewolf in London

Scream generator: Great

Explode heads: Amazing

One of the scares in this house literally caused one of my friends to stop in his tracks and refuse to move on. While it was the best scare of the night, the house didn’t have as many quality scares as Evil Dead to take the # 1 spot on our list this year. This house features scenes straight out of the movie, Nazi werewolves and all! This was the most amazing house due to the level of detail that was put into the werewolf throughout the house. They were new effects and even knowing they were there didn’t stop them from terrifying me. They look so realistic that they will just give you goosebumps. Take time for this house and you will not be disappointed.

# 3 – Cabin in the woods

Scream generator: Well

Explode heads: Amazing

This was probably the house I was looking forward to the most based on how crazy the movie was. I don’t know what I expected, but the images in this house were absolutely stunning. They completely recreated some of the amazing characters seen in the movie. The final area you walk through is pure magic and will give you the jeepers creepers (where did you get those peepers from?). While the images alone gave this house number 3 in our review, the scares themselves were more rare than I would like. It was especially puzzling that the movie’s elevator scene (recreated here) only featured a clown and a zombie, with only one other monster coming out of an elevator door. This area should have been complete chaos with monsters jumping everywhere. Oh well, at least they had Merman!

# 4 – La Llorona

Scream generator: Great

Explode heads: Great

La Llorona is an original house based on the Mexican legend of the crying woman forced to search the land for the children she murdered. The details in this house are great and La Llorona gets more and more twisted and terrifying as you walk through the house. There are some jaw-dropping steering scares here (some involving mirrors!) And you really don’t know where the scares will come from sometimes. While I really enjoyed this home, it didn’t include something extra to make it one of the top 3 options.

# 5 – Walking Dead: No Safe Haven

Scream generator: Great

Explode heads: Great

I’m a huge Walking Dead fan so I was excited that this house was on the sound stage that normally produces the best house every year. Unfortunately, that was not the case this year and it fell to number 5 on our list. For some strange reason, the house begins in Woodbury and ends in the main prison cell block. As a fan of the show, this is completely the reverse of the series and you actually had to go around the end of the house to see the entire cell block. The visuals could have been a lot better, although the zombies were amazing. There were a fair amount of scares, but they seemed obvious at times and there weren’t enough sound effects to really get the heart racing. My expectations were definitely not met in the main house this year.

# 6 – Havoc 2: derailed

Scream generator: Well

Explode heads: Well

Havoc 2 is a sequel to one of the original Halloween Horror Nights creations a few years ago. Basically a train of super-ninkumpoots soldiers gets derailed and they only seek to murder some good people. While there are some good scares here, they come from actors who look the same. Pictures are nothing to salivate about and you really don’t know what’s going on or why these maniacs are chasing you. The history and the essence of what makes a house scary are simply not in this house.

# 7 – Beyond: Death’s Revenge

Scream generator: Well

Explode heads: Well

3D houses are always visually great, but there is never anything really memorable that comes from them. The same goes for Afterlife, which takes us to hell with Bobby “The Blade” from Carey, Ohio. Most of the time I thought I was taking acid, and there were some really cool effects when you look up at the house. I guess the story is that his victims can finally get revenge on him, but it’s not very clear throughout the house. There were some decent scares, but nothing new or exciting.

# 8 – Resident Evil

Scream generator: Poor

Explode heads: Well

Resident Evil was the most disappointing house of the bunch. Still, this year it had some really good houses and it was way more impressive than the previous two years. Resident Evil House puts you directly into the game and anyone who has played it or the arcade game will recognize the main characters at all times. There is an interesting part where the game is paused and there are some nice visuals in there. The girls in our group liked that room more than the boys hahaha. The worst part of the house was the nemesis, who didn’t seem as scary as the werewolves in the American werewolf house in London. He sank this house to the worst of 8 on this year’s list.

Fear zones

The fear zones are all based on The Walking Dead this year. They are a welcome return from having no fear zones last year. The scenery is always great and it’s nice to have a lot of scarers in set spots at night. They really filled the streets with walkers this year and I definitely felt like they were piling us up at times, suddenly several walkers appeared around us out of nowhere. Here’s a list of the best fear zones:

# 1 – The Farm

This was the best just because it was a mini haunted house. It’s always nice when Universal gives us little snacks during the night. The zombie pit at the end is a great photo stop and there are surprisingly some good scares here if you go alone with your group.

# 2 – The campsite

The RV was a good setup and there are a lot of nice scenery here that Walking Dead fans will appreciate. Be sure to explore this area for some surprises. The walkers here are quite aggressive and really trying to scare off.

# 3 – Fall of Atlanta

The tank is the main feature here, but the crowds are what makes it awesome. There are tons of walkers scattered throughout the crowd, but because this is the most populated area in the park, you can’t tell where the walkers are in the crowd. I literally thought some normal people were zombies from the way they walked!

# 4 – Sure

This area is deceiving because it is really bland and boring during the day, but the nightly screenings make it worth it. If you visited here first when you entered the park, definitely come back for this area.

# 5 – Forests

This was the weakest area of ​​the fear zones and it really didn’t impress. There are no images other than a walker eating a deer that sprinkles water on him. Just uhhh …

The shows

Bill and Ted’s excellent Halloween adventure

Spoiler alert: Taylor Swift is the main villain! Damn wonderful. I never really enjoyed Bill & Ted’s or found it so much fun, but this year I kicked it out of the park. This show is always best when they avoid politics (especially its one-sided bias). In fact, I can watch this show again, it was so good!

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