Sorta movie related but not really: Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood was really fun. Surprisingly I think the two original concept mazes (Holidayz in Hell and Pandora's Box) were some of the best done houses of the night, but I'm mostly just gonna talk about the licensed property houses (Us, Killer Klownz from Outer Space, Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, Stranger Things, Creepshow, Ghostbusters, and House of 1000 Corpses)
The Us maze straight up follows the progression of the movie, so this is gonna be one of those mazes where you want to watch the movie first before you go to get the best experience out of it. Starts in the hall of mirrors and works its way all the way through the major movie scenes. Could've used a few more actors running around inside but the set design was dead on
Creepshow is the other maze that you'll get the most out of with knowledge of it. This maze was based on the first movie and the Shudder series (specifically Father's Day, The Crate, and They're Creeping Up On You from the movie and Gray Matter and Bad Wolf Down from the show, and the latter hasn't come out yet but I think I know the twist now). Entire mazes was modeled like you were entering a comic book, with the covers of each story appearing as an introduction before you walk in. The four I have knowledge on were incredibly accurate, and I think The Crate and Gray Matter were done the best as far as effects work goes. You're effectively passing through climactic scenes in each of those stories. I would've liked to see The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verill done but that was probably too close to Gray Matter in look and feel.
Killer Klownz from Outer Space was a bright and fun maze. They had the old dude looking for his dog from the intro outside and every so often he'd play out the intro of the movie. The interior of their ship smelled like candy and they had the accurate costumes and everything. It was really fun. They also had a lot of water effects which resulted in me get sprayed in the back by a baby clown hiding in a toilet.
It's been a while since I've seen House of 1000 Corpses and every time I try to rewatch I end up ducking out of it, but from what I remember of the movie this was pretty accurate. Starts in Captain Spaulding's serial killer museum/gas station/chicken restaurant, transitions to the Firefly family's house where you pass by all their torture shit with the cheerleaders and people in rabbit suits, and ends in their weird mutant cave. The line for this one was the shortest but it was still pretty good.
Ghostbusters felt like an amalgam of Ghostbusters 1 and 2 but it was clearly supposed to be based on 1. They have all the stuff with their firehouse and the containment breach, a cool effect with the librarian turning into the monster form, Slimer in the hotel, Zuul and Gozer, and the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man. The parts of 2 that were put in were the two ghost brothers from the trial scene. Probably the least scary because Ghostbusters but scarier than anything based on Ghostbusters would be expected to be.
Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman was tied with Creepshow for my favorite. It was really damn cool how many setpieces you're able to go through and what they're able to do with this story. The effects were spot, as were the costumes. I don't have much to say other than was just a really fun maze.
Stranger Things might've been my least favorite maze just because it felt a little empty. It was based mostly on season 2 with a small part at the end based on season 3, so there were a lot of demodogs and the upside-down and whatnot. iirc this was the only one of the mazes to be in a soundstage and not in a tent, so they take advantage of the space that they have. I just wish there were more actors, or more variation.
Anyone have any opinions on the Malevolence series? Is it worth checking out?
I thought you were talking about the Netflix movie Malevolent and I was about to warn you away.
