Updates and Howl-O-Scream 2010 review

33 days to go! We cleaned out the garage last night, and stocked up on a cemetery upgrade. Today we'll start pulling everything out and sorting through. If it doesn't rain, we can probably have the outside set up today or tomorrow.

UPDATED WISH LIST:
**Old paint** especially black, white, red, off white, and any neon colors
Paint mixers (those little wooden sticks that Home Depot and Lowe's give you when you buy paint. We need about 25. I'm gonna go beg today.
Old "creepy cloth" or tulle netting
Old bedsheets. Especially white.



HOWL-O-SCREAM Review
First off, let me say that I enjoyed it. I didn't know what to expect, but ended up having a great time. I've heard from multiple people and review sites that this is the WORST event Howl-O-Scream has created. If this is the worst year, then I'm pretty excited for the future. Here's my review (There are no spoilers).

We went to the "Freaky Preview" of Howl-O-Scream on Saturday. It was our first time ever attending this event. I went with no expectations being that I know they have a much smaller budget than Universals HHN, and they're not professional set setters. I've heard from some that it's better, some that it's not, so I went with an open mind. In the end, I found it a few steps up from a home haunt. They had a lot of store bought props, and most of the props they made can be made by the average home haunter. This isn't necessarily a bad thing being that HHN sometimes over does it with the elaborate sets sometimes, and forgets to concentrate more on the actual scares. It's just a more "raw" feel.

Before we went, this years HOS "My X" theme sounded kind of teeny-bopperish, and I wasn't really feeling it. I thought the best part about it was the "Behind the Band" recordings they had on their site. Unfortunately, this feeling didn't improve once we were there. I was kind of bored with this theme by the 3rd house (and there's a reference in every single one) Also, if I hear one more of My X's songs, I'm going to cry. Luckily, the theme wasn't the main focus of the night. There were references everywhere, but you can kind of ignore it. I didn't see the band play since I was talking to my Florida Haunters friends. Tavo said they sucked, and coming from a musician, I trust his judgement. They only played 3 songs, so if you're going, don't feel like you need to go out of your way to see the band play.

As far as the scare zones went, I wasn't impressed at all. That's it. Half the time we didn't even know we were in one until we saw a sign as we were leaving the area. Bad. Just bad.

Now onto the houses...
Overall, they were pretty well executed. Home haunt style on a bigger scale. The "My X" house was my least favorite. It was actually kinda dumb. The best part was the dressing room (check out the mirrors - awesome). My favorite regular house was Nightshade Toys. I LOVED it. I can actually use a lot of ideas from it too! Be sure not to miss that one (it's right by the entrance but we did it last). As far as the other houses, they were good. Not excellent, but they were good. It was fun. I don't think I saw a single vampire reference in "Taste of Blood", but it was good otherwise. "DEDer Extreme Rush" was kinda messed up, haha. "Deconstruction", "Death Row Vengeance" and "Trapped" were pretty cool. Awesomely ridiculous moment of the night: I don't remember which house it was, but our "greeter" said a creepy "what's up" to us... of course we returned it with "what's up". We kept going back and forth until it turned into a "whhaaazzzzaaaaaap" fest as we were all cracking up (actor included). Too funny!

Advice on making your haunted house experience more enjoyable:
We had speed passes so we zipped through all the lines (which were pretty long). Be sure to get the speed pass, but take your time! We were done with everything by 10:00 with the speed pass, but it was a preview night so I'm sure the rest of the month will be more crowded. While in the houses, SLOW DOWN!!! Take a minute to look at everything. Let a small space build up between you and the people in front of you. It gives the actors a chance to reset so they can be ready to scare you, otherwise you'll miss out and the people in front of you and behind you will get all the scares.

Now the best part of the night: ALONE
There is a $25 up charge for this house, and you need to make an appointment. If you are going, make your appointment NOW! They sell out FAST!!! You DO NOT want to miss this house. I was thoroughly impressed. I wish all the commercial haunts were like this. Anyone can jump out an say "boo!" but they put so much more into this. The house is about 10 - 12 minutes long, and you should get there 15 minutes earlier than your scheduled time. They let a group in every 5 minutes. You can go in with maximum group size of 4, but if you go in completely alone, you get a T-shirt (which is a logo of the house from the website and says "I did it Alone". They only come in XL and XXL. Also, I've heard that not every trip through is the same. Some people get different experiences and endings. If you go to HOS this year, DO NOT MISS THIS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!