Halloween Horror Nights is the marquee occasion of the 12 months at each Common Orlando Resort and Common Studios Hollywood. I’m someone who loves theme parks, who has written about them professionally for a decade, and but, till only recently, I had by no means attended the occasion.
I’m not a critical horror fan the way in which lots of people are, however I additionally don’t utterly keep away from the style. I am additionally not an enormous Halloween fan, and do not love the way in which Halloween invades the summer time at theme parks. I’m completely happy to take horror and Halloween once they come and go away them once they’re gone. Nonetheless, there’s one explicit a part of horror, and of Halloween Horror Nights, that I’ve all the time had an issue with, and has been the only greatest cause I’ve actively prevented going up to now. I fucking hate soar scares.
My Worry Of Bounce Scares Put Me Off Halloween Horror Nights
If there is a single cause I do not have a tendency to hunt out horror films, it isn’t violence, it isn’t gore, it is soar scares. Bounce scares are a horror film trope which you can be all however assured will probably be a part of most of them, and so they get me each time. Each. Time.
I may very well be watching a film I’ve seen earlier than, and there’s nonetheless an honest likelihood {that a} soar scare I do know is coming will nonetheless startle me. I’ve spilled a couple of glass of pink wine on my couch whereas watching films because of them, so my spouse actually doesn’t like the way in which soar scares get to me both. And it’s not simply that the soar scares get the specified response out of me, it’s that it annoys the hell out of me once they do. I do not like the way in which I really feel in that second.
Whereas I’d by no means been to Halloween Horror Nights earlier than, one factor I knew was that it was going to be soar scare central. Within the homes or within the scarezones, there can be actual individuals, not even simply characters on the display, leaping out from darkish corners and screaming at me. Experiencing that was simply by no means one thing I needed.
On the identical time, every part else about this 12 months’s Halloween Horror Nights regarded superb. The design of the homes, the meals, the lights, the celebration ambiance, in locations the place the ambiance wasn’t impeding doom. I’ve all the time needed to expertise that, and so after a few years of avoiding HHN, it was lastly time to face my fears.
Halloween Horror Nights Was Precisely What I Feared, And But, It Didn’t Trouble Me
I received’t lie, I used to be a bit apprehensive after I walked into my first-ever HHN home, which occurred to be 5 Nights at Freddy’s, which lastly debuted this 12 months. Would one thing soar out at me at the hours of darkness, inflicting me to scream like a baby in entrance of mates and strangers alike? Would I run away or throw myself in opposition to the other wall in terror? The very first thing that completely occurred. The remaining, not a lot.
Issues did soar out at me, and I did, occasionally, tense up or flinch away from no matter it was in reflex. If I’d been carrying a drink, I might need even spilled it, however past that, I used to be shocked how little the soar scare moments actually bothered me, even from the very starting.
The factor is, until you’re on the very entrance of a bunch strolling by way of the home, there’s an honest likelihood you’re going to see the scareactors leaping out at someone in entrance of you. Even should you don’t, it’s continuously, although not all the time, fairly clear the place they’re hiding, so you recognize the soar is coming.
I additionally shortly found out a few tips to keep away from soar scares completely. There’s a candy spot of timing you’ll be able to usually hit that lets you see the scareactors soar out at someone in entrance of you, however lets you cross the house earlier than they’re prepared to leap out once more. You may also typically keep away from a jumpscare by merely ignoring it. Because the scareactors go to nice pains to not really contact anyone, should you’re not taking a look at them, then nothing occurs.
However even when the jumpscare acquired me, and even after I jumped, for some cause, the expertise felt very completely different. When a jumpscare startles me whereas watching a film, I’ll usually really feel embarrassed, even when there’s no one round to see, however when a jumpscare acquired me throughout Halloween Horror Nights, my default response was laughter.
HHN Engaged My Love For Themed Leisure Design
One of many causes I used to be so excited to attend Common Studios’ Fan Fest Nights earlier this 12 months is that it gave me an opportunity to attend one thing that was structurally like Halloween Horror Nights, however with out the soar scares. I cherished the occasion, and one of many the reason why was the unimaginable creativity on show. From the total Enterprise-D bridge to a Dungeons & Dragons Beholder from the Henson Creature Store, there was some unimaginable work performed.
The identical was true with Halloween Horror Nights. The Henson Creature Store is again, having designed the animated figures used within the 5 Nights at Freddy’s Home. They may have come proper out of the 5 Nights at Freddy‘s film. Within the Jason Un1v3se home, which celebrated your complete Friday the thirteenth franchise. I watched Jason tear the pinnacle off a helpless sufferer, just for the remainder of the physique to leap off the sofa at me. Within the Terrifier home, I noticed among the most unimaginable set items as a way to create among the most annoying issues I’ve ever seen.
It was exceptional to see the work that went into creating true themed environments in what was nonetheless finally a brief set up. I went as far as sometimes standing nonetheless after a soar scare second to let it occur once more, so I may get a greater have a look at a personality or a set piece.
I Nonetheless Want Fan Fest Nights, However I Will Be Returning To Halloween Horror Nights
Of the 2 occasions, Fan Fest Nights continues to be extra my jam. Not simply due to an absence of soar scares, however I choose the extra narratively pushed expertise. Star Trek: Crimson Alert and Dungeons & Dragons: Secrets and techniques of Waterdeep had targeted narratives that made me really feel like part of the story. By comparability, HHN homes, whereas they’ve tales, have been by no means absolutely defined. Typically they have been simple to determine, different occasions much less so. Having now seen the scope and scale of Halloween Horror Nights, I’m excited for the way forward for Fan Fest Nights and the way massive it has the potential to get.
Nonetheless, having now attended my first Halloween Horror Nights, I can confidently say it received’t be my final. It’s every part followers have mentioned it’s, and though I nonetheless hate soar scares, it seems they don’t destroy the expertise, and may really be type of enjoyable.
I do know I am not the one one who hates soar scares. Lots of people are actually bothered by them. If that is you, whereas I clearly cannot promise that you will have the identical expertise I did, it is price contemplating. Possibly it will not be as unhealthy as you suppose.