It has been 17 days since the curtain dropped for the last time on HHN26, and our senior writer is finally coming out of hibernation to talk on what we will likely see at next season’s Halloween Horror Nights…
Life Without Horror Nights
Saying goodbye to HHN26 on November 5th was definitely a bittersweet moment, but we were incredibly gracious to be given the extended weekend nights. The crowds were quite scarce, Nov. 4th had 5-10 minutes waits all night, as did Nov. 5th. We saw all of the houses except for Lunatic’s Playground (because frankly, we didn’t care to see it. Sorry, Chance.) Nov. 5th was full to the brim of HHN die hards there to see the event off for another year, and I’d like to think about 75% of the crowd that night was there to see the last showing of Bill and Ted.
Halloween Horror Nights acts as a late night hang out spot for my wife and I, and with it ending, we lost our happy place. We would go there and spend long hours with friends, making new friends, and just being there and taking in the atmosphere. But alas! It is all over now for another 340-some days. Enough talk of what is now HHN history, let the speculation season begin!
November Last Year; 1 Correct Prediction
Long time readers of our site would recall that HHNU writer and Horror Nights guru Christopher Ripley speculated that the film “Krampus” was destined to receive the HHN treatment, and he was right all along! It’s still November, so we still have time to push out some predictions and end up being right about them, so let’s hop to it and put on our blood soaked thinking caps; What will we likely see at HHN27?
First thing is First: Date Predictions
Last year, we learned the dates for HHN26 literally the minute the gates closed for the last time on HHN25. So with that, they’re actually technically late on announcing the event dates this season! Despite lack of concrete proof, we will go ahead and take a jab at when HHN27 will likely take place during its run.
We would like to say that it will open on September 15, 2017. This is the third Friday of September, which is typically when Horror Nights starts on. Assuming it’s a 30 night event, and Wednesday event nights will begin on October 11, that would place the final night on Oct. 29th. BUUUUUT Halloween 2017 is on a Tuesday, so unless they make it a 31 night event, they may make the first Wednesday night on Oct 18 and make the last night Oct. 31 (A Tuesday?!? Imagine going to Horror Nights on a Tuesday night! Oh the times, they are a changin!)
HHN27: What We are Likely to See
First, we need to take a look into the social media pages of some creative directors of Horror Nights and see what horror stuff they have been raving about lately. Starting with Mike Aiello, he jumped on the bandwagon and threw out some words of admiration towards the new Netflix series that everyone is raving about….
Stranger Things.
As you can see from his posts, Aiello himself loved the series. Although he didn’t blatantly say the likelihood of us seeing it at HHN27, “this show was made just for me” could be a super cryptic hint at it. Or not. Could be wrong.
The show’s first season is packed with haunting images, sets, and has the right overall atmosphere to be placed in an HHN haunted house. Fingers crossed!
American Horror Story
The wife and I have been watching the new season, “My Roanoke Nightmare”, because we already know we are going to see it at next year’s horror nights, but it does raise some questions.
A while back we told you guys that American Horror Story is already slated to be a haunted house again at HHN27, and it would mix three more seasons together just like 26’s house. But, watching “My Roanoke Nightmare” it really feels like there’s so much haunted house potential in every episode that we started wondering if maybe it will get a house all of its own. Let’s think about it, if they do Coven, Asylum, and Roanoke in one house next year, they will be all caught up, and it will be single season houses from then on. But if they give Roanoke it’s own house next season, they could go back to Coven and Asylum at HHN28. But then again, people really want to see Coven and Asylum (especially Asylum.) Will Horror Nights start making single season AHS houses for 27 or 28? This remains to be seen, but without a doubt we will see Roanoke Nightmare next season, somehow some way.
Candyman
I know, I know. We speculated this film for 26 and it didn’t happen. We can’t always be right, can we? But stick with me here, there are reasons why it could still happen, and why we are still pushing for it.
Halloween Horror Nights does really well and drives more ticket sales when Horror icons are involved. People know these characters and want to face them in real life as only Universal Studios can, and the Candyman is most certainly amongst these ranks. Michael Myers, Jason Vorhees and Leatherface are all fine and dandy, but their footprint on pop culture is much, much larger than that of the Candyman. In truth, the titans of terror themselves sometimes seem a bit played out. We say it’s time to let a lesser seen character take the stage, and this one is perfect for the job. For more on why Candyman would be a fantastic haunted house at Horror Nights, read here!
Rob Zombie’s 31
Have you seen it yet? Likely not. The latest film from Rob Zombie was a bit lesser known and it’s primary audience were folks who have been following Zombie’s work for a while and can’t get enough of it. Nevertheless, the movie is great and has much potential for a haunted house.
Without getting too into detail, the film is basically about 5 people who are kidnapped and forced to play a diabolical game known as “31” where they must survive over 12 hours in a large warehouse while homicidal maniacs try to hunt them down and slaughter them. The various sets, foreboding atmosphere, and frightening characters will really make for a great pitch at the UO creative table!
So there you have it!
4 properties with a high likelihood of appearing at HHN27. There are solid reasons why each one of the above listed shows/movies can reach the house treatment, but only time will tell as announcements start coming in for the upcoming season of Halloween Horror Nights. The first announcement for 26 was made on April 14. If they stick to the same schedule, that means we have 5 months until we learn of the first horror that will await us on Sept 15, 2017.
Is there anything YOU would like to see at Halloween Horror Nights 27?! Let us know in the comments or on our Facebook page!
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