Quick disclaimer…
‘Wishful thinking’ is just us sounding off on the houses that we would love to see at everyone’s favorite Halloween event and are NOT rumors. When we have rumors we will bring them, for now, lets get us a healthy dollop of wishful thinking!
So on with the article on my top 3 houses I would personally love to see at #HHN27…
- The Return of the Living Dead
The 80s was a glorious time for the horror biz and it brought us some of the largest and most enduring franchises from this genre. One such movie that we here at HHNU adore is The Return of the Living Dead and for those that haven’t seen it (go watch it now!) it isn’t in fact a sequel…
Released in 1985 as an American horror comedy film written and directed by Dan O’Bannon, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, and Don Calfa. The film tells the creepy story of how a warehouse manager accompanied by his two employees, a mortician, and a group of teenagers deal with the accidental release of a horde of brain-hungry zombies onto an unsuspecting town in Middle America.
The movie was financially and critically successful spawning the concept of zombies eating brains, as opposed to just eating human flesh, as well as its soundtrack, which features several noted deathrock and punk rock bands of the era. It also contained a number of outlandish set pieces, radical makeup and special effects to create an enduring and iconic horror classic. Fun fact: The Tarman zombie was actually created by one of The Muppets puppeteers.
So could this house ever be at HHN?
As with the next house on our list: the setting and characters are unmistakable, there is prime material here that can be used to create the illusion of escapism within a house that could scare the pants off you. But don’t take my word for it, Universal have allegedly been actively pursuing this franchise for years, in order to bring it to HHN. It was rumored to appear some 10 years ago for the 2007 event but nothing materialized. Unfortunately, due to a number of now defunct IP holders and various buyouts, the ownership of the movie has moved around a lot over the last few years and now currently rests with MGM. The creator of the film series (who incidentally wrote Ridley Scott’s Alien) also passed away in 2009. If ever a movie could be billed as being in ‘development hell’ for HHN, this would be it.
Likelihood: 8/10 – as with The Exorcist which took years of negotiation, these things can happen!
- Stranger Things
If ever there was a property that I have heard fans and commentators a like demand become a HHN house, it has to be this TV show. Released in July of last year, the show has crossed the zeitgeist from being a niche online show that nobody saw to being a ‘you must see this’ show. It has done wonders for the online TV platform and shows that this medium is no longer punching above its weight but is in fact the new trendsetter.
The series is set in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, and is a homage to 1980s pop culture, inspired by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King, Robert Zemeckis, George Lucas and many others. It has so far received critical acclaim for its characterization, pacing, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to scores of 1980s genre films (not including a whole bundle of memes too!). The show provides fertile ground to be used at HHN that is rich in heaps of possible material that could create houses and scarezones on both coasts!
So could this house ever be at HHN?
Universal have said quietly off the radar that they would LOVE to see this property at HHN. Many of the production team have said how amazing it would be to bring this world to the event and create a real life environ rich with the main set pieces of the show. Sadly, there are many factors in bringing IPs to the event and without sounding like Debbie Downer it would take time and money to bring, what is the hottest TV show right now, to an event such as HHN.
Typically, any TV show that is an unplanned indie smash hit, such as this, will have companies throwing themselves at the IP holder for merchandise deals, placements, and a whole manner of ways in which other brands could ride on the coat tales of this show. Series 2 is also currently in production. That’s not to say it wont ever happen, its just with its international popularity and current 95% on Rotten Tomatoes rating, it might be hard for Universal to get their voice heard over the scores of other people all competing for a bit of the Upside-Down world. But we live with fingers crossed for #HHN27 – and if we hear first hand any developments on house selection for HHN2017, you will be the first to know!
Likelihood: Can surely only be a matter of time, no?
- Jaws
Okay so this is a bit meta, and sure if they ever were gonna do it then they probably would have done it in the former Jaws queue building, but bear with me…
This is pure wishful thinking but I would LOVE to see a Jaws house at HHN. The naysayers will cry that it can’t be done but think about it; last year Universal took, possibly the scariest psychological horror ever (The Exorcist) which is mostly set in just one room and made different houses of it on both coasts. This was also a property that they had been striving for years to obtain officially and they didn’t just make it work, they created a house that scared and tormented thousands of people. Combine this fact with The American Werewolf in London and last year’s Crocolion from the Tomb of the Ancients house and you can see that Universal knows puppets! Heck, they even created a 10ft tall queen-freckin-alien once. So to create a large shark would be a breeze!
So could this house ever be at HHN?
Probably not. The IP is owned by Universal via Steven Spielberg, who incidentally is the park’s Creative Advisor, and despite the fact it could be done, I’m not sure Universal would ever go there (sadly). I’m reminded of the fact that a book we published last year Universal Monsters: Origins, that I worked on with James-Michael Roddy, he is by far the biggest Jaws fan that I have ever known. He even produced a documentary about the impact on Jaws within the fan and film communities. He was the Show Director of HHN for many years, and surely if ever they thought to bring Jaws to the event it would have been under his watch. We can live in hope though… heck they probably have a load of old jaws props hanging around too!
Likelihood: 2/10 Doubtful 🙁
So there are my personal top 3 houses I’d love to see at HHN, let us know in the comments what yours are and whether you think they’d ever create these as houses!
“Woah – we’d love to see a Stranger Things house too!”
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