Here at HHNU we get scores of tips and rumors sent in on a weekly basis, which is awesome, and when we get a good one we like to pass it on. We have a tip-giver known only as ‘the Phantom‘. We’re not sure who he or she is, but looking back over the years at the tips this person has provided we can confirm they do have insider information. The only problem with said tipster, is that he likes to drop riddles into our inbox and then run with the only occasional “you’re on the right path” or “yes that is it”. Whoever he is, he like the scores of designers, prop-makers, set builders and artisans are all sworn to secrecy over what is to come for HHN27.
So anyway enough with the who and what lets get on with the actual clue:
A good trick returns from 18
This is the clue we received and to be honest at first glance it looks pretty straight forward. Something from 2008’s Reflections of Fear where Bloody Mary was the main icon and the historically low number of IP houses were replaced with ultra detailed and immersive original houses. Great we all thought, something from HHN18 would be a great addition to HHN27, so we asked…
What exactly is returning from HHN18?
Having no hope whatsoever in receiving a response, we did get one…
18 does not mean HHN18
So knowing this we thought we’d set about working out what this clue actually mean?
Theories on 18:
Psychoscareapy
It was once said that the original Psychoscareapy house from 2003 housed 18 different personalities. Call them the seven dwarfs but with murderous psychotic intentions. So it could mean the fan favorite franchise is making a come back. In HHN25 it made a very popular comeback with a large popular scarezone plus mini-shows with a crossover in the Bodycollectors house.
HHN25
Talking of HHN25… perhaps the 18 could mean months instead of the usual HHN year numeral. HHN25 was immensely popular, it featured Jack’s own retrospective house, the return of American Werewolf in London, a 3D house with Asylum in Wonderland, Body Collectors – Recollections, Freddy vs. Jason, Insidious, The Purge, RUN: Blood, Sweat and Fears and The Walking Dead: The Living and the Dead.
Looking at all of these houses they all featured properties that had been seen before at HHN, prior to HHN25, except for the movie Insidious. So could this movie be returning? Or could we be seeing a sequel to one of these houses? Could we be seeing a sequel to The Purge or maybe even a sequel to RUN? Or as with American Werewolf in London could we be getting a house return that is similar to this house or a complete return with little changes? I would guess the former and not the latter.
Halloween Horror Nights IX: Last Gasp
1999’s Last Gasp occurred 18 years ago this year. So could something be returning from all those years ago? Funnily, it contains a few houses that could easily be updated for today’s audiences. That year the houses were: Doomsday, Insanity, Universal’s Creature Features in 3-D, Psycho: Through the Mind of Norman Bates and The Mummy. The latter of these two have been rumored for many years.
The upcoming Tom Cruise reboot releases this year, so that would be a good tie-in for this year. A Psycho house would be a nice touch following the years of a rumored Hitchcock house coming to HHN. Or even a classic monsters house would be a great addition to any year of HHN. We’ve heard nothing on a potential Mummy house but could this actually be coming?
Theories on ‘Trick’:
Dark Legions: Trick-or-Treaters
Back in 2012 the event tried a whole new concept in the art of street scares by having roaming hoards rather than the traditional fixed scarezones that the event had used many times in years past. The new idea proved to be divisive with many welcoming this fresh approach to the streets whereas other complained that the streets felt too empty.
One of these hoards was a gang of murderous Trick-or-Treaters that were added later into the event following the complaints that the streets weren’t as well filled with scares as perhaps they should have been. Having a gang such as this returning in a fixed scarezone would be a good move and could generate some awesome scares.
Penn and Teller
The magician duo have had a long established relation with HHN (they were even rumored to have been working on something for HHN26 that never came to fruitition). Whether it was their first appearance in Hollywood or their own house in 2012’s Penn & Teller: New(kd) Las Vegas 3-D, these two seem to pop up on the rumor mill many times!
Conclusion
Well lookin at what we have here we can…
Update
The above blog was written BEFORE the HHN Hollywood leaked house list hit forums in the last few days. Whilst we do not know if the list is accurate, we can say that looking at our clues, piecing in the rumors and looking at the “leak”, it would appear that there might just be something in this clue…
Let us know what you think in the comments!