In a dramatic twist to the family-friendly rumor saga of whether HHN has been and would continue to be toned down to be more family focused event (a rumor that HHNU reported here). The rumor originated from a number of sources and was discussed on the latest Jim Hill podcast The Universal Joint. Jim refers to information he had been passed from Shelley Caran of icflorida.com that pointed towards the possible move.
It was late last night that Mike Aiello, creative director of the event, took to twitter to clarify the matter, finally:
Anyone worried that HHN would ever be family friendly can stop… be stress free. We may have content that is less gory and such but it would never considered family friendly. Stay calm and HORRAH on!
— Michael Aiello (@Michael_Aiello) September 18, 2018
If you’re a family that happens to love horror.. you are welcome! My son is 13 and HHN is his everything right now. That literally happened over night.. two years ago I couldn’t get him to walk into the Make-Up show lobby!
— Michael Aiello (@Michael_Aiello) September 18, 2018
We ultimately want an event that fills the spectrum! Stranger Things can live in our event alongside Michael Myers! Poltergeist alongside with Chucky! That’s the fun of it! This crazy maelstrom of fun and horror! A trick or treat bag of terrorific variety!
— Michael Aiello (@Michael_Aiello) September 18, 2018
My opinion:
As a veteran myself who has been going to the event for over 20 years I can confirm that if people think HHN is about horror then they are missing the point. The clue is in the name but is not ‘horror’ – it is ‘Halloween’. From the very beginning, the event has always been about having a party for Halloween which is centric to a more adult demographic. And lets be honest, Universal wants to sell as many tickets as possible to their event. So HHN has to be all encompassing, like Mike says, everything from ghostly stories to gorey chainsaws – but it has always been that way. HHN isn’t the scariest event out there and it probably never will be. But it has always catered to a broad spectrum of horror fans and likely always will do.
What do you think? Let us hear your opinion. Let us know in the comments!