Howl-O-Scream left us with a whimper for their 5th year of fear
I’m not sure how to explain my feelings on Howl-O-Scream.
I’ve attended Howl-O-Scream several times over its first five years, and every time I’ve left with a chuckle, saying something along the lines of “I’ll probably never do that again.” But more on that later.
This year, Howl-O-Scream San Diego features eight scare zones, five mazes, one show, and four mini-shows within the scare zones that the park calls “vile vignettes.” Opening night was held on Friday, Sept. 12.
At the very least, let’s rip this off like a band aid: The haunt itself isn’t great.
The five mazes this year are Circus of the Damned, Area 64: Alien Outbreak, Simon’s Slaughterhouse, Death Water Bayou Awakening, and Nightmare Experiments Sweet DreamzZz.
The mazes looked good enough, but the talent inside lacked in creativity, scare timing, and in some cases, general attendance. Many often resorted to corny one liners repeated ad nauseum (“Welcome to insert-maze-theme-here, enjoy your stay / meal / the show”). Worse, I watched as several would drop character to pose for a selfie, talk to a coworker, or respond to a guest comment (ex. Me: “That actually got me a bit. Monster: “I know.”)
Maybe it was just opening night jitters. Maybe everyone just needs a day or two, maybe a week to warm up a bit.
Maybe, it’s Maybelline; I don’t know.
The fact is, the meat and potatoes of any haunted attraction should be its mazes, and with only five offered, you would hope that Howl O Scream’s would offer a stronger delivery.
Scare Zones include Terrors of the Deep, Ripper Row, Red Moon Revelry, All Hallow’s Harvest, Carnival of Chaos, Deadly Toys, Graveyard, and the all-new Overgrowth. They also leave much to be desired.
Less zones and more akin to blink-and-you’ll miss them pathways or junctures, most scare zones felt severely underpopulated. Additionally, there were several instances where – if there were more than two to three scareactors in an area – they were clumped, all focused on one group of guests, or talking with someone they knew or amongst themselves.
As a personal nitpick, I was disheartened to see that Red Moon Revelry, the sole zone to include sliders, had been moved and shrunk in size and scope. After quickly chatting with a few friends who work the event, I learned that their slider team had been shrunk down to around three. They also now share the space with a DJ and a dance crew. Their downsizing is a shame, in my personal opinion.
Not to be totally negative, the Dolls in Deadly Toys were full of attitude, dishing out sass and snark with a flip and a crack of their hand fans. They were enjoyable to banter with.
There is one show, called Monster Stomp, which fuses music, singing, dancing, and percussion to tell the story of Jack the Ripper. While I watched it last year, I skipped it this time around and thus it wouldn’t be fair to critique it here.
I have very limited feedback on the “vile vignettes” as I only watched one in its entirety. I caught the beginning of one and the ending of another in passing.
The vignette I did watch – Dark Magic – was fine. It was a roughly 10-minute carny show with a couple parlor tricks; it was a decent way to pass the time while I sipped on an adult beverage.
What I will say about the vignettes, however, is that it seemed to pull scare actors away from scaring. Dark Magic – for example – really only needs one performer to run the show; maybe two, if you insist on having an assistant. Instead, there were four performers gathered around the stage in addition to the actual actor running the show, contributing little to nothing except for occasional oohs, ahs, and peanut gallery banter.
Lastly, I can’t help but bring up two details that are less about the haunt and more about logistics.
First, Howl-O-Scream has adopted a bag policy that nothing over the size of a fanny pack be admitted. This took me by surprise, as every prior time I had attended the event, I was able to bring in my camera bag (for reference, at the time of my last visit I was using a medium sized sling bag that could fit two medium to large sized lenses). While initially just an inconvenience, it became a harder pill to swallow when I saw bags bigger than those that had been turned around at security being sold inside the park at a premium price (including an exclusive Howl-O-Scream Loungefly).
Secondly, there is alcohol EVERYWHERE. If Disneyland has a trashcan every 30 feet, Howl-O-Scream has a bar (or at least, a vendor with a couple of beers in a tray). If that isn’t enough, apparently there is a speakeasy in at least a couple of the mazes (I was told all of them have one, but I’m not sure how accurate that is). Though not to worry if you can’t figure it out; Circus of the Damned exits into a bar.
It’s not wrong to have alcohol at a haunt, it just seemed excessive at times. If you’re a monster working the event this year, be safe and vaya con dios.
Ultimately, I left with that same little chuckle from previous years, thankful that I had bought my ticket during the Labor Day sale for 50% off.
The thing is, I know it’s bad. I haven’t had a single successful trip in my handful of outings. But I want it to succeed.
I don’t know, chalk it up to the fact that the idea of screams of terror filling the night while penguins and sea lions listen on makes me giggle, but I want this haunt to be good; I want it to be a priority on my list of haunts every year, and not one that makes me wonder why.
I think its biggest problem right now is Howl-O-Scream doesn’t feel like a haunt event, it feels like haunt that was dropped in the middle of Sea World.
There’s a palpable feeling when the fog rolls into Ghost Town at Knotts, the Fire Towers rise over Universal Studios, and the clowns of Gotham take over DC Universe at Six Flags.
If they’re going to be in the haunting business, then Sea World needs to find that identity.
It’s been five years; it’s time that Howl-O-Scream catches up to the learning curve.
Howl-O-Scream will run several nights through Nov. 1.
Words and photos by: Alex Dominguez
