Fiends

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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

I have to say that I agree with Shafor. I thought this was better than both Monster Stomp and Fiends last year. The only thing that stood out is that, even if you toss aside the "immature" jokes, it has geniune funny moments like the Swamp Creature and Igor's bit. It also does take advantage of the venue well and doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to that fact that it's not for kids.

I'm going to just come out and say it, the show isn't for people who take things super seriously, so it's not surprising that people don't like it.
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

PzP said:
I'm going to just come out and say it, the show isn't for people who take things super seriously, so it's not surprising that people don't like it.
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My favorite HOS show so far was Festhaus Fright Night, which was total cheese. I like comedy... if it's done well.
 
RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Ok review from a mother of a 7 year old. We went on Friday to see Fiends and I didn't see what was so PG-13 about it. In fact my daughter loved the show and was laughing she thought it was the funniest and best show Busch had came out with (in her short 7 year life) I personally thought the beginning was good than it got a little boring in the middle and than got better at the end. I do agree it was confusing when the end of the show was because we left when they started taking their bows but I knew that the time warp was going to play. Maybe they could switch the time warp song and the taking of their bows up that way people who are dancing to the time warp song will already be standing to give a standing ovation. Just my opinion. Going up there tonight hopefully to see Fiends again and the other 2 shows I haven't seen yet.
 
RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

I think Pzp's sentiment has something to do with this line of thinking:

Doc Dollars said:
But I'm always looking at these things comparing them to a show that doesn't exist...a potentially better show.
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I mean, that's a pretty harsh and depressing way to look at the world isn't it? "I can't enjoy anything unless it's perfect." Wow.

Look, there are a bunch of TV shows that I love (Dexter, True Blood, Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, etc.) that I could give a laundry list of things that I'd change if I could. Every one of them has characters (or actors), story lines, dialog, etc. that I don't like. But I still love and enjoy the shows. Hell, I was watching the Wizard of Oz with my daughter the other night and was reminded about how much I hate that "King of the Forest" bit, so does that mean that the Wizard of Oz has to suck for me?
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

But that's not what I'm saying. It doesn't have to be perfect to be good. But it does have to be good to be good. It's one thing if there're one or two elements that you don't like. It's another thing if you don't care for 30-40% of it.

There is a better version of that same show just waiting to happen is all I'm saying. There are obvious things that should be clear to professionals that can be punched up or fixed outright. I can't look at a show that has those kinds of problems and think "wow, how lucky am I to get to witness this."

Honestly, if you like the show, great. I didn't like it very much. I don't know why it bothers you that I didn't like it. I didn't hate it, but I thought it had a few major problems. I preferred the previous show, just like I preferred MSR to plain old Monster Stomp, just like I preferred the last version of Kinetix to the first one I saw. If you like it, though, like it.
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Okay, I watched the video. I'm (hopefully) going to see the show later in the season in person, to pass better judgement.

But as it stands right now... I'm actually not all that impressed, and in fact sort of let down.

My issues range from the normal to "Why the hell are you noticing that of all things?"

First, I found the show a bit confusing. I understood the basic story. Scientist is going to create monster. Scientist fails first attempt. Scientist gets encouraging words, and tries again. IT WORKS YAY. Scientist is angry that it didn't work the way he wanted, everyone else rebels. End of story. Which is a tiny bit more story than last years version.

But, going into detail of it I'm left confused. The beginning was good (although I didn't care for them singing Thriller. I would much rather just listen to them play the track and watch the actors do their work without saying anything.). The middle was 'eh'. If the Werewolf wasn't singing 'Hungry Like the Wolf' I certainly wouldn't of known, what on Earth that costume was. Vampire was meh, but the Swamp monster was great. And the ending for me was lackluster. Igor sticking up for the cute-man-monster person, was nice, but I preferred it when the monster took it up with the scientist himself. It also seemed rushed. It was one of those "Oh hey we got like 7 minutes left before the show ends and we still want to have two more dance numbers. So quick tie him up and just leave him, and dance."

And I can see why they removed the Time Warp part, I was confused watching them all take their bows, and then do one last dance number. It didn't belong, why were they all of the sudden doing the Time Warp?

On the subject of cute-man-monster-person, I was meh. He's cute, it's great that I get eye candy from both genders now, but I was sort of left saying "That was it?" Yes the guy's cute, from what I could see of him since he reflected the lights, but he didn't do much. At the end he stood off to the side. Personally I would of stuck with the terrible Frankenstein's Monster costume from last year and just thrown in some male nurses. (And for the record, I personally can't stand that Frankenstein's Monster costume from last year, but that's neither here nor there.)

Speaking of nurses, I love them, I really do. I promise. (Here comes the "Of all things, you noticed that." issue. so feel free to completely ignore it.)

But those wigs, they are driving me crazy, and not in the good way. As somebody who uses wigs on a fairly regular basis, by the end of the video I had to refrain from cringing at the sight of their wigs. I preferred the shorter ones from last year. Not just because I think shorter hair cuts on girls is cuter, but because their hair was a complete mess. And yes, dancing does that, I know. Walking around for 30 minutes in a wig can mess it up. The shorter wigs have less fiber, thus less mess or a mess that's easier to quickly pat down/finger comb it quickly and move on.

(End of "Why did you notice that?")

And I think I might be alone in this opinion, but I actually felt as if there were too many nurses. I appreciate the eye candy I do, but the stage felt completely crowded, between the nurses lined up on the sides, the props, the Doctor and Igor. Then you add Werewolf, Vampire, Swamp Monster, and cute-man-monster-person. I felt that the stage was too crowded to do anything.

In complete honesty the best part of the show, for me, was the Swamp Monster. Yeah...

So yeah, I had a few immature moments, and a few "NUH-UH THEY DIDN'T- THEY WENT THERE." moments. But over all, not all that impressed. Of course, repeating what I said earlier, I only watched the video, and hopefully I'll be able to see it in person later in the season.
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

For documentation purposes only...
Head Nurse: Simplicity
Sub-Nurses: Prosperity, Charity, Serenity, Felicity, Trinity, Purity, Vanity, Chastity
 
RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

What is the list of songs played here? So far I know; Thriller, Feed my Frankenstien, Hungry like the Wolf, Time Warp, and such, but what er the others?
 
RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Semi-detailed review. (Okay, not so "semi" anymore.)

Hate to say it, but I was disappointed with performance of Thriller. While the choreography was good, the doctor's singing wasn't that great. Frankly I was happy that he only has one song.

The "wait, what?!" jokes do feel kind of forced at times, but I'm still glad that they're there. Not only do these jokes have a certain charm, the park put them in order drive home the point that the park wants to put on a more mature show and that they still have some thought given to the mature crowd that is attracted to HoS for the scares. When the park does such a crappy job communicating to parents that HoS at night is for kids, this feels like a great acknowledgement. While people people think that is in here to be edgy on purpose, the park also tries to be kiddy (I'm sorry, family friendly) on purpose for it's other shows.

As for the warnings, the park is stepping it up. There are people at the door to remind parents about the content in addition to somebody walking the line as well.

The plot is very silly, and that's a good thing. Let's be honest, it's the plot to Rocky Horror. Rocky Horror is such a fan favorite because it's a fun movie and not because it's Citizen Kane. Just like Rocky Horror, I don't think people should hate the show because it's not something it never tried to be. As far as pacing, I don't think there are issues with it. It is hard to pull off plot pacing in a sub-half an hour musical show, any issues I think might be with the pacing at the end I can chalk up to an attempt at a climax with the doctor that simply fell on it's face. I will say that I was laughing when I saw the doctor "dancing" on the fence at the back.

Nurses: First of all, I'm glad the leading lady in the show is a Nurse and that the other Nurses seem like real characters this time instead of just being on the stage as meat puppets, sexy...sexy meat puppets. I feel that this humanizes them more and makes them a more substantial part of the experience. I really don't think the number of them is an issue as well, the stage does get crowded at times, but it doesn't really affect the numbers. Plus some of the interactions with the nurses are golden. Besides, there aren't any more people on that stage than Celtic Fyre does at times. The one thing I wish they did more is give the head nurse, Simplicity, a different, possibly more ornate Nurse outfit. This would establish to the crowd that she is a leading lady and to establish superority and dominance to the other nurses. giggity

While I'm not a wig expert like Apple :)p) I don't think the new hair is that big of deal. Yes, the bobs were super cute (and the nurses outside still have them, FYI), but these styles are super cute and they're not too long. I can totally see how dancing can affect how the wig's look at the end of a stage, so I don't know.

I like how they justified the monsters in this show more so than the previous years. I was always confused why Vampire, Mummy, ect are /just there/. They have justification to be there now. That being said, Swamp Monster stole. the. show. After his bit, I didn't care how the show went on from there, this was the best HoS show ever.

"The Monster": Is he just there for eye-candy? Sure. Is that an issue? Nope. They put him in there because, once again, it's the plot of Rocky Horror where the doctor's creation gets all the attention.

Is it a perfect show? Nope. I have more issues with the show that I don't like, but screw it, I like this show and I'm not going to spend my energy nitpicking on stuff I don't like when I'd rather focus on the stuff I do. I don't want it to be a perfect show either if it risks losing it's fun. I love it the way it is, "quality" be damned. Deal with it.

I will also state that Zachary himself said that the performance I saw was better than the one he recorded.

I'm going to just come out and say it, the show isn't for people who take things super seriously, so it's not surprising that people don't like it.
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When I said this, I meant that if you prefer watching Martin Scorsese dramas, don't review Snakes on a Plane. :V
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Party Rocker said:
What is the list of songs played here? So far I know; Thriller, Feed my Frankenstien, Hungry like the Wolf, Time Warp, and such, but what er the others?
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In order they are:
Gremlins Theme - Gremlins movie
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Feed My Frankenstein - Alice Cooper
Eye of the Tiger
Hungry Like the Wolf - Duran Duran
You Give Love a Bad Name - Bon Jovi
People Are Strange - The Doors
Weird Science - Weird Science movie
Help From My Fiends (Friends)
We are Family
Time Warp - Rocky Horror Picture Show
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

PzP said:
"The Monster": Is he just there for eye-candy? Sure. Is that an issue? Nope. I'm glad that they put him in.
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I assume you mean it's not an issue to you, and not that it's not an issue as a matter of objective fact, because, you know, that's provably false.

I just don't understand why he can't both a) be a good looking male dancer and b) bear some resemblance to something reminiscent of a Frankenstein's monster. I feel like those aren't exclusive things. I guess it's too much to ask the writers to see to it that a mad scientist character who is making a monster in a laboratory as part of your Halloween themed show would produce something...you know...monstrous. Unrealistic expectations of Citizen Kane, I suppose.

Is it a perfect show? Nope. I have more issues with the show that I don't like, but screw it...I love it the way it is, "quality" be damned. Deal with it. :mad:
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(I added the mad face for effect.)

I really don't understand the hostility. Who isn't "dealing with it"? I'll try my best to "deal with" the fact that you like something :huh:
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

For the record, I agree nearly 100% with PzP's review. As he said, the showing we saw yesterday was considerably better than the one I filmed. All the pacing issues seem to have been smoothed out, some of the sub-par singing parts have been improved quite a bit (particularly near the beginning), and Creature even has a few additional lines. I plan to go back and re-record it later this season.
 
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RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Doc: You have seen Rocky Horror Picture Show, right?

As far as the "Quality" be damned." Comment. I meant "quality" as some sort of Tony-level production I feel people expect from the park (as I tried to get at with the Citizen Kane comment). I was entertained, the job of the Entertainment Department, and it didn't require deep plot or legendary writing.

I meant "Deal with it :cool:". (I put in the right smiley there, as Doc doesn't seem to up on his internet memes as he should be) as the fact people have been hostile to people liking what the park does, just sayin'.
 
RE: Howl-O-Scream 2012: Fiends

Doc Dollars said:
I may actually be guilty of meme ignorance.
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2HUV.jpg
 
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