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What would we see in a Stranger Things house at Halloween Horror Nights 28?

Ok, so I’m sure you’ve all heard the speculation around fan favourite ‘Stranger Things’ coming to this year’s Halloween Horror Nights. The rumours appear to stem from a twitter post by Universal Orlando featuring an upside down image of the globe and the caption ‘Suddenly we’re craving waffles?’. This was posted on Oct 27 2017, whilst HHN27 was still taking place. Since then plenty of the Stranger Things cast have been spotted at the Universal Orlando Resort. This information might not seem like the most concrete evidence, but as the event grows year by year, it seems to make sense that we’d see one of the biggest horror properties of the past few years featured at Halloween Horror Nights 28.

The House

So, let’s say these rumours come true and we get a Stranger Things house. What will the house look

The Facade

With it’s Spielberg-esque imagery, Stranger Things consists of plenty of iconic images that would make a perfect facade. The most iconic room in all of Stranger Things has to be Joyce’s living room decorated in Christmas lights. Maybe we’ll see this on a larger scale or maybe, more practically, we’ll enter into Will’s house and have this be the first room we see. Although iconic, this wouldn’t fit very well into a chronological presentation of the story. So rather than this, we could follow the plot of Eleven and begin by entering into Hawkins Laboratory. We could join the boys on their journey and enter Mike’s house, seeing the basement with it’s foreshadowing game of Dungeons and Dragons. Or perhaps we’ll just enter through a massive Eggo?

The Forest

Much of the first season revolves around the forest which surrounds Hawkins. Early on we see a search party look for Will and later we see his ‘Castle Byers’ , a key location both in the realms of the real world and the upside down. We later watch Barb and Nancy party at Steve’s from the perspective of Jonathan Byers, a prelude to the awful demise of Barb. We then have Nancy and Jonathan return here in an epic Demogorgon confrontation. With all this, it seems obvious that we’ll see plenty of the forest in a Stranger Things house.

Hawkin’s Middle School

With our key characters being so young, it makes sense that much of the plot would take place within their school. Although, much of this doesn’t really lend itself to jump scares. Therefore, I think the most we’ll see of the school might be a nod to the AV club and perhaps a small feature of the gym and the DIY sensory deprivation tank.

The Upside Down

The one you’ve all been waiting for, the obvious one, the upside down. I think it’s pretty safe to say we’ll see plenty of this throughout a Stranger things house. Most likely, I think we’ll see the demogorgons sticky lair, full of victims such as Barb and maybe even Will. I would also expect the tunnels from Season two to be featured in the house.

The Demogorgon

The key antagonist of Stranger Things appears as a massive alien like creature. Don’t get me wrong, the make up teams at universal have done some pretty impressive stuff in the past. However I’m not quite sure they could successfully pull this off. Instead, I see an American Werewolf type animatronic who will appear once or twice throughout the house, providing a really effective scare.

The Kids

Stranger things is a show which relies heavily on its key characters. Imagine the show without Hopper, without Joyce, without Elle or the boys or even Papa. There wouldn’t be much left, just a demogorgon. So who will our scareactors play? Will we see an Ash vs. Evil dead type house, with our familiar characters being a key aspect of the house. Hopefully, yes. But how feasible is this? I have no doubt that there are scare actors who can pull off a child like look, just think about Regan or The Grady Twins.But what are the rights? Are Halloween Horror Nights allowed to present these characters, or will it be a Walking Dead type situation with simple references. Will we see a bloody nose and blond wig, but not quite Elle? A pile of bikes, but no Mike, Lucas or Dustin. A sheriff who’s not quite the Hopper we all know. If this is the case, will it work or will we all be a bit disappointed to not see our favourite characters?

Season Two

I don’t see it likely that Halloween Horror Nights will only focus on the first season, instead I think they’ll combine the two. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say we’ll see a few demo dogs. Perhaps if we’re lucky we’ll even get to visit the arcade. Whilst at the arcade we may well see the spider like shadow and once again follow Will to the upside down. In addition to this, how could we avoid a trip to Hopper’s Evil Dead like cabin, where we might get to indulge in an eggo or two. Also, what about Elle’s sister, will we be faced with a group of punk rock scare actors? Personally, I think this would be pretty awesome.

The Music

There’s really not much to say on this, but I just want to leave you with the thought. Imagine how epic Stranger Things’ electronic score will sound throughout the house and the atmosphere it will help shape.

 

So, what are you hoping to see if we get a Stranger Things house at Halloween Horror Nights?