IMO, it's too intense for an 8 year old. In fact, I believe that HHN has a PG-13 rating warning on it. I've seen several young children in tears at HHN.
Last year, two of the "chain saw guys" were trying to calm down a very frightened child. They had put down their "weapons" and were speaking calmly to the child and telling him that it was all make-up and fake stuff. I thought that was very nice of the guys to do that but the parents should have never brought their child in there.
Besides the street freaks, there are walk-through haunted houses and chambers of horrors. Really gross, frightening stuff for kids to deal with. CM's pop out at you and there's lots of strobe lights and stuff.
Last year, near Amityville, they filled the street with fog and strobe lights so you could hardly see where you were walking. Well, the street was filled with creatures and freaks of all kinds.