Hollywood Gothique

You are browsing the archives of 2007 October.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Creepy, the Los Angeles Halloween Blog, asked me to write up a list of the best amateur yard haunts in town, the ones you absolutely should not miss. You can read the original article here. For those of you who don’t like to click through links, here are the winners:

House at Haunted Hill
Boney [...]

The House of Restless Spirits (located at 1008 Euclid Street - Santa Monica, CA) is without a doubt our big yard haunt discovery of 2007. Of course, it’s not really a “discovery” - the haunt has been around for several years - it’s just the first time it has flown onto our radar. Shame on us [...]

It really is impossible to keep up with all the yard haunts proliferating around Los Angeles, so I do appreciate it when people bring them to my attention. For example, I just received some nice photos from David Wintink of a decorated yard in Woodland Hills.

Obviously, I cannot vouch for this one personally, but the [...]

Apparently it is not just American fundamentalist who have a problem with Halloween; similar complaints arise in Mexico:

Mexico’s Roman Catholic church slammed Halloween as “damaging and against the faith” on Monday, as conservatives sought to stem celebration of the ghouls-and-goblins holiday and return to the country’s traditional Day of the Dead.The U.S.-style holiday has made [...]

Street.Com has a very nice article on Halloween collectibles. Perhaps the most surprising point it makes is that the vintage era for collectibles lasted from 1919 until 1935 - a time when Halloween celebrations consisted mostly of adult parties where guests would play games and take home prizes: candy boxes, lanterns, or noisemakers. According to [...]

Spooky House has become such an established tradition around Halloween time that reviewing it on an annual basis is almost redundant. There is a continuity of talent from year to year,and a consistency of quality, so that, if you have enjoyed it in the past, you pretty much know that you will enjoy it in [...]

Many yard haunt are open only on Halloween Night or maybe one or two nights before, but some of the more extravagant ones get a jump on the competition. Earlier this week, we made a trip to the 10th and final year of Boney Island in Sherman Oaks, which began this year’s haunt on October [...]

October Shadows is a fantastic exhibition of Halloween-themed art, on display at Oscar-winning makeup artist Rick Baker’s Cinovation studio in Glendale. We attended the opening night reception on Friday, October 13. Check out our video report below.

The exhibit last through Halloween, but you better hurry - several of the works on display in the video [...]

The LA Daily News has an article on yard haunts. Most of the ones they list are already familiar to us (you can find them on our Halloween Haunts page), but they did dig up a couple of unfamiliar ghoulish delights that you may want to check out:

The Silva Family Haunt: 17022 Casimir Avenue in Torrance. Starts [...]

<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>USA today has an article titles “</FONT><A href=”http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-10-26-hell-house_N.htm”><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Christians use Hell House to reach out on Halloween</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana size=2>.” </FONT><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Despite the title, Hell House features just in the first half; the rest takes a look at various ways some fundamentalist Christians deal with Halloween, either by using it as an [...]

National Public Radio has posted a list (along with audio samples) of their “Top 5 Creepy Halloween Classicss.”
Obvious entries like Bach “Tocatta in D Minor,” Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” and Grieg’s “Hall of the Mountain King” are missing. Instead, the selections are:

Firebird Suite: Infernal Dance
Danse Macabre
Dance of Terror
Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Symphony Fantastique: Dream of [...]

…at least not on Holywood Boulevard. I mention this because FilmRadar recently sent out a newsletter of Halloween events that listed the “world premiere” of the stage adaptation of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood. This event, of course, took place last year; we reviewed it [...]

Here is an interesting article with some advice for pet owners regarding Halloween. The article warns that pets can be easily frightened by the noise and confusion of Halloween, which represents a break with their regular comfortable routine. Candy and candy wrappers can be bad for your pet’s health. And if you want to dress your [...]