Hollywood Gothique

Previously I mentioned that Old Town Haunt in Pasadena will be getting a helping hand this year from some of the people involved in last year’s one-shot newbie Halloween attractions, Skull Kingdom. Now I hear about even more changes at Old Town Haunt. The proprietors have been able to purchase additional rooms, previously unavailable, in order to expand for Halloween 2009, so this year’s event will be even bigger and better than before.

One use for the additional space will be to create a room designed to tie in with the upcoming release of THE STEPFATHER, the remake of the 1987 film starring Terry O’Quinn as the psychopathic murderer who kills his family when they fail to live up to his ideal, and then moves on to the next family. The new version stars Dylan Walsh.

Although I appreciate the commercial appeal of tying a haunt in to a current horror movie (other Halloween haunts like Knotts Scary Farm have been doing it for years), I’m not altogether sure that THE STEPFATHER is a perfect fit with Old Town Haunt. One of the great things about this particular attraction is that its underground setting gives it a unique ambiance completely different from other Halloween events in Los Angeles. Adding THE STEPFATHER to the mix seems (to me anyway) to have the potential to dilute the mix.

We’ll have to wait and see how it turns out…