Hollywood Gothique

Top Stories, Reviews, Interviews & Other Posts Worthy of Special Attention

Horror fans who are looking for a shot of adrenalin to revitalize their spirits now that October’s monster mazes, haunted hayrides, ghost ships, and harvest festivals are have closed their gates, could do worse than taking in THE THING, before it exists from theatres. Although neither a box office nor a critical powerhouse, the film [...]

So, you’re Halloween high has ended, and you feel your morose soul descending into the abyss of withdrawal. The zombies have returned to their graves. The vampyres have fled to where the ghouls and Afrits rave. The restless spirits have shuttered up their haunted house. The cannibal crazies have disappeared into the maze of the backwoods. The delusions have disappeared, and the ghosts ships have all set sail. What is left? What is left?

Drum roll, please – or should that be a funeral dirge? Whatever soundtrack you choose to play in your mind or on your computer while reading this, it is time to bestow our annual accolades for the Best Los Angeles Halloween Events. As with last year, I will dispense with rigid categories in favor of [...]

The final installment of our 2011 Halloween Yard Haunt Odyssey takes us to a pair of old favorites, both restless and eternal, and also ventures into previously uncharted realms of mishaps and darkness. The wide spectrum of approaches – from shivers to shocks, from simple to sophisticated – is a remarkable testament to the impressive variety [...]

After Burbank, Tarzana, and Woodland Hills, the next leg of Hollywood Gothique’s 2011 Halloween Yard Haunt Odyssey takes us from Los Angeles all the way to Simi Valley. The little bedroom community seems quiet and safe, but you never know what sort of hidden terror lies just beneath the placid surface – until now…

The House at Haunted Hill
The previous installment of our annual Halloween Yard Haunt Odyssey took us through two terrifying mazes in Burbank, The Backwoods Maze and Rotten Apple 907’s Space Oddessey. Moving on to Tarzana and Woodland Hills, we encounter a trio of Halloween Yard Haunts that are less interested in shocks and surprise than [...]

Our exploration of 2011’s Halloween Yard Haunts began last week with our trip to Boney Island (reviewed here). Next, we move on to Burbank for a pair of Amateur Halloween Events that display enough skill and imagination to rank along side professional Halloween Haunted Houses & Hayrides in Los Angeles.
The Backwoods Maze (1912 North Pepper [...]

Dates: October 21 through November 5
Location: Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery, 2300 N. Marengo Avenue, Altadena, California
Wicked Lit’s innovative productions – based on the works of Poe, Lovecraft, Dickens, etc – fully immerse the audience in different times and locations, creating a unique brand of shuddery entertainment, quite distinct from other Halloween events in Los Angeles.

Dates: October 14-16, 21-23, 28-30
The Ghost Tour at Stathearn Park brings to life the history of Simi Valley, told by dead souls from the past. The experience is not intended to be frightening, but it does hit the right mood for Halloween. People interested in history and/or in enjoying Halloween without being assaulted by costumed maniacs, will find this event to be a pleasant and educational diversion.

Dates: October 7-9, 14-16, 21-23, and 28-31
Six October seasons have passed since last we visited the Six Flags Magic Mountain Fright Fest, in the eldritch year of 2005 (review here). That is vast eons of time in the competitive netherworld of Halloween haunted houses and hayrides, and Six Flags has expanded its Fright Fest with more mazes, scare zones, and shows than ever before; we found this year’s event to be much the same as before in terms of its overall impact, but it is bigger and better than before.

"The Body Snatcher," based on Robert Louis Stevenson
Tonight, Wicked Lit returns to the Moutain View Mausoleum and Cemetery for another October season of immersive theatre productions. Rather like TAMARA, the play staged in the American Legion Hall in Hollywood back in the 1980s, Wicket Lit productions take place in an actual location, requiring the audience [...]

Watch your step – and those hands – as you descend the stairs.
You should go see Delusion, the new Halloween haunted house that just opened in Los Angeles.
No, really. Stop reading this now, and go buy your tickets.
What more do we need to tell you? I mean, you know us, right? Have we ever steered [...]

Dates: October 14-15, 21-22, 28-29
The Ghost Ship is an enjoyable novelty: a short pleasure cruise with a Value-added Halloween theme. The enjoyment one receives is much as one would expect on any cruise: the refreshing chill of a cool sea breeze on the observation deck; the glittering lights of docks and buoys reflected off the ocean; the relaxed, transitory camaraderie of fellow travelers sharing a deck on a ship sailing over water smooth as glass. The happiest audience will be one that enjoys these regular attractions and appreciates the Halloween elements as a bonus.

The Sinister Pointe Halloween attraction erupted from the grave like a screaming banshee two years ago, scaring Orange Count residents as never before; at least, that’s what we heard, second-hand. In 2008, the haunt proprietor had earned a reputation for an officially licensed SAW maze; that reputation grew with the 2009 debut of Sinister Pointe, [...]

A female ghoul keeps an eye on the Haunted Hayride.
If  have taken the ride or read the reviews, you know that in a mere two years the L.A. Haunted Hayride has driven to the front of the pack, becoming one of the premiere Halloween events in Los Angeles. To laud the haunt with praises once [...]

Dates: October 7-8, 14-15, 21-22, 28-31
Reign of Terror continues to house new terrors within its ever expanding walls. The growth from last Halloween to now may not be dramatic, but it is vividly clear to even the most casual haunt-goer. There are more scares than ever before, many of them quite startling.

Dates: October 7-9, 14-16, 20-23, 27-31
Does Dark Harbor 2011 boldly voyage into darkly haunted seas never charted before? Not quite: much is the same as last year, the old barnacles scraped away and replaced with fresh paint, the cabins aired out and redecorated, the crew primed and ready for another cruise into terror. In fact, the best way to describe this year’s Queen Mary Dark Harbor is to switch metaphors from the bounding main to music: Dark Harbor 2011 is like a remastered CD – basically the same music, with perhaps one or two bonus tracks, but with improved clarity of sound that brings out details you might have missed before, making the result seem new.

A Halloween event that is fun even before you reach the haunted mazes
Over the last decade, perhaps in response to competition from the big Halloween theme park attractions, there has been a trend among the smaller Halloween events in Los Angeles – a trend toward morphing these haunts into “destinations.” The proprietors do not want [...]

[ October 30, 2011; 10:00 am; ] Dates: October 29-31
Hours: opens 1o:00am Saturday & Sunday; open all day Sunday, until midnight on Monday, Halloween Night
Location: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Description: To celebrate the final weekend of their Tim Burton Exhibition, the Los Angeles County Museum of Arts presents some fanciful Halloween-themed festivities, including parties, performances, [...]

La Llarona swallows a victim at Halloween Horror Nights.
Last week – during my other gig, as managing editor of Cinefantastique Online – I participated in an episode of the CFQ Black Hole Ultra-Lounge Podcast, in which host Dan Persons asked me about my experiences at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood. Although I hit [...]

From October 6 through 29, the American Cinematheque presents an impressive list of horror films screening at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica: everything from a Vincent Price Centennial Celebration, to retro screenings of spooky classics THE INNOCENTS and the HAUNTING, to a series of monster movies selected by John Landis (including a couple of pre-Code classics). Check out the horrible goodies below…

Dates: October 5-9, 12-16, 19-23, 26-31.
This year, we approached the Knotts Berry Farm Halloween Haunt with an edge of fear in our soul that had little to do with the eager anticipation of ghost town ghouls, fallout shelter mutants, lock-down asylum lunatics, or apocalyptic wasteland warriors. Rather, advance word had sinisterly suggested that the annual Halloween theme park attraction was but a pale, ethereal shadow of its formerly spirited self – a “creaky, middle-aged zombie that’s lost its will to rise from the grave every night,” in the words of this Los Angeles Times review of opening night. To our ghoulish delight, however, these dire prophecies of doom turned out to be ephemeral warnings of a disaster that failed to materialize. True, there is little that is innovative or ground-breaking this year; nevertheless, the depth and breadth of horrors on display continue to make this annual ritual a must-see for Halloween acolytes.

The venerable Queen Mary has been in the spooky seasonal business for long enough to make it one of the most popular Halloween events in Los Angeles, and yet is reputation among fans has often placed it in the “also ran” category behind the big theme park attractions Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood and the Knotts Berry Farm Halloween Haunt. In this interview, the crustaceous crew of the Queen Mary Dark Harbor muse over their long-term plans for sailing full-steam ahead and into the future, hopefully overtaking the competition in the process.