Hollywood Gothique

Based on the best-selling young adult novels, the PG-13 film stars Billy Burke, Peter Facinelli, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Reaser, Kristen Stewart. In her new town of Forks, Washington, misfit teenager Bella Swan (Stewart) falls for her alluring and mysterious classmate, Edward Cullen (Pattinson). As it turns out, Edward belongs to a lineage of vampires, although he [...]

Two of Ray Harryhausen\’s best special effects fantasy films screen together for three days at the New Beverly. 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD is the first stop-motion monster movie shot in color; it is the perfect fantasy film for kids of all ages. JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS strikes a slightly more serious tone (it is inspired [...]

We did not make it out to Disneyland for Halloween Time this year, but since it is one of the view Halloween Haunts still accessible to Los Angeles fright fans, we dug around YouTube and found a video to post here. Obviously, this is a kids-oriented haunted attraction, but it looks like a lot of [...]

Fright Gallery has been dormant since 2005, but on October 30, 2008 - which is to say, tonight - it reopens the cemetery gates for another mad musical parody. This year’s spoof is a Halloween horror version of HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, titled “Dead of the Class.” After the three-year wait, we can only hope and pray that it [...]

House at Haunted Hill - one of our favorite yard haunts - is open tonight, so we thought we would post this video taken in 2006. The haunt has changed a bit since then. In 2007, it morphed from a generic haunted house presentation into a show, featuring taped narration and music to tell the [...]

Earlier in the month we reviewed this year’s edition of Spooky House, the popular professional Halloween Haunt in Chatsworth. Set in a permanent location that actually resembles a haunted house, this attraction has not changed too much since last year, but they have added some nice touches (a “free-fall” elevator, a hearse through which customers must [...]

Last year we visited this amateur yard haunt in Pasadena, at the home of Mary and Marc Doten. It’s not as elaborate as some of the best, but it was bright and festive, and not only the yard was decorated but also the interior. It might not be worth the long drive out to Pasadena, [...]

Just in time for its 10th anniversary, we made our first trip out to Horror on Frankel Street (located at 2719 Frankel Street in Lakewood, California). This Halloween yard haunt began inauspiciously enough in 1998, with resident Steve Cometa hiding behind a bush and scaring kids after they got candy at the front door. Since then, Cometa has built his amateur [...]

Here is a music video compiled of footage from the Ghost Train Halloween ride at Griffith Park’s Travel Town, set to my song “Empty Hallways. The lyrics do not really match, but he music seems to work. Perhaps, if time allows, I will go back later and write a song specifically for this video - the [...]

Here is a video report of our visit to Fearplex, the Halloween Haunt at the Los Angeles Country Fairgrounds in Pomona. We previously reviewed their 2008 opening weekend performance here. The video includes walk-throughs of both mazes, Lanterman Manor and Mangler’s Haunted Asylum. (NOTE: At posting time, there was some problem with the thumbnail image of [...]

A few days ago, we reviewed this year’s version of the Old Town Haunt in Pasadena. Now we’re back with this video, which takes you on a tour through the depths of the underground labyrinth and also feature an interview with the proprietor, Ron Rogge, who provides some insights on what makes this Halloween haunt [...]

Here is is: the fifth and final installment of our video tour through Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios, Hollywood. Part five takes you to Camp Crystal Lake, home of Jason Voorhees, the hockey-mask-wearing maniac who sliced and diced his way through the FRIDAY THE 13TH movies. The films themselves are not particularly good, but [...]

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is not exactly our cup of blood: sure, it’s scary, but Halloween should be about bats and ghouls, not the abatoir. Nevertheless, we have to admit that Universal Studios Hollywood turned the Leatherface maze into a convincing journey into blood-soaked terror. The Slaughterhouse - Knott’s Scary Farm’s generic riff on CHAINSAW-style terror [...]