Review: Creep LA summons “Ghosts” for Halloween

After a two-year hiatus, Creep LA returns with this Halloween’s most haunting afterlife experience

“I’m not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted hotels. I’m afraid of what real human beings do to other real human beings.” – Creep LA, 2015

When Creep LA arrived on the Los Angeles Halloween haunt scene nine years ago, they clearly announced their disinterest in ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night; they preferred a more human form of horror. Since then, they have gradually softened their stance: 2017’s Lore was based on real-life stories of people who believed in vampires and fairies; 2021’s Hollow House featured the titular “world warping haunted house.” Now for Halloween 2024 the immersive event offers a full-blown afterlife experience, inspired by the CBS sitcom Ghosts – which, ironically enough, is set inside a haunted hotel (well, a bed-and-breakfast, but close enough).

“We’re thrilled to collaborate with CBS and bring the idea of Ghosts to life in such a unique and immersive way, allowing Halloween thrill-seekers and fans of the show to step into a world inspired by the series,” said the JFI Creative team, per the press materials. “We created an experience that is both terrifying and captivating, aimed at making attendees confront their beliefs about the supernatural.”

This is also the first time since 2021 that the event’s creators, Just Fix It Productions, have presented an installment of Creep LA (during Halloween 2022 and 2023, they offered The Willows as an alternative) – all the more reason for Halloween fans to take advantage of this excursion into the Afterlife.

Creep LA Ghosts Review: Woodstone Bed & Breakfast

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Creep LA: Ghosts takes place inside two buildings in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, including Beckett Mansion, where the main event takes place (previously used by Delusion Interactive Theatre and House of Spirits). Before that, guests check in across the street at a simulation of the TV show’s Woodstone Bed & Breakfast, offering photo ops, memorabilia, and a promotional video for the sitcom’s fourth season, which launched on October 17.

The Woodstone B&B is a clever idea. Guests have to check in for timed entry to the event, so why not have them check in at the sitcom’s reception desk? Even better, you get a room key, which acts as your ticket to the experience across the street (keys are color-coded according to entry time).

The venue is lovely, and the Ghosts-themed decorations set the scene nicely, including a projection of the show’s title, which periodically disperses like wispy fog. There is a decent amount of seating, which allows you to meet fellow travelers, discussing your love of the TV show and/or Creep LA.

It’s a great way to wait – except for one problem. Besides restrooms, there are no amenities: no snacks, no beverages – not even water. In short, this is not a lounge where you want to hang out for any length of time – definitely not a place to revisit after completing the tour across the street.

Exacerbating the problem is the wait time. The “know before you go” information that comes with your tickets suggests arriving fifteen minutes or more before your appointed entry time in order to enjoy the B&B, but if you do that, you might end up waiting an hour. It’s fun for the first fifteen minutes, but after awhile it wears thin. The presentation is timed, with lighting and sound effects repeating at regular intervals: the promotional video glitches; the chandelier dims; the old radio plays a haunting tune. After about the third cycle, you might find yourself wanting to run screaming from the lobby faster than if you were being pursued by ghosts.

Do no wander far, however, because you want to hear when your group is called to cross the street…

Creep LA Ghosts Review: Haunted Beckett Mansion

The main body of Creep LA: Ghosts (“a scare-filled journey exploring various ghost stories, different types of spirits and representations of the afterlife”) takes place in Beckett Mansion. Spoiler alert: there are plenty of ghosts, but none of them have anything to do with the CBS sitcom. These dark spirits are more tragical than comical.

After being led across the quiet residential street, you begin your tour outside the dwelling, where a character informs you of the usual rules of interactive theatrical haunts (don’t touch anything or speak unless told to, etc). Then the tour begins with what feels like a traditional haunted house walkthrough constructed beside the house. It is rather nondescript and uneventful: plywood walls form narrow corridors where you might encounter a jump-scare or two.

Things pick up when the walkthrough deposits you in the backyard, where you engage for an extended period with your ghost guide from out front. Invoking the spirits haunting the location, he asks you to write names of departed loved ones on a chalk board, then asks for offerings to the dead. Anything will do – money, trinkets. Each offering sparks a comment from the guide – somber, humorous, or both simultaneously.

All of this has been an effective preamble to set the mood for what follows inside the mansion. A series of ghostly vignettes unfurl as you explore rooms on different floors: A grieving man discovers a way to resurrect his dead lover, but does she want to return from the afterlife? A mad magician dazzles you with supernatural skill. A young woman gives up waiting for her prom date, rushing out with no regard for approaching danger. A séance summons a dark spirit. A prohibition-era party turns tragic, with unexpected results decades later.

There is no plot linking these scenes, which work mostly as self-contained stories explaining the origins of the ghosts haunting the house; however, one or two do have repercussions and clever twists we will not reveal. Some episodes show flashes of macabre humor; others are darkly tragic. Our only quibble pertains to a two-part story, separated by an interstitial bit that goes on too long. The story itself is great, but the bit in between (involving an eerie profusion of ghostly images projected on a miniature) has a character rambling about chattering teeth and bones so much that you start to suspect you’re being held in place until the second half of the scene has been properly set up for you to continue your journey.

There is a good balance between dramatic scenes and and entertainment bits like the séance and magic show. In the later, the audience is engaged directly; in the former, the audience sometimes acts as invisible witness to events, sometimes as participant. This unexpected shift from passive to active can feel quite uncanny, which sums up the overall experience. True to its name, Creep LA is more interested in giving you the creeps than making you scream, and it does so quite effectively (while also delivering the occasional shock).

Creep LA Ghosts Review: Conclusion

The one thing you won’t see much of in Creep LA: Ghosts is the CBS sitcom Ghosts, which is restricted to the first location. The Woodstone Bed & Breakfast feels like a promotional tie-in, providing a fun theme for the waiting room but not really influencing the main show. That is not really a problem, because the ghosts haunting Beckett Mansion will enthrall anyone lured in by the promotional gimmick.

Someone once told us that Creep LA is basically “Delusion Light.” Although we understand the point they were trying to make, that is not really fair. Yes, Creep LA is another Halloween interactive theatrical production, but it has its own vibe, which distinguishes it from Delusion Interactive Theatre (drop us in the middle of either show without explanation, and we’d figure out which one we were seeing).

Creep LA may lack the elaborate stunts and effects of its predecessor, but its strengths lay elsewhere. In Delusion, the narrative thread ties the set pieces together; in Creep LA, the connection is more thematic, and the emphasis is on drama. Each story is told clearly and concisely, saving the biggest and best for last. The final ghosts are depicted by the simplest means possible, but as they drive you from their haunted home back to the land of the living, you will breathe a sigh of relief upon crossing the threshold to safety. There is more than one afterlife excursion available in Los Angeles this Halloween, but Creep LA: Ghosts is the most haunting.

Creep LA Ghosts: Photo Gallery