Hollywood Gothique
The Vault

Delusions of Grandeur: Here From the Beginning

“You were here from the beginning.”

Having just experienced Delusion: The Blue Blade, I was sitting in the Fais DoDo club, sipping a martini, when Delusion: Interactive Theatre‘s creator Jon Braver recognized and greeted me with those words. What struck me was that Braver was literally the third person this year to say virtually the same thing to me; the first two were Jonathan Josephson of the Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival and Melissa Carbone of the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. In a sense, Hollywood Gothique has been chronicling the growth and evolution of all three attractions almost from birth, hopefully giving readers some small insights into what makes them special and unique.

It made me feel rather important – as if, when the saga of Los Angeles Halloween Haunts in the early 21st century comes to be written, I will be called upon as a first-hand Eye Witness to History. Or perhaps I am simply having Delusions of Grandeur.*

In any case, Delusion: The Blue Blade is an entertaining time-travel adventure, less focused on horror, but still with a strong, recurring scare element. For the time being, I have little to add to Marie DeLoups’ five-star review, except that it seems a few details have been changed in terms of how the initial exposition is delivered to get the story started.

We will probably revisit the play next year – Braver indicates there will be significant rewriting before The Blue Blade reopens in February. The play’s current run extends through December.

*Update: After thinking it over a bit, I feel like Jack Torrance in The Shining: “You have always been the caretaker.”

Check out our interview with Jon Braver regarding the Spring edition of The Blue Blade.

Steve Biodrowski, Administrator

A graduate of USC film school, Steve Biodrowski has worked as a film critic, journalist, and editor at Movieline, Premiere, Le Cinephage, The Dark Side., Cinefantastique magazine, Fandom.com, and Cinescape Online. He is currently Managing Editor of Cinefantastique Online and owner-operator of Hollywood Gothique.