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Mini Review: Boney Island’s Skeletown

 Back at L.A. Natural History Museum, Boney Island is much the same as last year, but the new Skeletown section makes it worth a revisit

Returning for its second Halloween season at the Los Angeles National History Museum, Boney Island is much the same as it was last year, except for the notable addition of Skeletown, an amusing walkthrough section at the very end of the event’s lengthy series of outdoor displays. All the great scenes from last year are still there: Deadwood Forest, Primeval Pass, Hauntington Gardens, and Maestro Maxilla. Even if you have seen all these, the new addition makes this year’s Boney Island worth a return visit.

Skeletown basically mimics the look of a smalltown main street with display windows of various shops revealing silly skeleton scenes (Dead Pets Society, Skeletown Die-ner). This is followed by a trip through the Boney Island candy factory, which makes Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory look relatively sane by comparison. Besides confectionary like Murky Way bars and Hot Toe-males, the factory also churns out cereal like Yucky Charms and Mice Krispies. There are also two animated video displays of workers inside the factory; the main figure mimics your moves as you walk, dance, or do semaphore code.

Definitely worth seeing if you have kids, are a kid at heart, or just love spooky Halloween fun without the chainsaws and gore.

This post will be updated with more details and photos ASAP.

Boney Island 2024: Skeletown
4

Rating Scale

0 – Awful
1 – Poor
2 – Mediocre
3 – Good
4 – Great
5 – Excellent

Most of Boney Island was the same as last year, making us wonder whether we needed to see it again; Skeletown answered the question with a resounding yes!

Boney Island runs Thursday-through-Sunday,plus a couple Wednesdays, through October 31, 6:3-10pm. Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for children 3-12, free for children 2 and under. The National History Museum is located at 900 Exposition Boulevard in Los Angeles. Get more information at nhm.org/boney-island-nhm

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.