The Mourning After Halloween 2012: Those Haunts That Remain…
It’s the morning after Halloween – but that’s no reason to be mourning. With October 31 having fallen in the middle of the week, a handful of Halloween events in Los Angeles are remaining open through the weekend. So if you feel yourself going through withdrawal pains, consider the following options. (Be careful: some of them may have sold out their tickets.)
BLACKOUT HAUNTED HOUSE
Remaining Dates: November 1-4, 6-10
Location: 207 South Broadway, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Description: The Blackout Haunted House has been a big hit in New York City for the past few years; its Los Angeles debut continues a few more days. Its gimmick is that visitors pass through the completely dark maze alone, with only a mask and a flashlight to protect them from whatever horrors lurk within. Judging from the reviews, the experience has less to do with Halloween Horror than with torture porn, S&M, and Abu Ghraib: the actors touch you and invade your personal space; you may find yourself shackled in the dark with a bag over your head. The website warns that you will encounter: fog, strobe lights, complete darkness, crawling, stairs, loud noises, water, physical contact, sexual and violent situations. Only those 18 and over may attend; all patrons are required to sign a waver before entering.
Tickets are $35 on school nights, $45 on weekends. Performance times are at 7, 8, 9 & 10pm on weeknights, with an additional 6pm slot on weekends.
THE BLUMHOUSE OF HORRORS
Remaining Dates: November 1-3, 6pm to midnight
Website: Click here
Location: Variety Arts Theatre, 940 South Figueroa Street Los Angeles, CA 90017
Description: Set in the old Variety Arts Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, the Blumhouse of Horrors is based on the back story of a magician’s assistant who literally disappeared on stage in the 1930s, never to be seen again. Since then, the theatre has been closed, until now. Visitors will weave their way through the venerable building from top to bottom, encountering scares provided by a cast of 50 actors. With a 25-person behind-the-scenes crew, the Halloween haunted house attraction cost several hundred thousand dollars to produce.
Tickets are $29 for general admission; $55 for VIP (front of the line).
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review and see a video interview with haunt producer Jason Blum (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY).
DELUSION: THE BLOOD RITE – Sold Out!
Remaining Dates: November 1-3, 8-10, 15-17; 7pm-midnight on most nights; open till 1am on Fridays and Saturdays
Location: 2218 S Harvard Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90018
Website: Click here
Description: After extending its run from Halloween into three weekends in November, Delusion: The Blood Right quickly sold out all performances. Too bad, this year’s show expanded on the interactivity and drama of last year’s debut, creating a unique event that was part haunted house and part theatrical performance. As your group of visitors moves through the house, you must complete specific tasks; some of you will be separated from the others; you may even experience a scene that the rest of the group misses. A unique experience.
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review here.
Tickets: sold out
THE EMPTY GRAVE
Remaining Dates: November 1-3
Hours: 7-10pm Thursday, 7pm-midnight on Friday & Saturday.
Location: 321 W. Katella Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92803
Link out: Click here
Description: Formerly known as The Haunted Cellar, is set in an expansive retail space within the upscale Anaheim Garden Walk. Years ago, this haunt featured a limbo-like feel with lots of empty space, but it has built up over the years, to include more sets and monsters.
Tickets: $13 for single admission; $20 for you and a friend; $40 for groups of five. VIP “Death Pack” – five front of the line tickets – is $65.
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review here.
FRIGHT NIGHTS AT THE WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE
Remaining Dates: November 2-3, 6:30pm – 12:00am
Location: Winchester Mystery House,525 S. Winchester Blvd, San Jose, CA 95128
Website: here
Description: It may be prohibitively distant for Halloween fans in Los Angeles, but if you really feel the need for more Halloween horror, this one is worth the drive up to San Jose. The year-round tourist destination’s labyrinthine corridors, dead ends, secret panels, and other architectural oddities were allegedly designed to confuse evil spirits; building on this supposedly haunted, history, Fright Nights offers a forty-minute walk-through filled with different environments and ghosts of all sorts, some inspired by the legends attached to the Winchester House. Frights Nights actually takes place mostly on the surrounding grounds; the house itself is the subject of a night-time flashlight tour (included for the price of a single-admission). The 35-minute, self-guided tour is enhanced with a few actors in period costumes, lurking in the shadows, but it is mostly historical in nature. The two tours compliment each other, with the flashlight tour provided some back story for the scarier Fright Nights experience.
Regular tickets are $35; VIP tickets, which offer front-of-the-line access, are $50.
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review here.
MASTERWORKS OF EXPRESSIONIST CINEMA: CALIGARI AND METROPOLIS
Remaining Dates: through March 10, 2013
Location: The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art offers up an exhibition of artwork derived from two classic examples of German Expressionism, THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI and METROPOLIS. With its disturbingly unreal approach to cinematic imagery, Expressionism helped give birth to fantasy films, mystery movies, sci-fi cinema, and horror. LACMA’s exhibit, titled “Masterworks of Expressionist Cinema: Caligari and Metropolis,” will illustrate this impressive lineage with “projected sequences, vintage posters, and set stills” from the classic black-and-white silent films.
OCTOBER SHADOWS V
Remaining Date: November 3, from 10am to 3pm.
Location: Mountain View Mausoleum, 2300 North Marengo Avenue Altadena, CA 91001
Website: Click here
Description: Creature Features presents the fifth installment of its annual celebration of Halloween in art. Past installments of October Shadows have featured contributions contributions from such Halloween horror luminaries as Rick Baker, William Stout, Stephen Chiodo, Peter Von Sholly, and many, many others. Check out our video of last year’s October Shadows to get a glimpse of what may be in store this year.
By the way, did we mention that the exhibition is set up in the art gallery of an actual mausoleum? You can’t get more ghoulish than that! To be fair, however, Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery is more reverential than revolting, with spiritually themed decor designed to offer comfort to mournful visitors. (This is also the location for the annual Wicked Lit Theatre Festival, which continues its run into November as well.)
ROTTEN APPLE 907’S WILSLEY MANOR
Remaining Date: Saturday, November 3 – Special Haunter’s Night
Location: 907 N. California Street Burbank, CA 91505
Website: Click here
Description: Rotten Apple 907 keeps the doors of Wilsley Manor open one more night, so that other home haunters, who were too busy during October, can drop in and have a look.
Wilsley Manor presents a traditional haunted house theme, enhanced with some nice architecture and a few professional-quality effects that one does not expect to see in a yard haunt.
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review here.
WICKED LIT THEATRE FESTIVAL
Remaining Dates: November 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9 & 10; starting at 7:30pm nightly.
Note: November 1 is sold out. Standby tickets for sold out shows may be available on the night of the performance, but no guarantees.
Location: Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery, 2300 Marengo Ave, Altadena, CA 91001
Phone: (818) 242 7910
Website: Click here
Description: The Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival has extended its run into the first two weekends of November. The presentation consists of three short plays, all based on classic works of horror literature, performed in and around a real mausoleum and cemetery. This year’s morbid melodramas are: Wake Not the Dead by Johann Ludwig Tieck; The Dead Smile by F. Marion Crawford; and Count Magnus by M.R. James.
Tickets: $39-55 (includes all three plays)
Read Hollywood Gothique’s review here.
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UPDATES:
- THE BONEY ISLAND YARD HAUNT: Due to large crowds on Halloween Night, this skeleton magic show will offer an encore on November 1. Hours are shorter than usual: 6-8pm. The address is 4602 Morse Avenue in Sherman Oaks.
- THE FALL OF THE PUMPKIN PEOPLE: We were unaware of this haunt, so we did not list it sooner, but Fall of the Pumpkin People will be giving an encore on November 1 from 7pm to 10pm. This yard haunt diorama is located at 13420 Wentworth Street, Los Angeles, California, 91331, near Woodman and Roscoe, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.
