Halloween countdown post #10: DC’s select Southern California haunted house attractions for the Halloween season 2016

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Creep
In the 1970s, a controversial artist named Erebus Burwyck set out to explore the dark side of humanity and express it through his art, in the process unlocking something much deeper and more terrifying than he ever could have imagined. In 1974, Erebus disappeared from public view, spawning a cult-like following in his absence… a following intent on spreading his legacy and sharing what he found in the dark.

This Fall, CreepLA invites guests to enter the mind of this tormented artist. Get lost inside a world of twisted art and intimate terror, and uncover the darkness that CREEPs within us all.

 

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The Backwoods Maze
The Backwoods Maze may be the scariest Halloween home haunt in Los Angeles. As the name suggests, this is not exactly a haunted house; though there are some convincing interior sets, the experience is more akin to a race through some godforsaken hellhole in the middle of nowhere. The amazingly lengthy terror tour of terror, filled with frights around every corner, is as effective as any professional Halloween maze.

 

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Fear VR
Fear VR was a new haunted house ride at Knott’s Scary Farm event featuring a storyline about a possessed patient running around a mental institution. Park visitors were strapped into chairs and moved through the attraction wearing VR headsets.

The hospital-themed attraction, which opened Thursday Sept. 22, was originally named Fear VR 5150, numbers for the official state code used to authorize the detention of a person who may be suffering from a mental disorder that causes an individual to be considered a danger to others or himself or herself.

Immediately after its debut, the ride was criticized by several mental health advocates for its portrayal of mental illness. “Knott’s Berry Farm is horrifying because it demonizes people with mental illness,” wrote Shimizu of Los “Shame on Knott’s Berry Farm and on Los Angeles Times for presenting illness as entertainment. People with mental illness are our loved ones and yours…. People with mental illness are statistically more likely to be a victim of a crime than to commit a crime.”

The ride stayed open through the weekend but after numerous complaints continued, Knott’s (which is owned by amusement giant Cedar Fair) announced that it would shutter the Fear VR attraction entirely.

 

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Alone: The Rite of the Anthropocene
ALONE is an ongoing, site-specific, fully-immersive and existential experience that explores the range of human emotions.

Presenting itself in a variety of configurations, ALONE explores the complex folds of the human psyche, placing you as the participant within dreams and fantasies and nightmares that you may have had and within those that you definitely have not.

Your body may be aggressively touched and moved or tenderly embraced or be utterly left displaced and alone.

 

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Coffin Creek
As the flood waters subside from 2 week of flooding, 13 coffins were discovered in the wooded area next to River Rd and Archibald Ave in the city of Corona. “The coffins are believed to from the abandoned Guasti Cemetery in the city Ontario” said Officer Willmans. Officer Willmans went on to say “The coffins were found by some locals floating in a small creek that runs through the woods. The authority’s and locals started referring to this area as Coffin Creek.

The authority’s continue to search the woods for the remains of the 13 coffins. Only 2 coffins had the remains found nearby. The remains of 2 other empty coffins were found in the woods, some 30 yards to the west of what is now called Coffin Creek.

As the sun rose, Officer Willmans said ” We had to stop searching last night, those woods got really creepy after dark. I called off the search when I started seeing and hearings things, strange things, like (continued on page 3 see Coffin Creek)

This is all of the article I could find, page 3 was missing. Now it’s up to you to find out what is haunting the woods.

 

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The Haunted Shack
We are a home haunt located in residential Torrance, CA. Admission is FREE; the haunt is a maze that takes about 6-8 minutes but the nightmares memories last a lifetime!

 

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HERETIC HORROR
If you’ve ever wanted to star in your own horror movie, now’s your chance. L.A. haunt Heretic House has a new overnight horror simulation guaranteed to creep you out.

You’ve seen this before. A group of people leave the city hustle for a relaxing getaway in the woods, venturing along a bucolic, tree-lined path to a secluded cabin. Things start out very mundane, but certain things seem amiss. Perhaps a shadowy figure appears, but the witness to the intrusion convinces herself that it’s merely her tired brain playing tricks on her. Or maybe it’s the sense that one is being surreptitiously watched by a stranger. Was that door always closed? Are we truly alone out here? The car was working just fine before. A gentle trickle of uneasiness pervades the cabin and its inhabitants, until that trickle becomes a deluge of mayhem when someone, or something, proves to have been there all along—maybe just waiting for a naive group of vacationers to disturb the peace.

This trope is one that the masterminds of Heretic House—Los Angeles’ underground, year-round haunt—are currently playing with in their new show, The Cabin. While previous Heretic shows have involved snatching guests off the street or asking them to enter a mysterious location in clothes they don’t mind getting ruined, The Cabin asks its participants—groups of five or six—to leave the city and drive two hours away to the eponymous cabin, located near Big Bear. The horror scenario plays out over the course of hours, rather than minutes, in a long, slow burn of increasing terror and macabre performance.

The Cabin’s story, only partially revealed until one is actually inside of it, is that acts of great violence once occurred there. Unseen predators are in close proximity, perhaps even squatting there when no one else is around. It’s not clear if the tormentors are just deranged maniacs who lurk in the woods, desperate criminals on the lam, or something beyond the stretches of our perceived reality. The only known fact is that the vacationers are in danger. Prior to their arrival, guests have been provided links to actual home invasions and past crimes on similar terrain. Each guest will ultimately have their own unique experience, depending on who they encounter and what they do. It is described as spending one night fully within a horror movie where you may be touched, bound or otherwise manipulated through an immersive performance.

 

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The House at Haunted Hill
This is perhaps one of the best yard haunts in the state of California – artistic and cleverly presented. A one-of-a-kind custom music sound score and well written story line presented by some of Hollywood’s award winning brightest and most talented music and voice artists, costumers and special effect designers and engineers.

This is not a presentation full of blood and gore. This show relies on a clever short storyline, mood-altering music and special lighting effects to create a sense of Hollywood past. The storyline is complete with attributes of love found, love lost and love revenged.

This event that runs through Halloween night and is free. Parking can be a problem. Plan on walking up and down a spooky and ill-lit street to get to the haunt from your car.

 

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Urban Death: Tour of Terror
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre unearths its annual haunted theatre attraction for another season of grimly gruesome thrills. Part walk-through haunt and part avant-garde theatre, Urban Death: Tour of Terror is a uniquely disturbing Halloween events in Los Angeles, not recommended for those under fifteen years old.

Performances take place at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm & midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, from October 2 through 31. Arrive fifteen minutes early for check-in; no late seating. No bathroom access.

 

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The Bunker Experience
You open a door on an ordinary street in Pasadena and enter a stairwell. At the bottom of the stairs, a woman pushes open the door. She’s in military gear and looks like she’s seen some shit. She doesn’t have time for your questions, just hurry and get inside. She admits you and your friends into a bunker, which her group has been able to secure, for now, from The Vandals. See, inside The Bunker Experience, it’s the year 2078. Global warming has wreaked havoc on the Earth and the remaining 10 percent of the population now lives in various subterranean bunkers. While the bunkers are in communication with one another, only one—the United Human Compound—is truly safe from malevolent intruders.

In any post­-apocalyptic world, there’s always that one group that resorts to mayhem and cannibalism perhaps a little too quickly, and in this world, that’s the Vandals. They and their leader, known as Lightcrawler, would love to get their hands on a map to UHC and really drive this whole apocalypse thing home by murdering the rest of the survivors. Your own bunker has been attacked by the Vandals, forcing you to flee to seek shelter elsewhere. Unfortunately, you have allowed the Vandals to follow you straight to this new bunker (which is super rude of you). Your only hope is to find a map to the UHC that has been hidden here and escape before the Vandals manage to break through the bunker’s barriers and kill you. And then probably eat you. You’re as good as dead out there if you don’t find the map, and your fellow survivors estimate you have about 45 minutes before it’s curtains.

 

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The Haunt With No Name Yet
In operation since 1996, this yard haunt is one of the more amazing amateur Halloween attractions in Los Angeles. The Haunt with No Name is pitched at just the right level for a haunt – effective and memorable but not too scary for trick-or-treaters (except perhaps the very youngest). There is an overall sinister feel, with the layout of the corner house’s front yard nicely utilized to create the sense that you are approaching a dark and dreadful place.

 

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The Tension Experience
For seven months Darren Lynn Bousman has been secretly constructing his 24-room labyrinth in a Boyle Heights warehouse while simultaneously puppeteering the actions of the mysterious O.O.A. Institute in the real world. What started as an online alternative reality game known simply as “The Tension Experience” will culminate in the 45,000-square-foot creation called “Ascension,” because according to online O.O.A. propaganda, “You have to go through tension to feel ascension.”

Bousman made his bones directing several films in the “Saw” horror franchise, but despite the box office success — the three “Saw” films he directed made $452 million worldwide — the experience left him cold. “By ‘Saw IV’ I was a cog in a wheel of a well-oiled machine,” Bousman said. “It made me lazy and complacent because I knew that I was not going to fail. There was a safety net right underneath me [because I had] an amazing production designer, DP and actors. The challenge wasn’t there.”

Like any good bizarro immersive theater experience, “Ascension” comes with its own set of rules. You can’t even purchase a ticket without the warning, “Before deciding to move forward take a moment and reflect if you are truly ready. This is a door that, once opened, may never be closed again and the light you seek has blinded many stronger than you …”

But the real honest-to-goodness rules are as follows: All participants must sign a liability waiver before entering. Even if you arrived with a friend to the event there is no guarantee you will stay with that person throughout the experience. Each experience is about two hours long and guests must be 18 or older and should be prepared for occasional bits of nudity.

 

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Reign of Terror
When considering attractions that maintain a consistently high level of quality from one Halloween to the next, such as the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride and the Reign of Terror Haunted House, it is perhaps easy to become a trifle blasé: “Oh, another great year – so what else is new?” But even if we expect nothing less than greatness, we should never forgot to acknowledge the greatness. And Reign of Terror truly is great this year.

reign-of-terror-2016-monsterYes, the lengthy walk-through is filled with familiar horrors (Blood Manor, the Asylum, etc), but these ancient settings and rotting corridors have been injected with fresh blood in the form of new scenes and effects guaranteed to surprise even the most jaded return viewers. We won’t give too many away, but we will say that there’s a fantastic new creature in Quarantine and an explosive moment in the caverns of Miner’s Revenge when you will feel the floor literally dropping out from under you – an effect as spectacular and stunning as any you will experience at the Halloween theme parks that charge three times as much.

Also, there is a new section that adds a previously a form of horror previously unseen in Reign of Terror; fortunately, it feels right at home.

 

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The Rope
The latest from Screenshot Productions, this immersive, interactive haunt has you navigating through a bizarre world using an actual rope, which leads to different places depending on what choices you make. You can break the curse and escape, or maybe you’d like to stay for a bit as its overlord. Either way, you’ll go in alone, and the entire experience will take 45-60 minutes. Screenshot’s performances are consistently awesome, with even their darker shows offering a chance for introspection and beauty.

 

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Shadow Lands
“OMG”. That alone would be a perfect description of this new maze. If you’re looking for one of the best mazes this world has ever seen, you travel to Knott’s Scary Farm this year and get yourself into Shadow Lands. In fact, if you had to choose one single maze to get on this Haunt season, that would be it. This Samurai themed maze combines everything you could possibly imagine in the best possible way. From a pre-show that will leave you terrified to choose-your-own-path sections, to moving walls and characters around every corner. The maze’s theme is very unique and well-developed, in addition to which the execution is beyond anything you’ll have ever seen. Venture through it a million times and you’ll still see new things. Shadow Lands is also very long, combines scare tactics with large sets and beautiful architecture as well as several man-made natural settings. I can’t begin to list all the amazing scenes and effects in the maze, and it’s best you get yourself a ticket as soon as possible and check out Shadow Lands.

 

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Gorlesque
Gorlesque’s “Paradise” begins as a walk through the late Dr. Weltschmerz’s own idea of Utopia. Before his death, the doctor’s quest was to create the most perfect women, who you’ll have the chance to meet. But don’t expect his creations to be damsels in distress. According to organizers, the 20-30 minute event will not rely on jump scares, but instead special effects that “distort the perception gravity and reality, affected visibility and balance and leaving the guest feeling appropriately unsettled.”

 

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The Opechee Haunt
My name is Sam Kellman, I run this crazy thing, and I’m 14 years old. I’ve been into theater and filmmaking for as long as I could remember, and of course, have always had a love for Halloween. The amazing thing about the haunt is that it’s a great way to combine all three of these things.

I started this haunt in 2011 as a Halloween party. I’d always wanted to do a haunt of some kind, so at the party, I created my own little haunted house in my BEDROOM! At the end of a cardboard maze, my dad awaited anyone foolish enough to steal his candy. Yeah, it was pretty dumb. But it all stemmed from there.

As the years went on, my haunt grew bigger and better. In 2012, it moved to our front lawn with a variety of themes. In 2013 (my first “true” haunt) the maze went around the perimeter of our house, with a Pirates of the Carribean theme and our first year with live actors. (Other than my dad!) And in 2014, we introduced “The Sum of All Scares”, which was another haunt that included multiple themes in one maze. Following this maze, thanks to Theme Park Adventure and some amazing others, the word about the haunt spread.

That summer, I was on a panel at ScareLA, and in October, moved into a new venue for 2015. I created “The Dollhouse of Death”, which in my opinion, is the best maze I’ve ever put on. It was a HUGE success, and we truly thank everyone who got to come by and see it!

2016. Wow. This will be my sixth year in a row doing this. I hope to see you all there, when the time comes. A different, new kind of Opechee Haunt is lurking in the shadows…

 

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Perdition Home
With its ghastly and gory walk-through, Perdition Home appealed to fans of hard-core Halloween horror. Its tone and intensity was somewhat along the lines of the Backwoods Maze in Burbank – it was filled with eviscerated bodies and electric firecrackers for a jolting effect. However, Perdition Home had much more going for it than gore; it was an elaborate home haunt, featuring impressive sets and more than a few surprises along its walk-through: such as the crashed spaceship for 2015’s theme, Necro Space.

 

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The Exorcist
Throughout the maze, visitors continually meet the three main characters: Regan MacNeil, the demonically possessed 12-year-old girl; Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest and psychologist; and Father Lankester Merrin, an elderly priest who performs the exorcism. Pazuzu, the demon possessing Regan, tracks us throughout the maze.

Sandwiched in the middle of the maze are several identical bedroom scenes where Regan’s possession and exorcism take place. To pump up the scare factor, the theatrical scenes are broken up with blackout hallways where visitors encounter subliminal visions of Regan, Pazuzu and even the priests.

The entrance to The Exorcist maze, located behind the Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster on the theme park’s lower lot, recreates the iconic movie poster with Father Merrin standing with a briefcase before a Washington, D.C.-area brick townhouse. The film’s “Tubular Bells” theme song plays amid the fog as a bright light shines from Regan’s upstairs bedroom window.

Just inside the foyer, visions of the demon Pazuzu flash on the walls in a subliminal effect that will repeat throughout the maze. On an antique secretary desk, a planchette seemingly moves by itself on a Ouija board. A behind-the-scenes performer controls the Ouija board with magnets, Murdy said.

And then bam. There it is. The film’s most memorable scene. The terrifying spider walk. Regan walks down the staircase upside down on her hands and feet. Via an audio track, visitors hear Regan’s mother say: “I’m telling you, that thing upstairs isn’t my daughter.”

 

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Delusion: Play Your Part
DELUSION (#playyourpart) is the premiere first person horror experience where audiences are an essential part of the storyline. In order for the Sullivan children to make good on their quest, they must interact with their environment by unearthing clues, engaging with the strange and surreal characters of the villa…and surviving, lest they stumble. Neil Patrick Harris (an Executive Producer on past seasons) says “DELUSION reimagines and redefines the horror experience with an innovative blend of theatrics and action in a live performance that has never been done before.

There are no seats, no comfort of the fourth wall and audience members really have to engage and participate to move the story forward.” As the first production of its kind, with four previous events that shook the horror world by ushering in a new era of storytelling, DELUSION remains one of the most popular interactive events with an absolute commitment to quality. Creator Jon Braver, who has worked on A-list films such as The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek, Iron Man, and Indiana Jones of the Crystal Skull, employs professional actors, innovative special effects, imaginative theatrics, and an original score to create an interactive experience unlike any other.

Past seasons have sold out quickly, and we are urging guests to book tickets while they are still available. DELUSION will run from September 29 through November 13th.

 

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Beware the Dark Realm
This amateur Halloween event (from the original managers of the Heritage Haunt in Newhall) made its debut in 2013. Beware The Dark Realm features professional makeup and haunters and new home-made effects. This amateur attraction from the original managers of the Heritage Haunt returns for its fourth year of Halloween horror. Beware the Dark Realm is a home haunt featuring a Medieval theme, with a two-story castle facade leading to a 10-15 minute maze of winding corridors, filled with creatures around every corner.

 

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p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. It’s good: the Handke. Great news that you’re seriously getting a lot better. Back to work: a mixed blessing there, I guess, but that’s obviously a clear sign. Jesus, since before Brexit? Time is so weird. ** Jamie McMorrow, Hi, Jamie. Ah, awesome! I’m always happy when a post has a real world effect. I did read ‘The Face of Another’ but long enough ago that I’m spacing a bit on its particulars, although I know I liked it a lot. Abe’s great. ‘Last Vampire Hunter’ is the Vin Diesel thing, yeah. You know, quite mediocre or shitty movies can have a strangely okay effect when viewed on a tiny screen with tiny sound on a flight, it’s weird. Which is to say, I can’t say I recommend it, but, for some reason, it sort of charmed me somehow in that context. So cool about the cartoon! More news, please, whenever anything that’s happening feels like news. The video editing will get finicky, for sure. Yesterday we just culled all the footage we shot that we thought we might potentially end up using, and it’s down to 40 minutes’ worth for a 4 minute video, so we have a lot of weeding to do starting today. Salon du Chocolate is pretty fucking heavenly. Last year I came home completely loaded down with huge bags full of weird chocolates from other countries and chocolate sculptures. I will take photos, and if there’s a post in them, you bet I’ll set that up. Swanky hotel, nice! I want to hear about what constituted the swank when the time comes. Sweet parents she has there. Great, man, have a swell today. Halloween love, Dennis. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Yeah, ‘The Left Handed Woman’ is a good one. 92, eh? Yeah, okay, time to go, I can see that. But RIP: Tom Hayden. ** Thomas Moronic, Hi, T! I haven’t seen the Wenders either. It being an early film of his, maybe it’s quite good. I think he lost it as a director reasonably early on, but not that early. Yes, I got the email and the post. Thank you! I set it up. It’ll happen on November 1st. So it’ll be the sweet comfort food to get the blog and me and whoever else beyond the sad occasion of Halloween’s going bye-bye for another year. And I inserted the trailer into the post. Let me know if you don’t want that. Everyone, Thomas ‘Moronic’ Moore’s new novel ‘In Their Arms’ will be officially celebrated here on the blog next week, but, if you want to take a taste of a taste of it now, please click this, which will take you to the tome’s lovely, DIY trailer. ** Bill, Hi, B. First will always have a seat at the gods’ table wherever they eat or do whatever they do while seated at a table. Oh, no, not that shop, yeah. It was some random little place. That place seems cool. I’m sure the gods’ table is in a dimly lit basement or the equivalent. ** Dóra Grőber, Hi, Dóra! Yay about the new quite long piece! My jet lag is just a very faint kind of tone or something now. Hardly noticeable. The music video work was good. Really early stuff: just cutting down the hours we shot into a more ‘bite size’ bunch for us to start sculpting with today. It’s going to be a strange video. I think in the good way. How was the scanning/printing ordeal other than being just the usual ordeal? Have a super good day! ** B, Hi, Bear. Excellent review/write up! I want to see what you reviewed now, of course. If TV is feeding you artistically, then definitely explore and use it. That’s the golden rule or something. Awesome, thank you so much, about the impending post! I really appreciate it! I did see that Santa’s Village is reopening, and, no surprise, that’s exciting to me. I went there a bunch of times when I was a kid, and as a teen on acid once. I might be in LA in December, and maybe I can go, although it’s quite a drive from where I live. But yes, awesome, and I too wonder what it’ll be now: a recreation or an update or, most likely, some combination thereof? Have a fine day, buddy. ** Steevee, I liked your reviews very much. I like those Handke books you mentioned too. I’ve read a few of his post-70s books. I remember quite liking ‘Across’ and ‘Repetition’. The others not so much. ** H, Hi. Cool, I’m happy the post revived your Handke interest. ** Kyler, Hi, K. The magic DVD! Happy it helped your player. And thank you for the good words, sir. ** Armando, Hi. I understand about the publishing thing. I just meant that the way you’re doing it is the hardest way maybe, and suggesting that you try, consequently, to have whatever patience and diligence and as impersonal an approach as you can. I don’t know about the ‘I Apologize’ tickets. It’s not until February, so I would guess it’s too early for them to be on sale? ** Alistair, Hi, man! Very good to see you and also to see you in this new place. That is a curious bit of telepathy right there indeed. Semi-believing in fate, as I sometimes do, I’m guessing a read is in order. Any news on your novel? Are you doing good? I’m good, very busy, as usual, and, yes, newly back from NYC. Take care! Love, me. ** Okay. Today’s post is for those of you who are either haunted house enthusiasts worldwide already or not yet but willing/curious or currently within the realms of So. Cal. and in need of some Halloween activity suggestions. See you tomorrow.