Ghoulmaster’s Haunted Playhouse is just a charmer. That’s the word for it: Charmer. It’s a love letter to Halloween, horror hosts and the power of non-conformity that clearly has a lot of passion and joy behind it, and those good feelings are all over the stage. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvIdsV8r2B4[/youtube] A unique confection […] Read more
The recently closed production of T.S. Devai’s play, The Ghosts of Ma Barker, at the Ruby Theatre at The Complex in Hollywood offered audiences a strong intersection of drama, history, social issues and the paranormal. Framed by the story of a paranormal podcaster (Devix Szell) and a psychic investigator (the […] Read more
L.A.’s own Unbound Productions does more than just their acclaimed annual Wicked Lit show—they offer up smart, often delightfully macabre theater basically year-round. The latest of their productions is a very fine version of W.W. Jacobs’ classic chiller, “The Monkey’s Paw,” paired with a particularly nice reader’s theater telling of […] Read more
Well, I won’t deny that I was puzzled when I went to see the Four Clowns production of The Halfwits’ Last Hurrah, playing now at the Lillian Theater as part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival. As you can see from the masthead of this web page, I review theater for […] Read more
Horror and the macabre take many forms, and in “Ghosts of the Underground” (playing through this weekend at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater in North Hollywood) the terrible price of love and revenge is its fascinating shape. It’s an immersive show; not fully interactive with the audience, but tantalizingly close. […] Read more
This review, like the show, is short and sweet: If you’ve ever seen anything at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater—a place where you confront body horror and existential fear in a series of blackouts and disturbing, push-the-envelope vignettes and experimental theater—you’re totally unready for the great fun you’ll have with their […] Read more
In the return engagement of Albie Selznick’s almost-one-man-show, “Smoke and Mirrors” (directed by David Schweizer), it’s easy to see that the production has been changed up for a more fun-loving, accessible style — while retaining the same messages about death, fear, loss and the need to confront the darkness in […] Read more
It’s back: Stuart Gordon’s hilarious production of “Re-Animator: The Musical” at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, extended through November 23, and it’s even better than the last time it was in town. Upgraded with additional new songs by Mark Nutter, new choreography by Cynthia Carle and fresh blood in […] Read more
Zombie Joes’ Underground Theater never takes any shortcuts, except for one: Other haunted attractions put you through a gauntlet of frights and then let you have your own nightmares. ZJUT’s Urban Death Tour of Terror is all about removing the middleman and making you experience walking, talking, in-person nightmares. Which […] Read more
Not to beat a dead squid, but the horror community in general has been pretty much Lovecrafted to the hilt for umpteen years now. Not so much in film and TV, where found footage, zombies, torture porn and slasher updates still reign supreme; nor in literature, where Sexy Romance […] Read more
