Editorial

Taste Burrough’s Last Fix! You can have it all at Kevin Klemm’s Reliquary and Odditorium.

LA’s self-appointed “King of Corpses” Kevin Klemm has opened his Cabinet of Curiosites to be on exhibit at the Hyaena Gallery. While it is too late for Creepsters to attend what would have been a goth-swarmed opening night in the most creepiest of lands known as Burbank, the urge to touch decaying flesh can still be satisfied until September 30, 2008.

Longtime collector of carnival “gaffs”, Klemm has reinterpreted the classic dime museum into a modern incarnation of that traveling wonder which has all but vanished from our landscape. Mr. Klemm invites you to suspend your disbelief and see relics of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau, William S. Burroughs, and O.J. Simpson. Marvel, as well, at mounted heads of strange beasts such as the ManBull, Zombies, and Vampires before gazing upon the mummy of Anton LaVey…if you dare!

You won’t believe your eyes, or your hands, as your pulsatingly curious fingertips explore relics from the Ed Gein Collection. Mr. Gein is a well known and respected American (USA! USA! USA!) killer and notorious grave robber who exhumed corpses from local graveyards and fashioned gruesome trophies and keepsakes from them. I’m hoping they still have that old Mother’s day gift, or a pair of his human flesh socks which I’ve heard are wonderful for New England winters.

On your way out, don’t forget to oogle at the post-mortem photographs displayed thoughtfully in ACTUAL CORPSE FRAMES. How genius, I can’t believe they thought of that before Martha did. Remember folks, it’s all happening in the true heart of darkness, Burbank, where recently an 80 year old woman mentioned to her neighbor that she had been living with her brother’s corpse since last October. True Story!

The Hyaena Gallery is located at 1928 W. Olive Ave, Burbank, CA 91506.

For when not just any skull candle will do this Halloween, CreepyLA has rounded up the best in a range of prices.

Top left, DL & Co., $95, available at Fred Segal, Los Angeles and Matter. Top right, $30; Etsy/Cre8tiveGoddess, (The only green Halloween candle here works with an LED “candle.”) Bottom left, Pottery Barn, $19 each. Bottom right, Target, $9.99.

One more after the jump… [click to continue...]

I hate to get attitudinal about such a carefree celebration but can we agree on proper motivation for a holiday inspired by death? Ghouls, monsters, Oprah, witches, werewolves, Republicans, the undead, Cindy McCain, demons– all are a suitable starting point.

One of these photos shows the appropriate approach to Halloween costumes. The other two are indicative of the spiraling downward of our culture as it relates to reality shows, generic, cookie-cutter “hotness” and other generally justifiable reasons the terrorists hate us.

Can you guess which is which?

Photos by ICFNY

I don’t know about you, but I can’t take it anymore, so the McCain and Obama masks get a visceral reaction from me. Yes, of course, I’m supporting Obama. But isn’t it a tad curious that race has been drained from the election if you go by these masks? They’re (almost) the same hue!

I’ll quell my usual tendency toward Rovian conspiracy theories and try to believe that, at last, America is, in some weird, rubbery way, color-blind.

Masks spotted at Universal Citywalk Cinema Secrets. Photo: ICFNY

CreepyLA went to Universal Studios Hollywood today to take in the final dance auditions for Freddy’s Fly Girls and other dance roles for the theme park’s upcoming Halloween Horror Nights, which starts October 3rd.

More photos after the jump… [click to continue...]

If you’re checking in on Creepy from time to time, you’ve probably also noticed some craziness with the site layout. Simply put, we’re in the midst of a redesign. Be assured that the site will look horrifyingly perfect by our official launch on September 1st.

Through the rest of August, we’ll be posting sporadically, and will be working on polishing the site. But come September, expect all sorts of Halloween weirdness and supernatural oddities on a daily basis.

In the meantime, if you know of any Halloween, horror, or other related stories or events, or would possibly join the CreepyLA team as a writer/blogger, drop us a line at creepyla@gmail.com.

Is it a good or bad sign for the economy when people begin selling off prepurchased cemetery plots on CraigsList?

At least 24 plots from around the Los Angeles area are available as of this posting, ranging from $600 to $10,000. (The $600 plot is described as less than regular size, “for child or cremated.”)

David Goldstein at KCAL9 interviews some of L.A.’s living of what appears to be a growing trend, and offers some tips for potential buyers.

Cinespia.org’s Cemetery Screenings resume again this Saturday with “Ace In the Hole,” a rarely seen Kirk Douglas film directed by Billy Wilder. But these outdoor screenings, held on empty plots at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, rarely get better than when showing horror films, such as “The Hunger” scheduled for Saturday, June 7th.

“The Hunger,” directed by Tony Scott, stars Catherine Deneuve as a centuries old Egyptian vampire who grows tired of her fellow bloodsucking lover, David Bowie, causing his immortality to reverse, while her affections turn to Susan Sarandon, a doctor specializing in premature aging. A lesbian sex scene follows, so what’s not to like?

Screenings begin 9pm, with gates opening at 7:30, but if you attend prepare to show up a couple hours early to secure a place in line - there are no seats, but there is a land grab for prime real estate on the lawn once the cemetery opens. Bring a couple blankets (one to protect yourself from the grass, another to keep warm), snacks and beverages, a flashlight for when things get dark, and some holy water - this is a cemetery, after all.

Tickets are $10, cash only “donation” - parking can be found on neighboring streets, but, again, prepare to show up early for a decent spot or prepare for a long walk.

We all know the lag time between ordering and actual delivery of fine furniture. It can take months! So in that respect, Halloween in Los Angeles is right around the corner, and now is the time to order one of these to-die-for Coffin Couches from, where else?, Coffincouches.com.

And since these macabre divans are from a Los Angeles company, two of the five models have appropriately themed designs; The Dodger Blue (above) and The Low Rider (my favorite.) To top it off, they even see their enterprise as being environmentally sensitive.

We at Coffincouches.com have the mindset of thinking “Green”… It is a health and safety law that funeral homes cannot resell used coffins to the general public. We approached funeral directors with the attitude of recycling. These coffins are not used for burial due to slight cosmetic inconsistencies…

Now just envision Elvira or Black Betty lounging on one of these… Side view after the jump. [click to continue...]

Creepiness beyond Los Angeles: In San Francisco, retired high school science teacher Ray Bandar has a collection of 7000 skulls in his house… although his wife has a rule that the bedroom is off limits.

And in Sacramento, our state capital, a man was arrested after police found over 300 dead cats stuffed in three freezers in his home.

As much as I love Halloween, I hate wearing a costume. Thats why I have a lot of affection for “costume t-shirts.” You know the kind - the tuxedo t-shirt is the grandaddy of costume t’s.

There are lazy costume tees… these usually just have some writing on them like, “This is my lazy ass costume.” But really, that just giving the middle finger to whoever hosted the party requiring you to dress up.

The costume t-shirts that impress me appear to have another costume printed on them. Like this ode to an 80’s era Michael Jackson zipper jacket (pictured). Brilliant! And the icing is a white glove.

T-shirts with superhero logos on them sort of cut it, but some go step beyond. Wicked Cool Stuff is selling tees that give the appearance as if you’re being buffed out like the Hulk or Wolverine.

Finally, 80’s Tees has a lineup of Star Wars, GI Joe, and other pop culture inspired attire, include a Wookie tee and another bowling shirt from “The Big Lebowski.” And lets face it, if the Dude were to abandon his robe for any sort of costume, it would be a costume tee.

The stuff legends are made of…

Originally uploaded by Here in Van Nuys

Photo by me from Metroblogging L.A., reminding everyone that silly string is banned in Hollywood from midnight, October 31 to noon, November 1. Interesting conversation going on there, from grumbling about the poorly designed sign to the effectiveness of the law.

San Francisco’s Castro District has cancelled its infamous Halloween celebration after years of rising violence, including stabbings, shootings, and last year, one guy wandering the streets with a real live chainsaw. As a result, the website “Home for Halloween” provides alternatives, but strongly urges SF residents to just stay in for the evening.

L.A. Times columnist Sandy Banks explains that Halloween “feels like a nightmare-in-the-making, in a class by itself as a holiday ripe for kiddie calamities and parental stress.”

There’s an actual War on Halloween in our country, which is being driven by both ends of a perceived spectrum: Fundamentalists “who think All Hallows Eve is Satan’s annual pledge drive” as well as some witches who are offended by their depiction as pointy nosed freaks “that are not respective symbols of the Wiccan religion.”

But not everyone is a Halloween Scrooge: First Baptist church in Hendersonville, TN of all places, has opted to cancel midweek services so that its ministry could stay home and hand out candy… with messages on it: “We’ll have tracts that talk about how they can have a relationship with Jesus.”

At the Democratic presidential candidates debate tonight in Philadelphia, Barack Obama announced he would be trick-or-treating in a Mitt Romney mask.

From USAToday.com’s live bloggers at tonight’s debate:
11:03 p.m. ET. What will he dress as on Halloween, Obama was asked. He suggested he might wear a Mitt Romney mask, which would have “two sides” — a shot at Romney’s alleged flip-flopping on issues.

So we’re assuming he knows about this Forbes.com page that has the best selection of cut-out political (and otherwise) masks we’ve seen so far. Oddly, there is no Cheney mask; probably too creepy.

Images from Forbes.com / © AP Photo