Hollywood Gothique

The Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival is currently running Thursdays through Sundays (and some Wednesdays) at the Mountain view Mausoleum and Cemetery in Altadena. In in imaginative touch, this year's trilogy of terror (The Grove of Rashomon, The Ebony Frame, and The Fall of the House of Usher) are united by the frame story, The System, which posits that Wicked Lit is a method to cure inmates in an asylum by allowing them to act out their fantasies for an audience.

Hollywood Gothique recently sat down for a chat with Jeff G. Rack, one of the founders of Unbound Productions, the company behind the immersive Wicked Lit shows. Topics included adapting classic horror literature to suit a specific venue; keeping audiences from getting lost in the graveyard; bringing in new writers and directors to augment the original trio of Rack, Jonathan Josephson, and Paul Millet; diversifying the cast; appealing to women; and making the House of Usher fall.

Get more details about Wicked Lit from the official website.

 

Zombie Joe rises from the depths of his Underground Theatre to discuss Urban Death and Rotting Corpses

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group is rapidly preparing to lure victims into their lair this Halloween. Not only is their Urban Death: Tour of Terror Haunted Theatre attraction returning for its third year in October; also on the schedule is Attack of the Rotting Corpses, a comedy-horror play that will start on Sunday, September 27. In order to find out what’s in store for haunt-seekers willing to enter the dark environs of the Underground Theatre, we recorded a podcast with Zombie Joe himself, who promises that this year’s Halloween haunting will be even weirder and wilder than before.

Update: You can listen to the audio version below or the video version posted up top. The latter is illustrated with a slideshow of images from Urban Death: Tour of Terror.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre is located at 4850 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. Call 818-202-4120 for tickets or visit www.zombiejoes.com.

Attack of the Rotting Corpses runs on Sundays at 7:30pm from September 27 through November 1. Tickets are $15.

Urban Death: Tour of Terror takes place at 8pm, 9pm, 10pm, 11pm & midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, from October 2 through 31. Tickets are $13. Arrive fifteen minutes early for check-in; no late seating. No bathroom access.

Re-Animator: The Musical says farewell to Los Angeles this weekend, wrapping up its engagement at the Steve Allen Theatre with a final performance on Sunday, November 23 at 8pm. In the horror genre, however, the dead never stay dead for long, and the outrageous theatrical adaptation of the 1985 cult play will resurface in January at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas NV.

Hollywood Gothique recently conducted a telephone interview with the play’s director, Stuart Gordon. Gordon of course also directed the 1985 cult film, Re-Animator, based on “Herbert West – Reanimator” by H. P. Lovecraft. The wide-ranging discussion, which you can hear below, covers the challenges of getting the story off the screen and onto the stage, along with such colorful side-topics as zombie cats, spewing entrails, literally immersing the live audience in fountains of gore.

Watch the video version of the podcast above, or listen to the audio-only version below.

This weekend, Cinefantastique podcasters Dan Persons, Lawrence French, and I recorded a special episode devoted to the Halloween season. The general topic is the connection between Halloween and horror movies. The major focus is on films we like to haul out of the vaults to peruse on October 31, such as John Carpenter’s 1978 film HALLOWEEN, Roger Corman’s 1964 classic THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, and the overlooked 1999 horror-comedy IDLE HANDS.

We also run down Halloween Haunted Houses and Hayrides based on horror movies, and take a quick glance at the perennial titles (NOSFERATU, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) that get resurrected for revival screenings every October. We finish up with helpful suggestions regarding which film franchises should get the Halloween Haunt treatment (hint: one involves a possessed girl, the other a haunted hotel).

Listen in…if you dare!

Looking for a more dramatic form of fear this Halloween? Then why not explore the dank and dismal horrors of the Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival? This year, starting on October 3, Wicked Lit will present dramatizations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s THE NEW CATACOMB, H.P. Lovecraft’s THE LURKING FEAR, and Washington Irving’s THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW – staged in the Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery in Altadena.

//

Wicked Lit is a unique Halloween attraction. Audiences for the trio of one-act plays arrive at a central courtyard, where Story Guides divide them into groups and lead them to areas in and around the mausoleum, often moving from room to room to follow the action. The authentic atmosphere and the complete absence of the proverbial fourth wall create an immersive experience that lasts from your arrival on the grounds, until your final departure.

Wicked Lit was created in 2009 by Unbound Productions, a theatre company dedicated to presenting plays based on classic literature, staged in unusual locations. The founding members are Paul Millet, Jeff G. Rack, and Jonathan Josephson, who wrote or co-wrote all three of this year’s adaptations, which are being directed by Millet, Rack, and guest director Douglas Clayton. Josephson sat down earlier this week to discuss what Unbound Productions planned to achieve with this year’s incarnation of Wicked Lit.

Watch a video version of the podcast above, or listen to the audio version below.

The Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival runs at the Mountain View Mausoleum and Cemetery Thrusdays through Sundays in October, plus November 1 and 2. The address is 2300 Marengo Avenue in Altadena. Get more information, including ticket prices at Unbound Productions.org.