Halloween 2020: Not Dead?, Huluween Drive-In, Nights of the Jack, Knott's Taste of Fall-O-Ween & Dracula's Disco Of The Night

First up, Halloween is no longer technically cancelled in LA, health officials have rolled back their words and there is no sort of penalty to go trick-or-treating. We assume some people might leave out candy and kids will be wearing masks. Go out and about at your own risk, but keep wearing a mask even if it isn't scary or just buy a ton of candy for you and/or your kids. Parties are still a bad idea.

 

Huluween Drive-In

Oct 23-25

Free, Must Request Tickets

Join us at Hulu's first-ever Huluween Drive-in - an immersive experience unlike any other. The event features four nights of movies ranging from spooky to downright scary, and a haunted drive-through forest you won’t soon forget. If you’re looking for some scare-a-py this Huluween season, request your tickets for a fright that feels oh so right. 

 

Nights of the Jack

Oct 1-Nov 1 

$69

 

 
Our new extended driving trail will feature thousands of hand-carved and illuminated Jack O’ Lanterns as attendees make their way around King Gillette Ranch in Calabasas, CA. Immerse yourself in an instagrammable Halloween wonderland and experience what everyone is talking about! 

 

Knott's Taste of Fall-O-Ween

 
* Almost sold-out
Knott's Taste of Fall-O-Ween will take place Fridays through Sundays plus select added Thursdays, September 25 - November 1. The only way to experience Knott's Taste of Fall-O-Ween is with a tasting card purchased in advance at knotts.com (a tasting card is required for event entry). Event hours will be Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 12pm to 9pm and Sundays from 12pm to 8pm.

Regular tasting cards (ages 12+) are priced at $35 (plus tax) and will include five food tastings and Junior tasting cards (ages 3-11) are $20 (plus tax)

Guests of all ages can dress up in their most festive costumes* to experience one-of-a-kind themed food and treats, exclusive event merchandise including specialty items from local crafters, an all-new “Into the Fog” art show, and so much more. Plus included with a junior tasting card, young guests will have an opportunity to take a trip through the fully-themed Camp Snoopy Trick-or-Treat Trail presented by Hershey and Ralphs, loaded with multiple treat stations and special spooky decorations. All Knott's Taste of Fall-O-Ween activities will be conducted at a safe and socially distant space for families to enjoy.

 

Dracula's Disco Of The Night

150.00

 

This one is a bit weird, but if you can spend $100 more you get Dracula to deliver this at home party celebration. 

“Well if they were wise, They would soon realize, They’re not hungover, They’re just vampir-ized, ‘Cause Drac’s Back.” - Drac’s Back by Andy Forray (1979)

We are delivering a blood-soaked, glitter-drenched, Vampire extravaganza to your front door! Inspired by Bob Baker’s iconic Dracula marionette performance during their yearly Halloween Spooktacular, whose lights went dim this season, Dracula’s Disco is everything you need to upgrade your RIP to VIP. With a lifestyle that staunchly opposes sunlight, Count Drac and his devious pack of Vampires are the ultimate partiers. No night is too long and no club is too dark. And now you are welcome to join him on an all-night, Halloween frenzy.

 For $100 - and with 100% of the proceeds going directly to Bob Baker Marionette Theater - Dracula himself will arrive on Los Angeles doorsteps, performing to his namesake track Dracula’s Disco, with party package in tow. Recipients can also add-on a kid-friendly package that includes pumpkins, candy, a carving kit, and copies of Goosebumps, as well as a 5-course Fall meal from legendary French Chef Laurent Quenioux of LQ Foodings.

Party packages arrive at your front door on Friday October 23rd or October 30th, and are limited to 50 orders per Friday.

It's Yom Kippur So Don't Forget The Holocaust

 

Today is Yom Kippur a day of atonement for the Jewish people and the most sacred of the high holidays, we look back at the year at what we did wrong. We wash away our sins and try to be better people in the next year. Use to literally do that on the beach, that's not a metaphor. You could write out what you did and have it taken away. We should really do that more, it's a good ceremony.

As it's a sacred day, we're not supposed to really do anything: no work or even eat. This was pre-written, know-it-all. We fast until sunset. As such, this is the only post for today.

Just a reminder, the Holocaust was real. If you're Jewish you're going to probably hear stories about that today. Sadly, news online is reporting people don't know what it is or when it happened. It happened during World War II and millions of Jews and other people died in a genocide by the Nazis. Who you should know from movies and television as the bad guys or " It's Nazis, it's always Nazis." And if the Nazis had won no Jews and no America.

I'm over simplifying a ton of stuff that's tragic and some of the worst cruelty in human history, but just sharing a few things here in case you want proof or bored or want to know what people are talking about. Don't repeat history and learn from the mistakes of others. Y'know that jazz.

If you want a good resource other than just going on Wikipedia, there is the Holocaust Museum LA or the Museum of Tolerance both have a tons of proof that the Holocaust happened and try, in maybe some what too artsy ways teach you about the Holocaust and to be tolerant. And, hey if you want some strange stuff to go give to people, the Museum of Tolerance does have a gift shop. Get an eraser with the literal word racism on it.

You also have this better ending to Jews leaving Europe on a boat movie that came out, Nobody Wants Us. At least I assume it went better later in the war. The other time in history it did not go well on the St. Louis. Teaching us that every country should shut up and screws up.

As always, the Holocaust was real, it sucked. Nazis suck.

What We Found On The Net Today: Pac-Man Hungry Scares Me As His Broken Form Enters Our Reality, Atlas Obscura, 2nd Edition, DC Universe Infinite

Atlas Obscura, 2nd Edition: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders

$21.92 

 

We didn't even know this dropped? Or that it was #1 in Bangladesh Travel Guides, weird algorithms Amazon.We loved the first one from 2016 and three years later they have a whole new guide of strange places to one day visit. This time, they have select cities section, going a little bit more over what things are there and LA happens to be one.

DC Universe Infinite

So DC Universe is dead, but being reborn just for comic book reading. It has you getting a ton of the old stuff, decades of comics from DC's archives and everything coming out now, but 6 months later. DC still wants to make new comics and charge people for them. All the shows and movies  are gone and there doesn't seem to be a deal with HBO Max services.

CD – Today, September 25, 2020
VINYL – Record Store Day Drop on September 26, 2020

Hackers OST comes out just a few weeks after it's 25th Anniversary, if you haven't seen seen this 90's movie with a young Angelina Jolie, you should with friends and make fun of the acting and what people thought hacking was. 

 

Pac-Man Hungry is the ugly fat version Pac-Man plush you never wanted. I'm not sure who thought this was a good idea, but clearly Pac-Man cannot exist in our dimension. Or a better example might be the Blobfish. He didn't look that way until he came up from the oceans' depths.

The fat meme'd named Pac-Man Hungry can devour other plushes and makes the sounds, but should probably be more along the lines of, "Please, kill me...waka, waka, waka."

Friday Posters: Stab & Other Fake Gig Posters & Tyler Stout Terminator Poster

 

I should have snagged this Stab poster, it's a Fake Gig Poster from Gallery 1988's latest show. It's from the Scream horror movie series that got so meta that a fake movies series inside the film became part of the story. That movie was Stab and d%*n did Steven Luros make a great piece, that also happens to glow-in-the-dark. Sold out in less than 30 minutes. Dang! Check out even more fake posters at the link above.

 

Bob Rissetto "Jessica Live! (Blue)" Print

Jen Taylor "Sanderson Sisters - First Show in 300 Years"

-Also glows-in-the-dark.

A lot of Hocus Pocus love in this show.

 

Matthew Lineham "Sanderson Sisters Tour Pennant"

Sara Richard "LIVE at Salem Town Hall: The Sanderson Sisters" Print

This Tyler StoutTerminator poster sold out during the week

Halloween 2020: Icons of Darkness Opens, Screamfest Still Scaring, Haunted Haddonfield & The Babysitter: Killer Queen

 

Icons of Darkness, the horror memorabilia exhibit opens up today. It features a gigantic collection of props and costumes from horror and sci-fi films.

Screamfest is going drive-thru this year and it already has it's first movie up to order tickets for. Honestly, we're amazed it didn't get sold out as most drive-ins are playing re-hashed movie hits from decades ago. Oh, and it's free!

Books of Blood - Screamfest Opening Night "Horror in the Woods" Dirive-In

Tue, October 6, 2020 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM 

Calamigos Ranch

327 Latigo Canyon Road Malibu, CA 90265 

 

Based on Clive Barker’s acclaimed and influential horror anthology BOOKS OF BLOOD, this feature takes audiences on a journey into uncharted and forbidden territory through three uncanny tales tangled in space and time.

 

For those who love the Halloween movie franchise, you've got this art gallery in the house from the original movie.

 

Haunted Haddonfield

SUGARMYNT'S 6TH ANNUAL HALLOWEEN EXHIBIT BEHIND THE MYERS HOUSE IN SOUTH PASADENA, CA AKA THE FICTIONAL TOWN OF HADDONFIELD FROM JOHN CARPENTER;S 1978 HORROR CLASSIC HALLOWEEN. HAUNTED HADDONFIELD IS OUR HALLOWEEN MOVIE TRIBUTE MERGED WITH AN EXHIBIT OF HAUNTED AND PARANOMAL PLACES.

 

Is McG okay? The answer is no. In what I considered a fun foray back to form for the poorly named director, the original, The Babysitter was a fun horror movie about a killer babysitter with a Satanic cult on Netflix. He straight up blew the first movie away like the scene in Robocop where the shotgun popped off poor Murphy's hand.

It's a true mess of him ruining his own work and retreading jokes that might be used in a Not Another Teen Movie, not the ones that were clever, the ones with references that wouldn't make sense after a year.

 

The Babysitter: Killer Queen is done by someone whose once made blockbusters, who now can't. His sense of humor on par with Micheal Bay's; it's funny because someone got hurt or is being treated like garbage. Which is not funny, it just comes off as weird.

I still like the cast, great actors who I'd love to see just having fun in a comedy or dumb college movie.

If you've seen the first film and liked it, I highly recommend never seeing the sequel that adds real supernatural elements to it and the strangest, shortest editing of people's backstories I've ever seen.

McG lay off the caffeine and trying to keep the Fortnite generation interested.

Game Hype: IndieCade 2020, Mario Kart Tour Los Angeles & Shing! Review

 

How many times have I written that IndieCade is dead as a joke or a subterfuge for a compelling story about it moving to another location. Not this time, but it has changed once again from its start in Culver City as a jam-packed three day affair. Now it's " Anywhere and Everywhere" as it goes online in the days of the pandemic.

 

One of our most celebrated events on the site has changed with the times to provide game makers and players to a place they can visit online without fear of getting sick. But possibly getting sick of all the indie games.

Check out the nominated games here, they look like they'll be on your Steam Wish List in no time.

Here's a good amount of info from the press release and looks like there's a Kickstarter to help out:

IndieCade is going virtual for its 2020 #AnywhereAndEverywhere global online festival, featuring nine days of 24-hour programming on October 16-24. The 2020 festival lineup will include gameplay, exhibitions, conference sessions, workshops, discussions, Twitch streams and more, in addition to a virtual showcase of this year’s nominated titles that highlight top achievement across indie gaming. IndieCade is an independent, volunteer- and sponsor-supported event dedicated to cultivating innovation and artistry across indie game development, and to fund this year’s festival and future events, organizers have launched a Kickstarter to help build a virtual architecture to showcase top interactive media and emerging indie developers. For more details or to pledge support, visit: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/indiecade/anywhere-and-everywhere

Mario Kart Tour Los Angeles 

Yes, the plucky plumber is heading to LA. In what will be some great visuals, the online phone version of Mario K
art will be in LA for a while. Re-imagined versions of famous spots in LA will be put into the "new Los Angeles Tour event, which is available to play now and runs until Oct. 6 at 10:59 p.m. PT."-from the press release

Looks like you can see a sunny version of Santa Monica...oh, I miss the Splatoon even Nintendo had there.

Cruise along the beach in style. It's time for the Los Angeles Tour!

Follow the link for more #MarioKartTour videos!https://t.co/j28hbMo8Q5 pic.twitter.com/NsnLDGEONI

— Mario Kart Tour (@mariokarttourEN) September 23, 2020

 

 

Ninja power! Shing! has hit the scene like a ninja star to the face. A strange new entity in the co-op market. It's like your other average 4 player fighter, except for it's somewhat strange controls. It took me and two of my mates, quite a time to get into the rhythm of using our joysticks and not our buttons to bash enemies. 

 

That's where it lost me and a lot of friends, we were willing to try it out, but it's so unlike an average game; having to use the analog sticks to both move and fight and solve puzzles.

The world itself seems to have a fairly long story and you can see time and effort put in. But it's just something my friends and I didn't want to try and master because we aren't use to those controls.

 

Out now on all major platforms for $19.99

Game provided by publisher for review purposes

 

Weekly What To Do: Fantastic Fest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival & More

Digital Dino Fest

September 22 through Friday, September 25

 

Celebrate this rich history of exploration and the impressive collection, by joining us for a week-long online festival celebrating dinosaurs, their prehistoric past, and the science that brings their world back to life.

 

Science! Presents: Science On The Ballot

Wed, Sept 23, 6pm

 

 For our next show, we’re teaming up with science advocacy organization, March For Science, to bring you a show all about the science related policy that we’ll be voting on this November.

 

Fantastic Fest

September 24-Oct 1 

Free Online, some rentals for $

Get yourself a Alamo on Demand account and RSVP what you want to see, so you can see some of the strangest and most fun films if you didn't make the cut for Beyond Fest. We've written about Fantastic Fest time and again here as it's sort of sets the status quo of what to look out for in the new year and this time we have an online version.

Great Choice Short

Honestly, looking forward to finally catching the horror short where someone is trapped in a Red Lobster; Great Choice, part of the Short Fuse section of the fest.

 

The 100 BEST KILLS: DECAPATTACK!!! doesn't sound bad either and these are but two of the insane content you can stream online.

 

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

September 24-Oct 1 

$

The long named fun acronym LAAPFF is still taking place and online this year. Our top coices remain the coming age tale Death of Nintendo and ATOMIC CAFE: The Noisiest Corner in J-Town, which was in our own Little Tokyo. Check out the full list of movies, including the doc on the pandemic we're in now 76 Days going over the first crucial days of the crisis in China and how bad it got. 

 

Secret Movie Club Screenings

THE WHO'S TOMMY & PINK FLOYD'S THE WALL Double Feature Pop-up Drive-In
WAR OF THE WORLDS & CLOVERFIELD Pop-up Drive-In CinemaARMAGEDDON and AIRPLANE! Pop-up Drive-In Cinema

THE INCREDIBLES Pop-up Drive-In Cinema
Thurs Sep 24-27
$23-$27

 

Mallrats 25th Anniversary & Fake Gig Posters

Friday, September 25, noon

This FRIDAY, we take it back to our roots to collaborate with one of our first ever supporters, Kevin Smith. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his cult classic, Mallrats, we've enlisted some of our favorite artists to make work inspired by the characters and scenes from the film.

We're also opening a second group show - the first EVER of its kind. We've curated some of our favorite print artists to create traditional gig posters - but for fictitious bands from movies and TV shows. So, get ready to see some concerts and events you WISH you could attend. The pieces will be for sale first on gallery1988.com THIS FRIDAY at Noon PT.

SCARE ME: A Live Screening and Q&A with Writer/Director/Producer/Actor Josh Ruben and Actor Chris Redd

Friday, September 25, 2pm

 

 Fred (Josh Ruben), a frustrated copywriter, checks in to a winter cabin to start his first novel. While jogging in the nearby woods, he meets Fanny (Aya Cash, “You’re The Worst”), a successful and smug young horror author who fuels his insecurities. During a power outage, Fanny challenges Fred to tell a scary story. As a storm sets in, they pass the time spinning spooky tales fueled by the tensions between them, and Fred is forced to confront his ultimate fear: Fanny may be the better storyteller. The stakes are raised when they’re visited by a horror fan (Chris Redd, “Saturday Night Live”) who delivers levity (and a pizza) to the proceedings.

  

THE CINEMADNESS MOVIE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 @ 8:30 PM PST

 

Inside the Bradbury Building

September 26 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

$10

Join Esotouric, L.A.’s most eclectic sightseeing tour company, for a virtual exploration “Inside the Bradbury Building,” featuring rare photographs and video, original research and offbeat anecdotes that bring the city’s most fascinating office tower to life.

Your hosts Kim Cooper and Richard Schave have been obsessed with the Bradbury Building for years, and their researches recently led to them playing a central role in delivering a scarce original blueprint of the building to the Huntington Library’s collection of architectural plans. 

 

Texas Chainsaw Barbecue - 2 Seatings!

Sat, September 26 6pm & 8pm

Dirk's Terror Tavern 13730 Ventura Blvd 

Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 

$78 – $156 

WHO WILL SURVIVE - AND WHAT WILL BE LEFT OF THEM?

Come get a little bloody with us, as we carve up some good old fashioned Texas Barbecue and celebrate the 1974 classic slasher.

And this time, we've got TWO seatings available, at 6pm and 8pm.

Tickets are $39 per head, and include a very full plate of classic Texas BBQ meats or vegan items, and all the fixins.

Sketch Card Show

Sat, Sept 26

 

Artwork by Doug LaRocca

 

A crazy new gallery shoe from Hero Complex, whi we assume wants to get out as much with not conventions to go to.

When we first started building this Sketch Card Show, it wasn't hard for our imaginations to run wild as we pictured this incredible body of artists... with all their varying styles and approaches... creating their own unique and special one-of-a-kind sketch cards.

 

KAJILLIONAIRE Online Zoom Q&A with Director Miranda July

Mon, September 28, 2020 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM

Free

 

Online conversation with KAJILLIONAIRE writer-director Miranda July and filmmaker Spike Jonze.