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Review by Rick West |
| There is never a shortage of haunted houses or attractions to check out in Southern California during the Halloween season. Here in the Golden State, Halloween events ramp up in September and are known to sometimes extend into the beginning of November, depending on how the weekends fall during any given year. |
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In huge contrast to the theme parks, independent
haunted attractions also vying for the Halloween fan dollars usually
go the extra mile and revamp their offerings as much as possible to
keep their experiences fresh and exciting. While we love theme parks
and their spooky events, TPA has come to really love working
with stand-alone attractions, whether "professional" large-scale
productions or "amateur" home haunts. In doing so, we are always on
the lookout for any new kids on the block, to mix up our own agenda
of haunted attractions we visit and share with our TPAers during and
long after October.
One such newcomer to the Los Angeles market last season is a company called Haunted Play. Owned by Hollywood stuntman Jon Braver (The Dark Knight Rises, Star Trek, Iron Man), Haunted Play is a production company that transforms "traditional" haunted attraction experiences into completely immersive, professionally scripted - and acted - stories in unique and terrifying surroundings that leave guests disoriented and completely vulnerable at every twist and turn. The first time I ever heard of Jon's company was from TPA Co-Owner Johanna Atilano, as she was scouting 2011 haunts for us to cover. Our first conversation went something like this: "Wow! Some guy has rented out a huge old mansion in LA and is designing a haunted house in it!"
"Neat."
And that was it. Johanna told me about it and I tucked it away in the back of my mind under the "That's Kinda Cool" section. It wasn't until weeks later that I came across something online for Haunted Play - a big production named "Delusion". It sounded pretty damned impressive, and I told Johanna we should contact them and look into it. |
| I got the look. "That's the one I
TOLD you about." And thus, the wheels of progress began turning. We contacted Jon's staff and were invited out to observe and shoot a technical rehearsal late one night in mid-October. Other than the facts that Delusion was more of a play production than haunted house, and that it was set in a real mansion, we honestly had no idea what to expect. Frankly, we were prepared for it to be funky or really amateur, as many Halloween attractions can be. And are. |
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Set well back from the street, nestled between
unassuming homes and an apartment building, rose this monstrous white
mansion, with huge Grecian columns on its facade that seemed to
rise 40 feet into the air! It was definitely one of the biggest,
"You've got to be freakin' KIDDING ME!" moments in TPA's
haunt history. Honestly, my first reaction was that you couldn't
ask for a better facade; even without show lighting turned on,
the Delusion house was imposing, ominous, perfect. Immediately,
I couldn't wait to see what was happening inside.
We were greeted by Lora Ivanova, who was handling the media for Haunted Play. She was really pleased to have us visit, and not to get ahead of myself, we are very grateful and have come to enjoy her very much; she's great and did a terrific job handling us. We explained that as is the case with all haunts we cover, we wanted to experience it as fans first so we could get our bearings, make mental notes about shots and know what to expect. Our experience started almost right away - outside of the mansion, just like everyone else's would. An eerie back story narration, the front door creaking open... a finger gesturing for us to come in. It was awesome. Once inside the old home, the plot thickened and the story of Delusion unwrapped itself nicely over the period of about 20 minutes, upstairs, downstairs, seated around a formal dinner table. Delusion was alive with a cast of fantastic actors all giving it their best and making each technical run-through as strong as possible. Even with many of the lights on and several key elements not yet placed or worked out, we finished our first trip through this haunted attraction and my head was spinning. In all my years doing this, I have never experienced a haunt quite like this. |
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Even the soundtrack for the attraction was original - perfect musical cues and haunting accents by composer Siddhartha Barnhoorn. Each scene of the attraction had its own music background track and it worked very well, making us feel as if we were in a thriller or horror film ourselves. It's always critical for a haunted attraction to have a relevant soundtrack, and Delusion nailed it perfectly; we were very impressed. Props to Siddhartha and Jon for recognizing this and getting it right. |
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The make-or-break aspect of any haunt is the talent. Theme Park Adventure pulls no punches when it comes to this when we review haunted attractions, as it is a critical element that absolutely must be strong. Without a great crew, it doesn't matter how amazing your attraction looks or how wonderful the soundtrack is; without the talent to back everything you've created, you might as well pack the hell up and go home. Because no haunt can survive a poor or mediocre cast in the long run, or if it's to be taken seriously. Delusion had an outstanding cast of men and women actors, all into their roles and each of them giving it 100%, even during tech run-throughs. Our guide was a gentleman by the name of Ryan Surratt. He did an outstanding job (as did everyone else) and it didn't phase him one bit that we were shooting the run-through with a bright light on Rick's video camera and the flash on Johanna's Canon going off constantly. The guides in Delusion had one hell of a large script to memorize, and Ryan pulled it off well, as you will see if you choose to view the video. The scenes themselves in Delusion were creepy. While some were really strong in content - violent as well as sexually explicit - what really brought the "haunted house" aspect of it to a whole new level were the actors and the story surrounding them. Finally, the house itself played a major role in the success of Delusion. A huge part of any haunted attraction's appeal is the environment. It's simple and true; a haunted house set up in a community recreation center is not going to have the "wow" factor that a haunt set up in a massive old mansion will. The house at 2218 South Harvard Boulevard in South Los Angeles itself is no stranger to productions, and is regularly rented out by Hollywood companies for films. If you look carefully, you will perhaps recognize the mansion's basement from Rob Zombie's Halloween remake. |
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Those who watch our video that attended the event will see that the ending is different during the tech rehearsal than it ended up being during the actual event; this is part of the creative process and demonstrates that productions such as Delusion remain in a constant state of change while being molded into the best experience possible. The good news for Halloween fans, is that Braver and company are looking to put on an all-new haunt this year here in SoCal, so if you missed Delusion in 2011, you'd better make sure to put Jon's next venture at the top of your haunting list! We certainly will - and we will continue working with Jon and will let our TPAers know what the plan is as Halloween creeps closer this year. Delusion was one of those very rare, beautiful hidden gems that come along once in a blue moon. I am personally so glad that we got to know the Haunted Play crew and thank Jon on behalf of all of our readers for letting Theme Park Adventure tag along and capture the experience in images and video to share with enthusiasts around the world. We speak for many when we say we truly cannot wait to see what's in store next! Haunted Play's official site: http://www.hauntedplay.com/ |
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| All images on this page are the copyrighted material of Theme Park Adventure. Unauthorized use for personal or professional gain without the written consent of Rick West is strictly prohibited. Images may not be linked to from other sites online. |
