by Dot Cannon

“There’s monsters everywhere!” said musician Ban Sidh, just twenty minutes before the start of Scare LA 2018.

And indeed, there were–waiting patiently for the doors to open on Saturday morning at the L.A. Convention Center.

 

Ban Sidh entertained everyone in the meanwhile with “spirited” songs like “Do the Slither” and “When the Boogeyman Returns”.

Then, the clock struck the “witching hour” of 11:00–and the ghouls, goblins and various monsters (like this reporter) were unleashed.

ScareLA 2018 breaks new haunted ground this year, with their first-ever dark convention, themed, “Descend Into Darkness”.

The effect is that of a Halloween nightfall–with lots of candles and jack-o-lanterns to light the way.

Dark delights we discovered for Day One of ScareLA 2018 included drag queens Vander Von Odd and Anita Procedure, demonstrating their hosting talents on the Monster Stage.

Anita put her heart and soul into a sultry torch song, earning whoops of approval from the gathered audience.

Then, she and Vander sat down for a 45-minute discussion of drag queens and Halloween.

On the exhibit floor

The exhibitors showed a lot of imagination, heart and talent…

…and a sense of fun, as well.

 

And certainly, Cydeshow Cy‘s sword-swallowing show was a Day One standout.

He crunched up a light bulb and ate it.  Next, he swallowed one sword, then two at a time, then a curved one that necessitated curving his body to accommodate it!

We admit, we love the Zombie Ballet, too.  As Los Angeles’ only ballet celebrating the Halloween season, they’ll be performing their ballet “Sweet Sorrow”™, by Leigh Purtill, in La Canada Flintridge on October 20th and 21st.   (The ballet is about what happens to Romeo and Juliet after their deaths!)

Prowling the ScareLA floor

At ScareLA, the haunts are always a hit.  This year’s attractions include a new original haunt, “Descension Castle”.

There’s also  “Debi Cable’s 3D Halloween Experience”, a psychedelic ghost train ride.

Virtual-reality haunt fans can also get their scream on with “Horror Truck VR”, “Escape to VR” and the “VR Terror Tour Bus”.

And of course, the zombies are on the loose again, with the Pandemic Zombie Infection Game and Dystopia Rising!

Showmanship–and a new show

A show favorite, in all six years we’ve been covering ScareLA, is always Decayed Brigade.  This year, they observed a moment of silence in remembrance of a fallen member of their team: Nelson.  They also dedicated the show to him.

And what a show! 

They’ve reworked their performance into a multimedia presentation, with a rainbow of lights and lots of new content.

We’re glad to report that at Kitty Bungalow,  the “charm school for wayward cats”, two “feline familiars” went purring off to their new forever homes.

At the human-sized Ouija board, attendees were busily “riding” into the future.

More than a few terrifyingly-gifted artists transformed attendees through the magic of makeup.  (Makeup demos will be going on all weekend at ScareLA.)

Families had the opportunity to craft light-up spooky wearables and masks.  Older ghouls and goblins could learn to make everything from fake glowing coals to creepy masks in the “Make and Take” classes.

Panels and guest speakers talked about haunt creation, dark inspiration and other Halloween-related topics.

Over Coffee© “live on digital” at ScareLA 2018

And we were thrilled to get to record five interviews from ScareLA’s first-ever podcast booth!

Warm thanks to:

Felix Sicard of Sicard Terror Productions (stop by and see him on the floor, if you go to ScareLA 2018, Day Two.   He may scare you, and we won’t say how!);

Legendary haunt scare actor and instructor Shar Mayer, who will be performing at The 17th Door Haunted Experience in Fullerton this Halloween season.  (She’ll also be participating in a panel on the Netflix hit documentary Haunters: The Art of the Scare on Sunday afternoon!);

Creative entrepreneur Abigail Garvin, who, with her wife Danielle, has launched Garvin Unlimited,  providers of high-quality atmospheric lighting and special effects (like fog) for your home. Abigail says their system is simple to operate: you can program it through your phone!  (The talented duo are now designing Christmas lighting with a Halloween slant–you’ll get to see a sample of their work on the exhibit floor on Sunday. );

Showman Cyrus Pynn, a/k/a “Cydeshow  Cy”, who offered a fascinating look into the science of sword-swallowing!  He’ll be performing three shows at ScareLA on Sunday;

and filmmaker Jon Schnitzer, director/producer of Netflix documentary “Haunters: The Art of the Scare”, which is fantastic!

Jon, along with Shar Mayer, Nightmare on Loganberry haunt creator Donald Julson and Blackout haunt creator Josh Randall, will be doing  a follow-up discussion panel and updates on “Haunters” (which may just wind up being a series in the future!) on Sunday afternoon at ScareLA.

Thank you for a great time, ScareLA 2018!  See you tomorrow for more spine-tingling, “dark” treats.

Day Two of ScareLA 2018 starts Sunday, August 26th at 11 am in the Los Angeles Convention Center.