by Dot Cannon

“Descending Into Darkness” is fun, creative and filled with laughter.

At least, it is when ScareLA™ takes you there.

For their sixth anniversary, Los Angeles’ first Halloween convention served up a “trick-or-treat” bag of experiences, appearances and classes.  And they did this as the world’s first “dark” convention, with a pop-up Halloween theme park, the weekend of August 25th and 26th.

Zombies and Krampuses prowled the darkness.   Screams echoed from the haunts.   Top horror professionals shared their “dark” secrets.

And our “Top Ten” recap of favorites became so lengthy that we had to divide it!  Here are the rest of our favorites from the weekend.

#5 Decayed Brigade Southern California Sliders.

The crowd was such that we could barely see Decayed Brigade’s sliders show on Sunday.  But Saturday’s show was new, while still possessing all the skill and heart they’ve exhibited in every past show we’ve seen.

Decayed Brigade are a highly-skilled team of sliders who fun-terrorize haunt visitors throughout the Halloween season.  Most notably, they’re a feature at Knott’s Scary Farm, but they can pop up–er, slide in–at just about any Southern California haunt venue.   (And they teach seminars for aspiring sliders, at every ScareLA event.)

Their new 2018 multimedia show featured video,  multiple colored lights and new stagings.

It also started on a more somber note than before.  The crew took a moment, on Saturday, in remembrance of their fallen brother, Nelson, before dedicating their show to him.

A definite favorite moment?  One that featured two female sliders in a topnotch exchange!

#4 Leigh Purtill’s “Sweet Sorrow™” Zombie Ballet

Romeo and Juliet die–but what happens next?   These gracefully-eerie dancers explore that question, in the world’s first “zombie ballet”: Sweet Sorrow.

The idea, according to their website, is to make ballet accessible to everyone.

Leigh Purtill’s Zombie Ballet have performed at ScareLA™ since 2016.   They’re always fantastic–to the point of being the “opening act” to introduce Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights at ScareLA™ in 2016!

For October, 2018, they’re planning two performances of “Sweet Sorrow™: A Zombie Ballet”.   Show dates are Saturday, October 20th, and Sunday, October 21st, in La Canada Flintridge’s Lanterman Auditorium.  Their goal, according to their website: “to do for Halloween what The Nutcracker has done for Christmas”!

#3 Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights–plus!

And speaking of Halloween Horror Nights…

What zombie, ghoul or other “scary” in his or her right mind wouldn’t shriek with delight?  Every ScareLA™, Universal Studios Creative Director John Murdy and Art Director Chris Williams not only reveal their new “Halloween Horror Nights” maze or mazes, but share some of the behind-the-scenes creative process.

The 2018 haunt they revealed at ScareLA™ is going to be incredible.

Unlike their other haunts, which focus on one Universal horror classic, John and Chris have combined the terror in this new one.

They’ve created “Universal Monsters Maze”, bringing together such classics as the Frankenstein monster, Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, the Invisible Man…the list goes on!

“Your maze experience is going to begin in a cemetery, where all the monsters are buried,” John explained.   “We wanted to look at the inherent story of every single character.”

From there, visitors move into other creepy locations.

“We want to take you into Frankenstein’s castle,” Chris said.  “But we want to take you in…when it’s already going to hell.”

The castle, he explained, will look like it’s on fire.  Villagers will be trying to burn it down, in the best “kill-the-monster” horror tradition–because inside, is a film vault containing Universal horror classics!

Meanwhile, John said, the monsters are not thrilled to have visitors in their final resting place.  They’ll respond accordingly–and each monster has a reason for appearing in a specific room.

For example, the Phantom of the Opera shows up in the music room.  Count Dracula and his bride appear in the banquet room, and the Frankenstein monster is (where else?) in the laboratory.

While the presentation seemed to include an unexpected “tech monster” as the slide projector balked, John and Chris gamely kept the show going.  At one point, John recited an “exorcism” line to banish the “demon”!

Research, John continued,  was a major factor in the creation of the “Universal Monsters Maze”.

“Chris and I always do a ton of research, and our research led us to Highgate Cemetery, in London,” he said.

Their research also led them to Jim Morrison’s grave, in Paris.   They found graffiti, John said–which inspired them in creating the maze.

Another area of research, he added, was how each of the monsters died–and how that would be reflected in their character’s look.

For example, the character of Renfield is modeled on a Victorian mental patient.  The Mummy’s face displays the agony of its death.

“Mummification was not a happy thing,” John explained, showing a slide of a screaming victim.  “We did research in the U.S. and in Mexico.”

During the “Halloween Horror Nights” presentation,  ScareLA™ 2018 visitors had the opportunity to hear a soundtrack no one’s ever heard before–courtesy of two special guests.

Former Guns N’Roses lead guitarist Slash, who created the soundtrack for the “Universal Monsters Maze”, made an appearance, along with Universal Studios Senior Manager of Audio and Video Production Stacey Quinealty.

Slash, John said, first came to Halloween Horror Nights in 2013.  John escorted him to his first experience.

“We went to the Black Sabbath maze,” Slash said.  “We went in there, he saw how I reacted…”

“Literally, right after we came out, you were like, ‘can we do something together?'” John said.

That suggestion came to fruition with the Universal Monsters Maze.

“(John) calls me up and says, ‘We’re doing a Universal Monsters Maze with all the original monsters, would you like to do the music?'” Slash explained.

And that music covers a lot of ground.

“There’s cinematic, we have more operatic,” Stacey said.  “…We wanted to use guitar to do some unique things…you really see the variation of music styles, so it’s not just one particular thing.”

“You guys are literally the first to hear this,” John said, before playing several of the selections.

And indeed, the music did range from a throbbing guitar which sounded like an adrenalin-fueled heartbeat, through a high, spooky female vocal with violins, to ticking and an earsplitting “shredding” sound.

“Is that your guitar?” John asked at one point.

“Yeah,” Slash said.  “Although I did play piano on some things.  I play piano like I type.”

And don’t expect to go, “whew!” after the maze is over, John said.  He and Chris aren’t going to give you a break there.

“You come out of the maze and that’s when you’re most vulnerable,” he commented.  “And that’s when we’re going to get you.”  (Check out our brief interview with John and Chris, recorded immediately after their presentation!)

#2 “Descension” original haunt

“Descension”, according to ScareLA™ ‘s website, was an original haunt, created for this year’s event.   It was a great one!

As opposed to being an extreme scare, “Descension” featured more “boo scares” and imaginative displays.  We loved it.   This was ScareLA™ ‘s second original haunt, and we personally liked it much more than “Legend of the Iron Witch”, a well-done 2016 original.

Visitors stepped into a European tourist-attraction castle–where some mysterious deaths had occurred.  A “castle staffer” guide, who claimed to have worked at the castle for years, warned that a banshee was about–and tasked the guests with finding her.

Visuals were well-crafted, and we jumped at a sudden apparition…

which “oinked” and followed us for a little bit.

One room was entirely dark and spooky…

…and the gore and graves were well-planned.

But, our absolute top favorite of ScareLA™ 2018?

#1 The creativity of Debi Cable, in “Debi Cable’s 3D Halloween Experience”!

Artist Debi Cable creates 3D blacklight immersive experiences.

And for ScareLA™ 2018, that translated into a ride on the “Ghost Train”.

Her art is luminous and magical-looking, for starters.   But, board the train and put on the 3D glasses–and everything comes alive.

Day of the Dead-themed additions, unexpected “tombstones” and Alice-in-Wonderland style additions led to a trippy psychedelic experience.

A particular fun area included this wall of cats–which, when looked at with 3D glasses, gets augmented with pawprints and other additions!

As the train chugged along, too, the experience was enhanced by a–well, no need to do a “spoiler” here.    Suffice it to say it was a lot of fun, and had we not been working, we would have begged to go again!

But, on an added fun note:  waiting in line behind us were the Decayed Brigade zombie sliders.

“Ghost Train!  Ghost Train!  Ghost Train!” they chanted.

(You haven’t lived till you’ve seen zombies on a train!)

Great show, ScareLA™ 2018!  Have a Happy Halloween.

This is Part Two of a two-part series.  Missed our first installment?  Here’s the link.