Haunted Hollywood Sports
Scare Factor: 4
Tucked away in the city of Bellflower, Calif., just 15 miles outside of Long Beach, lies a miniature version of the bigger and more popular Halloween theme parks. Haunted Hollywood Sports may be a smaller venue, but it definitely gives Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights and Knott’s Scary Farm a run for their money.
During the other 11 months out of the year, Haunted Hollywood Sports is typically Hollywood Sports, an outdoor paintball and airsoft gun theme park, spreading across 23 acres.
Equipped with a variety of fields, the park caters to both beginners and pros.
It all began two years ago when co-owners Giovanni D’Egidio and Dennis Bukowski decided to expand their annual zombie kill houses during the month of October to a more elaborate plan, revamping the location into Haunted Hollywood Sports.
Last year, the owners worked with a contracted team to set up the Halloween-themed park. This year, however, D’Egidio drew up his own schematics for the layout of the park and each of the featured mazes: All-American Armageddon, Cannibal Caverns and Venom.
Each maze is designed based upon people’s different fears. Whether it be a fear of gore, dark spaces or even just those heart-attack scares by the hired actors posing as monsters, D’Egidio’s mazes do an excellent job of reaching all audiences.
“We don’t want to send kids home crying, we want to show guests that this is a place for kids and families,” D’Egidio said. “But at the same time, for college kids who are your age, we want to scare the s–t out of you.”
Venom, which D’Egidio describes as his “fun maze,” was designed based on his own personal fears, such as claustrophobia, heights and clowns.
In addition to the mazes, the park also has a Suicide Rock Wall, Freak Show and even Club Crimson, a nightclub and bar for those who are 21 and older. Guests can carouse over some Halloween-themed cocktails, like the “Voodoo Doll” or “Brain Hemorrhage.”
And of course, it wouldn’t be in the true fashion of Haunted Hollywood Sports without the park’s three airsoft and paintball kill houses.
For those who aren’t quite ready for the full adrenaline of the kill houses and lack the airsoft and paintball skills, the park also has its Evil Axis Paintball Shooting Range. This range acts as a preparation course for the kill houses.
Guests feel safe as they work with their teams to shoot the zombies as they draw closer. The goal is not to let them reach the target point or risk elimination.
As for the kill houses, the park has three: Zombie, Voodoo and Deadman’s Trail. If you’re looking for an adrenaline rush, this is it. Armed and ready with your airsoft guns, run through the course shooting at the onslaught of attacking zombies. Designated team leaders guide the group, so it isn’t an entire free-for-all. Be careful where you shoot, because the airsoft BBs ricochet.
As for the monsters, these guys are pretty scary. Back-bending, sliding, growling and of course the ambush-style scaring — they do it all. Offering no room for personal space, the monsters get extremely close and are pretty unrelenting if you show any signs of fear.
The monsters at Haunted Hollywood Sports are definitely top-notch. They are equivalent to Knott’s Scary Farm, only with less rules and more room to scare.
Haunted Hollywood Sports will be open Friday and Saturday from 7:30 to midnight as well as Sunday and Halloween from 8 to 11 p.m.
General admission is $29 and tickets can be purchased on the Haunted Hollywood Sports website at www.hauntedhollywoodsports.com/.
Dancing the fright away at Party in the Pumpkin
Scare Factor: 1
Theta Chi will host the ultimate Halloween club event, Party in the Pumpkin, on Saturday at the Seaport Marina Hotel in Long Beach.
Like last year’s Party in the Pumpkin, the venue will be packed with more than 800 attendees dressed in creative costumes and filled with Halloween décor, such as faux spider webs, tombstones, skulls, lights and a fog machine to create a spooky atmosphere.
The event is for ages 18 and older; however, for those who are of drinking age, there is a full bar so they will never be left thirsty.
Although the event is aimed towards college students, it is open for anyone to attend.
Last year’s attendees included students from University of California, Los Angeles; University of Southern California; Cal State Fullerton; and University of California, Irvine.
Party in the Pumpkin is a unique, local Halloween club experience in a vibrant, festive venue with a big dance floor that you don’t want to miss.
Expect to dance the night away into the wee hours of the morning with other costumed partiers, to music from local DJs, such as DJ ReguL8 and DJ Diego.
For those who love to dress up, there will be photographers at the event to take pictures and costume contests for the best costume and the best-dressed couple, who will be given prizes.
“It was our favorite Halloween party we attended last year,” Cal State Long Beach alumnus Carlo Rabadam said. “It really brought the fun of Halloween to life.”
Dark Harbor
Scare Factor: 5
Walking up to the Queen Mary, smoke seemed to rise from the ground, engulfing everything and everyone in its path, as a raspy voice welcomed guests to a “night of hell.”
With a full moon overhead, guests made their way to The Captain’s Corpse Bar for a little liquid courage before hopping into line.
The event has six eerily-themed mazes, with three on the ship and three on land, a big top in the center offering five freak shows at $5 a pop and a number of ghastly refreshments.
The mazes were scary, and the actors didn’t disappoint, from their hobbled gaits to the theatrical, yet oddly realistic, makeup. What was especially spooky was the big guy who followed guests just far enough behind that they understood what it felt like to be hunted but not close enough that they felt the need to run. Talk about an adrenaline rush.
The creepy hissing and growling sounds that occasionally wafted over one’s shoulder and into the ear as zombies approached from behind were enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.
Circus is the big top horror encased in a dome, with a house of mirrors. As guests rounded a corner, they bumped into an evil clown and scurried away into a pathway of ballooned sheets that were far from a safe haven. This maze garnered the most screams.
For thrill-seekers out there, two must-see mazes were The Village and Circus.
General admission ranges from $24 to $34. General parking is $20. Try to get there early before lines fill up and the additional $25 Fast Fright Pass is the only way to experience all six mazes. The wait can be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. The event runs today through Sunday and Halloween weekend.
The Undead return to downtown at the Zombie Walk
Scare Factor: 3
For those who want to go running with, chasing and acting as Long Beach’s very own hordes of the undead, the Zombie Walk in downtown is the place to go this weekend.
Vendors of all things horror will be there to show off their merchandise for zombie-loving enthusiasts out there. For those in the mood to join the ranks of the undead, there will be numerous face painters and makeup artists available. If guests prefer to remain living, though, that’s no problem.
People dressed in costumes from princesses to ghost busters are welcome to come and enjoy the festivities.
The Zombie Walk has a little bit of something for everyone: live music featuring many different bands, classic George Romero zombie movies, the ApocaCon literature convention.
The event starts at 2 p.m. on Saturday, but guests don’t need to prepare for a long day and night without reprieve. People can come and go as they please because once they pay their hands are stamped so they may return later.
Special ticket bundles are being sold for both the Long Beach Horror and Comic Con as well as the Zombie Walk on the website, so guests can save money on both events.
All proceeds go to the Long Beach Cinematheque, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the community through the art of classic cinema.
Individual tickets can be purchased online at the official website, www.zombiewalklb.com or at the door for $15. Kids younger than 12 years old receive free admission.
For those who don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on a costume but would rather lose limbs in the spirit of Halloween, head down to the 2013 Long Beach Zombie Walk Music and Arts Festival this Saturday.
Bringing the dead back to life at the Historical Cemetery Tour
Scare Factor: 1
Halloween shouldn’t be made up only of fictional ghoulish stories when there is enough past history in Long Beach to create a twisted realistic experience for all to enjoy.
Since 1995, the Historical Society of Long Beach has put together its Historical Cemetery Tour, bringing together more than 5,000 city residents each Hallows’ Eve.
The Historical Society chooses a couple of deceased residents from the Long Beach Municipal Cemetery and Sunnyside Cemetery to focus on and tell their tales. The stories vary depending on the person chosen, but the group likes to underline the importance of everyone’s unique life story.
The tours take place on the cemetery grounds, and thespians from Long Beach Playhouse are chosen by Artistic Director Denis McCourt to take part in the event. Each thespian dresses up in attire from the 1920s and performs a mini-skit, creating a theatre-like experience and further adding to the historic aspect of the tour.
While the tour isn’t necessarily frightening like other Halloween events, it creates a perfect alternative for those interested in Long Beach’s history instead of typical rehashed ghost stories.
The event is open to all ages and families are encouraged to attend. Tickets are available on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. until noon. Tours begin every hour and are roughly two hours long. General admission is $20, student admission is $5 and those younger than 8 years old are admitted for free. For further information, visit hslb.org/historical-cemetery-tour.
Reliving War of the Worlds at the Long Beach Shakespeare Company
Scare Factor: 2
This Halloween marks the 75th anniversary of a radio show so frightening, it sent the country into a panic. The only way to relive the terror is by attending the Long Beach Shakespeare Company’s live recreation of the show.
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company will present War of the Worlds this Halloween at 8 p.m. to finish its Monster Madness Rally Month, which includes four weeks of horror-themed shows that feature classic monsters like Dracula and Frankenstein.
When Orson Welles’ now-famous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel “War of the Worlds” first aired in 1938, people tuning in after the opening sequence missed a prelude saying what they were about to hear was a special production, not reality.
Listeners heard actors playing reporters who relayed information about civilians and police being killed by martian heat rays, and many across the country became convinced that Earth had actually been invaded and was under attack.
This Halloween, guests can sit in and watch a live reproduction of the radio broadcast and watch as a skilled crew re-enacts the show line by line, recreating all the sound effects using the same kinds of instruments from the original broadcast.
Tickets for War of The Worlds are $10. Shows are scheduled for 8 p.m. on Oct. 30 and 31 and Nov. 2.
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company will also podcast each show and archive it on the company’s website, so those who are interested but won’t make it to the event can still listen in.
To those who don’t like big parties, and others who find trick-or-treating as a college student creepier than most haunted houses, consider a Halloween night reliving an iconic piece of American horror history.