L.A. has something of a joke reputation when it comes to live theater - New York and Chicago are where actors take things serious, so the wisdom goes, and L.A. is where people do plays when they didn’t get a job during pilot season.
But in the modern era, there’s a type’a theater that’s gaining ground, the “immersive experience,” which focuses more on the audience being (almost) part of the play.
And L.A. being L.A., horror nerds refuse to half-ass it.
Every year ‘bout Halloween time, me and my friends gather for the quintessential scary experience, a good old-fashioned haunted house.
“Delusion,” an immersive theatre experience, combines theater, jump scares, stunt work and the walk-around haunts they used to do in the mall in your home town.
Except WAY better.
Last October was my fourth, “The Red Castle.” We have a group of people that go every year, around 8-10 of us, because going to a scary movie with your friends is awesome, and this is like that, except instead of watching it on a screen, you’re watching it right in front of you. Usually, part of the experience is members of your party being separated from the group and having little side-quests of their own, but fear not! Everyone joins back up, and heads to the big finale together.
They rent out these huge mansions in L.A., where there’s no lack of scary old houses, and top-notch production designers, writers, stunt people and theater folk put together an experience where every corner could contain a scare. I’ve seen zombies leap out of graves, people fly off roofs, even saw somebody get shot once and fly back fifty feet.
You’re led through the forty-five or so minute experience, and it’s designed for people of all experience levels. If you want to be right up close to the action, they’ve thought of that. If you want to hang at the back and don’t want anyone to get near you or touch you, they accommodate that. The focus is on telling a fun story for adults to enjoy.
(I’ve seen kids there too, but there may be an age limit. Our teenage daughter has never gone, so I don’t know what that may be.)
And there’s all kinds of other things to do before and after the experience. There’s a bar, there’s usually food trucks, and you can sometimes catch your favorite celebrities going in or coming out as you’re walking around. Last year, Nathan Fillion and Seth Green were in parties near ours.
Why am I telling you about this in August? So you can get in on the action, of course! These tickets sell like hotcakes, so you if you want in, you gotta get the jump. These shows start in September, so you gotta be on the lookout, go to their website to get signed up:
https://enterdelusion.com/2025home/
And maybe I’ll catch you there!
(And if you’re in L.A. on Halloween night, if you’ve never been and are looking for something fun to do, you should go check out the Halloween parade on Santa Monica Blvd!)
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© MMXV
Do they got ghosts that say, "Boooo and shiiiiit!"?