As we move closer to the Halloween season, one of the great Southern California joys is going to Scare LA, a Halloween / horror convention. Now in its fourth year, Scare LA has grown quite a bit from its meager beginnings. Scare LA creator Lora Ivanova has crafted this show into a huge event and it brings in some top talent for its panels and classes.
There were a number of panels to take in – with all the names in the haunted attractions industry showing up. Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights and Knott’s Scary Farm gave a few more interesting tidbits about their upcoming events and we even had panels featuring Elvira herself! Elvira was the big name and host of Scare LA 2016 and she took a lot of time signing autographs on the exhibit floor.
Speaking of the exhibit floor, the Pasadena Convention Center is a very large space and they did a great job of filling it with vendors and even mini-escape rooms! We are big escape room fans and it is great to see them get floorspace in these events. Last year, there didn’t seem to be as many vendors as I had hoped – this year was a huge improvement. The Decayed Brigade (a group of “sliders” originally from Knott’s Scary Farm) were back again this year and put on some great displays of athleticism in their shows.
As usual, there were several mini-haunted houses at the event – with amazing showings from the folks at Creep LA as well as an all-new, in-house haunted house directly from the creators of Scare LA! Blood Offering featured some great set pieces, very good runtime – especially for a mini-haunt, as well as some nice acting components. Scare LA teamed up with former Knott’s Scary Farm maze designer Brooke Walters and Hollywood prop maker Donald Julson for the walk-through (and crawl-through at times).
You could even purchase a “Scare Student” pass to the event and take in a variety of classes pertaining to haunted attractions. Haunt music creator Jon Autopsy taught a course in crafting music for your haunted house while makeup artist Ken Frankling taught a course in airbrush makeup. There were, of course, a lot more to attend, but these were just a couple examples.
Overall, the 2016 Scare LA was a great time for horror and Halloween fans alike and I can’t wait to check out the 2017 event.
Check out Scare LA’a website for more information!
