Westside LA Gets a Cool New Haunted House!

Coolia and I decided to visit our local haunted house last night, an abandoned Blockbuster Video locale, where Westwood, Overland and the 405 converge. Now I used to work at Blockbuster so I know just how scary the prospect of a haunted Blockbuster is...our sufferings from a cheapskate employer and ever disappearing employee discounts ("What do you mean video rentals are now full price for all employees? I don't want discounted jiffy pop!") This Blockbuster in question was particularly horrifying when it was open - a pitiful selection and zombie-like service. Good riddance to bad rubbish I said when the shop closed down months ago. I never dreamed ghosts and goulies would start squatting at the place.

Because it's our hood, we found it by driving by...no news is sometimes a little bit scary. These do-it-yourself haunted houses don't feel quite as....um...safe. The handmade signs look a little nutty.

But the ticket-takers seemed normal enough and you could adjust your own scare-level, which was very decent of them. We picked Code Red which was just shy of the ultimate scare Bloody Code Red or Bloody F-ing Code Red. I can't remember.

The do-it-yourself-ness of the maze reminded me of the great haunted mazes of my old neighborhood in St. Louis. And for $12 (less for kids), it was perfect, just long enough but not rip-off short. And the ghosts were fully into their tasks; some were downright creepy.

What I appreciated most was that they controlled the experience, only letting one group of friends enter at a time (as you know there's protection in numbers; no protection in no numbers - which makes the crowds at NotScaryFarm kind of a drag) and the ghouls "personalize your journey" as you walk through. It's both hilarious and effective.

For more information on the maze, visit their MySpace page.

To read another review on them: http://laist.com/2007/10/25/west_la_gets_a.php

Here are the details:

Creepy Hollow
3101 Overland Ave.

Corner of National and Overland (where Blockbuster used to be)

Neighborhood: Palms

Hours: Friday- Sunday 7 :00 PM- 11:00 PM

Open Halloween