Dread Central Takes Another Look at Delusion
Steve Barton
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Haunted Play
http://www.hauntedplay.com
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On October 11th, this writer (and his better half) visited the interactive horror play Delusion: The Blood Rite in Los Angeles, CA, and we both came away thinking, “This is the most entertaining, engaging, inventive, creepy, and downright fun, live-action horror experience I’ve ever had.”
You can quote me on that.
Produced by Jon Braver and Neil Patrick Harris through The First Interactive Horror Theatre Company and written and directed by Jon Braver, Delusion: The Blood Rite’s now sold-out run lasts through November 10th, and takes place just off the 10 Freeway and Western Avenue, in a hundred plus year old manse at 2218 S. Harvard Blvd. Initially for me there was a moment of calm familiarity regarding the location, as I’ve in the past been in the house for several productions, including the filming of the series “Scream Queens 2” and Rob Zombie’s Halloween (it resides directly across from the house Wes Craven employed for The People Under the Stairs, incidentally).
My feelings of comfort however left upon my arrival, and anticipation set in.
With red-gelled lights illuminating its massive iconic columns, we checked in, and were escorted to an outside bar with a view of the distant downtown Los Angeles skyline. 1930’s music wafted through the air, setting the tone, as bartenders mixed vintage drinks for those who lounged about on the surrounding couches, and who either nervously chatted about their upcoming adventure through the abode, or who spiritedly commiserated about the one they’d just experienced. Not wanting the experience to be spoiled, we left the bar, and sat on the brick stairs just above, sipping our cocktails and waiting to be called.
Having initially launched in 2011, this year’s Delusion: The Blood Rite puts the visitor in the shoes of one of the now deceased Dr. Lowell’s psychiatric (and gifted) patients circa 1910, which after returning from The Great War is drawn back to the structure which once housed them.
“Your nightmares have become unbearable,” explains the official PR. “It is not only the gunfire, or severed limbs landing by your feet that haunt you, it is the mansion, your former home, and her voice. Time and again, she has called upon you in your dreams, pleading for help with a task she cannot perform alone. Each night, her pleadings grow stronger. You’ve chosen to forget this place, yet ultimately your torment drives you back to the dark mansion to confront whatever it is that keeps sanity just out of reach.”
Called, we gathered in a group of eight in the cemetery behind the house, and were given obtuse instructions, and were left to our own devices. The cast of Delusion appeared and disappeared, guiding us, scaring us, and giving us clues, as we entered the graveyard above, and then the home itself, as we traversed from the top floor to the darkened basement, from room to room, and scare to scare, over the course of thirty minutes. The setups were cinematic, the story fluid, the actors first-class and altogether enthralling, and the FX top-notch, and for the next thirty minutes we were the laughing and screaming stars of our own horror film. (As this review will be spoiler free, I’ll leave it at that, although I will say, you are part of the action, and not simply a spectator).
Exiting the home, and elated, we spoke with Braver and Patrick Harris, who asked us of our experience, and who told us (thankfully) that plans for Delusion include not only a possible run extension (‘like’ them on Facebook here, and tell them you want more to assist in that), but also of a possible, and permanent(!) Thursday through Sunday residence in the City of Angels.
Bottom line, while I am a huge fan of scare attractions, and absolutely love Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, enjoy Knott’s Scary Farm, and have a hell of a time at Los Angeles’ The Haunted Hayride, I have never more enjoyed myself than I did while experiencing the unique world of Delusion, and I want more. You should too.
Get more info at Haunted Play online.
My thanks to Lora Ivanova for orchestrating our visit.
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