Knott’s Scary Farm: Plenty of Fun and Chills

Posted on by Diversions LA

Part of what makes Knott’s Scary Farm so much fun is literally getting lost in it. The nearly circular amusement park is kept dark and spooky with fog machines, wandering scareactors inhabiting themed scare zones from the Gore-ing 20’s to the wild west of Knott’s Ghost Town area, and the always-screamworthy coasters and other thrill rides operating with lights off.

In short, the theme park feels like a place where spooky shadows and grasping ghouls might dwell, and simply to be there is to feel the chills and join in the laughs and scares.

Spread out and spectacularly shadowy, the park lets guests literally and figuratively get lost in the Halloween myths that transform Knotts by night.

The scare zones were particularly effective this year, with scareactors catching guests unaware as they studied park maps or focused on consuming popcorn, giant chocolate chip cookies, Halloween themed cocktails, and the requisite slice of Mrs. Knott’s historic Boysenberry pie.

And of course there are mazes. New this year, Inked has a morbidly awesome mix of mad clown circus and wild and crazy animation history that puts the true “looney” into this macabre but delightful world in which wildly homicidal cartoon characters have come to life.  This maze is as  much dark ride fun house as jump scare haven. A particular treat are the rear projected inflatables with their crawly spider motif, which guests must push through. Also new this year is a well-done archeological dig themed maze, Unearthed. This maze offers mummies, moody and mysterious lighting, and monstrous animal hybrids roaming the dark.

The more venerable Cinema Slasher makes its eerie movie theater return with headless theater patrons, ominously dancing popcorn, and more, starting right at the ticket window.

There are ten mazes in all to mark Scary Farm’s 53rd year of fun scares, including Origins: The Curse of Calico and The Chilling Chambers, both in their final year. The latter maze is in enclosed in an eerie haunted cathedral setting externally but within, it houses a variety of highlight rooms from a mental hospital set to a zoo replete with farting elephants.

Mary – The Haunting of Worth Home, The Zoo, Widows, and Room 13 were all spooky scraems and laughs; the speakeasy theme of Room 13 was delightfully immersive, with a scareactor bartender offering imaginary libations before guests entered passages that recalled The Shining.

Stage shows include master magicians from The Magic Castle and voodoo queens evoking the haunted cemeteries of New Orleans.

It was rainy the night we attended, but that put no damper of the fun. Giant pumpkins, skeletons, and dark purple lighting alll sparkled with rain drops, while screams echoed off the terrifyingly steep Accelerator.

For a hauntingly good and yet still impressively lighthearted night of chills and thrills, Knott’s Scary Farm, now a part of the Six Flags family, beautifully walks the line between campy classics and truly chilling moments. Yes, you can laugh and scream at the same time. Knotts is located in Buena Park, Calif.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

Carving Up Halloween Fun at Descanso Gardens

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Carved, the Halloween season attraction now at Descanso Gardens in La Canada-Flintridge, is a spooky joy for all ages. Open through November 1st, the magic of following an artistic trail of pumpkins through a winding overview of the gardens after dark remains potent.

Focused on the carving of jack o’lanterns, there is both a small house and a charming sea monster made of pumpkins, as well as as an entire field of grinning pumpkin heads and eerie scarecrow figures. Over a mile-long walk through the dark, eucalyptus scented gardens, the glowing orange pumpkins enchant.

While many of the set pieces remain the same as last year, some have moved or are expanded, and regardless, the beauty and family-friendly fun of Carved makes it an annual treat.

The Dia de los Muertos offrenda alter has expanded and is quite lovely, with faux candlelight dancing over the happy musician skeletons and paper and pencil available to create your own tribute to the dearly departed in your lives.

Pumpkin-head characters and a vast array of carved pumpkins, albeit not real pumpkins, which would never last for the run of the event, fill a tree-lined meadow.

But in the rose garden near the dessert station, massive real pumpkins are carved by artisans who can make highly detailed depictions of everything from key Dodgers baseball players to Dolly Parton.

The neon Rhizome light sculpture rises dramatically up from Descanso’s Oak Grove, while orange orbs literally float on water and the charming model trains have dinosaurs and monster figures alongside the tracks.

Guests can also enjoy the fun of a hay maze, the adorable and spooky wood spirits conjured – or rather cut – up by artist Chainsaw Jenna, and the simple wonder of trees, the leaves, the soft grass, the humming of crickets, and all the natural forest setting beauty that makes Carved the immersive experience that it is.

Pumpkin head scarecrows have their charms anywhere perhaps, but here, there is a sense of being a part of nature, the spectral spectacle of All Hallows Eve, the time of Samhain and ancient tradition.

While enjoying the gardens, you can partake of tasty eats such as churros, delightful black bean and acorn squash tacos, cocktails, hot chocolate, and spiked hot chocolate.

Timed tickets mean the trails and beautifully lit set pieces are relatively uncrowded and the magic of an All Hallows Eve experience will happily haunt you. Pricing ranges from $29–$52, for adults and $19–$37 for kids 12 and under. ) A new anytime ticket is also available for $85.

Enjoy the spooky fun.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

 

Annie Clavel: Art That Bursts With Texture

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Annie Clavel’s work is a swirling expansion of the visual soul, bursting with texture and triumphant with color. According to the artist, her inspiration is as diverse as her work. Currently, she says “I enjoy following the launch of new telescopes designed to explore the cosmos. There are so many unanswered questions about the true nature of the universe. Perhaps for me, this is a way to put our existence on Earth into perspective amidst the news and scenes that surround us. That’s where some of my inspiration comes from.”
But she also finds inspiration closer to earth, “I am constantly influenced by what I see in my daily life: the California light, the movement of a hummingbird outside my window, or the shouts of a homeless person near the Taco Bell [in my neighborhood.]”
And then there is a fascinating right-brain component. “Mathematics, which I have both studied and taught, plays a significant role in my art and helps me envision abstract worlds.” The depths of the cosmos, indeed.
Clavel began painting over forty years ago, she says, creating figurative watercolor work while still living in France, prior to her move to Callifornia. While still abroad, she “set out to explore abstract atmospheres using acrylics.  Upon arriving in the United States some twenty years ago, I faced several challenges: gaining a better understanding of American culture, defining what I wanted to paint, and building a network.”
As an artist, Clavel more than rose to those challenges. She describes herself as influenced by Dael Patton, an instructor at the Palos Verdes Art Center, which led her to be “truly immersed  in abstraction. I joined various art associations and participated in numerous exhibitions. I also felt that, as the years went by, figurative painting was losing the meaning I had originally attached to it, whereas abstract art was taking on profound significance for me.”
With that change, Clavel also changed her mediums. “For many years, I worked with watercolor on paper. Today, however, my preferred mediums are acrylic on canvas and watercolor on YUPO.  When painting with acrylics, I enjoy mixing fluid paints to create new colors, then applying them in free, layered strokes onto a stretched canvas.”
The artists points out that she “began using watercolor much more intensively after discovering YUPO as a new painting surface. YUPO is a non-absorbent paper that allows water to flow and colors to blend unpredictably. For me, the medium’s fluidity and watercolor’s vast color palette are major assets; they allow me to give free rein to my imagination as I explore abstract worlds and the events associated with them.”
Thematically, with her family living throughout the globe, she is exploring both her Vietnamese and French roots. “I would like to channel my inspiration into the feelings I have about the diversity of my background and the diverse environment I am now immersed in. I would like to develop a series dedicated to my ancestors and my scattered family. I think I will use a softer palette, without bright colors.”
In her current exhibition at Diversions Fine Arts Gallery, she displays an audacious and awesome mix of color, thick layers of paint, pinwheel-perfect small paper sculptures, and dreamy watercolor Rohrschachs.
She will also be participating in an open studio tour October 3rd and 4th from 1 to 5 pm, at 3101 E 2nd Street, #7C, Long Beach, and in an exhibition titled “Right Here, Right Now” on October 10th from 4-7 at Gallery Hellada at 117 Linden Ave also in Long Beach.
Regardless of where you view her lustrous work, Clavel wants her viewers to know that she lets her “instinct and intuition guide” her work in order to “capture parallel moments of time, advancing each work towards a personal resolution. I never sketch before painting. I put my present feelings directly on the surface, hoping that the viewers will find an echo in themselves.”
Clavel’s solo show in Diversions Fine Arts’ Golden Days exhibition runs through October 4th with an artist talk and closing 1-3 on that date. DFA is located at 1069 N. Aviation Blvd. in Manhattan Beach.
– Genie Davis, photos provided by the artist and Davis

The Horror of It All – Screamtacular at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

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With perfect timing, both for the Halloween season and the current wave of exciting new horror films hitting film screens, The Horror Show exhibition opened this weekend at The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The beautifully curated exhibition is paired with public programming and film screenings, including a retrospective John Carpenter series, a Halloween evening screening of The Craft, and a 50th anniversary presentation of Carrie on November 19th which will include a talk with star Sissy Spacek.

From the splendor of the original Dracula cape, generously donated to the museum by the Lugosi family and luminously restored by the museum team to a “pose with Mrs. Bates” tribute to Psycho. this absorbing exhibition covers costumes, special effects, masks, movie posters, original concept art work, props, and of course, projected clips of classic films. The vast collection includes over 300 items on display, from memorabilia to monsters. It is worth nothing that the gift of Bela Lugosi’s heirloom Dracula cape was a major influence in creating the exhibition itself, and this iconic costume is being shown to the public for the first time.

It’s an immersively constructed exhibition divided into multple “chambers” of beloved horrors: Gothic, Psychological, Science, Slasher, Religion, and Ghosts. Guests enter the exhibition space through a dark gallery space that begins the experience with a horror soundscape.

Exiting the exhibition is done through a cinematic-blood spill and splattered plastic curtains.

The exhibition is pure nirvana for horror afficiandos such as myself, but it is a true pleasure for all cinema fans, and a fun experiential romp through the knowledge of all things horror, and horror movies. Among the especially fascinating artifacts are the dailies from the film shoot of horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Brilliant and breathtakingly terrifying images and scenes didn’t happen by magic, but rather through cinematic wherewithal and persistence that only looks like it was conjured up whole.

And speaking of the conjuring, “Annabelle” from many of The Conjuring series films is eerily encased in her infamous glass case, marked “Do Not Open;” Freddie Krueger’s ominous claw glove;  practical effects from The Ring and Alien are among the treasures on display.

Speaking of Freddie, Robert Englund, who played the Nightmare on Elm Street nightmare himself, was present at The Horror Show opening.  He expressed his gratitude for the museum’s recognition of the genre, which was not always as well-respected as it is today. Saying he was “proud of the Academy” for creating such a celebratory exhibition, he also noted that while when he first started acting in horror films “you kind of got the lousy table in the commissary by the kitchen door,” today “horror has saved studios and many majors.”  He adds “I think we’ve finally arrived.”

Nicholas Barlow,  one of the exhibition’s main curators,  noted that senior curator Jessica Niebel had proposed a horror exhibition before the museum even opened. “The date was pushed back, and now we are opening during a time in which there is a real love and hunger for horror,” he noted, adding that “Horror fans are very knowledgeable about the genre, so we were able to go deep across large swaths of horror history.”

According to Barlow, “One of the things to focus on in this exhibition is championing the creators as brilliant, ingenious filmmakers. People made so much for so little” in terms of budget. ”

The curator is proud to have “the original Leatherface [test] mask from 1974’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on loan from the University of Texas’ Harry Ransom Center. And along with that object we have dailies from the film that show it was really just a bunch of kids shooting on a shoestring…so simple, but the production of a masterpiece.”

He also noted the exhibitions focus on artwork, including poster art. And, he pointes out “There are many drawings made by real craftsmen as blueprints to design sets. We get to celebrate them as art objects and iconic pieces of art…the building blocks of the films” which “imagined this world.”

The Horror Show invites viewers into this marvelous and bloody universe through July 25th, 2027. The Academy Museum is located at 6067 Wilshiver Blvd. in mid-city. Be there and be scared!

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and Charlie Davis