When October hits in Los Angeles, dressing up in scary costumes, donning intricate makeup and the rest of horror movie magic isn't just for industry folk. Halloween in L.A. brings about not only movie-inspired looks but offers a wide array of attractions to get into the Hallow-day spirit.
This year's lineup of Halloween events includes SoCal Halloween classics such as the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride in Griffith Park and Universal Studios' Halloween Horror nights. Along with the classic Hollywood Halloween costume parties, mazes and haunted houses are more experimental experiences like Creep LA's Haus of Creep or the Natural History Museum's exhibit, Natural History of Horror.
Those who want a more stationary scare can make their way to a number of screenings throughout L.A. The Theater at Ace Hotel is offering a screening of Hitchco*ck's Psycho as the LA Opera plays the score in real time. Multiple screening spots across town, including the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Rooftop Cinema Club and Melrose Rooftop Theater, offer their own October lineup of horror flicks.
From immersive theater to art exhibits and music festivals, here's what Los Angeles has to offer this Halloween.
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West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval
Brave the streets of West Hollywood for a night of music, dancing and people-watching, all for free. The annual parade — which is held on Oct. 31 and stretches down Santa Monica Boulevard between Doheny Drive and La Cienega Boulevard — brings out a wide range of personalities and characters. Though the event may be open to all ages, the city suggests leaving children and pets at home.
Casamigos Annual Halloween Party
Casamigos Tequila, founded by George Clooney and Rande Gerber, hosts Hollywood's most exclusive Halloween bash. The details of the event are only revealed to those lucky enough to be invited. Past attendees include Harry Styles, Paris Hilton, JB Smooves, Channing Tatum, Jenna Dewan and Ryan Seacrest. Last year, Clooney, Gerber and Gerber's wife Cindy Crawford flew to Las Vegas to celebrate a second night with a party at Catch at Aria resort.
Cinespia Screenings
Watch Halloween classics during a night on the Fairbanks Lawn of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Enjoy music during the sunset before the movie and again afterwards. Bring your own blankets, low-back chairs and pillows for comfort. Cinespia allows outside food and beverages. Tickets range from $18 to $20.
Oct. 19, 7 p.m.The Sixth Sense 20th Anniversary with director M. Night Shyamalan
Oct. 27, 7 p.m. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Universal Studios Hollywood Horror Nights
From now until Nov. 3, scare seekers can find their way through the fright-ridden mazes at Universal Studios' annual Halloween Horror Nights.
This year's labyrinths take inspiration from a number of Hollywood horror classics and favorites includingGhostbusters,Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Manand Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man.
Other mazes take inspiration from the latest seasons ofStranger Things, Jordan Peele'sUs and House of 1000 Corpses.
Returning attractions include a Walking Dead-inspired maze, scare zones and performances by the Jabbawockeez.
Los Angeles Haunted Hayride
Returning for its 11th year, Los Angeles Haunted Hayride will provide Angelenos with new and revamped attractions including mazes, haunted houses and escape rooms.
Before entering the haunted homes and mazes of fictional town Midnight Falls, visitors can observe the town square, help themselves to food and beverages or get acquainted with some of the fictional town's locals.
Whether they enjoy the scares or cower in fear, visitors can also trick-or-treat at 12 of Midnight Falls' homes. But trick-or-treating in Midnight Falls isn't all sweet as terrors and ghoulish residents have a couple of tricks up their sleeves for the sweets-seekers.
The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride is set to run through Nov. 2.
Halloween Screenings at Rooftop Cinema Club
Rooftop Cinema Club will join in the Halloween festivities by screening a number of classic flicks set to get Angelenos in the mood for All Hallows Eve. Starting Oct. 1, Rooftop Cinema will screen such films as Poltergeist, Hocus Pocus, Halloween and more at their downtown and Hollywood locations.
Tickets range from $18 to $25. For more information head to rooftopcinemaclub.com.
TAO Group's Annual Halloween Parities
This Halloween, TAO Group Hospitality boasts a triple-whammy of sinister spooky events hosted at a number of their establishments.
Kicking off TAO's Halloween celebration will be the company's Oct. 26 Rodeo Massacre held at Hollywood's Avenue and The Highlight Room. TheSaturday night festivity will boast a special performance by Wiz Khalifa and sounds by Ross One, as well as a world full of sinister spirits. On Halloween night, Guy Gerber and Kaz James will return to TAO Los Angeles for a Halloween show and costume party. Over at The Highlight Room, DJ Eric D-Lux will spin beats transforming the weekly Thursday party to a Halloween themed soiree.
Tickets for the 21+ events range from $100 to $4,000.
Creep LA: Haus of Creep
Angelenos can get their dose of horror even before Halloween at Creep LA's Haus of Creep.Presented by Just Fix It Productions, Haus of Creep will immerse guests into an interactive experience rife with nightmarish art installations, deranged puppet shows and more. The hour-ong experience aims to warn visitors against the dangers of commodifying art and consumerism. Will Smith, Olivia Wilde, Anna Kendrick, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen are some of the stars who have braved some of Creep LA's immersive installations.
The horror experience is set to run until Nov. 3, and tickets are available here.
Natural History of Horror
This October, the Natural History Museum will get its very own Halloween treatment.
Set to run Oct. 10-Apr. 19, the Natural History Museum’s “Natural History of Horrors” exhibit will explore the crossovers of science, history and moviemaking, displaying scientific discoveries that inspired some of Hollywood's horror classics.
Though more educational than frightening, the exhibit will feature objects from the museum's own collection, along with items like movie props and film footage from Universal's iconic monster movies Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and Creature From the Black Lagoon.
Tickets for the exhibit range from $5 to $12 and can be purchased here.
Melrose Rooftop Theatre
Offering a spook-filled lineup of classic horror and Halloween movies, the Melrose Rooftop Theatre will help audiences get their dose of monsters, ghouls and ghosts before Oct. 31.
Sitting atop West Hollywood's E.P. & L.P., Melrose Rooftop Theatre kicks off its pre-Halloween lineup of screenings with Psycho on Sept. 30. From then to Halloween day, the theater will screen classics such as The Goonies, Beetlejuice, Interview With a Vampire, Scream and more.
On Halloween, the theater will hold a special screening of Hocus Pocus where audience members can don their best Halloween costumes.
Tickets for the 21+ screenings range from $27.50 to $65.
"Nights of the Jack" Jack O'Lantern Experience
Immersive Festival has partnered with Nickelodeon to bring attendees a Halloween wonderland, filled with thousands of hand-carved Jack O'Lanterns at the King Gillet Ranch in Calabasas.
The event features aSpongeBob SquarePantsinstallation and an interactive augmented reality experience in theAre You Afraid of the Dark?pre-show.
Angelenos can experience this Jack O'Lantern spectacular through Nov. 4.
The Depraved Attic Of Dorian Gray 5-Course Meal
The Disco Dining Club and The Grim Wreather invite you to a five-course meal that will satisfy all of your October cravings. The feast — titled The Depraved Attic Of Dorian Gray — features a menu that is unapologetically decadent and inspired by the cuisine of late 1800s Britain.
The dinner party will host 62 people each evening; guests should expect live musical performances, DJ sets, atmospheric actors, outlandish costuming, gift bags and theatrical moments.
The intimate dinner parties are set to take place Oct. 24-26.
The Queen Mary's 10th Annual Dark Harbor
Climb aboard the Queen Mary for a night of terror. Dark Harbor returns for another 23 nights of six haunting mazes, 4-D experience, Neverland Ranch's Sister Swings, extreme aerial acts and more.
Dark Harbor takes place through Nov. 2. Tickets start at $34.
Alfred Hitchco*ck Film Series
The Norton Simon Museum will be screening a series of Alfred Hitchco*ck films on Fridays throughout the month of October, including with Lifeboat on Oct. 4, Strangers on a Train on Oct. 18 and North by Northwest on Oct. 25. All showings will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will take place in conjunction with the “Air Land Sea: A Lithographic Suite by William Crutchfield” exhibition. The films chosen will showcase Hitchco*ck's films based on air, land or at sea. The screenings are free with museum admission.
UNICEF Masquerade Ball
At the UNICEF Masquerade Ball, Halloween and philanthropy cross paths.
Returning for its seventh year, UNICEF Next Generation’s Masquerade Ball will raise funds to support the organization’s mission of protecting children across the globe. Attendees are encouraged to sport their finest attire with masks.
Ticket information for the UNICEF Masquerade Ball on Oct. 26 can be found here.
'Psycho' With LA Opera at Ace Hotel
At Downtown Los Angeles’ Ace Hotel, the LA Opera will bring one of horror’s most iconic musical numbers to life.
From Friday, Oct. 25, to Halloween night, the LA Opera Orchestra will provide a live score to screenings of Alfred Hitchco*ck’s Psycho. From the film’s opening number to its iconic shower scene score, audiences will get a taste of the film’s chilling music in real time.
Tickets range from $49 to $124.
Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles' 'The Tragedie of MacBeth: An Immersive Experience'
The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles will transport Angelenos to the world of Macbeth when The Tragedie of Macbeth begins its run on Oct. 12 through Nov. 3.
The play, directed by Kenn Sabberton, will take its audience through the fictional king’s world as it slowly falls apart. Viewers can pay a visit to the witches’ lair and experience the bleeding walls of Macbeth’s castle.
Tickets for the immersive reimagining of Shakespeare’s play start at $49.
Day of the Dead at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery
For those hoping to get their fix of skulls and spirits after Halloween, the Dia de los Muertos celebration at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery might be something worth checking out.
On Nov. 2, Hollywood Forever's 20th annual Dia de los Meurtos will celebrate immigrants with its monarch butterfly-themed event.
The daylong celebration goes from noon until midnight and includes altar exhibits, Aztec dances and rituals, a ceremonial procession and more.
Tickets can be purchased here.
HARD Day of the Dead
HARD’s Day of the Dead music festival on Nov. 2 will also allow Angelenos to continue festivities after Halloween runs its course.
Now in its seventh year, the event will bring together the talents of Dog Blood, TokiMonsta, Damian Lazarus and more. Previous headliners for the Dia de los Muertos-themed fest have included Knife Party, Cashmere Cat, Dillon Francis, Zedd, RL Grime and more.
Tickets, ranging from $79 to $140, can be purchased at harddayofthedead.com.
Stanley Kubrick Photography Exhibition and 'The Shining' Screening
Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs explores the director's early career as a photojournalist. He was a teenager when he sold his first photograph to pictorial magazine Look in 1945, going on to hone his storytelling — which would lay the groundwork for his cinematography — through a variety of gritty and glamorous city scenes.
The exhibition is organized by the Museum of the City of New York, and includes images of celebrities and everyday people from the Look archive as well as unpublished works. It is open from Oct. 17 to March 8, 2020. The Hollywood Reporter is a sponsor of the exhibit.
On Oct. 25, a late-night celebration of the exhibition will be open from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., featuring a D.J. food trucks and a cash bar. There will be a pre-Halloween outdoor screening of The Shiningat 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 (free for members) and may be purchased here.
