Editorials
[Special Report] “The Purge: Fear The Night” Is Easily One Of The Best Halloween Attractions Of The Year
If you live in Los Angeles you may be familiar with the annual maze/attraction Blumhouse Productions, the production company behind Paranormal Activity, Sinister, Insidious and The Purge, holds in the 89-year-old Variety Arts Theater downtown. Last year the experience was more generalized in the fun, but perhaps too leisurely, “Blumhouse Of Horrors.” This year the attraction has morphed into the truly thrilling experience of “The Purge: Fear The Night“.
I went with some friends last night (October 12th), not really knowing what to expect. I knew that producer Jason Blum had brought in co-directors Josh Randall and Kristjan Thor (creators of the apparently awesome Blackout haunted house – which I need to visit at some point) to collaborate. And I also knew that the attraction had been revamped considerably since its debut last month. What was once a free-roaming experience had been tightened into an intensely guided, yet still highly interactive, evening.
What I didn’t know was just how much fun my guests and I would have. While I never saw the initial version of the attraction, this “new” version pretty much blew me away. I love all of the Halloween events and mazes around Los Angeles to varying degrees but, after a while, there’s a certain amount of familiarity that settles in and your fight or flight reactions begin to ossify somewhat. Successful formulas work and I can’t blame a lot of other places for implementing similar methods, but in 2013 alone I’ve been through at least 20 mazes that were beat-for-beat pretty much the same. That didn’t happen with “Purge.” I never knew what to expect and was kept on my toes throughout.
While some of the ephemera/iconography associated with the film might be confusing to people who haven’t seen it (my guests were unfamiliar), especially in the beginning moments, the specificity of the attraction doesn’t diminish the enjoyment factor at all. And if you’ve seen the movie but didn’t care for it, that shouldn’t affect your experience either. “The Purge: Fear The Night” is about everything that happens outside of Ethan Hawke’s house during those hours and there’s a great variety to the type of scares that are put to use.
My friends and I were separated and told to enter the maze alone – timed out from each other by about 30 seconds – and from those initial first steps into absolute darkness I could tell I was in for something different. Since the surprise factor is part of the fun, I’m not going to spoil the attraction by providing a beat-by-beat breakdown of the evening. What I will say is that the performances are great and you’re guided through the building with an incredible sense of urgency. You’re positioned as a delegate for the New Founding Fathers and are on the run from “Constitutionalists.” The pacing of this is great, it’s often breakneck but there are also plenty of chances for you to slow down a bit and become an active participant and problem solver in your environment. You might rejoin your group only to be pulled away from it in the middle of a hallway – you never know. And while gore is never the focus conceptually, there’s no shortage of that either.
Every room is different, from hospital environments to apartments to wide open fields (on a set, of course). You never know where you’re going next and you can’t predict just how you’ll be involved in the action. You might be asked to fish through water to find something, you may be asked to kill somebody (for the peanut gallery – please don’t take that literally). The experience runs just the right amount of time – so many “mazes” are frustratingly short, this one is long without ever overstaying its welcome. And, at the end, you’re allowed into the perfect environment to unwind from the intensity and gather your thoughts (and perhaps wait for your friends who were “abducted”).
If you’re looking for a great night out (and are over 18) you should definitely hit this up. Get tickets here and plan an evening around it. There are plenty of bars and restaurants in the area to help justify the cost of downtown parking… and you just might need that drink afterwards.
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Editorials
‘The Vampire Lestat’ Concert Event Launches New Season With The Ultimate Expression Of Fandom
There are thousands of passionate fans decked out in gothic chic and champing at the bit like feral creatures. They’re screaming for Lestat, a legendary vampire-turned-rock star, as if the entire crowd has been glamored into submission.
The entire experience is magic, but not because some supernatural thrall has been activated. What’s going on is even more special. It’s the power of the effusive fandom that’s been authentically assembled by AMC’s sublime Immortal Universe, namely Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, now, The Vampire Lestat.
The Vampire Lestat is far from the first Anne Rice adaptation, and it’s not as if there’s been a lack of erotic vampire material for audiences to sink their teeth into. On June 2nd, during a one-night-only spectacle, New York City’s prestigious Beacon Theatre shook from Sam Reid’s bravado performance and an audience full of adoring fans who had already memorized Lestat’s songs.
It’s clear that The Vampire Lestat just hits differently than its predecessors. It’s become more than just a TV series at this point, and this opulent display of ego, swagger, and pure sex is the perfect way to premiere the new season and give back to the fans who helped make Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat such a breakout success. It’s exactly the sort of hyperbolized hedonism that would make Lestat cackle.
For all intents and purposes, AMC has successfully created the illusion that this concert/premiere is just one of the many destinations on Lestat and his band’s 54-stop tour that is simultaneously playing out on this season of television. It’s such a sophisticated and thorough level of interactive fan engagement that the audience doesn’t just understand, but also manages to accentuate through its involvement.
It’s a level of seamless synergy that’s not unlike the give-and-take relationship of vampire and victim.
Before the concert started, “LeStans” were sitting in the Beacon and flipping through a fake Rolling Stone issue with Lestat emblazoned on the cover, complete with interviews with the undead frontman inside. Other fans were admiring the vinyl pressing of Lestat’s EP as they walked past a section of undead band merch. Fandom and fantasy blur together, and it all becomes this elaborate, immersive experience. Fan celebration, erotic gothic fantasy, and a lavish rock concert transform into one beautiful thing.
To this point, AMC Global Media’s Chief Content Officer and President of AMC Studios, Dan McDermott, introduced the event by reiterating to fans, “You are the heartbeat of the series.” That’s abundantly clear on nights like this as that heartbeat collectively pulses to this performance. In terms of how AMC engages with The Vampire Lestat’s fans, it’s as bold a reinvention as the season itself.
This intuitive gamble speaks to AMC’s creativity in this department and a fandom that is eager to seize such opportunities. It’s the same innovation that led to zombie walks for The Walking Dead and real-life Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant pop-ups from Breaking Bad. It’s a great way to pump up the audience for The Vampire Lestat and then maintain that enthusiasm for the whole season.
For most series, a rock ‘n’ roll concert just doesn’t make any sense as a promotional tool. The Vampire Lestat finds itself in a very unique position where it can deliver an excellent concert at an iconic theater, but also use it to showcase The Vampire Lestat’s music by Daniel Hart (who was shredding on stage alongside Reid and the rest of their band) and, more than anything, Sam Reid’s endless charisma.
The way in which Reid feeds off of the crowd’s energy, modulating his performance and giving different sections of the Beacon life, is a perfect distillation of the series’ thoughtful relationship with its audience and how it’s become such a breakout success for AMC. AMC Studios President Dan McDermott emphasized that the fans are the reason that the show is still here and why an event like this is even possible. It’s rare to see a series in which every single cog in the machine is so perfectly attuned to its fans. Reid’s fans already cheer whenever they see him, so why not translate that to a concert setting?
It’s clear in this season of television that Reid was born to be a rock star, but it’s surreal to see him effortlessly command the stage — and the audience — at every step of the concert. He recites Shakespeare monologues and bitches out Armand between songs, all while the audience screams in support. For the duration of this concert, Reid is Lestat, and he’s given thousands of fans a memory that’s as immortal as any vampire.
Now bring on the encore and get this show on the road!
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