Halloween Haunts and Attractions
‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year…Halloween Season! If you’re anything like us you want to go to as many Halloween attractions as you can before the end of the season! If you live in Southern California there are so many incredible haunts and attractions to go to it can be kind of overwhelming to do the research. So, here’s a list of fun things to do this Halloween season that include haunts, attractions, home haunts, family-friendly, and outdoor horror movies! (in alphabetical order)
Haunts and Attractions
17th Door: (Fullerton, CA) This haunted walkthrough has added new rooms for 2022, including a VR experience! To enter the 17th door you must sign a waiver so enter at your own risk…they can and WILL touch you! If you’d like a taste check out this trailer!
The Basement: (Los Angeles, CA) This attraction is a terrifying Escape Room with four experiences you can choose from. The Basement, The Elevator Shaft, The Study, and The Courtyard. Or you can choose Dead & Breakfast to play all four rooms. This is NOT a walk thru. It’s a fully interactive experience where you’ll need to solve puzzles and complete objectives. Each escape room allows from 4-8 players at a time and includes live performers. The experience runs about 45 minutes. You’ll need to sign a waiver but actors can’t touch you. *whew*
Dark Harvest – Shady Pines Asylum: (Anaheim, CA) This is a newer attraction that’s been around for about 7 years. This haunt includes a rustic design and is just outside the national forest. Its theme is “Insane Asylum” with wicked doctors and nurses. Dark Harvest is running several dates now through Halloween Night.
Delusion: (Pomona, CA) This year’s event is called the “Valley of Hollows” and is an interactive theater experience. Their haunting venue hosts professional actors, stunt people, and practical creature effects for an original and imaginative experience. Shows run until October 30th. Get a sneak peek here!
Halloween Horror Nights: (Universal City, CA) This attraction is one of the premier events in Southern California for Halloween haunted attractions. As one of the major motion picture studios, they have the capability of doing it BIG! This year’s mazes and attractions include, The Terror Tram themed after Jordan Peele’s Us and Nope. As well as mazes themed after Halloween, Blumhouse, Killer Klowns From Outer Space, La Llorona, Scarecrow the Reaping, and the Universal Legends. This year’s musical experience is by The Weeknd. Lots of fright for your buck! Not only that but you can partake in any of the rides and attractions in the park!
The Haunted Harvest: (Chino, CA) This terrifying corn maze includes 5 haunted houses within! Located at Frosty’s Forest Pumpkin patch there are 2-acres of terror awaiting you! This experience is for 18 and up and may contain nudity, gore, and violent scenes, and is rated R.
House of Spirits – A Haunted Soirée: (Downtown Los Angeles, CA) This adult experience features a 90,000-square-foot haunted venue. As you freely roam the house, you’ll find tarot readings, strange roaming specters, secret games, delectable cocktails, and more! Currently, there are three sections of the “House of Spirits” including Volkov Manor, Vaughn Hall, and Casa Vega which all include their own intriguing stories and mysteries.
Knott’s Scary Farm: (Buena Park, CA) This attraction is one of the largest haunts in SoCal with more than 1,000 horrifying creatures lurking in the fog and hiding in every corner of the park! Not only that but there are so many rides and roller coasters for you to also partake in during your frightful adventure with scare zones at every turn. Knott’s Scary Farm has 9 mazes this year as well as three shows: Carnaval du Grotesque, Conjures Dark Magic, and Puppet Up! It’s uncensored and presented by Brian Henson!
Los Angeles Haunted Hayride: (Los Angeles, CA) This Halloween haunt includes 3 mostly open-air mazes; Midnight Mortuary, Slaughterhouse, Trick or Treat, and a hayride where goblins, demons, and ghouls could pop out at any moment! There are also scare actors lurking about and live performances from The Monte Revolth Show every 30 minutes during open hours of the attraction. This is a fun and campy horror musical number.
Queen Mary’s Shaqtoberfest: (Long Beach, CA) This is a NEW Halloween haunt event for Long Beach! Right now, the Queen Mary Dark Harbor is on hiatus while they work out new ownership and make repairs on the ship so Shaquille O’Neal took this as an opportunity to create an amazing haunt experience land side of the Queen Mary! You’ll find a clown-filled funhouse including rides and games, a pumpkin patch walk thru with a Halloween light show and EDM, and three ghastly mazes. During the day this is a family-fun trick-or-treat event. Fu schnickens not included.
Six Flags Fright Fest: (Valencia, CA) At one of the other largest theme parks in Southern California, Six Flags Fright Fest puts on quite an event! 5 haunted mazes, several scare zones, and live entertainment including “The Rising”, “Unleashed”, and “Voodoo Nights”. Don’t forget to hit up the thrilling roller coasters! There’s so much to do you’ll spend your entire night there enjoying the terror!
Reign of Terror (ROT): (Thousand Oaks, CA) Reign of Terror is the largest, indoor walk-through haunted house attraction in Southern California. They feature more than 135 custom rooms in 10 different, inter-connected haunt-themed sections. All designed to give you a thrilling and fun time. This is one of our favorite haunts. A lot of the time you go to a haunt just when it’s getting going it’s over but you’re in this experience for about 15-20 minutes straight. When we were going they only allowed small groups in which is also a benefit. They are running through November 5th!
Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre: (North Hollywood, CA) Zombie Joe’s in an explorative theater experience that will include raunchy, terrifying fare. It can be pretty graphic. Urban Death: Tour of Terror will shock and delight even the bravest of souls. Covid Safety: All performers and ZJU staff have been fully vaccinated. Masks optional. Warning: Graphic content, trigger warnings & full nudity. ages 17+
Family Friendly
During the Halloween Season sometimes it can be difficult to find truly family-friendly attractions that are good for the kiddos. Here’s a short list of fun events. Some of these are home haunts or free! (in alphabetical order)
- Boney Island: (Burbank, CA) (PENDING) This is a family-friendly walk thru and lights display. Boney Island is currently searching for a new home, but keep an eye out. It is a lot of fun and will hopefully be up and running again soon.
- Cemetery Lane: Features 13 themed trick r’ treat stops and other fun surprises for kids of all ages. You’ll also be able to explore Heritage Square – an outdoor museum of eight Victorian Era homes.
- Frosty’s Forest Pumpkin Patch: Frosty’s includes several Halloween experiences for the whole family including a pumpkin patch, Super Slide, Photo Opportunity, coaster, Viewing Zoo, pony rides, carnival rides, games, and more! This event at night turns into The Haunted Harvest for adults only. (See above)
- Haunted Time at Disneyland: (Anaheim, CA) It’s Disneyland! Not much to say here. Admission into the park not only includes all the amusement park has to offer but Halloween-themed frightful fun with the Main Street Pumpkin Festival, Monsters After Dark at the Guardians of the Galaxy location, Haunted Halloween Mansion, and more! Basically, everything you could possibly imagine to enjoy at Disneyland but Halloween-themed.
- Holiday House: (Los Angeles, CA) Holiday House is a fun home haunt family-friendly lights display. Free to come and check out! Located around Mar Vista. Great to go check out if you live in the area.
- Haunt O’ Ween: (Woodland Hills, CA) Haunt O’ Ween is an all-ages interactive Halloween playground in over 200,000 square feet of space! This experience includes pumpkins, games and rides, face painting, trick-or-treating stations, and more!
- Rotten Apple: (Burbank, CA) Rotten Apple always knows how to put on an amazing haunt! Their year’s attraction is called, “Ssssss” and is snake themed. The admission is free and the lines can get long quickly so get there early! Due to neighborhood ordinance, they have to end at 10 PM. So, they may cut off the line prior to that. Admission is free but they’re a non-profit that donates to the Volunteers for the Burbank Animal Shelter. So, donate y’all!
Outdoor Horror Movie Screenings
Everyone loves a good fright during Halloween and what better way than to cuddle up with a blanket and watch a scary movie in the dark with friends! Check out this short list of great spots to get your horror movie on this October in Los Angeles, California. I’ve highlighted the horror and thrillers but the full schedules are listed on their websites listed below. Most of these ventures offer food and beverage for sale and allow you to bring your own! (in alphabetical order)
- Cinespia: (Los Angles, CA) Located at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery the Cinespia screenings already have a spooky nature to them! This month they’re playing Bram Stoker’s Dracula (sold out) and Carrie!
- Eat/See/Hear: (Los Angeles, CA) Eat/See/Hear usually has a lot more screenings and may have paired down after Covid began. This Halloween season they’re only screening The Shining at the Autry Museum of the American West.
- Melrose Rooftop Theater: (Hollywood CA) At the Melrose Rooftop Theatre you can expect a higher-scale experience including plush outdoor chairs (no schlepping here!) and a full-service dinner and show with a 3-course menu. For the month of October they’re screening Edward Scissorhands, Aliens, American Psycho, Get Out, Jaws, Silence of the Lambs, A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), E.T., Scream (2022), Hocus Pocus (as well as a dress up event screening!), and Practical Magic.
- Rooftop Cinema: (Locations vary) Rooftop Cinema has quite an extensive horror movie calendar this month including Hocus Pocus, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Ring, Donnie Darko, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Scream (2022), The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Edward Scissorhands, The Shining, The Conjuring 2, and Halloween II (1982), The Craft, and Nope.
- Street Food Cinema: (Locations vary) This month Street Food Cinema is screening A Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, and Scream!
We hope that you have the BEST Halloween Season this 2022! Enjoy!
More from Married to Horror
Take a look at our Halloween content in the Seasonal section! You can also find more general Married to Horror selections in our recommendations and List Section! Also, take a peek at our Master Watch List where you can find an array of horror films sorted by title, platform, rating, and more!
Do you have a favorite video that we missed? Comment below or email us at contact@marriedtohorror.com! You can also follow our Facebook group Married to Horror and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @marriedtohorror.
