Earlier this month, Re-Animator™ The Musical won six LA Weekly Theater Awards including “Musical Of The Year.” It also won: “Original Music” – Mark Nutter, “Direction of a Musical” – Stuart Gordon, “Musical Ensemble” – The Cast, “Adaptation” – Dennis Paoli/William J. Norris/Stuart Gordon, and “Blood Effects” – Stuart Gordon! Now Re-Animator The Musical re-opens at a new location – The Hayworth Theatre – for a limited ten-week engagement, prior to its performance dates in New York and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  http://www.reanimatorthemusical.com/

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Due out on October 31, 2011, William Castle Productions proudly presents House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay. The book features legendary horror filmmaker William Castle’s authentic working script from his 1959 classic thriller with original formatting and Castle’s own hand-written notes.  This collector’s item even comes with a new twist on Castle’s famous theater gimmick, Emerg-O. The 248-page book includes a foreword by acclaimed director Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling, Matinee), hailing the book as “an important artifact.” It also includes an introduction by William’s daughter, Terry Castle, who shares her personal thoughts on this seminal piece of film history. A critical perspective of the film by writer and illustrator Charlie Largent is also included as well as a special welcome from William Castle himself. The Screamplay will be available in print for $24.99 via Amazon and select retailers through the recently resurrected William Castle Productions (ISBN-13: 978-0578092928).

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William Castle (by Leland Cheong/Honolulu Advertiser)

Known for his ingenious marketing gimmicks, legendary horror film producer and director William Castle (1914-1977) has returned from the dead with his first new work in decades, From the Grave: The Prayer (Volume 1), a novel for young adults.  Due out this Halloween season in early October 2011, the 75,000-word book set in Hollywood and Southern France is a compelling thriller infused with history, suspense, and horror.  Dubbed “The Master of the Macabre” and “King of the Gimmicks,” Castle was internationally famous for producing Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and producing/directing countless horror classics such as House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Tingler (1959).
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Re-Animator™ – The Musical, the horror-comedy based on the 1985 cult movie hit and earlier H.P. Lovecraft story, has extended its run due to popular demand through Sunday, August 14, 2011 at the Steve Allen Theater.  The new performance schedule for this funny, bloody and tuneful production includes three shows per weekend:  Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8:00pm.  Additionally, the production that refuses to die will hold three special Midnight Madness shows with opening bands on Friday, June 24th, Friday, July 1st, and Friday, July 8th. Midnight Madness shows cost $15 and doors open at 10:45pm for the all ages preshow. Bands to be announced on the Re-Animator site. Ticket prices for 8:00pm shows are $30 for general admission, $15 for students (with ID) as well as all Center for Inquiry members.
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Gustavo Venegas – “Bullethead”

Beacon Arts, a brand-new “arts laboratory” featuring innovative exhibitions in Inglewood, CA, kicks things off with its inaugural exhibition, Ghost Stories: Happenings, Hauntings, & Curiosities, running from Thursday, October 14 through Sunday, November 7, 2010.  Curated by art writer Shana Nys Dambrot, the show is the first in the art space’s Critics-as-Curators series.  Additional Ghost Stories-related events are planned including an interdisciplinary Halloween extravaganza on the evening of Friday, October 29th and a daytime Pagan Arts Camp (for adults) on Saturday October 30th, with a closing reception/panel discussion on Sunday, November 7, 2010. The Reverend Ethan Acres, whose ministry is dedicated to the expression of religious ecstasy through irrational and absurdist behavior, has signed on as resident “spirit advisor” for the gallery’s first exhibition. His Ghost Stories‘ performances will be his first locally in years.  Beacon Arts provides innovative arts programming and resources to enrich the cultural landscape of Los Angeles with contemporary fine art by a new generation of adventurous Southern California artists.  Renée Fox, known for her success organizing the rapidly growing Inglewood Open Studios, develops and directs creative programming for the Beacon Arts Building.

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Photo Credit: Randall Montgomery

Award-winning actress and playwright Diz White is set to release her spine-tingling collection of true stories, Haunted Cotswolds, through The History Press this Halloween season. Set in what many consider the most beautiful part of England, White, a Los Angeles-based British expat, recounts the numerous paranormal events that have occurred in the region while simultaneously documenting the Cotswolds’ eerie architecture and fascinating history. Pieced together from both historic and present-day sources, the 96-page paperback book is filled with tales of ghosts, ghouls and the undead from every corner of the Cotswolds, the second most popular tourist destination in the UK. Included are stories of tortured headless kings, stark-raving mad butchering inn keepers, buried alive country squires, burned at the stake nuns, and other undead who walk among us. The author will discuss and sign copies of the book at a Samuel French reception in Studio City on Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. (11963 Ventura Blvd., Studio City, CA 91604; 818-762-0535; www.samuelfrench.com).

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In honor of the 35th anniversary of outrageous cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS), the Million Dollar Theater in Downtown Los Angeles will host a special screening of the film with guest Barry Bostwick in person and an international shadowcast of performers on Saturday, September 25, 2010. The anniversary screening will start with a full pre-show of games and presentations at 10:00 p.m. with the film screening at 11:00 p.m. Bostwick, who stars as Brad Majors in the film, will officiate the madness.  For this special event, the on-stage “all-star” cast, with full costumes and props, will include the best of the best Rocky Horror performers from shadowcasts as far away as Paris, France.  This select group of performers includes many featured in the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox Rocky Horror Picture Show: 35th Anniversary Blu-ray Disc.  Presented by LA’s own Sins O’ The Flesh, the evening is part of SinsCon, the 35th Anniversary Convention of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which runs the three-day weekend of September 23 – 25, 2010 in Los Angeles.  The event is being produced in partnership with the LA Conservancy.

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