How to Celebrate Halloween From Your Car
From “Christine” to “Crash!,” the killer automotive film is a hallowed horror subgenre. Pick your automobile — bulldozer, hearse, large rig — and there’s a scary film about it.
But this Halloween, vehicles are right here to save, not destroy. Coronavirus restrictions like masks and social distancing have pressured points of interest to reimagine in-person frights. The demons and ghouls who normally stalk slim corridors of a spooky mansion will lurk at outside drive-through experiences, delivering gotcha scares at windshields and in rearview mirrors. At drive-in film theaters, that are experiencing a golden age this 12 months, folks can scream from the security of their very own automobiles, with little fear about virus publicity from different viewers. And car-based actions are excellent news for folks with disabilities, who are sometimes shut out from conventional haunted homes.
Here are six locations across the nation to get your Halloween scares from behind the wheel.
FILM SCREENINGS
Lehighton, Pa.
(Ongoing)
Open since 1949, this single-screen drive-in theater outdoors Allentown, Pa. — lovingly profiled within the 2019 documentary “At the Drive-In” — is for college students and followers of old-school moviemaking. The venue makes use of 1940s-era Simplex E-7 twin projectors, manned by an precise projectionist, to present motion pictures on an enormous display. According to Virgil Cardamone, who curates the movies, the Mahoning is the nation’s solely remaining solely 35 mm drive-in movie show, the place scratchy prints are prized.
Chicago
(Through Oct. 31)
Running for 31 straight nights, this drive-in movie series has real cinema bona fides: It’s presented by the horror-streaming platform Shudder and the Music Box Theater, a grand Depression-era movie palace that normally hosts a horror-movie marathon. Horror geeks will enjoy theme nights like Grindhouse Fridays (“Evilspeak” and “Black Christmas”) and Sequel Sundays (“Psycho 3,” “Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2”). A notable special guest is Karyn Kusama, who will appear in a pretaped Q. and A. on Oct. 19 after a showing of her darkly comic feminist cult film, “Jennifer’s Body.”
The films are shown at the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In, a former parking lot that’s been transformed into a now-permanent and intimate drive-in theater. It’s located in Pilsen, a historically Mexican neighborhood on the city’s west side; besides popcorn and hot dogs, concessions include tacos, frozen mango and Jarritos sodas delivered to your car.
OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES
Splendora, Texas
(Through Nov. 1)
For families watching their wallets, this drive-through is a bargain: It charges a modest $20 per car no matter how many people squeeze inside. Located in a rural town northeast of Houston, the Haunted Drive has increased its path from two to three acres this year. Taking it slow at two to three miles an hour, cars will encounter costumed actors and vivid animatronics at 10 installations, including a haunted carnival and a killer gas station.
“Make sure the bravest person in the car is driving,” joked Gary Rymer, a co-owner.
Costa Mesa, Calif.
(Through Nov. 1)
“People here have high expectations when it comes to Halloween,” said Mark Entner, the chief executive of Stardust Entertainment Group, the owner and producer of a new high-tech immersive drive-through at the OC Fair & Event Center.
On the drive, cars take paths to four outdoor spaces featuring elaborately designed, creepy set pieces where stories based on Southern California urban legends come to life. Expect to see supernatural cave dwellers inspired by the nearby Blackstar Canyon and a “warehouse rave disco queen” update of the Bloody Mary myth, as the creative director Josh Randall put it. V.I.P. tickets include a designated traffic lane with extra immersive experiences.
“Californians are dealing with Covid and fires and the election, and we want people to escape for 45 minutes,” Mr. Randall said.
Los Angeles
(Through Nov. 1)
Killer food is also on the menu at this new experience from Justin and Melissa Meyer, husband-and-wife event producers. This open-air drive winds along Legg Lake, a popular loop trail located in the Whittier Narrows recreation area. The first leg features a “creature safari,” where visitors use flashlights from their cars to spot costumed monsters among the trees. That’s followed by stops at eight haunted tableaus, where masked characters deliver pre-packed bites, including cinnamon-sugar doughnut churros, and fall-inspired drinks like hot apple cider. (Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are available.)
The trip finishes with a virtual campfire consisting of 3-D projections of flickering flames and “ghost stories that come to life,” Mr. Meyer said.
Roseville, Minn.
(Through Oct. 31)
There’s something very queer about this new theatrical experience. It’s created by Chad Kampe and his husband, Matthew Felt, the organizers of a drag-tastic “Golden Girls” fan cruise. There’s a mostly queer cast and crew. And it’s as camp as it is creepy.
The show takes place at a parking lot at the Rosedale Center mall outside Minneapolis. Attendees check in and use their phones to watch a short film about a crazed mall murderer on the loose. Then they pull into a tent and hand over their car keys (to be returned later) in exchange for a (sanitized) radio and — let’s just say drivers will appreciate the spray bottles on hand to clean off the blood and guts (i.e., laundry soap and food coloring) that coat each car at the end of the mayhem.
The show’s macabre tagline? “No one can hear you scream from inside your car.”
