REVIEW: MICHELTORENA ELEMENTARY PRESENTS PUMPKINFEST

OCTOBER 23, 2023

review: MICHELTORENA ELEMENTARY PRESENTS PUMPKINFEST

In 2019 we stumbled across a true Halloween treat - Micheltorena Elementary's Pumpkinfest. This annual fall festival fundraiser has treats, bands, photo opps, and of course what we are here to talk about: their maze. Even though their haunt completely changes themes each season, they get bigger and better every year with their amazing sets and lighting, stellar actors, and captivating storytelling.

Since we have been attending, the Pumpkinfest haunted house has covered a variety of narratives, such as their tribute to Harry Potter or last year's dive into the depths of the ocean with the environmental parable, "Horrors of the Deep". For 2023, they invited visitors to walk through the history of horror cinema with their maze, "Silver Scream". Beginning in the 1950s, and progressing until the current decade, each section of the maze featured horror films from the represented decade. We loved the 1960’s black and white graveyard scene with Karen Cooper, the undead ghoul from Night of the Living Dead. As she steadily approached our group wanting to eat our flesh, our guide instructed us to scream “CUT!” in order to end the scene so that we could safely move on. We also loved the last scene which included HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey), a Pink Soldier (Squid Game), and M3GAN. Our group had to scream, “We’re Human!!!” so that we wouldn’t get attacked for being an enemy A.I. 

We are constantly surprised at how the school and its volunteers continue to expand the maze year after year. Converting the school's basement storage areas into a fully immersive haunt - complete with wonderful scare actors, great sets, awesome sound design, and incredible lighting - is no easy task. This labor of love is even more impressive when you realize all of this work is only available to the public for one afternoon. Like the horror classics this maze paid tribute to, Silver Scream will live on in our memories forever.

VC

October 23, 2023

Hauntsofla.com

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