Queer Vampires and Child-Hungry Witches Greet Visitors to Hauntoween LA

Queer vampires are among the attractions at a family-friendly Halloween event in Los Angeles.

Hauntoween LA, a drive-through experience in the city's Woodland Hills neighborhood, features a tunnel coated with portraits of the cast of What We Do in the Shadows, the FX comedy centered on sexually fluid vampires, familiars, and other supernatural creatures.

The Emmy-nominated series won Best Unsung TV Show at this year's Dorian Awards, selected by GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics for its spooktacular queer characters and its out lead actor, Harvey Guillen, who portrays the familiar-turning-vampire-hunter Guillermo.

The Shadows installation is one of the first sights to greet travelers in Hauntoween after a glowing pumpkin tunnel. In the pandemic-minded experience, masked guests (costumes encouraged) stay in their vehicles as they tour through spine-tingling installations like a cemetery skeleton dance and observe performers including a live band and a lost Christmas elf.

After visitors receive a pumpkin (noncontact through one's trunk) for at-home carving, one of the highlights is a socially distanced trick-or-treating experience. Bunnies, aliens, and other phantoms deliver candies through long-handled baskets. There's also a "Haunted Beauty School" advertising Petite 'n Pretty, a Beverly Hills store that offers makeup products to kids.

The final treat is from another sponsore, the upcoming HBO Max adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Witches starring Anne Hathaway, where witches deliver chocolate and demand children for their casseroles.

The experience, which runs through October 31 and lasts about one hour, also includes an in-car photograph and video for ghostly remembrances. It's a frightfully good time for those going batty after a summer in quarantine. Learn more at HauntoweenLA.com.