We Survived The I Like Scary Movies Exhibit – Check Out Photos From ‘The Shining,’ ‘It’, ‘A Nightmare On Elm Street’ And More
The aptly-namedI Like Scary Moviesexhibition is fun not only for people who like horror movies, but for people who likeanymovies. Sure, it may take a certain type of stomach to watch horror, and if you’re likely to hide your eyes from the screen, there’s certainly no escaping this totally enveloping experience. But these are movies we’ve all lived with, whether we’ve seen them 100 times or couldn’t make it through a first viewing.There’s something for everyone. Freddy Krueger is well-known beyondA Nightmare on Elm Street, as is the Overlook hotel and its haunted accoutrements fromThe Shining.Beetlejuiceis a widely-seen horror comedy andThe Lost Boyswas braved by many teen fans of the two Coreys.It: Chapter Oneis probably the only portion of the exhibit that might require intimate knowledge of the film…or perhaps it could prep you to watch it./Film attended a preview of I Like Scary Movies this week before it opened to the public. We walked through it in 30 minutes when it was empty on a Wednesday morning, but there are so many photo opportunities that you should probably allow at least 90 minutes to visit on a busy day. Here’s what you’ll see.Take the elevator or stairs up to the second floor of 5514 Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles and you’ll be greeted by by one ofBeetlejuice’s surreal striped snakes. Then ease on intoThe Shiningthrough the hedge maze. While the maze never spells the word “redrum” in the movie, it’s a good hybrid of iconography from Stanley Kubrick’s film. Be sure to spot the instrument of death hiding in the “R.”
Experimental artist Maximilian found materials to recreate the elevator of blood in mid-flow. Following that, there are plenty of doors in various states of chopping thanks to Jack Torrance. There’s one on ground level to recreate your best “Here’s Johnny” face, but look above to see the doors after one, tow or three swings of the axe. The twins are also ready to play with you, and they’r happy to pose for a selfie. I was surprised they let you sit in the big wheel tricycle. The guy in the bear suit makes an appearance if you look carefully, but don’t stand there too long or you’ll get a surprise.
Stay on the Stephen King path to enterIt: Chapter Onevia the tunnel of Pennywise’s mouth. It wasn’t lit up when we were there, but we’re told it gets multi-colored with trippy lights. There’s a lot to unpack with that tree of kids' toys, Pennywise mouths, and red balloons floating children up to the ceiling. The hall of paper sailboats is an impressive feat of origami, independent of its haunting baggage. The coffin in the clown room is designed for a photo opp and you may post your greatest fear on red paper on the wall. I wrote down “meetings” because my greatest fear is literally being asked to take meetings when I want to just get to work.
The firstNightmare on Elm Streetroom is a surreal hybrid of Freddy’s sweater and chest of souls. I don’t remember a soul chair in any of the movies, but it’s more appealing to me than the iron throne, and the Freddy faces poking out of the wall are very effective. There’s definitely never been a Freddy hedge maze nightmare, but if there was, you’re able to imagine it freaking evenEdward Scissorhandsout. The giant Freddy Glove has four posable fingers. If you want to make Freddy flip the bird, it would take a group effort.
TheBeetlejuicerooms have the most photo opportunities. You can be the upper half of the separated lady in the couch. Don’t worry about your knees – they gave you padding. Suck in your cheeks for a photo as the shrunken head and feed your legs to the shark. However, the only prop you can’t interact with is the pair of Adam and Barbara statues. We were told they could tip over, so they just ask folks to only pose in front of them. The bench for the afterlife waiting room was actually just so people could take their shoes off for the foam pit, but it was my favorite photo opp.The rattlesnake with the maracas actually has a tail you can move, but the smoking man is in his own room where you can only see him, not interact. There’s even moreBeetlejuicein Dante’s Inferno’s room, where you can pose as spiky Beetlejuice and come out of his grave from Adam’s model.
You’re probably tired by now, so the lounge in theLost Boys' cave is a good rest spot. The train trestle has bars that can hold the weight of a full grown adult, so you can hang like David makes Michael do. That too reminds a middle aged man how challenging it is to hold up one’s own body weight.Maximilian made the Chinese food filled with maggots oversized so you can dive right in. The worms are posable so you can let them envelop you.And that takes you to the merch stop, concluding the I Like Scary Movies experience. These were really creative interactive exhibits, a perfect blend of fun photo opps and interpretive art exhibits.Tickets to I Like Scary Movies are $39at their website. The exhibitruns through June 16 in Los Angeles and will then tour other cities.
