Movies Till Dawn: Ghost Stories for Christmas

Posted on December 23, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“Ghostwatch” (1992, 101 Films/MVD Visual) British mock-documentary (though nothing about it is funny in the least) tricked out as a live TV investigation of supernatural activity involving a mother and her two daughters plagued by a poltergeist whose scope of menace quickly expands beyond their cramped London home. Director Lesley Manning and writer Stephen Volk (“Gothic”) are exacting in their attempt to pass off “Ghostwatch” as a real BBC special, complete with real TV presenters (Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Craig Charles of “Red Dwarf”) and a call-in line which was besieged by terrified viewers who believed that the broadcast was real during its original (and to date, only) broadcast. Manning’s use of the documentary/news-style approach (a common horror technique today, but fairly unique in ’92) proves exceptionally effective here: the blandness of the camerawork and the presenters’ cheery banter is deceptively soothing before the supernatural phenomena overtakes not only the house but also the broadcast itself in initially subtle (and exceptionally creepy) ways that lead up to an all-out assault. A considerable (if not always acknowledged) influence on the “found footage” horror subgenre and a high-water mark for TV fright fare, “Ghostwatch” gets a 30th anniversary presentation with 101 Films’ standard and Limited Edition Blu-rays, which feature a retrospective making-of doc, highly informative commentary by Manning, Volk, and producer Ruth Baumgarten (a second and equally enjoyable track features historians Shellie McMurdo and Stella Gaynor), as well as an archival interview with Manning. Those with a few extra ducats should pony up for the Limited Edition release, which adds a reproduction of Manning’s shooting script with her annotations, a booklet featuring essays on the impact of the original broadcast and a short-story sequel by Volk, art cards, and reversible cover art.

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Last-Minute Christmas Dining in LA, 2022 Edition

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Karin E. Baker

Spiked Hot Chocolate at El Granjero Cantina. Photo Credit: Photography by Tonelson.

Christmas is just days away. Whether you’re a procrastinator, your plans changed, or you just haven’t made a decision yet on where to dine in LA on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, you’ll find great options, from decadent luxury feasts to meals with more accessible price points, on our list below.

Savoring a three-course White Truffle Tasting Menu is a great way to spend Christmas Eve. You’ll find that special offering at Nerano in Beverly Hills. Start with antipasto:  Burrata con Tartufo Bianco made with imported Apulian Burrata, San Danielle Prosciutto, and rosemary focaccina. The primo course is your choice of Tagliolini al Tartufo Bianco with handmade tagliolini pasta, butter emulsion, and Parmigiano Reggiano, or Risotto al Tartufo Bianco. Chef Michele Lisi’s dolce is Panna Cotta con Miele al Tartufo: vanilla panna cotta, truffle-infused honey, and hazelnut granella. Each course is enhanced with freshly shaved White Truffle from Alba, Italy. Five luxurious Christmas Eve dinner specials will also be available. More info here.

One of LA’s most renowned seafood restaurants, Connie & Ted’s in West Hollywood is open on Christmas Eve. A special three-course dinner is available from 4 p.m. onwards, featuring a starter (lobster bisque, 1/2 dozen oysters, or market salad), main (smoked rib roast or cioppino), and bourbon bread pudding for dessert. You can find more information here.

Nested against the water, SALT at the Marina del Rey Hotel is celebrated for high quality, bold flavors, and stunning marina views — in fact, it was awarded “Best Ambiance and Outdoor Dining” on the Westside by OpenTable’s Diner Choice. This Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, guests can savor SALT’s traditional holiday Roasted Prime of Beef with potatoes and red wine jus, along with SALT’s regular brunch and dinner menus. Note that SALT will close early, at 8:00 p.m., on both nights. You can make reservations here.

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P-22, We hardly Knew Ye

Posted on December 17, 2022 by Elise Thompson

P-22. Photo from the National Park Service public domain via Wikicommons.

Today Angelenos received the news that we all were dreading. P-22, Griffith Park’s beloved mountain lion, a symbol of everything free and wild in each of us, had to be put down. According to officials at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), he was put to sleep at 9 a.m. on Saturday ‘the 17th at San Diego Zoo Safari Park,

For weeks, the intrepid mountain lion had been increasingly wandering around populated areas and then he attacked three small dogs, even those on leashes, with a person at the other end. This told researchers he probably was no longer able to catch his usual prey anymore and was getting desperate. The photos also showed that he was under-weight with thinning hair. At approximately 12 years old, P-22 was elderly for a mountain lion, and the team caring for him was deciding whether or not to capture him for a checkup. That decision was made when a local animal shelter received an anonymous call that a driver had hit a mountain lion on Los Feliz Boulevard, near where P-22’s collar had recently pinged.

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The Hollywood Museum Hosts Celebrity Christmas Decoration-Decorating and Tree Trimming Party

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Jennifer K. Hugus

Photo Courtesy of The Hollywood Museum

The Hollywood Museum was all astir on the first night of the last annual month that kicks off all Winter Holiday Celebration! Featuring a virtual parade of actors-turned-artists and/or artists exploring their creative expanse, The Hollywood Museum welcomed roughly 20 plus, celebrities to share their most arresting Christmas memories by way of painting and parlance.

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Celebrate the Centenary of Maila Nurmi aka Vampira this Sunday with Feral House

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Elise Thompson

Vampira (Maila Nurmi) on her studio set in 1955.

Are things a little too Chrismassy for your liking? Bring a little Halloween into December by celebrating what would have been the 100th birthday of the coolest ghoul we have ever known. Feral House, known for their alternative publishing, is planning a Sunday event honoring Maila Nurmi, known by the stage name Vampira.

Vampira, born December 11, 1922, found success in Hollywood as television’s very first horror host, a la Elvira and Svengooli. But she is perhaps best known as the star of Ed Wood’s campy classic, “Plan 9 from Outer Space.”

The day will begin with a 3pm wreath-laying at Maila Nurmi’s monument at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, followed by a signing and film festival starting at 5pm at American Cinemateque Los Feliz 3, which gives you just enough time to drive and grab a bite.

At 5pm there will be a signing by Sandra Niemi, Maila’s niece and author of Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira (Published by Feral House). A screening of Tim Burton’s Ed Wood starts at 7pm, followed by a panel discussion including Ed Wood screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, Sandra Niemi, RH Greene, director of “Vampira and Me,” Oscar-nominated makeup artist VE Neill, who worked on “Ed Wood,” and Dana Gould. Following the panel at 10pm, the theater will screen “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” as well as rare Vampira footage.

Tickets are $13 for the films, but you can probably just crash the wreath-laying. TICKETS.

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Movies Till Dawn: The Saturday Morning Strange Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Paul Gaita

“Smile” (2022, Paramount Home Video) Burnt-out therapist Sosie (daughter of Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin) Bacon discovers that she is the latest target of a monstrous entity with a diabolical M.O.: it plagues its victims with terrifying hallucinations that drive them to commit public suicide, which then transfers the spirit on to those who witness the death. Writer/director Parker Finn borrows liberally from other recent curse-fueled horror titles, such as “Ringu” and “It Follows,” for his feature-length expansion of his short “Laura Hasn’t Slept”; he is less successful at building a cohesive mythology for his monster than those films, and frontloads the picture with some hamfisted dialogue and effects, but there’s also no denying that he knows how to craft very creepy atmosphere and setpieces (Bacon’s house is enough of a creepshow unto itself). The film’s underlying metaphor – that trauma and mental illness can take on insidious and virus-like properties, affecting everyone around the sufferer – is also delivered in particularly cogent and affecting terms (and almost warrants Finn tackling the subject outside of a horror context). He’s well assisted by Bacon, whose mental dissolve is palpably unnerving, as well the always-excellent Robin Weigert as her supercilious ex-therapist and Caitlin Stasey as the entity’s first victim, whose display of its trademark – a horrible wide grin – is arguably the film’s most alarming visual. Paramount’s Blu-ray includes the “Laura” short along with commentary by Finn, making-of docs on the production and Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s astonishing, nerve-rattling score, and deleted scenes.

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Ain’t No Party Like a Socialist Party! The Stripper Strike NoHo’s Yuletide Union Fundraiser

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Else Evil E Duff

“Be happy. Be well.” Those are a couple of the last lines of the 1979 movie “Norma Rae” and they were delivered by a union organizer to the title character after they work together to unionize a textile factory in the south. If somehow you are not familiar, “Norma Rae” is based on the true story of a factory worker who risked everything to fight for a decent life for herself, her family and her co-workers by becoming a union organizer. I love that movie and those lines. So much so that if you have ever heard me announce a roller derby bout, you’ll hear them as my sign-off.

I have some experience with unions. I have worked in the non-profit sector almost my entire career including a year at the ACLU of Southern California. I am pro-labor, I am pro-union. So when I heard about the dancers of the Star Garden nightclub in North Hollywood going on strike and their efforts to unionize, I wanted to go picket with them. Unfortunately, I never found time for that opportunity but I followed their progress on their Instagram account (StripperStrikeNoHo) and knew they had officially voted to unionize. They still gotta certify the election and have a long way to go to make this a reality, but they also have to survive and have been having fundraisers to take care of themselves. Continue reading →

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Krampus L.A. is Back this Year at the Philosophical Research Society!

Posted on December 8, 2022 by Elise Thompson

Krampus Run at Alpine Village 2019. All photos by Elise Thompson for The LA Beat.

Krampus Los Angeles has teamed up with Christina Ward and Christina Linhardt to bring Krampus Night 2022 to The Philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz. Taking place on Thursday, December 15, 2022, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, the event will feature a presentation from noted Krampus scholar Al Ridenouer, Germanic seasonal music, a campy kinder-horror film, a cocktail reception, a book signing, and actual Krampuses (Krampii?)!!!

The evening starts at 6pm with a pre-show cocktail hour with mulled wine, and a book signing of “The Krampus and the Old Dark Christmas” (Feral House, 2016). Costumed Beasties from Krampus LA will be on hand for photo opps.

Guests can also anticipate a musical intermezzo from renowned singer Christina Lindhart performing Germanic songs of the season accompanied on the hammered dulcimer by Jerry Wheeler, followed by Al Ridenour, who will give an illustrated presentation about how the “often-misunderstood figure of Krampus is connected to centuries-old witchcraft beliefs and an older, darker understanding of the Christmas season as a time offering access to the spirit world.”

The evening will end with a screening of extended excerpts from the film, “Der Struwelpeter’ by noted fairy-tale film director Fritz Genschow (Germany, 1955, 30 min. total). Screened only a handful of times in the US, the film (subtitled by Ridenour) brings to life the notorious collection of rhymed cautionary tales penned and illustrated in 1845 by asylum medic, Dr. Heinrich Hoffman.”

…and maybe if you are naughty (and lucky) you might get a swatting!

TICKETS · $25 – $35

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LA Through a Cracked Lens: The Japanese Beetles Sumo Wrestler Beatles Cover Band

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Brian Donnelly

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The Hollywood Christmas Parade with Tequila Mockingbird

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Tequila Mockingbird

Grand Marshall Danny Trejo and Tequila Mockingbird at Hollywood Christmas Parade. Photo by Karin Lindberg Freda.

2022 marks the historic 90th anniversary of the Hollywood Christmas Parade. Once again, the sleepy town of Hollywood awakens for the glitzy event. Established in 1928, the parade is a staple of the Los Angeles scene, celebrating its stars, soap opera celebrities, the mayor, and other dignitaries. This year, the Grand Marshal is Danny Trejo, movie star, vegetarian, friend of animals, taco gourmet, and entrepreneur. Danny was in good spirits as the preparations began. He was joined on the red carpet by many local celebrities, and divas. We spotted Daniel Roebuck, a character actor that you may remember from A River’s Edge, who is currently appearing in the Munsters. There was also a surprise appearance by Danny Trejo’s talented son Gilbert Trejo, who recently directed “Alphabetland” for the band X.

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