Some of my best high school memories revolve around Halloween: getting spooked by rollercoasters and goblins at SCarowinds, binging Disney Channel Original Movies, dressing as a hippie and trick-or-treating with friends one final time. This October was the most Halloweenish I’ve had in years. I spent the past month indulging in the season by watching horror movies, cowering throughout A Haunting in Hollis, dancing the night away at a camera house Halloween party, and attending an exhibition that featured ethereal, surreal artwork.
A Haunting in Hollis is the first haunted house I’ve gone to in ages. I was surprised how scared I grew as the line to enter shortened. Unlike those I’ve gone to in years past, this one was nestled in a residential neighborhood. The lack of corporate sheen added to the scare factor. As our group waited, the shrieks ringing out promised that we were in for a good time, and we were happy to be proven correct. The frights unfolded over multiple floors, lasted longer than most than I’ve been to, and there were plenty of creepy surprises throughout. The scare actors were amazing, and the scariest parts were the complete darkness and the dolls that, of course, were not dolls. They offer multiple scary escape rooms year-round that I can’t wait to check out.
David Lynch’s first feature film Eraserhead is absolutely unlike anything I’ve seen before. Chaotic sound design coupled with bizarre images create an unsettling yet compelling viewing experience. Halfway in, the anticipation of a specific, inevitable violence put me so on edge that I got nauseous and had to read the plot summary on Wikipedia to prepare for it. I’m most fascinated by the way Lynch portrayed mundane yet anxiety-provoking situations: the cold loneliness of living alone in a city; the absolute terror and absurdity of meeting a partner’s family; and of course, the torment and overwhelmingness of raising a newborn (as I imagine it, anyway). Despite nearly making me puke, I was so captivated that it won’t be my last time watching.
Last night, I went to the opening of Faerie Conception, the solo exhibition by Texas-based artist Evita Flores. Take a quick glance from afar and you could mistake some works as illustrations from children’s books, but a second look reveals severed heads and she-devils rendered in a delicious fantasy of charming pastels. Flores shows the taboo alongside the innocent, creating surreal worlds that compel viewers to immerse themselves inside of the work. It was a fever dream of a show, like if Henry Darger and Mark Ryden designed the tapestries of the Met Cloisters—ethereal and unsettlingly magical.
Flores’s work was enhanced by the stunning SoHo space at the recently opened Salon 21 that featured cake slices that were almost too pretty to eat (I immediately grabbed a slice after a braver soul dug in first). The venue was so gorgeous, we didn’t want to leave. Faerie Conception is on view by appointment until November 27.
It was a perfect cap on spooky season—my version of finally taking down the Christmas tree a few weeks into the new year.