Tuesday, November 02, 2004
On Halloween, thanks to my friend Tom, Steph and I got tickets to the Hollywood Hellhouse. For those of you who haven't seen the documentary on it, Hellhouse started somewhere in Texas, so good Christian children could have something non-Satanic to do on our most morally troublesome holiday. Basically, it's a haunted house, but instead of scaring kids with witches and ghosts, it's designed as a cautionary tale for the Christian right. The first room has three Satan worshippers telling of how they started out reading Harry Potter and Goosebumps, then went on to playing Magic and Dungeons and Dragons, and now they drink human blood. Easy as 1-2-3. It goes on to reveal a botched abortion, a date rape at a rave, a suicide, an AIDS victim, and a detailed tour of hell complete with a Jew in a meat grinder crying out "I was waiting for another Messiah... now I get to wait in hell forever..."
The Hollywood Hellhouse is entirely faithful to the script - which apparently you can mail-order - but all done with tongue-in-cheek flair. The walls of the abortion room were coated in blood, in which someone scrawled "Yes on 72". Several celebrities and comic stars were involved: Bill Maher played the Devil, Andy Richter played Jesus; Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman, etc. were also involved... On the night we went none but Bill Maher were present, although there were many actors of the kind you know by face but not name. It was hilarious.
On the ride home, stuck in traffic on Hollywood Blvd, Steph and I got to play the uniquely Hollywood game of Best Costume-That-Might-Not-Be-A-Costume. Steph won, for a stout middle-aged guy in pink spandex with a huge mane of bleached blonde hair, like a member of Nelson or Twisted Sister. May have been a member of Nelson. Or Twisted Sister.
The Hollywood Hellhouse is entirely faithful to the script - which apparently you can mail-order - but all done with tongue-in-cheek flair. The walls of the abortion room were coated in blood, in which someone scrawled "Yes on 72". Several celebrities and comic stars were involved: Bill Maher played the Devil, Andy Richter played Jesus; Penn Jillette, Sarah Silverman, etc. were also involved... On the night we went none but Bill Maher were present, although there were many actors of the kind you know by face but not name. It was hilarious.
On the ride home, stuck in traffic on Hollywood Blvd, Steph and I got to play the uniquely Hollywood game of Best Costume-That-Might-Not-Be-A-Costume. Steph won, for a stout middle-aged guy in pink spandex with a huge mane of bleached blonde hair, like a member of Nelson or Twisted Sister. May have been a member of Nelson. Or Twisted Sister.
