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Autumn brings with it singular seasonal acting opportunities at theme parks and haunted houses. Typically, auditions for these jobs are held several months in advance, so Halloween performers should be on the lookout in July and August, while Christmas performers often audition in September and October. Haunted houses provide many employment opportunities: Nightmare’s haunted house alone hires 30 to 50 actors and 35 lobby performers each season in New York. “After doing a performance every two minutes in front of hundreds of rowdy audiences each night, it will take a pretty hard-core film shoot or audition situation to faze you,” says Nightmare co-director John Harlacher. While haunted houses may require special skills, such as puppetry, movement arts, accent work, or acrobatic skills, Harlacher says, “The thing we need from every performer…is a deep love of scaring people and the toughness to deal with chaos for hours on end.” Actors courageous enough...

Franklin Stein: A Modern Tale of Corporate Horror Written by C.J. Thom Directed by John Harlacher The Connelly Theater, NYC Through September 14, 2013

Franklin Stein is a horror story told in the tradition of Theater of the Absurd as practiced by Eugene Ionesco, the early work of Edward Albee, the plays of Samuel Beckett, and other international playwrights commencing in the late 1950s. Such plays are meditations on the absurdity of human existence, in which conventions of plot and characterization are distorted to convey, as one dictionary defined it, "the irrationally of existence and the isolation of humanity." Playwright C.J. Thom, with an exceptionally fine cast and artistic team, succeeds in presenting a powerful evening of theater which asks the question: What does it take to have heart against the backdrop of the pernicious corporatization of human life and interaction?

A corporate flunky named Franklin Stein meets with Dr.

We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes release details for A Resurrection, details on a virtual trading card series called Closet Monsters, casting news for Dead Afterlife, a Q&A with Vigilante Diaries’ Christian Sesma, and much more:

A Resurrection Release Details: “Archstone Distribution announces the VOD, Digital Download and DVD release of A Resurrection from Writer/Director Matt Orlando (Barbershop). The film stars Mischa Barton (Fox’s “The Oc”), Devon Sawa (CW’s “Nikita”) Jonathan Michael Trautmann (96 Minutes) and the late Michael Clarke Duncan (The Green Mile). A Resurrection will be available on VOD on July 23, 2013 and on DVD on August 6, 2013. It was released this week for Digital Download on all internet platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Xbox Video and Vudu. The announcement was made today by Archstone Distribution’s Brady Bowen.

A Resurrection...

Fans of legendary authors H.P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury and Robert E. Howard are no doubt familiar with the classic genre magazine Weird Tales, which launched the writing careers of those and countless other literary legends. Founded in 1923, the magazine became an icon of the genre and inspired many of its readers to take up writing themselves – including a young Stephen King, whose first exposure to Weird Tales came from issues once owned by his father. The original publication closed up shop back in 1954, and despite many attempts to revive it, Weird Tales remained mostly dormant until 1988, when it resurfaced in a different format and style than the original. Ownership has changed hands recently to Publisher John Harlacher and Editor-in-Chief Marvin Kaye, who vowed to take the magazine back to its roots. The newly-relaunched Weird Tales began appropriately enough with a Lovecraft theme focusing on Hpl's “Old Ones,” with original stories...

Weird Tales Magazine have their 2nd issue since their re-launch coming out this Friday. The publisher (film maker and director) John Harlacher and editor in cheif Marvin Kaye (The playwright, author and anthologist) have made an attempt to take the magazine back to its roots

.Each new issue has a mixture of Themed and non-themed fiction.

http://weirdtalesmagazine.com/

The first relaunch issue (#360) had Hpl’s “Old Ones” as it … Continue reading →...

I can't in good conscience write a review for Killers: A Nightmare Haunted House. It was too vile, too disgustingly demented, and I had the unique pleasure of working there for two wonderfully horror-fueled nights. So I'm writing this postmortem instead.

This year's Nightmare Haunted House was without debate my favorite out of the four I've been fortunate enough to witness. It was more fun than one should feel comfortable having in a room full of the likes of Jack the Ripper [Joe Conway, left], Ed Gein, Lizzie Borden [Nana Valtiel, next down], Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy [Scott Kozel, bottom], and Jeffrey Dahmer, striking that wickedly perfect blend of horror and theater that Nightmare does so well.

If you went and saw this thing that takes place at the Csv Center, then you should know what I'm talking about. Experiences can vary greatly. I went through the house three times and all three forays into the dark had different cuts and gashes,...

The Experiment

The creators of Nightmare, one of New York City’s most acclaimed haunted houses, have pushed passed the Halloween season and are now extending their icy grip on "the most wonderful time of the year" with their latest, twisted exploration, The Experiment. Those looking to deck the halls, sing heart-warming carols, and contribute to the general sentiment of peace on earth and good will to men need not apply, but anyone willing to look Santa straight in his more sinister eye should be pleased by the demented vision to be seen there.

"That can’t be real" and "They’re not really going to let that happen" would be perfectly natural thoughts to pass through one’s mind as The Experiment unfolds. Boundaries of comfort are continually challenged, and most anything likely to induce fear in an individual is exploited with exacting proximity, particularly if you are brave...

Tom X. Chao: Callous Cad Kim Katzberg: Penetrating the Space Here Arts Center 145 Sixth Avenue September 26 – October 16, 2011

Cheerful Insanity consists of two plays, both directed by John Harlacher and presented in repertory at the downtown performance space called Here. I attended these plays knowing next to nothing about what I was to behold in the downstairs performance space. I am not quite sure of the “cheerful,” but there was “insanity” galore.

In Callous Cad, Tom X. Chao plays himself: a man who finally, after years and years of failure, has had “sex” and is now saddled in a relationship with a woman he does not love -- or even, it seems, like very much. He reminds me of early Woody Allen in acting roles, when you were not expected take his acting seriously. The difference here is that Tom is a charmless neurotic showing none of the delight Allen exuded in being neurotic.

It’s easy to think of most Haunted Attractions across the United States amidst cornfields, hayrides and surrounded by the most notorious of horrific locations, the woods. But here in New York City, there’s more than just the famed annual West Village parade and a Pumpkin Spice Latte for city-dwellers to get in the mood for autumn, Halloween and all the pagan spirit it has to offer. There’s little doubt when New Yorkers think of their options for true scares, one house of frights comes to mind first. Half because of its stunning reputation, and half its stark, memorable and ever-present subway advertisements (seriously, try and hit a stop without one), Nightmare is often voted one of the best of its kind. Fango spoke with creator Timothy Haskell and co-director John Harlacher about the often off-beat and highly regarded scare-fest and this year’s narrative theme, Superstitions.