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Cinespia Is Hosting Special Halloween Screenings At Historic Movie Palaces
The Million Dollar Theatre (Photo by Mike Hume via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
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This month a special Halloween movie series will feature screenings at downtown L.A.'s historic theaters and a costumed party at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Cinespia, one of our favorite outdoor movie hosts, has cooked up a diabolical new series to get you in the mood for Halloween. The spooky line-up includes a showing of the original Dawn of the Dead and Donnie Darko at two of downtown's most beautiful vintage theaters in the weeks leading up to the big night. And the series concludes with a 40th anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Hollywood Forever, which will feature a specially-designed stage for the time-honored tradition of audience participation for the cult classic.
The Halloween series kicks off with a one-night-only showing on Friday, Oct. 23 of George Romero's zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead (1978) at downtown's Million Dollar Theatre on Broadway. One of the first grand movie palaces built in the U.S., the 1918 theater is said to be haunted and at one point featured a Prohibition-era speakeasy, so what better place to host a ghoulish party than this. The event will feature DJs spinning ghostly jams, several full bars, a themed photo booth and quite possibly some zombies lurking about.
Then on Saturday, Oct. 24, the gorgeous Palace Theatre further down Broadway will screen another cult favorite, Donnie Darko, in 35mm. The evening will also feature plenty of delicious concessions, two full bars, DJs ("Mad World", anyone?) and Cinespia's signature themed photo booth (watch out for Frank the Bunny).
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And the grand finale takes place on Saturday, Oct. 31 with a special 40th anniversary screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the cemetery. The event will include performances from a Halloween Circus, which includes, contortionists, jugglers, magicians, and aerialists. And, of course, there will be DJs and a custom-built Rocky Horror-themed photo booth. Costumes are required for entrance, and while they don't have to be inspired by the movie, there will be a costume contest with a parade of finalists and prizes for the top three winners. There will be dancers during the screening and the audience will be invited to participate throughout. After the movie, the party continues with a dance party on a pop-up stage with smoke and lights with DJs spinning until the "witching hour."
Tickets for all three screenings can be purchased online through Cinespia.
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