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A horror film director and his son designed a Halloween maze in an actual haunted house
From L-R: Jose Prendes, Remy Prendes, Tony Scearce.
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Robert Garrova
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LAist
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Fans of horror mazes are in for a treat this year, with a historic West Hills house transforming into a Halloween haunt for the first time in decades.
Built in the 1860s, the Shadow Ranch House is said to actually be haunted by a young girl who allegedly died there, as well as a cook who used to work on the premises and a cast of other spirits.
Tony Scearce, president of Supporters of Shadow Ranch Park, said when his wife volunteered at the house some 40 years ago, it was turned into a Halloween haunt.
Scearce said employees at the park don’t like working after 6pm.
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“I don’t like the basement. It’s just creepy, really creepy,” Scearce told me.
This year Scearce decided to bring the Halloween haunt back for this Friday and Saturday, enlisting filmmaker Jose Prendes, the director behind this year’s Evil Nun and a long list of other wonderfully campy horror flicks.
“It was kismet, honestly, just to be able to be like ‘Hey do you want to put on a haunted house? In an actually haunted building?’ Oh my god,” Prendes said.
The filmmaker had plenty of help from his 10-year-old son, Remy, who designed the maze alongside his dad.
“We already have the canvas of the house and we were just adding stuff to it. So I think it’s creepier to have it in an actual place,” Remy said.
The Shadow Ranch House in West Hills.
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Robert Garrova
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LAist
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Built by Alfred Workman in the 1860s, the house was acquired by Florence Reyerson and her husband Colin Clements in the 1930s. Reyerson is known for being one of the writers who worked on the screenplay for the 1939 MGM version of “Wizard of Oz.”
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The Prendes’s maze winds deep into the creaky house, including an upstairs room with a haunted piano and an ‘art room’ filled with creepy drawings by Remy and a conspicuously placed corpse.
They made me go through the basement solo. It was horrifying.
“We’re a big Halloween family. And so we jumped at the chance to be able to put on a show for the town and a park that we love and walk to all the time... So this is just kind of a dream come true for us,” Prendes said.
Scearce said proceeds from “Shadow Fest” ticket sales will go towards building a fence around the parking lot, making the park’s play area safer for children.
Remy, who said he designs horror mazes at home using building blocks, offered a bit of advice to visitors who get lost in his real-life creation: “follow the bloody footprints.”
When asked how a 10-year-old doesn’t get scared by all of this stuff, Remy pointed to his father with a shrug.
“I watch horror movies... and he’s my dad.”
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How to visit
Shadow Ranch Park
22633 Vanowen St., West Hills
- The “Shadow Fest” haunt will be open Friday, Oct. 24, and Saturday, Oct. 25, from 6 to 9 p.m.
- There will also be a kid-friendly haunt from 5 to 6 p.m. both days.
For more info and to purchase tickets, head over to the “Shadow Fest” website.
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