This story cannot be written without a giant spotlight being shined on man in the middle of it all.
Matt Dorado isn’t a newcomer to haunted houses. He’s a regular at Theme Park Adventure meetups, he crafted HauntSB in Santa Barbara a few years ago before moving down to Los Angeles and has had mini-haunts at ScareLA for the last two years.
At 24 years old Matt has accomplished more and pushed harder than most.
At this statement Matt’ll most likely demur. Look down at his feet and say, “It’s a lot of hard work,” making me suspect that his talent and work ethic have always been there, only now he’s bringing it to the big stage.
Which is why, going into Drunken Devil Productions Presents: The Sinner’s Soirée, I feel that I must give some context to the creator of this endeavor and the mind from which this madness was conceived.
On Thursday night a crowd of haunt makers and press gathered downtown to see what Matt and his team hath brought fourth. Spotted among the attendees were such luminaries as the creators of ALONE, the team behind of ScareLA, the director of the upcoming “Haunters” documentary, and many others who make up an important part of the Los Angeles haunted house scene.
Matt stood there nervously, imploring everyone to drink as much of the (complimentary) alcohol as they could before going into his maze…”It’s not done,” he explained. “There’s still more work to do.”
The maze can be found at Think Tank Gallery in the Fashion District downtown. The area around the gallery is a ghost town at night, adding to the spookiness of the evening. It’s no wonder that this is the same place that ALONE crafted their Halloween haunt last year.
This year Matt and his team; Mark Manson, Mary Imagination (a contributor to HorrorBuzz), Ryan Grindstaff, Maclaine Fiori and I’m sure a dozen others, have repurposed it, making it their own.
The Sinner’s Soirée is presented as a New Orleans descent into hell. A big red horned man greets you at the end speekhing wif ah heavee Fraunch auck-seant. The walls are lined with gothic kitsch. Everywhere you turn, it seems, Matt has included a detail that needs to be examined, pondered, paid attention to. Even the pictures on the wall appear to be moving. Slowly. Quietly….or maybe that’s just the alcohol talking.
After many drinks and some good conversation the crowd is lead to the entrance of the haunt. We are invited in four at a time.
The haunt is what could be considered a “classic” style of haunted house. Jump scares aplenty. No one gets touched. No safe word needed.
Even though it was only preview night the actors were on point: solid character work and excellent performances that they never broke from, no matter how much they were provoked. The music, which set the mood nicely, was done by Chris Thomas, one of the best haunted house composers in the business. What deal with the devil Matt had to pull to get him we’ll never know.
Drunken Devil Presents: The Sinner’s Soiree is an accomplishment. A solid haunted house from a promising young talent.
“We’re the only haunted house that ends in a bar!” Matt shouts to the room at one point, and we all laugh. Because after going through Matt’s personal take on hell, that cocktail sounds fantastic.
I will remind Matt that, in a room full of seasoned haunt fans, he’s not only the youngest haunt creator there, but he’s the reason we’ve all gathered. At that statement he’ll probably smile sheepishly and say he couldn’t have done it without a solid team and a lot of hard work.
And that’s a cause for celebration. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
Drunken Devil Productions Presents: The Sinner’s Soiree is located at Think Tank Gallery 939 S. Maple Ave 90015 in LA’s fashion district. It runs from Friday, October 9 through Sunday, November 1st on all weekends and some Thursdays. Tickets are $18 for standard entry, $25 for front of the line and $50 for VIP, and can be purchased online or at the door.
