Have you ever had the opportunity to know someone “before they were famous” and watch that trajectory unfold before your eyes? It’s an honor to witness a star in the making. All the same signs are there. They are coming fast and in more numerous proportions: studios have been calling to film projects centering around the Heretic haunted house experience, overseas game design companies are commissioning work, plans to mobilize shows are under development as well as more localized ideas, the production meetings and press requests are becoming so frequent it leaves the man little time to sleep. And maybe that’s okay – who needs dreams when reality becomes them?
Best of all, it couldn’t be happening to a nicer guy.
I first met Adrian following this past Halloween season, but it had been a while since my last encounter. The figure striding toward me tonight walks with purpose. Now hitting nearly the one-year anniversary of inception for Heretic horror house, there is much to celebrate. Up next is this weekend’s show, Midnight Killer 2, an in-depth sequel to the original presented last fall. Adrian greets me with a warm smile and we gather at Picture Head studios for a brief Q and A prior to his next meeting.
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Maybe you too have seen the cryptic, avant-garde, somewhat disturbing Facebook presence of Heretic horror house. Marcato asserts they’ve been banned several times for explicit content. Aside from this they remain underground, word of mouth seems to do the promotional footwork just fine.
With so little info available, I had initially been intimidated to meet the man behind the mask last Halloween. At the risk of ruining the suspense, Adrian Marcato is kind, warm, even a bit soft spoken. In fact, Heretic was inspired by a tragedy, as a tribute to a friend whose loss has not stopped haunting him. “It happened back in ’93, ’94. A good friend was murdered and found stuffed into a trash can with weird carvings in her skin. The police think it was a cult. They never found out who did that.” A long-time horror film and fiction buff, Adrian said “I had been wanting to design my own story, so I put two and two together and wrote a script.”
In the script, a young girl was kidnapped by a mysterious cult that makes her their new “Devil” to worship. The more mutilated and filthy she becomes, the stronger her spirit and the more revered.
Filming plans were put on the back-burner for a few years as Adrian jumped headfirst into work within the horror industry. His roots lie in scare acting, having performed as a monster both at Knott’s Scary Farm and Queen Mary. “I worked on Knott’s flume ride, tethered above the guests. As they came by I would come to life, drop and scare them. I won an award for it,” he reminisced with excited nostalgia.
Would you say the adrenaline rush of scaring people is similar to the thrill of actually going through the events? I wonder out loud. A mischievous gleam glosses his eyes and he glances down, grinning “Yeah…”
It was during those early years that he found his true calling, SFX makeup. While employed at Knott’s, he encountered Veronica Rodarte, a renowned makeup artist who recognized the raw talent and drive in Adrian and encouraged him to hone his craft. “She worked with me, giving the support I needed to pursue it. I was very lucky.” Aside from this mentorship, Marcato is largely self taught. Over the following years, he solidified his industry status, creating FX for films such as Dead Sea, Hatchet III, and National Geographic: Living Nightmares. He also produced the Cinema Slaughter horror festival: Dead Flesh Feast. Adrian worked at LA haunted hayride as a makeup artist in 2011 and 2012 and remains close, freelancing with the team there.
But it was in 2012 when Adrian attended another well-known experimental show, new to LA that illuminated everything. “I saw through that experience, there was a nontraditional way of producing shows. I decided I was going to do my own show.”
Inspiration-struck, Adrian revived that script written so many years ago; and Heretic horror house was officially born.
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Beyond a personal tragedy, Adrian draws from a plethora of classic and revered writers. In his youth, “I wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies. My parents restricted my viewing so I found another way by reading novels. Stephen King was my first horror author. I tore through Misery, It, Salem’s Lot, Carrie, The Shining – and then I would find more disturbing books. Book of the Dead was a great find with some gory zombie short stories. Lovecraft is a major inspiration and influence, as well authors James Joyce, Kafka, Camus, Calvino – this list goes on and on.”
Akin to these rich works of literature, Heretic horror house is narrative-driven. Sometimes shows will be linked thematically to derivitave continuations. They are also groundbreaking in this way: A professional makeup artist’s role is to create an illusion so convincing that to the untrained eye, it appears legitimate. This intention feels like the lifeblood, driving-force behind this show. Is this art imitating life, or life imitating art? What is real, what is fake – must they always be mutually exclusive? Heretic gives you an experience that calls some of these ideas into question in a way that few other shows are bold enough to approach.
We both agree that one of the most intriguing, fun and successful shows fell under the Xperiments spin-off. This particular show inspired director, cast/crew, and “victim” equally, because all were equally invested in the creative process. In the X shows, an individual, in collaboration with Adrian, has the opportunity to design their own nightmare.
One participant felt jaded due to his work in the entertainment industry, confessing “I’m around [theater] so much, nothing feels real anymore.” He had come to the right place. Adrian took this concept and ran with it, crafting a three hour show where every last moment blended reality with fiction. The synchronicity of random events that unfold in such intimate shows can be a blast.
Are these types of experiences pioneering the future of theater? Inside, the audience is no longer a faceless spectator but has an invested role in the success or failure of the show. Less “look at me,” more “if your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” Sometimes the most frightening actors are the ones you cannot see.
Having a show so authentic can create a host of real problems. We discuss some of the challenges faced in Midnight Killer 1 (a mainstay, scheduled multi-guest experience) – most centered around location and logistics. The continuation Midnight Killer 2, tweaked some of these variables and went off without a hitch. This sequel served up a storyline with more depth and a retro-grindhouse transcendent step into another world. Actors receive extensive safety training and the venue is outfitted with live security as well as cameras.
When hiring, Adrian looks for medical background, stunt or physical strength combined with an understanding that safety is paramount. Improv ability is helpful, but having a theater background is not the primary focus. Not only is the team supported 100 percent, Adrian’s instinct for reading various strengths and weaknesses of his actors lends him to create very natural scenes, mutually beneficial to staff and show. That being said, Heretic has never been a show that shies away from pushing buttons or boundaries.
Remember the saying “never ask of others what you would not do yourself”? Adrian takes this adage to the extreme, admitting “My first beta test was on myself. I got three friends to put me through a series of real torture. I was hit, punched and cut.” While he tells me he would never do that again, “I gained the ability to understand what it would feel like to be in something controlled but very real.”
Heretic horror house has opened up a valuable counter-culture space where performance is purely for art’s sake, making it one of the most liberating and relevant underground theater pieces running in LA. In less than a year, they have evolved from humble beginnings, “We’ve run a lot of shows out of my house,” Adrian muses. Different formulas have been tested, the show has grown exponentially and they seem to be finding their niche. Always a dynamic and cutting-edge environment, at least a half dozen completely different experiences have been executed or are in development under the Heretic umbrella. I’ve even heard rumors of a semi permanent location.
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With fire in his eyes, Adrian is in the zone, ready to slay at his upcoming show this weekend. I get the distinct impression that this is a man who has been to some dark places and broken through to embody the brilliance on the other side. It wasn’t a response to any of my questions that provoked this assumption, but his mannerisms which exude strength, resiliency, guardedness, sincerity and intuition – traits that tend to evolve only after a person has come through the fire. “About a year ago, I was ready to scrap it all and move to Europe.” He mentions with jest, in passing.
Europe is indeed on the horizon now, but it’s actually his art that will catalyze the trip. Toward the end of our meeting, Adrian hesitantly mentions that a gaming company in Paris has offered to fly him out to collaborate on the execution of his ideas for a commission piece entitled Sufrir (suffer). It is this moment when I notice a striking quality that immediately places Adrian on a higher plane; Integrity. There’s sorrow in his voice as he reflects, “I’d rather not go alone. I want my whole team with me.”
Like most successful artists, Adrian Marcato is gifted with unbridled talent, drive and vision. Add to that the deep-seated fight and fire of a survivor along with the keen ability to recognize those same qualities in others? That just may be the magic recipe for staying power.
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Thr underground art scene is alive and well with no plans to slow in the coming months and years. “In my dream world, Heretic Horror House would be a stunning huge production. Imagine falling out of bed onto a floor and being dragged into a room where you are carried into a car that drives you to an empty warehouse that is raining inside. You enter a plane and fly over LA , then fall out with a parachute attached…
…The trajectory of Heretic is going to be international and a living, breathing beast you are swallowed by.” -Creator AM.
I, for one, can’t wait.
Heretic holds events throughout the year. For info including dates, times and events, visit them at Heretic Horror House
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