You know who’s a real good egg? Horror author Grady Hendrix, whose How to Sell a Haunted House is one of the best, scariest novels you’re likely to encounter in 2023. This is the same guy who brought us My Best Friend’s Exorcism, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, and 2021’s The Final Girl Support Group – all worth reading, all confirmed bangers – and now he’s teaming up with Exhumed Films and the Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, PA for a two-night event they’re calling The Haunted House Party.
What’s that party entail? We’re glad you asked: on the nights of June 16th and 17th, Hendrix will present a different haunted house movie – ones you have more than likely never seen on the big screen, much less on the big screen from the comfort of your car.
June 16th brings us a screening of not only Poltergeist and The Legend of Hell House, but Dan Curtis’ 1976 haunted house epic Burnt Offerings, starring Oliver Reed, Karen Black and Bette Davis. It’s your classic haunted house set-up (family moves into a big, spooky mansion, discovers that something’s not quite right with the house, intense weirdness ensues), but it’s one of the best takes on that particular premise, and with a murderer’s row of talent onscreen, to boot!
On June 17th, Hendrix will screen The Haunting and The Changeling, and wrap up with Brian Gibson’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side. Best known as “The Poltergeist with the terrifying preacher in it,” Poltergeist II checks in with the Freeling family one year after the events depicted in Tobe Hooper’s 1982 original. The Freelings have relocated to Arizona in the time since we last saw them, but that’s not to say they haven’t been followed. If you’re gonna watch a Poltergeist sequel, this is the one to watch!
Tickets to Mahoning Drive-In and Grady Hendrix’s two-night Haunted House Party are now available via this link. Better snag yours before they’re gone forever, haunted house fans!
