The Fairplex in Pomona, California is a typical venue that host dozens of 5k runs a year; this time it was hosting a different type of event. For two weeks The Fairplex has been dubbed as The FEARplex and turned into the house of horrors filled with freak shows, mazes, and concerts. A first of its kind, Rob Zombie’s Great American Nightmare has been envisioned by Rob Zombie for quite some time now. With the assistance of Steve Kopelman who is an expert on creating haunted houses; Zombie produced three mazes based off of his horror films: “House of 1000 Corpses”, “The Haunted World of El Superbeasto”, and “Lords of Salem”. The fact that it invaded the Los Angeles area during the Halloween season was just an added bonus. No matter what night of the event, thousands of people were geeked to see the festivities. This night was the closing night of a 15 night extravaganza. The closing night sold out fast and was filled with fans that did not want to miss their chance of seeing Rob Zombie’s madness of horror and rock.
As soon as you enter the Lords of Salem maze you are given a hood to wear over your head and you basically have to feel your way out. This was to make you lose sense of security as you were unaware of your surroundings. Every time you touched the walls you would be zapped with an electrical current and the floor under your feet was moving or uneven. This particular maze there were not too many scares and the whole time while bumping in to the people in front of you you’re spent wondering whether they’ve washed the hood over your head between all the other people who’ve been breathing into it.
Upon entrance to the second maze entitled The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, you are given 3D glasses as you enter through a giant vagina – Yes seriously! This particular maze drew a lot of attention and was a very interesting concept. Everything is in neon colors and popped out at you with the 3D. Even though this maze was interesting to look at, there were not much scares here either unless you were a nun because there were a lot of sexually explicit scenes in the room such as a girl playing with her strap-on dildo. Although there was one point where some guys set down on a Sponge Bob looking arm chair and all of a sudden, to his surprise, the chair jumped up and scared him. Surprising enough the exit was not through an anus!
Next in the evening of horrors was the House of 1,000 Corpses maze. As soon as you entered they asked you if you want to be touched by the actors and if you declined, they would put blood on your forehead to mark you. This particular maze had the most scares out of the three. There were different crime scenes throughout the maze that were very well done and I wish I spent more time looking at the details. Jeffery Dahmer on trial was very well done, as well as the reconstruction of the Manson murder which including Sharon Tate naked and pregnant after the stabbing.
The drawback to going on the last day of the sold out event was that it was extremely crowded and the line for the haunted mazes was over 2 hours long. Everyone in line was missing the bands play. Since a lot of people were going through the mazes at the same time, they were basically shoved through and didn’t get the experience to be scared or admire the details of each maze. If someone jumped out at you from the corner the rest of the group was already aware and that lowered the effect of the fright. The people working the mazes seemed to of given up on the scare tactics on that night as it didn’t seem as they put too much effort.
On the streets of Bloody Boulevard is where people found the different vendors, somewhat overpriced food, and horror décor. The sculptures of different monsters were very nice and detailed, they would move when a passer-bye least expected it. There were also a few different hearses on the street that were decorated from the inside out with corpses and caskets. If you weren’t paying attention beware because at random a monster, clown or a psychopath would walk by and scare you. The highlight of the street was supposed to be a Freak Show but it’s not much of a show with only two freaks. One guy was charging people $5 to hold his snake (literally) and take pictures with it. There was a sword swallower, but it was nothing that no one has seen before. The best freak was a guy that pulled himself through a tennis racket. Then he let people staple donation money on his ball sack and all over his body.
While all of the outside festivities were going on, there were bands playing on a stage in what looked to be an abandoned warehouse. This environment had a terrible effect on the sound especially for the first band 45 Grave. From Los Angeles California the band was a perfect fit for this evening. Originally formed back in 1978 many fans of horror punk were excited to see the band rise from the grave in 2005 after a 15 year absence. Lead woman Dinah Cancer is in fact the only original member but it’s still exciting to see one of the first horror punk bands ever perform. Sadly the crowd was mainly in line for the mazes during their set so the building wasn’t filled much which made the sound echo throughout the building. This unfortunate lack of attendance made it difficult for fans which did make the effort to watch the set have a difficult time to hear the lyrics. Keeping true to their gothic and punk roots Cancer and her band of ghouls were all dressed up as ghosts which really added for a cool effect. With a raw energy not seen in many modern bands, 45 Grave put on a great show with stage presence not to be ignored. Cryptic Rock salutes these horror punk pioneers!
Next it was time for Powerman 5000 to hit the stage. How fitting it would be for Rob Zombie to team up with his brother Spider for this evening of metal and horror. Powerman 5000 has written it’s own story in the past 2 decades with a series of unique and different rock records. By the time the band hit the stage the area was a bit more filled so the sound was better, but it also depended on where you stood. They opened with 2009 track “Show Me What You’ve Got”. Spider has a flare for dramatics and definitely brought the music to life. Sustaining a series of line-up changes over the years the current line-up seemed very tight and put together quite well. The set had a good variety of newer tracks mixed with classics like “Nobody’s Real”, “Tonight the Stars Revolt”, and “When Worlds Collide”. Along with energy packed music Powerman 5000 also provided intriguing visuals on the screens as well. With a new record slanted sometime within the next year it will be interested to see what the band has in store for fans next.
After the Powerman 5000 set, it was time for Eagles of Death Metal. The Palm Desert, CA band has garnished much attention by a growing group of fans over the years. With both Jesse Hughes (AKA The Devil) and Josh Homme (AKA Carlo Von Sexron) the band has carried on since 1998 and released 4 records in that time. The floor was filled with eager fans awaiting their performance. The band’s unique garage rock style sound really had everyone in a groove. Their set lasted the length of an hour and throughout that hour it was a non-stop energy fest. Hughes was electric on stage hopping and dancing around with each track played. Having the opportunity to see past and present members of Queens Of The Stone Age rock out was a delight. The groove was heavy and the good vibes were felt all around. Eagles of Death Metal sure know how to put on a rock show and elevated the event to the next level.
The time was ready for the main event. Being the final night of the 15 night festival this was without a doubt sold out. Rob Zombie decided to perform on a stage inside which came to the surpise of many in attendance. Many have become accustom to an exaggerated stage show by Zombie with props and pyro techniques but this time the stage was stripped down. John 5, Piggy D, and Ginger Fisher round out this band and could provide to be Zombie’s best line-up in his career. As the set began fans cheered loudly and were rewarded with a killer performance. Zombie covered a lot of his classic songs on stage much to the appreciation of fans. After all these years and 5 full length records it’s great to see Rob Zombie still provide the same energy in his performance. With tracks that create a party like atmosphere fans rocked out hard with each song played. The set even included some classic cover tracks like Grand Funk Railroad’s “We’re an American Band” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”.
Coming out to a fans roar, the encore included a performeance of “Lords of Salem”. With the evening closing out Rob Zombie thanks all fans for attending the first year of The Great American Nightmare and exited out with “Dragula”.
The Great American Nightmare was an excellent new event with a good mix of horror, punk, rock, and metal for all types of fans. Being the first year of this festival let’s hope Zombie puts together another event for next years Halloween festivities.
You can still catch Rob Zombie on tour now with Korn on the “Return of the Living Dreads” tour running through the end of November.
Written by Karina Parker
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Wow that sure sounded like a whole lot of fun. Too bad they didn’t do this over on this coast. I know that I am not speaking for myself when I say that a good time would have been had by Metal fans of all style preferences. Great photos also.