Halloween, it seems, starts on Sept. 18. The House of Torment haunted attraction, situated in the parking lot on the east side of Highland Mall, bites into its 2008 season tonight. As a special treat, opening night is free (although you have to book your tickets on-line in advance.)

This year, Team Torment ramped up the theatricality by bringing in stage pros like Naughty Austin/Arts on Real powerhouse Blake Yelavich and Fiona Rene (recently getting rave reviews in these pages for her work on City Theatre’s Alice in Wonderland. Not that House founder Dan McCullough and his team are slackers at this whole gore-scare-haunting thing: the House was selected one of the nation’s top 13 Halloween atractions by haunted house trade magazine HauntWorld, and is home to the Best-of-Austin-winning Mr. Creep. As Yelavich recently explained, “This isn’t a dark maze of black walls and spooky things in the corners … it is undoubtedly one of the best theatrical sets I have seen in Austin … And it is interactive!”

So never say the Chronicle doesn’t tell you about free stuff. Just don’t get eaten in there.

This article appears in September 12 • 2008.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.