KillJoy’s Kastle: a gleeful sexual satire

By Molly Murray

Halloween season in America: time for suburban lawns transformed into papier-mâché graveyards, “family-size” bags of “fun-size” chocolates, jack-o-lantern carving injuries, and costumes ranging from the perfunctory (fake blood on a T-shirt) to the absurd (sexy dentist) to the Donald (fake tan and toupée: a particular favourite this year).

But Halloween season also means Hell Houses, where disused buildings are transformed by evangelical Christian groups into elaborate scenes of immoral horror. Rather than the hobgoblins and hatchet-murderers of traditional haunted houses, the typical Hell House features depraved fornications, debauched parties, bloody abortions and flamboyant same-sex marriage ceremonies – all meant to scare the hell out of visitors.