Halloween Night

Halloween 2011 in California was marked by an aggressive crackdown by state and local officials on sex offenders. In started in the last few weeks, when Riverside County supervisors and several cities approved measures prohibiting all registered sex offenders from decorating their houses or distributing candy to trick-or-treaters. The state, which has long required sex offender parolees to stay shuttered in their homes on Halloween night, added a provision for homeless sex offenders in most of the state: They were ordered to spend Halloween night at "transient sex offender round-up centers.

One of the first things you have to realize about zombies is that they drool blood, which must be hell on the dry cleaning. Never date a zombie, not even over a cup of coffee, unless you're one of those women with a bad boy/blood complex, in which case there's probably no helping you. That's just one of the takeaways from attending Halloween Horror Nights, currently playing at Universal Studios. Widely regarded as the best Halloween attraction in the area, Horror Nights features a half-dozen haunted house mazes.

Police are seeking the public's help in finding a man, woman and child involved in an armed robbery at an Encino home while trick-or-treating Halloween night. The man, who was wearing camouflage fatigues, is described as a 6-foot-3 African American with brown eyes and hair and weighing 160 pounds. He is between 25 and 35 years old. The woman, who was dressed as a football player, is described as white, 5 foot 4, about 150 pounds and having blond hair, blue eyes and freckles.

Jay Leno may have snagged Barack Obama for a late-night sit-down interview on Wednesday, but the president of the United States has nothing on a competing booking. Jimmy Kimmel sat down with Guns N' Roses cofounder Axl Rose, who gave a rare live television interview on "Jimmy Kimmel Live. "  Rose's band will open a 12-night run in Las Vegas on Halloween night, and no doubt to drum up sales and interest in the gigs, the notoriously grumpy and outspoken singer agreed to talk to Kimmel -- and in the process endorsed Obama for president.  True to form, Kimmel didn't waste any time ribbing Rose.

What are the 10 scariest movies ever made? When it gets close to Halloween, that question oftens pop ups among film fans. The average movie-goer probably has a list. So does the Horror Film Buffs Society, a small, informal group of horror-film fanatics who have seen just about all the movies in the genre. They guarantee that, if you watch any of their Top 10 fright flicks on Halloween night, you'll be shivering and quivering.

Treats were plentiful but tricks were in short supply Halloween night, law enforcement agencies reported Tuesday. The only pranks reported came from Ventura, where youths tossed toilet paper at the home of a former mayor, and in Fillmore, where tricksters sent fountains of water flowing onto streets from fire hydrants, officials said.

Thousands turned out to celebrate Halloween on Monday night in Hollywood, but what began as an informal, carnival-like event on Hollywood Boulevard turned scary for Los Angeles police when some of the revelers began pelting officers with bottles and rocks. The violence broke out after officers decided to disperse the crowds in the area of Hollywood Boulevard between Highland Avenue and the Hollywood (101) Freeway.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley was only a modest Halloween fan as a child, never straying too far from character when choosing his costume. "Usually always a football player or something," Barkley said Tuesday. Barkley, then, should feel comfortable Saturday night when the fourth-ranked Trojans, who are fifth in the Bowl Championship Series standings, play at No. 10 Oregon. Of course, a zealous crowd at Autzen Stadium is expected to do everything it can to unnerve the freshman.

The prosecution in the murder trial of three boys killed on Halloween, 1993, rested its case Tuesday after calling more than 50 people to testify, clearing the way for the three defense attorneys to begin calling their witnesses. Lorenzo Alex Newborn, 25, Karl Holmes, 20, and Herbert Charles McClain Jr., 26, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of three boys and attempted murder of three others in a case that drew nationwide attention and galvanized Pasadena community activists.

The brutal Halloween night murders of three Pasadena children has become a watershed in the city's history, community leaders said, as citizens grieved with tears, anger and a new-found determination to unite against crime. Police Chief Jerry Oliver said he will call for a ban on the sale of handgun ammunition, and the city's religious leaders have pledged to fight for gun control laws. "I sense outrage, anger, frustration and a determination to do something tangible and substantive," he said.

Halloween usually brings horror movies, but the actual holiday experience for most people has more to do with costumes and candy than serial killers and demons. With that in mind, the new film "Fun Size" looks to play the part of the non-horror Halloween movie. Transiently entertaining, with intermittent sparks, it'll do until something better comes along. The film marks the feature directing debut of Josh Schwartz, the force behind such of-their-moment teen TV as "The O.C. " and "Gossip Girl.

Moviegoers with a taste for the macabre have a lot of options Halloween night, including the tempting notion of seeing 1954's "Creature From the Black Lagoon" in 3-D at the American Cinematheque's Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. But the best bet looks like "It Came From the Vaults," a collaboration between Cinefamily and the Academy Film Archive, which is the repository for the world's largest 35-mm trailer collection. Trailers sampled will be from the '50s, '60s and '70s, and though no titles have been announced, the promise to show footage "so shocking it slashes through the limits of suspense" sounds genuine.

After a growth spurt over the past few years, Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Hollywood has hit its stride as the leader in blood, guts and gore in Southern California. Photos: Halloween Horror Nights 2012 at Universal Studios Hollywood Following a reboot in 2006, Horror Nights has settled on a mix of terrifying haunted mazes tied to major horror movies, introducing a few new attractions every year while refreshing older offerings. The formula has proved wildly successful, with the movie theme park teeming with hordes of horror fans on weekends in late September and October.

Universal Studios Hollywood has announced plans for haunted attractions based on "The Walking Dead"  TV show, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" flim and "Silent Hill" video game as well as shock rocker Alice Cooper and the La Llorona folk legend, while continuing to drop hints about more scare zones and shows for Halloween Horror Nights 2012. Photos: Halloween Horror Nights 2012 at Universal Studios Hollywood The Walking Dead maze will take visitors into a post-apocalyptic wasteland overrun by hordes of zombies.

Society tends to fear the most dramatic dangers rather than the most likely ones. Abductions in which a child is killed, for instance, often prompt a wave of fear and some new get-tough-on-crime legislation. Yet many people might be surprised to learn that about 40 children each year are kidnapped and killed by a stranger, according to the U.S. Department of Justice — while close to 1,000 children each year die in a car accident in which the driver is drunk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During the run-up to its annual Halloween gala, the Magic Castle in Hollywood announced its theme for the night's shows: "For the last week in October, the Magic Castle will be ON FIRE with the spirit of Halloween!" said the website's special events calendar. In an unfortunate twist, a real fire broke out in the attic of the century-old Victorian about 12:35 p.m. Monday, possibly causing thousands of dollars' worth of damage, closing the venue for at least two days and displacing its popular Halloween night event.

Gore campaign rally, Halloween night, Westwood

Attorneys in the trial of three men accused of gunning down a group of Pasadena children on Halloween night, 1993, turned their case over to the jury Wednesday, wrapping up almost two months of testimony about a crime so horrible it shocked even the most cynical residents of Southern California and the nation.

Halloween 2011 in California was marked by an aggressive crackdown by state and local officials on sex offenders. In started in the last few weeks, when Riverside County supervisors and several cities approved measures prohibiting all registered sex offenders from decorating their houses or distributing candy to trick-or-treaters. The state, which has long required sex offender parolees to stay shuttered in their homes on Halloween night, added a provision for homeless sex offenders in most of the state: They were ordered to spend Halloween night at "transient sex offender round-up centers.