Ain’t love grand? It depends on how you look at it. If your perspective is of the darker variety, with a dose of good humor, there’s an event in Alexandria for you.
This coming Thursday and Friday nights, Port City Brewing Company (3950 Wheeler Ave.) is hosting “Love Is Hell: A Valentine’s Day Horror Experience.”
Forget your regular Valentine’s Day programming. For $20 per person with the promo code FUNLAND (it’s $25 at the door), participants will get a pint of Port City draft beer and be led upstairs to the brewery’s Lighthouse Lounge, which has been converted into a haunted house. Inside will be dimly lit tables full of dead flowers and chocolate, love-themed games of horror and Demonic Cupid in her booth offering love advice to couples. Red lights have been put in the bathrooms, in addition to creative writing on the mirrors, which should make for a number of Instagram-worthy experiences.
The events will be held from 7-10 p.m. Also, at the end of the night, a list of the worst break-up lines participants have ever been given will be read aloud.
The program is presented by Funland Productions, a group founded last year by area comedians and artists, including Alexandria’s Melanie Harker and Shawn Paul Ellis.
Co-founder Charlie Visconage has been happily married for three years and said his troupe is walking a fine line of presenting, “more of a Sam Raimi comedy horror-vibe instead of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe.”
“There are plenty of things in our romantic past that are frustrating, weird and come out of left field,” Visconage told ALXnow. “We’re really hoping people will hang out. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I promise it won’t be like a haunted house with jump-scares.”
If you’re still hungry afterward, there will be food trucks outside Port City on both nights — Basic Burger on Thursday and Borinquen Lunch Box on Friday.
Image via Funland Productions/Facebook