Friday, Oct. 11, 2002 | 10:54 a.m.
It's ghoulish, X-rated and probably in keeping with Sin City's image this Halloween season.
Little Demons is a makeshift dungeon of terror, not for the faint of heart, where scantily clad exotic dancers and actors participate in graphic scenes of torture and bondage, all for your gruesome enjoyment.
Call this adult Halloween attraction another in a long line of firsts for Las Vegas, which in recent years has come to lead the nation, whether for better or worse, in choices for adult entertainment.
The 3,000-square-foot Little Demons, a castle-like structure built around a couple of tractor trailers, sits on the back parking lot of Little Darlings, an all-nude nightclub at 1514 Western Ave. Admission is $15 every weekend night through Halloween.
An X-rated haunted house really is no surprise for a city that exploits topless showgirls and allows prostitution-prone outcall services to advertise on billboards around town.
By now, we almost expect this kind of thing to prop up.
Las Vegans have been so conditioned to accept various forms of adult entertainment that the operators of Little Demons had no qualms about passing out fliers in front of children in local neighborhoods last weekend. Having been called on the carpet, however, they insist they won't do it again.
"We're not saying that it isn't provocative, and we're not trying to hide what we are," said Halloween set designer Randy Grigg, who built Little Demons. "But this is Las Vegas."
Ah, Las Vegas -- where the mayor drinks heavily in public, pot-smoking philanthropists push the legalization of marijuana, and probably more adult dancers strut their stuff on stage than anywhere in America.
Poor taste, you say? Well, this city is built on poor taste. So who cares if someone wants to take celebrating Halloween to the extreme?
City Councilman Michael McDonald, whose ward includes Little Demons, said he has been told the adult attraction conforms to all building and zoning codes.
"As long as it's legal, and there are no children around, I don't have a problem with it," McDonald said.
Little Demons is X-rated because of the gory nature of its exhibit, not because of its sexual overtones, Grigg said.
In fact, Grigg said, none of the dancers on loan from Little Darlings who work the haunted dungeon even appear topless. They do, however, wear skimpy outfits and use foul language. And there are whips and lots of chains.
"We're very creative about our designs and people might get the impression there's nudity," Grigg said. "But that's not the case. We follow the law 100 percent."
During a daytime tour of Little Demons this week, makeup artist Dan Slatkin said it takes him three hours to prepare the dancers for the show. First the girls put on pasties. Then Slatkin covers their breasts with liquid latex, and for good measure he air-brushes them. It's really a thankless job. That's why Slatkin couldn't stop smiling.
"The only nipple you'll see here is this," Slatkin joked, as he pointed to a fake severed breast and arm hanging from a fake dungeon wall filled with fake body parts.
Little Demons features beautiful girls whipping beautiful girls, beautiful girls on torture racks and beautiful girls appearing to have their throats slashed by Jack the Ripper.
Without the beautiful girls, it seems, Little Demons would be just like any of the other dozen or so G-rated haunted houses that have sprung up in the area for Halloween.
But Little Demons has the girls, and so it's attracting a little more attention from city inspectors.
"We'll be checking them out," said Jim DiFiore, the city's Business Services Division manager. "We'll be looking to see if they're in compliance with the code."
You can be sure DiFiore will follow through on that promise.
According to Grigg, city firefighters did an inspection last weekend while the dancers were in their hot little numbers. Firefighters, he said, took an unusual amount of time walking through the dungeon, making sure what little the girls were wearing wouldn't spark any fire code violations.
And wouldn't you know it? The girls passed with flying colors.
If Little Demons can continue to stay on the good side of inspectors, its operators at Little Darlings will be in a position to take a stab at more firsts in adult entertainment.
Maybe Christmas will be the next holiday the all-nude club will spice up for us.
Instead of Santa's reindeer, we might see the little helpers from Little Darlings prancing around the parking lot in little red G-stings.
This is Sin City, after all, where anything goes.
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