The annual spook-fest of Halloween is looming and there is, as ever, a pressure to be doing something for the occasion, if only to avoid children knocking on your door for treats (and the alternative 'tricks' they may be offering are even less desirable...). To save you from hiding behind the sofa with the lights off all night, here are a few things we've spotted for Halloween - if you have any other suggestions, do add them to the comments below.
THEATRE
The Abattoir Pages at The Old Abattoir: a creepy, sensory overload in Clerkenwell, mixing performance, art installation, haunting and treasure hunt-style evening... with suggestions that audiences won't be hunting but may well be the hunted during the night.
Zombie Prom at the Landor Theatre: Hairspray / Grease 1950s-style teen musical romance. With zombies. Need we say more?
The Witch of Edmonton at the Courtyard Theatre: "Shakespeare meets Tim Burton and The Wicker Man" in this new adaptation of the play from 1621, based on a true tale of London witchcraft and witch-hunting.
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour at Shakespeare's Globe: spooky old school radio show performed live, with a special programme of flesh-creepers for Halloween. We've just noticed that there's a £10 a plate buffet and a £4.50 Fitzrovia Radio Hour tuck box if you want - that's just dandy.
FOOD AND DRINK
Wandsworth Common Beer Festival: Halloween themed, set in a Grade II listed building with food supplied by Le Gothique, it's definitely a different, distinctly more alcoholic way of marking the event.
FILM
Herzog's Nosferatu at the Biscuit Factory, Bermondsey: interesting venue, creepy classic film, no obligation to wear a costume or get drunk (but it is Halloween, so you might want to anyway)
I'll Be Back...Film Quiz at The Victoria, Mile End: from the same people behind the Bigger Boat film quiz, this is going to be a Halloween special of the full lights, camera, action quiz we know and love.
CLUBBING
Dungeon Disco at Land of Kings, Dalston: dress code is spooky and line-up is impressive... prepare for a big night out.
Beach Party Massacre at Beach Blanket Babylon (Shoreditch): we may not have read the info correctly but we think this evening promises motorbike burlesque, dinner, kinky life drawing and some devastating dressing up - this is not the place to go if you've just cut some holes in a sheet as your outfit.
OTHER, DRESSING UP, TRICKS AND / OR TREATS FOR FAMILIES
In the Dead of Night, Late at V&A Museum: performances, screenings, story-telling and a whole lot of posing in this most decorative Late museum opening in London. It will be classy. There will be costumes. There will be Japanese horror stories and a tour of the new mask display.
Family fun days at Forty Hall, Enfield: because kids need a slightly different emphasis to adult Halloweens, this looks like the right sort of thing - a building tour with live actors and activities and minimal chance of incurring permanent psychological damage
Halloween Half Term Horror at the Old Operating Theatre: macabre old medical playtime for kids who have the stomach for it (and for accompanying adults not too squeamish about old teeth-pulling practices and mixing your own herbal remedies)
One Eye Grey events: three days of ghoulish outings with our friends who write the penny dreadful - bike rides, dining at a lido and ghost stories in a pub.
Mexico's Day of the Dead at Vibe Bar, Brick Lane: a one day festival celebrating Mexico's love affair with death, featuring sneak preview glimpses of new art exhibition from Beatriz Canfield Zapata, live music, food and beer. Altars, offerings, stilt walkers and clowns also promised.
Image Ghoulishly Green by Annie Mole from the Londonist Flickr pool - thank you!
