Halloween is happening all across the region this month with a series of frights and delights. From the gruesome to the bewitching, they will test your nerves and frazzle your scare scale. Enjoy!
Witch Perfect: A Hocus Pocus Drag Show
Oct. 13 and 14 at 7 p.m.
Arden Theatre
St. Albert Place
5 St. Anne Street
Tickets: $59 at tickets.stalbert.ca
Witch Perfect is live-singing, comedy parody based on the cult classic Hocus Pocus, a 1993 Halloween movie that regales viewers with the Sanderson sisters, a trio of diabolical witches executed in the 17th century.
Cast in the underworld for more than 300 years, they are resurrected when a trio of children enter their old home and light a black candle. The witches appear and want to suck the essence of life out of the children, but they only have until sunrise to achieve immortality.
In a spicy twist, three Emmy-winning stars from RuPaul’s Drag Race shows resurrect the roles. Meet Scarlet Envy, Tina Burner and Alexis Michelle, a trio of top New York City queens who sing pop hits from Madonna, Britney Spears and Cher.
And they’ll include Disney hits from Little Mermaid and Lion King, as well as Broadway classics from Gypsy and Wicked, including that notorious showstopper, I Put a Spell On You.
DARK: Edmonton’s Haunted Festival
Fort Edmonton Park
Thursday to Saturday Evenings from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 29 at 5 p.m.
Tickets: $45 at showclix.com
DARK unveiled its nightmarish creep-fest on Friday, Oct. 6 with three spectacular haunts designed with terror, thrills and enough blood-curdling screams to wake the dead.
The first haunting experience is the new Bloodshed Passage, a quaint frontier town plagued by the undead, whose blood-soaked bodies are looking to feast on the entrails of whoever they encounter.
The second, 3 AM, is when the witching hour strikes and the veil between the human world and the supernatural world is lifted. Anyone who closes their eyes and sleeps is trapped in a hellish existence created by demonic dream weavers.
And the last experience takes place Under The Big Top, when a killer clown takes over the midway and forces people into his twisted desires.
Pumpkins After Dark
7727 Borden Park Road
Runs until Oct. 31
Single tickets $16 to $19 and family packages are $65 online at edmonton.pumpkinsafterdark.com
A magical Halloween event, Pumpkins After Dark features a groomed trail lined with thousands of hand-carved pumpkins. The jack-o-lanterns are built into spectacular Halloween scenes and curated to music, sounds and special effects.
The event is wheelchair accessible, but the terrain varies. The one-kilometre loop includes paved pathways, grass and loose gravel. There are also slight inclines, declines and uneven surfaces that may require assistance.
Food trucks, sweets, live pumpkin carving demos, photo-ops and roaming entertainment make it a must-see.
Deadmonton Haunted House
9300 47 Street
Runs partial operational days until Nov. 4
Regular admission and speed passes. Visit deadmontonhouse.com/ticket-info
Deadmonton celebrates its 10th anniversary, bringing back the haunting tale of the Williams Farm, a once-prosperous farm destroyed by floods, brutal winters and the mysterious disappearance of Farmer William. As the farm’s dark history re-emerges, visitors slowly become immersed in its chilling legacy and spine-tingling scares.
In a second adventure, The Convent reveals an ancient secret hiding inside a nunnery. The sisters who lived in this place of darkness and despair believed they needed to make a sacrifice to the evil force within the shadows. The nunnery is a place of psychological horror, bringing out repressed fears that scratch their way to the surface.
And in The Print Show, a tale of psychotic obsession, visitors return to the Edmonton Sun building where between the walls, victims of a twisted serial killer wait to be discovered.
