What's on: our guide to Halloween 2021

All the scary films you can eat, whether you're staying in or going out

by Jennie Kermode

It's time for some spooky fun!
It's time for some spooky fun! Photo: Tim Regan

We know you love film and we know you love Halloween, so as we do every year, we’re presenting you with a selection of fun things to do for the spooky season. This year it’s a little bit different as physical events have opened up again but we know you won’t all feel safe to go out. With that it mind, we’ve split our listings into two sections. The first contains listings of events taking place around the UK, many of which are socially distanced and some of which are drive-ins – about as safe as you can get. The second contains listings of fun things you can do at home. There are no tricks here, just treats all the way.

Going Out

Aberdeen

Belfast

Birmingham

  • 30 Oct: The Lost Boys and wine tasting at Brindley Point
  • 31 Oct: Hocus Pocus, Mosely Cricket Club Drive In
  • 31 Oct: The Phantom Of The Opera with live score at Birmingham Town Hall

Brighton

  • 31 Oct: Scream Queen - drag queen Fuchsia Van Steel takes the audience on a tour of some of the worst horror films ever made at the Electric Arcade.

Cardiff

Edinburgh

  • 22 Oct: Censor at Summerhall
  • 25 Oct: Hocus Pocus at The Three Sisters
  • 30 Oct: The Phantom Of The Opera and Nosferatu with a live score at St Vincent’s Chapel
  • 31 Oct: Little Shop Of Horrors with a two course meal at Out of the Blue Drill Hall

Fife

  • 30 Oct: The Witches and Poltergeist at Methil Drive In
  • 31 Oct: Hocus Pocus and Halloween at Methil Drive In

Glasgow

Leeds

  • 28 Oct: Hocus Pocus at The Cross Keys
  • 28 Oct: The Witches at Leeds University Union
  • 29 Oct: Coco and The Witches at Farmer Copley’s Drive In
  • 30 Oct: Hocus Pocus and Beetlejuice at Farmer Copley’s Drive In
  • 31 Oct: The Addams Family and Ghostbusters at Farmer Copley’s Drive In
  • 31 Oct: An American Werewolf In London at Horsforth Brewery
  • 31 Oct: House at the Carriageworks
  • 31 Oct: Shaun Of The Dead and beer tasting ay Northern Monk Refectory LDS

Llantwit Major

Liverpool

  • 31 Oct: The Shining at the Bombed Out Church
  • 1 Nov: The Addams Family and Zombieland at the Bombed Out Church

London

The big event 1 – Frightfest. See the line-up and check out our coverage so far on our Frightfest festival page.

The big event 2 - J-Horror Weekender, 29 to 31 Oct: Ring, Dark Water, Cure, Pulse, Audition and Ichi The Killer at the BFI Southbank.

Manchester:

The big event – Film Fear, 28 to 31 Oct: A Banquet, In The Mouth Of Madness, We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes, Bull, Kill List, The Scary Of Sixty-First and Titane at HOME.

  • 26 Oct: Hocus Pocus at the Den
  • 28 Oct: Orphan at Fives Soccer Centre Drive In
  • 31 Oct: Halloween at Peak Cavern
  • 31 Oct: Hocus Pocus and Night Of The Living Dead at The Beagle
  • 31 Oct: It at King Street Townhouse
  • 31 Oct: Shaun Of The Dead and beer tasting at Northern Monk Refectory MCR
  • 31 Oct: spooky short films and creepy cocktails at A4 Studios

Newcastle

  • 24 Oct: Coco at Quorum Park Drive In
  • 29 Oct: It at Newcastle International Airport
  • 30 Oct: Halloween all-nighter 1: Psycho, The Omen, The Return Of The Living Dead and The Fly back to back, with live entertainment, cocktails and a spooky ration pack, at the Tyneside Cinema
  • 30 Oct: Halloween all-nighter 2: The Wicker Man, Prisoners Of The Ghostland, Mandy and a surprise film back to back, with live entertainment, cocktails and a spooky ration pack, at the Tyneside Cinema
  • 30 Oct: Halloween all-nighter 3: An American Werewolf In London, The Evil Dead, Scanners and My Bloody Valentine back to back, with live entertainment, cocktails and a spooky ration pack, at the Tyneside Cinema
  • 30 Oct: Halloween all-nighter 4: Saint Maud, a surprise film, Possessor and Host back to back, with live entertainment, cocktails and a spooky ration pack, at the Tyneside Cinema
  • 30 Oct: Hocus Pocus at Newcastle International Airport
  • 31 Oct: The Exorcist and Scream at Newcastle International Airport
  • 31 Oct: The Rocky Horror Picture Show followed by live DJs at the Cluny

Nottingham

Port Talbot

Rotherham

  • 30 Oct: Frankenweenie and [id=21692]The Woman In Black[/film] at Wentworth Woodhouse
  • 31 Oct: Hocus Pocus and The Others at Wentworth Woodhouse

Sheffield

York

  • 25 Oct: The Shining at York St John Students’ Union

Staying in

The Horror Channel is running a Classic Horror Halloween event on 30 and 31 October this year, with iconic monster movies including Dracula, Frankenstein, Bride Of Frankenstein, Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, The Wolfman The Invisible Man, The Mummy, The Mummy’s Hand, Creature From The Black Lagoon and Revenge Of The Creature.

Arrow is celebrating the season with a series of documentaries which look behind the scenes at horror classics and the people who made them. These include Ban The Sadist Videos, Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Shocking Truth, Hell On Earth: The Desecration And Resurrection Of Ken Russell's The Devils, Phil Tipett: Mad Dreams And Monsters and Fulci For Fake. On the fiction front, it has Zombie 4 and Death Screams for you to look forward to.

On 29 October, Arrow is hosting a live watch-along of The Mutilator. This starts at 3am in the UK, but it's not a school night, and if you join in then you can spend the night talking about the film as it plays, with a great line-up of guests including Jill Gevargizian (The Stylist), Chad Crawford Kinkle (Jug Face, Dementer), Adam Stovall (A Ghost Waits), Powell Robinson & Patrick Young (Threshold) and Chelsea Stardust (Satanic Panic).

There’s a treat to look forward to on Turner Classic Movies, which will present the first ever television screening of As The Earth Turns on the night of Halloween itself. There’s an extraordinary story behind this film and it’s well worth checking out. You can find it on Amazon and TUBI.

MUBI is holding a Halloween watch party on the 31st, starting at 18:00, when Prano Bailey-Bond will be talking about her film Censor live on Instagram. The film itself will screen from 19:00 with live Twitter commentary from the Final Girls.

Netflix has The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and Werewolves Of The Third Reich available to UK audiences from next week and has recently added the Dawn Of The Dead remake and indie horror gem Bad Hair.

Recent Shudder additions worth checking out include new films V/H/S/94 and The Medium, and old favourites Re-Animator, Phantasm and Scanners, plus Elvira, Mistress of the Dark’s 4oth Anniversary Very Scary Very Special Special. “It’s always tough turning 40, but what better way to mark the occasion than a one-night stand with Shudder, the spookiest of streamers? It’s going to be the ultimate Hallow-anniversa-ween bash, and you don’t want to miss it,” says the lady herself.

Our US readers can enjoy FilmRise Creature Feasture weekends on The Roku Channel US and VIZIO WatchFree+, with titles including Crocodile, Glass Trap, Lavalantula and Snake Island. There will also be a Halloween special featuring Along Came The Devil, Danika, Prom Night and George A Romero Presents: Deadtime Stories Vol. 1 & 2.

If you prefer to kick back with a DVD, Acorn Media is releasing Monstrum, Son and Psycho Goreman this month, while over at Epic Pictures there’s 31% off all horror DVDs.

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