Halloweߣen SPECIAL
I IS FOR (STAYING) IN If (though we don’t condone it) you’re planning to get nicely couch-potatoed over Hallowe’en, we would recommend you start the sloth with BBC Four’s Ghosts In The Machine (Tue 27 Oct, 9pm). This tongue in cheek look at how ghosts have been portrayed on the small screen revisits some classic Beeb output, including their versions of ghost stories Whistle and I’ll Come To You and The Stone Tape. For the less discerning digital TV viewer, on 31 October there’s enough Ghost Hunt and Most Haunted on Zone Reality and Living TV respectively to satisfy your gullibility several times over. A better bet would be to make the most of the Sky Movie channels’ prodigious selection of scary movies showing on Hallowe’en night, the best of which are the seminally important early vampire films, Nosferatu and Vampyr showing back to back on Sky Arts 2 (8pm & 9.35pm).
J IS FOR JACK O’LANTERN Carved from a pumpkin, turnip or butternut squash (if you’re into that sort of thing), a jack
o’lantern is a Hallowe’en necessity. Here are our List top tips on how to make yours the belle of the Hallowe’en ball. • First off, choose your pumpkin wisely. Consider the personality of your jack o’lantern. Is he/she a lofty ghoul or squat warlock? • As you cut out the top hole, angle the knife down so that the lid and hole will be slightly cone-shaped. This will help prevent the top on your lantern falling off. • Pre-mark your design onto your pumpkin by using a crayon, or use a stencil as a template and use a nail to punch through to mark the design. • Make sure that you have scraped the bottom of the pumpkin flat, so that the candle will sit level. • To help preserve your pumpkin and stop it shrivelling and drying out, coat the edges with Vaseline. Use a paper towel with the jelly on it to coat the inside. It’s less messy that way. If you can’t do the whole inside, at least try to coat the design you’ve cut. • Should your pumpkin start to dry out and shrivel, it can be resurrected from the dead by simply soaking it in water overnight. ■ With thanks to Wychwood Brewery, organiser of the annual Art of Pumpkin Carving competition.
K IS FOR KIDS Although throwing an old white sheet over your kid and sending them off to gather
sweeties from strangers was once the norm, today’s Hallowe’en jollities are rather more sophisticated. None more so than Magic and Monsters with Owen
22 THE LIST 22 Oct–5 Nov 2009
Exorcist: The Beginning
and Olly (pictured) – the dynamic duo who have taken charge of the fun at Children’s Classic Concerts. Their Hallowe’en specials, in both Glasgow (Sat 31 Oct) and Edinburgh (Sun 1 Nov), will find the normally serious Royal Scottish National Orchestra musicians decked out in witch’s hats and warty noses. They’ll be joined by James MacKenzie of hugely popular Raven fame. It’s easy to get crafty at Hallowe’en, in more ways
than one. The Great Halloween Puppet Making Workshop at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre in Glasgow will be helping youngsters make scary shadow puppets on Hallowe’en itself. Or you can decorate a pumpkin (Thu 22 Oct) or make lanterns (Mon 26 Oct) at Edinburgh’s Imagination Workshop. And it would seem there’s more to Hallowe’en animals than the proverbial witch’s cat. Spooky Happenings at Almond Valley Heritage Centre in Livingston has its barn animals sharing their home with some rather more ghoulish figures from 19–31 Oct. While Boo at the Zoo at Calderglen Country Park in East Kilbride will teach you all about the creatures of the night on Sat 24 Oct, and Halloween Weekend at Deep Sea World, North Queensferry – featuring the impressively titled ‘Rock Pool of Doom’ – will have you shivering under the sea on Sat 31 Oct & Sun 1 Nov. Lastly, New Lanark Visitor Centre is worth a visit at any time of year, but especially when they wheel out their old fashioned toys and put on some spooky antics for their Halloween Capers event running over Sat 31 Oct & Sun 1 Nov. (Kelly Apter) ■ See Kids on page 61 for more information.
L IS FOR LIFE DRAWING Instead of sketching average Joes, at Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School the models are
burlesque divas, tattooed hunks and sideshow freaks – and you can drink and dance, as well as draw. It’s what happens when art school collides with the travelling circus and this month is a Hallowe’en special, so expect an extra helping of ghastliness. ■ Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, Sun 25 Oct, 4pm. £7 (£5). The Arches, 253 Argyle Street, Glasgow, 565 1000.
M IS FOR MOVIES Of the usual crop of October horror flicks the biggest draw
has to be Rob Zombie’s Hallowe’en II which, overlooking the muted response
from critics, offers another irrestible Michael Myers’ killing spree. Of course, it wouldn’t be Hallowe’en without
another Saw movie and Saw VI weighs in with more cruel and unusual terror traps. Elsewhere, decent scary movies are around in abundance. Jennifer’s Body – Oscar winning writer Diablo Cody’s follow-up to Juno – has a demon possessed Megan Fox chowing down on her male classmates at preview screenings on 31 Oct, while on other screens there’s haunted ship pic Triangle; spreading insanity in Pontypool; creepy sci-fi in Pandorum; vampires galore in Chan-wook ‘Oldboy’ Park’s Thirst; more bloodsuckers in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant and big budget undead comedy in Zombieland.
The GFT’s special event, ‘Night of the Zombie Hunters’ (Glasgow, 26 Oct) features George A Romero’s classics Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead introduced by actors Ken Foree (Dawn) and Joe Pilato (Day). On 31 Oct itself the GFT has Casper for the kids followed by Nosferatu for grown-ups. Micro budget UK zombie movie Colin is getting a welcome screening at Newton Stewart Cinema in Dumfries and Galloway (29 & 30 Oct).
For creatures of the night, Glasgow’s Odeon at the Quay is hosting its annual all-night horror marathon with Jennifer’s Body, Dawn of the Dead (2004), My Bloody Valentine 3D, Saw VI and one more tbc (31 Oct, from midnight). The Empire, Clydebank has its own all-night quadruple bill of Saw VI, The Exorcist, Child’s Play and Let the Right One In (31 Oct). The Cameo, Edinburgh hosts late-night screenings (30 & 31 Oct) of American Werewolf in London, with a special introduction by a ‘real’ werewolf, while the cinema’s Sunday double bill (Sun 1 Nov) goes for old school classic chills with The Raven and Targets. And watch out for late night specials of My Bloody Valentine 3D at Vue Omni and Ocean (both Edinburgh) on Fri 30 & Sat 31 Oct. (Henry Northmore)