It’s that time again for offering a nod to all things mischievous and nocturnal. Whether its ghoulish drink pop-ups and horror screenings in the bloody heart of Sacramento, or cornstalk-wandering and jump-scares in dark fields from Woodland to Plymouth, the Capital Region remains a dismembered piece of California’s rotting corps – and it still has plenty of appendages for reaching out at the sinister season.
October 27
Screening of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ at The Crest Theater – 7 p.m.
The 80s slasher extravaganza that forever-traumatized Generation X is lighting up the big screen again at the Crest Theatre just four nights before Halloween. After being burned-to-death by an avenging group of parents, child predator Freddy Krueger returns from the grave to invade the dreams of unsuspecting kids in the town of Springwood, Ohio. If filmmaker West Craven was trying to compete with John Carpenter’s Halloween series, which had started six years before, he hit a homerun with Nightmare on Elm Street, inspiring an entire franchise behind his smiling, gruesomely burned boogie man with the long-razor glove. Actor Robert Englund’s still feel joyously savage with portrayal of Krueger, making it clear why he became so foundational to every Halloween season since the Regan Administration. Nightmare on Elm Street plays at the Crest at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased here.
October 28
The Del Paso Frights Halloween party – from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Hagginwood Community Center is throwing an old-fashioned, all-ages ‘spooktacular’ gathering for the public. The action goes down a few nights before Halloween. This free event, which starts at 6 p.m., will feature indoor trick-or-treating, games, music and general spooky season revelry. Attendees are encouraged to bring their costumes, their candy buckets and their friends and family. The organizers will also be accepting sealed candy donations to help make the night even sweeter. The Hagginwood Community Center is located at 3271 Marysville Boulevard in Sacramento.
Doom Birdie Bash, a Mahaloween party, at The Jungle Bird – 4 p.m. until close
Sacramento’s popular tiki bar is ready to wake up some wrathful spirits of the rain forest with its annual Mahaloween Party. The event includes a special cocktail menu that’s inspired by Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square. Costumes are welcome at the bar. The Jungle Bird is always dark and shadowy, making it an ideal spot for relishing seasonal drinks that are grave-themed and tasty enough to lure the dead in through the front door. The Jungle Bird is located 2516 J St, Sacramento and opens at 4 p.m.
October 29
The Haunted Forest in Plymouth – Sunset to 10 p.m.
Lately, something is more twisted than the gnarled old grape vines in Plymouth – and that something is a haunted forest that’s recently risen up in the century-old mining community. Plymouth has long been a land of lost and crumbling ranches in the hills, and now its ghosts of the past have fully awakened for an immersive experience in the heart of the Gold Country. The Haunted Forest will be open for visitors on Tuesday, October 29, and will run with additional nights all the way up to Halloween events itself. Ticket prices vary and be purchased here.
October 29 thru 31
Guillermo del Toro’s new ‘Frankenstein’ film has a limited 35 mm theater run at The Tower – Varying show times
Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro, the visionary behind Pan’s Labyrinth and The Weight of Water, has finally fulfilled a long-time dream of bringing his style of surrealist beauty to his favorite story, Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” Originally published in 1818, Shelley’s tale of an ambitious but reckless scientist creating a technology, and an accompanying life form, that is beyond his control, has only got more popular, relevant and chilling with every succeeding generation. While groundbreaking filmmaker James Whale created an iconic but very different version of the yarn’s monster in his 1931 classic Frankenstein, current critics say that del Toro has steered closer to Shelley’s original themes, illuminating a story of egotism and childhood abandonment that proves fatal to both a creator and his tragic creation. Tickets can be purchased here.
Corn maze at Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm – 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Featuring both a two-acre corn maze and seven-acre corn maze, Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm in Wheatland has an array of twisting turns to get lost in. This is a family-friend Halloween attraction, with the smaller maze especially appropriate for younger children to venture through. The mazes are positioned near a sprawling pumpkin patch that’s evocative of the Halloween season, especially when sun sets on the surrounding fields. The farm sells tickets for the mazes, with the proceeds helping local charities. For more information, visit here. Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm is located at 1415 Pumpkin Lane in Wheatland.
Screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ at Sacramento’s historic Tower Theatre – 7 p.m.
Alfred Hitchcock’s groundbreaking horror masterpiece Psycho, written by Joseph Stefano – and starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh – will play Halloween night inside a lauded theater whose marquee was lit back when the film first premiered. The high-mark of Hitchcock’s later career, Psycho is the story of a frustrated secretary who steals a large sum of money in a moment of weakness. On the run in the dusty valleys of California, she takes refuge at an aging, roadside motel, where her hosts are a lonely young man and his shadowy, malevolent mother. Tickets can be purchased here. The Tower Theatre 2508 Land Park Drive off Broadway in Sacramento.
