Southend is all set to go Halloween crazy, so do join The White Bus as they link up with their friends at the Pier, the Cliffs Pavilion and the Park Inn Palace Hotel and celebrate this very special time of the year in suitably spooky style.
Saturdays 20th October, 27th October and 3rd November:
There’s plenty of ghoulish fun to be had on the Pier, with a ride on the Children’s Ghost Train, with spooky stories, ghoulish fancy dress and a fantastic fireworks display.
£4 children/£6 adults.
Tickets from www.visitsouthend.co.uk or the Pier Visitor Information Centre.
Friday 28th October:
In the fabulously outrageous Humanoids from the Deep something is happening in the sleepy fishing village of Noyo. Fishlike humanoid creatures, spawned by mutant DNA, begin rising from the ocean looking to mate with the local women. Scientist Susan Drake (Ann Turkel) along with fisherman Jim Hill (Doug McClure, The Land that Time Forgot) investigate - but suddenly some distinctly unfriendly 'guests' crash the Salmon Festival celebrations! Classic schlock horror from 1980.
'18' certificate / Pier Cultural Centre / 7.30pm / £8, including pier train fare.
Tickets from www.visitsouthend.co.uk or the Pier Visitor Information Centre.
Friday 2nd November:
What better way to prepare for tomorrow's Zombie
Walk than with the zombie epic to end all zombie epics! As a blend of horror, action, tension and very black humour, George A. Romero's original Dawn of the Dead stands in a class of its own. Two SWAT officers, a helicopter pilot and his girlfriend escape the city and take refuge in an abandoned shopping mall, securing it following a series of flesh-shredding confrontations with the undead. But their survival is threatened when a band of looters inadvertently allow the zombies to get in, and a final stand-off must be fought out.
'18' certificate / Pier Cultural Centre / 7.30pm / £8, including pier train fare.
Tickets from www.visitsouthend.co.uk or the Pier Visitor Information Centre. Come along dressed as a zombie and get free admission after the screening, at the dead of night, to the Zombie Prom at the Cliffs Pavilion!
Friday 2nd November:
The Maritime Room at the Cliffs Pavilion will be jumping (or, more likely, shuffling!) to the beat of The Zombie Prom at the ‘Dance of the Living Dead’, where the dead have risen and are ready to dance! Dress to kill and join the party at the Prom that never ended! The best costume will win £50 in vouchers. Starts 8.00pm; bar closes at 2.00am.
Tickets are £5, available from the Cliffs Pavilion box office or on the door - but entrance is free if you attend the screening of Dawn of the Dead on the Pier beforehand (and collect your free ticket from the Pier Visitor Information Centre).
Saturday 3rd November:
In conjunction with the Children’s Ghost Train on the Pier, we present our first ever Zombie Walk! Open to all, so come along, get made up in your 'best' zombie style and stagger all the way back along the pier, up Pier Hill and into the Park Inn Palace Hotel for a screening of the hilariously scary (but youngster friendly) Carry On Screaming!
The Pier Cultural Centre will be open from midday. There are no private changing facilities and you'll have to apply your own make-up, though your fellow zombies will surely lend a hand!
The Walk will start at 3pm, with Carry on Screaming showing at 5pm. There's no charge and no need to register - just come along. There's no age restriction and participants get free outward travel on the pier train. There is a cafe in the Cultural Centre for all you ravenous zombies!
Sunday 4th November:
To complement the previous day's Zombie Walk, the Halloween matinee is Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein. In this wonderful comedy from 1948, comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello clash with iconic monsters in the form of the Frankenstein monster, the Wolfman and Count Dracula. Also starring Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr.
PG certificate
Matinee show at 4pm. Park Inn Palace Hotel.
All tickets £6.00, available in advance from ww.visitsouthend.co.uk or the Pier Visitor Information Centre, or from the Film Desk in the hotel on the day
Sunday 4th November:
Their evening Halloween treat is the new version of The Woman in Black, which stars Daniel Radcliffe ('Harry Potter') as a young lawyer who travels to a remote village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
12 certificate
7.30pm. Park Inn Palace Hotel.
All tickets £6.00, available in advance from ww.visitsouthend.co.uk or the Pier Visitor Information Centre, or from the Film Desk in the hotel on the day
Hopefully all this Halloween horror will get you in the mood for the town’s first ever horror film festival. Three days of screenings, guest interviews and much more will be taking place at the Park Inn Palace Hotel from Friday to Sunday 18th to 20th January 2013. The programme details and ticket prices will be launched at the Zombie Walk, or check their website - www.horror-on-sea.com
