It's Halloween! Here are plenty of ideas to get you in the mood... whether you still need a deguisement or have been stockpiling your treats and costumes since summer.
The annual Zombie Walk lumbers into town Saturday afternoon. If you want to take part, the zombies gather at Place du Canada starting at noon (treated to the sweet rockabilly sound of The Black Moon Boys ). If you just want to watch, take note that the undead get started at 3pm, when they will walk up Peel and turn left on Ste Catherine Street to Jeanne-Mance. That's where the afterparty starts, with a Japanese surfer band and psychedlelic rock music starting at 5pm.
If you want to have fun with the kids in an educational setting, check out The Great Pumpkin Ball at the Botanical Gardens, every day starting at 9am until Halloween. There are 800 decorated pumpkins on display, as well as the witch Esmeralda. A complimentary exhibit, Spiders Unmasked at the Insectarium explores spiders and their tricks for hunting and making webs.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts hosts two mystery art workshops, where kids six and up can create something spooky inspired by Halloween and the MMFA’s permanent collection! Sunday at 1 and 2.30 pm.
The Stewart Museum hosts a scavenger hunt to find out who stole the scarecrow’s pants! Kids get flashlights to explore the museum in the dark…they can make their own scarecrow and get their faces painted. Saturday and Sunday.
And the Ecomuseum in Ste Anne’s explores myths and legends of Quebec wildlife. You can also see the animals get their own treats! Dress up and you could win a family membership! Sunday.
The annual Rocky Horror Halloween Ball invites you to dress up, pack your toast and sing and scream along to the classic movie and live re-enactment. Brad and Janet are two straight-laced kids who are getting married, so they decide to seek out a blessing from a mentor... only they get lost driving one rainy night and end up in a castle full of depraved, dancing individuals. Friday, Saturday and Wednesday at Cinema l'Imperial.
If you want Rocky IRL, make sure you buy your ticket in advance for MainLine Theatre's Rocky Horror Live Show, with all the songs, sexiness and sultry good times from the movie. Stephanie McKenna returns this year as Dr Frank N Furter. There are 18 'Phantoms' who tap dance and sing throughout the show. There are apparently still tickets for the show on Halloween.
Elsewhere in the theatre world… the devils walks in Abigail/1702. In this electrifying Persephone Productions show, we follow up with an accuser from the Salem witch trails 10 years later, when her deeds catch up with her. Recent McGill grad and lead Eléonore Lamothe is electrifying.There is also Choir Boy at the Centaur, and performers use masks to bring Shakespeare's sonnets to Montreal streets. (Friday and Saturday)
And it’s the last weekend to catch the musical of Les Belles-Soeurs at Place des Arts. Michel Tremblay’s story of housewives trying to land a big prize is 50 years old this year.
The Observatoire at the top of Place Ville Marie on Saturday plays host to a Masked Ball on Saturday night on the 45th floor. The key is to look mysteriously sophisticated while relaxing in a lounge atmosphere.
If eerie fairy tales are more your stile, Montreal Improv is throwing Tales through the Mist of Time… indigenous storyteller Tedd Houseman kicks off the evening with a folktale.
And over at the Wiggle Room, my favourite burlesque haunt, there’s Edgar Allen Poe Burlesque on Friday and a Boolesque: Halloween Show, complete with ghost stories and performers Fairy Floss, Honey Lustre and Gigi Marx, on Saturday. Catch peformers like Honey Dynamite, Steve Winchester and Moonshine Sunshine.
Take a trip back to 2000 for Big Shiny Tunes 5. Seventeen different bands will play songs off the classic compilation CD, including Sour Girl (Cape Cartel on Stone Temple Pilots), Bent (Zack Bruce on Matchbox Twenty) and my fave, The Bad Touch (Bloodhound Gang as interpreted by Booster Fawn). Friday night at La Vitrola.
Oh, and totally NOT Halloween-related... there's a Cannabis Expo at Place Bonaventure. Saturday and Sunday