ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

15 Of The UK's Best Alternative Halloween Events

15 Of The UK's Best Alternative Halloween Events

15 Of The UK's Best Alternative Halloween Events
Danielle de Wolfe
16 October 2015

The only people who hate Halloween are the ones that don’t have anything organised. Sure, we wouldn’t want to go to another zombie disco either, but don’t be a grim weeper (sorry, we’re not proud of that one) and make sure you don’t miss out on a dead good time with these more creative options.  


MORE


THE 20 GREATEST HALLOWEEN SONGS

THE BEST HALLOWEEN SCENES IN FILM

HORROR MOVIE LOCATIONS ON GOOGLE MAPS

Breaking Bad Halloween: Gus Fring Funeral

WHAT: This night sounds as screwed up as Jesse. If you can get tickets, it’s worth starting your night at the ABQ RV where you can cook up your own blue ice cocktail. Then move on to Gus Fring’s funeral at the Laundry where there will be someone giving a sermon while playing unreal beats, dancer and people with half a face paying tribute to Gus. Halloween, bitch.

WHERE: Laundry, Hackney

WHEN: 30 October

HOW MUCH: £22

GET TICKETS HERE


Fright Nights at Thorpe Park

WHAT: Thorpe Park has teamed up with Lionsgate UK to turn the theme park into a bigger hellhole than when the schools are on holiday. Doors open in the dark, with horror mazes and scare zones based on The Blair Witch Project, My Bloody Valentine, The Cabin in the Woods and SAW as well as a scare maze set at an abandoned carnival on the island’s Amity Beach.

WHERE: Thorpe Park

WHEN: 23 October – 1 November

HOW MUCH: £29.99

GET TICKETS HERE

 


Lost in Space

WHAT: An immersive Halloween experience which places you on the Space Station Winterwell as one of the last humans alive. Cabin fever and a never-ending journey has driven everyone mad and now it’s essentially a floating insane asylum. Pick your character and join in in the madness which will see Norman Jay (MBE) play live.

WHERE: Loft Studios, Kensal Green

WHEN: 31 October

HOW MUCH: £27.50

GET TICKETS HERE


The Halloween Project

WHAT: Theatre company Stitch in Time brings brings together a whole host of different artists - from club night DJs to sculptors, classical actors to cabaret performers – to create an immersive event that takes up an entire building. Explore secret rooms and weird experiences. The theme is ‘The Dark, The Grotesque, and The Unexplained’, so they clearly got the Halloween memo.

WHERE: Tanner Street, Bermondsey

WHEN: 30 & 31 October

HOW MUCH: £10

GET TICKETS HERE


Gaucho Film Club: Se7en

WHAT: Playing a showing of the psychological thriller Se7en, Gaucho will take you through a gross (but tasty) culinary journey of gluttony. In the name of immersive experiences, Gaucho will be replicating scenes from the gruesome film, including serving diners spaghetti hoops from the tin and finishing the meal with a sweet and edible Gwyneth Paltrow head in a box.

WHERE: Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia

WHEN: 31 October

HOW MUCH: £55

GET TICKETS HERE


Phobophobia: The Freaks

WHAT: An adult only evening in at The London Bridge Experience and Tombs. It’s a trip through 2000 years of horrible history, but much darker than the books that share the same name. There’s a warning that you will be “harassed and held hostage”, but there are few details about what actually happens in this half an hour of hell. So it sounds like it will do a job.

WHERE: London Bridge

WHEN: 24 – 31 October

HOW MUCH: £19.20

GET TICKETS HERE


The Dumb Supper: Dinner with the Dead

WHAT: We don’t know about you but the idea of sitting in silence at a dinner table with strangers is the stuff our nightmares are made of. The tradition of the 'Dumb Supper' is an ancient custom used to honour the dead where you eat a small 3-course meal without talking, with only the sound of a live string quartet accompaniment. The courses are also eaten backwards, beginning with dessert first. Just to really screw you up, if the location doesn’t already.

WHERE: Barts Pathology Musuem, West Smithfield

WHEN: 29 October

HOW MUCH: £50

GET TICKETS HERE


Bompas And Parr’s Alcoholic Architecture

WHAT: You know the feeling of walking through a haze when you’ve had ten too many? Well, at Alcoholic Architecture you actually are walking through a haze of alcohol, breathing in spirits (the drinks, not the ghosts).  Set up in a former monastery, while you wallow in air dense with alcohol, you can also get a Skull Punch off the menu, a cocktail served in a real human skull (we’re not kidding).

WHERE: Cathedral St, Borough Market

WHEN: 19 - 30 Oct

HOW MUCH: £12.50

GET TICKETS HERE


Halloween (1977) screening at Temple Cinema

WHAT: East End Film Festival have teamed up with the Andaz hotel for a screening of Halloween in the masonic temple underneath the lobby. Expect booze, a lot of marble and the bogeyman.

WHERE: Andaz, Liverpool Street

WHEN: 27 October         

HOW MUCH: £15

GET TICKETS HERE


Dimitri From Paris In The Haunted House Of Disco

WHAT: Dimitri from Paris is kind of a big deal. Famous for his Playboy Mansion parties, the man is an authority on disco. In a secret location that will take you on a journey into the unknown (we don’t know much else), dress ‘eerie but elegantly’.

WHERE: The Liquid Room, Edinburgh

WHEN: 31 October

HOW MUCH: £17.50

GET TICKETS HERE


Haunted House of Toast

WHAT: Come back from the bread and build a haunted house, made out of toast. Yes, we’re serious. It’s sort of like building a gingerbread house at Christmas, but less orthrodox. As a team you must build a house of toast to best all other houses of toast to win prizes, whilst drinking (because otherwise it would be a bit weird, y’know) and dancing to ghost tracks.

WHERE: The Hoxton, Shoreditch

WHEN: 30 October

HOW MUCH: £8

GET TICKETS HERE


Troxy Presents Silent Screams for Halloween

WHAT: Troxy London will be hosting a pimped up screening of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) with live accompaniment from Europe’s largest and newly restored theatre pipe Wurlitzer organ. In addition, there will be recital of film theme tunes, a Stan Laurel classic short film, cocktails and pies.  

WHERE: Troxy, Stepney

WHEN: 1 November

HOW MUCH: £15

GET TICKETS HERE


Spooktoberfest

WHAT: Pissed off at the Oktoberfest cancellation last weekend? Head to the Bavarian Beerhouse to make up for lost booze and to celebrate Halloween at the same time. Expect zombie waitresses, werewolf (beer)hunters and plenty of food and drink.

WHERE: Bavarian Beerhouse, Old Street

WHEN: 28 – 31 October

HOW MUCH: £14.50

GET TICKETS HERE


Cocoon take over The Asylum

WHAT: This isn’t just any mini festival. It’s a music event in a derelict orphanage, which then became a hospital with a focus on mental health. It has all the makings for a terrible trip if you’re not careful. Booka Shade is set to perform as is Sven Vath, Popof, Dana Ruh, Einzelkind, Jemmy and Athea.

WHERE: Old Newsham Park Hospital, Liverpool

WHEN: 31 October

HOW MUCH: £35

GET TICKETS HERE


Zombie Boot Camp

WHAT: We’ve all talked a good game when it comes to apocalypse survival strategies, but this will really put it to the test. You and your team will be dropped into a dark, distorted territory to undergo military tactical training, being taught how to challenge bloodthirsty zombies by using semi-auto assault rifles, pistols, pump-action shotguns and grenades. You’ll also be taught how to conduct explosive breaching in order to enter infected-occupied buildings. After an hour of tuition, you’re left on your own with your devices. The mission is simple, do not die.


WHERE: Manchester/Birmingham

WHEN: Whenever you feel like risking your life

HOW MUCH: £95

GET TICKETS HERE