If the veil truly is thinning for All Hallow’s Eve, this week’s events make a lot of sense. Magic is happening in the form of She’s Green’s shoegaze set, which Mercury music editor Starly Lou Riggs describes as a “nature-inspired wall of twinkly sound.” Church of Film has curated a bewitching screening of early horror films, Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery will offer historical (and, almost certainly, a bit creepy) tours on Halloween afternoon, and Jim Nollman shows up at Hollywood Theatre to chat about interspecies communication. Plus, the Mercury is hosting a hot and bothered Halloween dance party.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 26
She’s Green, Witches Exist, Starling
The High Limit Room is known to host a wide variety of heavy-hitting bookings, and this evening’s no exception. With LA-based grunge outfit Starling, Austin-based indie rockers Witches Exist, and Minneapolis-based dreamers She’s Green, the result will be downright gazey from the shoes to the stars. She’s Green (often stylized all lowercase i.e. she’s green) is a nature-inspired wall of twinkly sound, both reminiscent of classic shoegaze and somehow entirely refreshing and ethereal. Whether you like the classic drive of My Bloody Valentine or the more lilting contemporary dreamgaze of bands like Wisp or Winter, this show is sure to be sonically stellar all the way around. (High Limit Room, 720 SE Hawthorne, 7 pm, $15, more info, all ages) STARLY LOU RIGGS
Also worth it:
Altares y Muertos Public Art Exhibition, various locations, more info
One component of Milagro’s Día de Muertos Festival brings altar installations to spots throughout the Central Eastside, including Nossa Familia Coffee, Bar Botellón, and Cargo, among other places. Drop by to buy local and view the altars during business hours.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27
Ghostly Encounters: Open Mic
Come in out of the chill for this ghost story open mic at Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe. Sure, the idea of an open mic sounds hair-raising by itself, but this event lasts only an hour, so storytellers must keep their yarns to five minutes or less! The call is for ghastly tales that are true—”or at least, true to you,” and performer order shall be determined by the occult practice of pulling names from a hat. (Literary Arts Bookstore, 716 SE Grand, 6:30-7:30 pm, FREE, more info, all ages ready for a ghost story) SUZETTE SMITH
Also worth it:
When Evil Lurks, Cinemagic, more info
This Argentinian horror is mean and relentless, with a particular interest in finding new, disturbing ways for a demonic invasion to go very wrong. The real freaks (fans of New French Extremity or The Sadness) can stomach it.
Mandy, Clinton Street Theater, more info
Equal parts horror and action, screenings of this hallucinatory revenge movie featuring Nic Cage sell out at the Clinton Street Theater every year.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28
Church of Film—The Birth of Horror: A Scary Collection of Early Film Horror
Those in search of especially strange horror films should get caught in the claws of Church of Film. Around Halloweens prior, the cinema series has screened a bizarre Egyptian version of Rocky Horror, the Japanese bake-neko mono (“ghost cat”) film The Ghost Cat and The Mysterious Shamisen, and Viy, purported to be the first horror film ever made in the Soviet Union. It tracks that they’d have a “global survey” of scary, under-the-radar film planned for this compilation screening, including the “first screen conception” of Frankenstein. Synth-heavy Seattle project Hexafoils brings an original soundtrack. (Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton, 7 pm, $10, more info, probably not for young kids) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Also worth it:
Mall Rats, Hollywood Theatre, more info
Come a little early to Wednesday’s 35mm screening of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead (2004), and you’ll find Mall Rats art market—named for its previous incarnations in Lloyd CenterMall—popping up in both the theater’s first and second floor lobbies.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29
Protomartyr
This Detroit post-punk outfit may be best known for a couple of tracks on their 2015 album The Agent Intellect—“The Devil In His Youth,” which works oddly well as an allegory for the privilege and entitlement that gives us monsters like Trump, and “Pontiac 87,” which recalls frontman Joe Casey’s experience watching the Pope’s mass at the Pontiac Silverdome, delivered over a bouncy guitar hook. But the band just released their seventh album, Hotel Usona, at the end of September, and some of those songs are sure to become Protomartyr classics. Check out the video for “Sounds We Cannot Hear” for a delightful storyline centered around Benihana flying shrimp. (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie, 8 pm, $40.29, more info, all ages) KATHERINE CHEW HAMILTON
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30
Vampyr
Allan Gray (Nicolas de Gunzburg), an occult-obsessed dreamer, finds lodging at a secluded French inn. That night, a stranger leaves a mysterious package in his room, then retreats to a nearby manor. What follows in Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr (1932) elicits terror largely through images. Shot through a scrim of gauze, Vampyr feels labyrinthine and deliberately disorienting, like sleepwalking through a soft-focus ghost world. This screening will be live scored by Philly-based artist-producer Kraftwitch. Vampyr ends with a surprisingly gruesome and original death; how will Kraftwitch interpret it through sound? Read more in Second Run Portland. (Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division, Fri Oct 30, 7 pm, $15, more info, not rated) LC
Bound Dyke Dance, Aalto Lounge, more info
The Wachowskis’ debut feature film Bound (1996) turned on a generation of queers to the idea that workwear can be a sensual fashion choice. Bound Duke Dance invites those—costumed or otherwise—in fitted tank tops, slinky slip dresses, and general goth attire to get hot in a stifling atmosphere of pure lust to darkwave, new wave, and electronic vibes on the dance floor.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31
Death at Dusk Cemetery Tour
Friends of Lone Fir Cemetery offers tours throughout most of the year, but tickets to the Halloween afternoon tours are particularly coveted. These hour-long tours feature true tales about Portland founders, pioneers, and famous/infamous residents, allowing the stories to speak for themselves without actors or dramatization. (A tip for Halloween early birds: These afternoon tours are a way to say you got out of the house for the holiday, with plenty of time afterward for watching scary movies at home.) (Lone Fir Cemetery, 649 SE 26th, 3-6 pm, $25, more info, all ages) KCH
Upon This Blasted Heath: A One-Hour Macbeth
Something wicked this way comes, again. Macbeth, Shakespeare’s gore-flecked, eldritch tragedy of witches, paranoia, and civil war, will cast an eerie spell on the “blasted heath” of Director Park for Halloween. Speculative Drama’s annual adaptation of the play explores the work through a free, hour-long show staged in short, macabre vignettes—perfect for the antsiest among us. You’ll even leave with a trick-or-treat bag. (Director Park, 815 SW Park, 5:30 pm, FREE, more info, probably not for young kids) LC
The Portland Mercury’s Scream Queen Halloween Dance Party
Get ready for a night of thrills and chills with the Mercury’s Scream Queen Halloween dance party and costume contest! When the trick or treating ends, stay up late with the Mercury and friends, and dance ’til you drop at our after-party with DJ Residual Sugar spinning tunes guaranteed to raise (and shake) the dead! While you’re there, don’t miss your chance to reign supreme as the Mercury’s Scream Queen costume contest winner. The most creative, spine-tingling costume will not only win bragging rights in this realm and beyond, you could also take home $100 gift cards from some of our favorite Portland hotspots. But wait! There will also be flash tattoos, creatively concocted cocktails, and a photo booth to commemorate your hot ‘n’ scary outfit for all of eternity. Don’t miss the most petrifyingly fun night of the year! (Alberta Abbey, 126 NE Alberta, 10 pm, $15-$20, more info, 21+) MERCURY STAFF
Also worth it:
House (Hausu), Tomorrow Theater, more info
Nobuhiko Obayashi’s most famous film blends kitsch and teeny-bopper hyperbole with playfully unpolished green screen. Heads roll, pianos turn carnivorous, and Blanche, a gargantuan house cat, yowls in discontent.
One Free Refill: The Improvised Horror Movie, Kickstand Comedy, more info
When it comes to B-rated horror movie plots, you may as well be watching improv. That’s the idea behind this “double feature” show where two movie-focused improv troupes take tropes from the audience to fill in a horrifying comedy skit, on the spot.
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1
Marsha Blovotnik and the Marvelous Magical Chicken Soup
Artists Repertory Theatre has labeled their 44th season “Comedies for a World on Fire,” and this spitfire of a script by Daniel Kitrosser starts out agitated. Lefty Jewish lesbian Marsha Blovotnik (Maria Porter) is furious at her freeloading sister Janice (Robin McAlpine), and that’s barely the beginning. (I bet you $10 it’s family trauma.) We all love a Jewish comedy about biting families gathering around a meal to beat around the bush. If you like shouting and soup, grab a seat. (Artists Repertory Theatre, 1511 SW Morrison, $65 w/ Arts for All tickets and age tiers available, more info, all ages) SS
Interspecies Communication with Jim Nollman and Rankin Renwick
Mississippi Records never misses, but this evening—presented in collaboration with local artist/filmmaker Rankin Renwick—will probably serve up something you’ve never heard before. The star of the show is Jim Nollman, an avant-garde composer-artist whose naturalist practice involves an obsession with interspecies communication. Renwick, whose art incorporates wolves, jellyfish, and Vaux’s swifts, will chat with Nollman about his interactions with sea life. The Hollywood will also screen two of Renwick’s films—one of which features a Marisa Anderson score—and offer some Pauline Oliveros-esque “deep listening” to Nollman’s hydrophone tracks off his new album Orcas’ Greatest Hits. Did you catch all that? No need. Just show up prepared for consciousness-expanding. (Hollywood Theatre, 4122 NE Sandy, 7 pm, $15, more info, not rated) LC
Looking for even more events happening this week? Head on over to EverOut!
