LINDSAY COSTELLO: What're you up to this Halloweekend?

NOLAN PARKER: Idk yet, there's so much on! Papi's got a Día de los Muertos gig on in NE and Nonbinary GF are headlining a medieval punk show at High Limit Room. She/her about town, Jenna Fletcher is also chirping about a queer dance party at White Owl, there's so much! What've you got on the docket?

LINDSAY COSTELLO: Heard! The comix lovers are checking out this public access TV program, Galaxy Gateway, at Secret Room, too. I'll probably be posted up in a movie theater, though—Frankenstein screens in 35mm at Hollywood this weekend, and Hausu at Tomorrow Theater is too freaky to pass up.

Thursday, October 30

Hear You Loud & Queer Halloween Comedy Show

For fans of dark humor, niche costumes, not being scared

Get ready for a raucous, fun-filled night of queer laughs with a special Halloween edition of the very funny regular comedy night, Hear You Loud & Queer! Hosted by Mack Lee (co-host of Queer AF and the comedy dating show, Heart Throb) and Ally J Ward (a former Mercury Genius of Comedy, and Willamette Week’s funniest person 2025), not only will the show feature laughs from the spooky-comedic Jane Dillinger and Moisés Araguaney, but you’ll also enjoy their special headliner from Chicago, Gwen Rose, who has been honored with a “comedian to watch” designation from Time Out, and was featured at the Columbus Comedy Festival. Oh, and if you attend in costume (and are especially fabulous), you might even win a prize! (Show Bar at Revolution Hall, 7 pm, more info, 21+) WM. STEVEN HUMPHREY

Beyond The Dark: A Séance Party with E.R. Perkins

For fans of ectoplasm, Victorian ghosts, Hammer horror

If you’re a fan of funny and spooky, then don’t miss the latest installment of E.R. Perkins’ increasingly wild and eerie séance parties, starring the very talented Loren Hoskins. Perkins is your tour guide into the history of séances and haunted artifacts, trust me when I say that things will get CREEPY and WEIRD. Partially an exposé of spiritualism, partially a love letter to the dark arts—you will laugh, be amazed, and (if you’re anything like me during one past performance) uncontrollably blurt out “Holy SHIT” at least once. If you’re looking for a funny, smart, and occasionally astonishing Halloween event, this is the party you won’t want to miss. (Siren Theater, 8 pm, SOLD OUT, more info, all ages) WSH

Galaxy Gateway Public Access TV Show

For fans of UFOs, PBS, DIY

This All Hallow's Eve eve, Secret Room does what it tends to do best: make things a little weirder and more risographed. They'll host a "live taping" of astral public access show Galaxy Gateway, a trippy Halloween program of claymation, comix readings of the "bizarre" and "weirdo" varieties, and unrevealed explorations. (Secret Room promises that a special guest will "join us from the crypt," too... I'm on board, I think?) Seven comic artists are set to share work—don't miss Grayson Bear's chic new pencil drawings in their just-released book Word from the Bird, or the poetic, dreamy illustrations by World Egg Press cofounder Phoebe Mol. (Secret Room, 7 pm, more info, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO

Also worth it:

4Keeps ft. Mads, KyleDJ, Soft Shoulder, Speck, Kenton Club, more info

Sleater-Kinney / Fred Armisen Ramones cover band The Moans, Bunk Bar, more info

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Experience Theatre (Aloha), more info

BloodyVox, BodyVox Dance Center, more info

Friday, October 31 

Cinema of Horrors Drive-In

For fans of classic slashers, retro charm, actually being scared

When I'm in the driver's seat of my 30-year-old Volvo, I am rarely frightened. But I am not often parked at the Clark County Fairgrounds, surrounded by strobe lights and actors actively trying to freak me out. Cinema of Horrors Drive-In offers such an opportunity. All month, they're screening horror blockbusters with in-car audio while something sinister lurks just beyond attendees' windshields. It's kind of like a haunted house, if you just sat in a haunted house for two hours with snacks and waited for something scary to happen to you. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) screens on Halloween, which 1. makes sense, and 2. promises a killer modular synth soundtrack to supplement your screams. (Clark County Fairgrounds, 7 pm, more info, R) LC

Upon This Blasted Heath: A One-Hour Macbeth

For fans of drama, witchcraft, 11th-century Scottish royalty

"Something wicked this way comes" feels like Portland's tagline lately, which means Macbeth—Shakespeare's gore-flecked, eldritch tragedy—is bound to feel kinda cathartic. The play will cast a weird spell on Director Park this Halloween. Speculative Drama's fifth annual adaptation explores the work "from the perspective of Macbeth reliving the events leading up to his bloody and merciless reign, descent into madness, and death." The free hour-long show is staged in short, macabre vignettes, perf for those with other evening plans. You'll even leave with a cute little trick-or-treat bag. (Director Park, 5 pm, more info, all ages) LC

Hausu

For fans of Scooby-Doo (2002), camp, heroic doses of psychedelics

As one of cinema’s most off-kilter pop artists, Nobuhiko Obayashi blends kitsch, teeny-bopper hyperbole with gonzo special effects. His green screen use stays playful and unpolished; his visuals feels as though dreamt up by his teen characters themselves. Hausu (1977) is Obayashi's most famous entry, a hallucinatory (and Halloweeny) love letter to floating heads and carnivorous pianos. When a chic squad of teenage girls with names like "Gorgeous" and "Fantasy" drop by a cobwebbed country manor, they discover that evil spirits have overtaken the house. (This is why we don't travel to cobwebby country manors, people!!) Vital to the ensuing antics is the film's unsung hero, a big-ass fluffy house cat named Blanche. (PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater, 7 pm, more info, not rated) LC

Global Based Halloween: Rixxia / Sanro b2b Emoji Heap / Frog & Toad / Peligrosa / Patrona

For fans of Six Sex, MJ Nebreda, La Goony Chonga 

The heads behind Portland’s Global Based have been bringing the cream of reggaeton, cumbia, and other Latin dance music styles to the Rose City for 11 years now, and let us pray they never stop. So many artists, DJs, and producers would have never played Portland if not for the GB crew, Rixxia included—THIS IS HER FIRST US APPEARANCE. One of the most sonically captivating artists in club music, Mexico’s Rixxia blurs the lines between rave, hyperpop, and reggaeton to the effect of uniting blissed out Gen Zers and Millennials on the dancefloor. Location sent to ticket holders day of show. (Location TBA, 9 pm, more info, 21+) NOLAN PARKER

Also worth it:

Queer Horror: The Ring, Hollywood Theatre, more info

Volume Bomb cover band show, Hallowed Halls, more info

Water From Your Eyes / Dutch Interior, Mississippi Studios, more info

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, Cravin' Gravy Social Club, more info

Saturday, November 1

The Blumenauer Bridge Witching Hour Celebration

For fans of Sauvie Island pumpkin patches, cider doughnuts, alternative forms of transportation

For this Halloween and Día de los Muertos festival, the witching hour will take place in the afternoon rather than the middle of the night. Come in costume for pumpkin decorating stations, bike-decorating competitions, interactive educational booths, street games, live music and DJs, and costume contests. (Maybe take a leaf out of former US Representative Blumenauer's book and don your snappiest bowtie!) Biking and other modes of car-free transportation are encouraged as the event is being staged as a pilot for a car-free "Green Loop." (Blumenauer Bridge, 2 pm, more info, all ages) JW

Día de los Muertos ft. Orquestra Pacífico Tropical / Caiman / Lapaushi / Espina Letal

For fans of Dreckig, Boink, Homie Fest

I’m gonna say it’s next to impossible to talk about Portland music and not mention Papi Fimbres. He’s been on the scene in so many capacities for so many years, it’s not a hot take at all to say Portland music would not be nearly as powerful or diverse without him. Orquestra Pacífico Tropical—one of Fimbres’ many crucial bands—is headlining this all-Brown Día de los Muertos celebration in an unusual location, The Village Ballroom. Backing up the cumbia of OPT is half-man, half-alligator Caiman; one of Portland’s deepest cutters, Lapaushi; and Espina Letal, AKA one half of industril goth-rockers Puerta Negra. There will be an ofrenda (alter) going all night, bring pictures of passed loved ones and hold space in community. (Village Ballroom, 8 pm, more info, 21+) NP

Medieval Halloween: Nonbinary Girlfriend / Pileup / Femme Cell / Simple Shapes

For fans of PJ Harvey, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, spooky ren faires but punk style

Reimagining history through contemporary frameworks is a powerful tool in conceptualizing how things can and should be in the present and future. On that note, more gay ass medieval-themed parties please! Nonbinary Girlfriend lead they/them James is known to don chainmail (what’s the gender-expansive term for chainmail?) while fronting the angry indie outfit on stage—this is our chance to join in on the fun. Get out your dirndl and dust off your battle helm, this is a medieval costume concert of the highest order. The lineup is stacked to include opening acts Pileup, Femme Cell, and Simple Shapes, all of whom are Portland underground supreme. (High Limit Room, 7 pm, more info, all ages) NP

Related: Print out and color your own medieval Nonbinary Girlfriend! 

Judy On Duty

I’m no haunted house expert, but I feel confident saying that Judy on Duty’s annual Halloween party has the best fright-per-dollar value you’ll find all weekend: Expect to see clowns (your worst ex), ghosts (a Tinder match who disappeared mid-flirt), and vampires (someone you went on a single date with who spent half the conversation trauma-dumping about their last relationship). What could be more bone-chilling? On the flip side, it’s the perfect opportunity to strut your sluttiest little outfit alongside other queers on the freakiest, flaggiest night of the year. And if you’re lucky, while you’re shaking ass to Ariel Zatina (flown in from Chicago!), you might just spot a hottie in the crowd dressed as your favorite obscure, gay, chronically online meme and get them to come back to your dungeon—errr, house—with you. Good luck out there! (White Owl Social Club, 9 pm, more info, 21+) JENNA FLETCHER

Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin

For fans of Octavia Butler, N.K. Jemisin, science fiction with a message

One of Oregon’s most cherished authors, Ursula K. Le Guin created boundless worlds of science fiction and fantasy teeming with diverse themes, all while challenging stereotypes as a femme voice in a masc-dominated industry. This 2018 documentary explores the author’s personal and professional spheres, produced with Le Guin's participation over the course of a decade. The screening will be followed by a discussion with director Arwen Curry and Katherine Murphy Lewis, artistic director of the arts nonprofit From the Ground UP. The film screens in tandem with the opening of A Larger Reality, a multimedia exhibit chronicling Le Guin’s prolific legacy. (PAM CUT's Tomorrow Theater, 7 pm, more info, not rated) BB

Also worth it:

Volume Bomb cover band show, Kenton Club, more info

Shintaro Sakamoto Band, Aladdin Theater, more info

Dancing on the Sabbath, Shaking the Tree Theatre, more info

Day of the Dead Mall queer shadow puppetry, Lloyd Center, more info

Sunday, November 2

!Alebrijes!, a Día de Muertos Tale

For fans of mythical creatures, Mexican surrealism, colorful craft practices

Milagro Theatre demonstrates art’s capacity to transcend mortality in this oddball comedy about a young man learning lessons on life, death, and gambling with the devil. The play tells the origin story of alebrijes, brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical creatures that have gained popularity over the last century. Milagro describes the production as “set in present-day San Luis Potosí, in [1936] Xochimilco, and in an afterlife that looks like a psychedelic Oaxacan jungle.” What a radiant ride! (Milagro Theatre, 2 pm, more info, all ages) BB

Frankenstein in 35mm

For fans of Boris Karloff, Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Crimson Peak (2015)

Lauded dark fantasy director Guillermo del Toro has given us groundbreaking original films such as Pan’s Labyrinth and Crimson Peak, but he’s had his eye on adapting Frankenstein for nearly 20 years. He has assembled a star-studded cast for the project, enlisting Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi, and Mia Goth to reinterpret Mary Shelley's classic work. I’m looking forward to Elordi’s humanizing performance as the Creature and Issac’s bonkers representation of the obsessive and egotistical Dr. Frankenstein, as well as seeing how the height difference between the two actors plays out. It’s the kind of gothic romanticism we need during this Halloween season, and as with all del Toro flicks, it should be a staggering visual ride. Del Toro will visit Portland next month for a screening of the film at PAM CUT’s Tomorrow Theater, but unsurprisingly, tickets sold out quicker than a life-giving lightning strike! (Hollywood Theatre, 6 pm, SOLD OUT, more info, R) BB

Witch

For fans of Faustian bargains, Robert Eggers, The Crucible

There is no time for doubt during Jen Silverman’s Witch. When the Devil appears, one must accept that he is real and be ready to bargain—because your future is at stake and you might not get another chance. The playwright’s inventive rework of a classic 17th-century English drama taps into the urgency of the moment we find ourselves in America, not with obvious stand-ins for contemporary political figures or events, but with the universal struggle people feel for hope in dark times. Read our full review here. (Ellyn Bye Studio at the Armory, 2 pm, more info, all ages) TJ ACENA

Looking for even more events happening this Halloweekend? Head on over to EverOut.