CALL it what you will: Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Hallowtide, All Saints Eve, Samhain, Nos Calan Gaeaf, Oiche Shamhna, Eallra H?lgena aefen, Eggy House Night, the last night in October and the dawn of November has taken on a more recognised position in our calendars in recent years.
This is a late night sit-down-but-dance-on-the-tables event, and as they say... 'NO F**KIN FAIRY WINGS'.
Why? Well, as with many things, it's mostly the fault of The Simpsons, but cultural Americanisation should not shoulder all of the blame, the very origins of Halloween date back to an ancient pagan festival celebrated on these isles over 2000 years ago.
And as with St Patrick's Day and Valentine's Day, our desire to wear something we usually wouldn't, drop some dough and get loaded knows no bounds.
So sod it, why not eh? And let's be honest, it can't be any worse than New Years Eve...
THE MESSY ONE @ Almost Famous
With an invitation beginning 'WE F**KING LOVE HALLOWEEN', you might guess the Almost Famous lot get a bit giddy around this time - must be all that Americana. The Great Northern burger pushers are promising 'a most memorable evening' with a killer fancy dress party, more killer cocktails, a knuckle-full of surprises and 'wonder burgers' to make you dribble and squeal.
This is a late night sit-down-but-dance-on-the-tables event, and as they say... 'NO F**KIN FAIRY WINGS'.
Heaps of food, drink and rascallery for £27.50 | Tickets can be bought from the bar at Great Northern | Fri 31 Oct | More here
AF's Halloween Texas Massacre burger
THE ONE ON TOUR @ Coronation Street
If you've been a fan of Coronation Street for the last decade or so, you'll know that character Richard Charles Hillman is just about the biggest bastard to have ever walked the cobbles. Even worse than Terry Duckworth... and he sold his own son. Well, the savvy folk down at the Coronation Street tour on Atherton Street have decided to bring the street's most notorious killer back from the dead for Halloween night, where he'll be lurking around, spooking visitors and telling tales of his rampage. Terry won't be there.
Trick or Treat on Coronation Street tickets are the standard tour price of £16.95 (adult) | Evening tours from 6pm on Fri 31 Oct | Buy here
Hillman was bobbins at Rock, Paper, Scissors
THE BOWLING ONE @ All Star Lanes
It's well documented that during Samhain - the precursor to Halloween - the pagan Celts believed the souls of the dead would return to their homes to visit the living and have a game of bowling. If the living wouldn't let the souls of the dead in to bowl, the souls of the dead would chuck their bowling balls through the front window in a huff. Later the dead became children dressed as the dead, and the bowling balls became bad eggs and rotten tomatoes. Anyway, returning to this tradition All Star Lanes down at the Great Northern Warehouse are throwing a FREE Halloween bowling bash with DJs, smoking cocktails, fire eating, apple bobbing and the chance to win FREE bowling for life for the 'best costume of the night'. Winning idea below...
All Star Lanes Monster Mash is FREE entry all night | Fri 31 Oct | To book bowling or dining call 0161 871 3600 | More here
THE MOVIE ONE @ MOSI and Gorilla
Halloween and movies go together like bottoms and sofas - that's why there's been 473 Halloween films
So cult-horror-sci-fi dork collective, Grimm Up North, are staging a mini sci-fi/horror film festival at the MOSI this Halloween week by screening six films by three of the genre's most masterful directors: Terry Gilliam, Paul Verhoeven and Ridley Scott. On Weds 29 Oct catch Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and Brazil, on Thurs 30 Oct see Verhoeven's Total Recall and Starship Troopers, and finally for Halloween night on Fri 31 Oct you can take in Scott's Alien and Prometheus.
There'll also be another double-header screening on Fri 31 Oct at Gorilla with Halloween favourites Beetlejuice and Hocus Pocus.
Tickets for MOSI screenings are £12.50, £8 for Gorilla | Fri 31 Oct | 6.30pm | MOSI and Gorilla | Buy here
It was probably time to get that mole checked
THE MURDER MYSTERY ONE @ Manchester235
Nothing stirs up an appetite quite like brutal murder (ask Dr Lecter), so Manchester235 have teamed up with the After Dark caberet company and a number of actors to stage a special Halloween murder mystery three-course dinner from James Martin Manchester in the private events suite on the night of Fri 31 Oct. Four Funerals and a Wedding will see an ill-starred bride attempt to save her remaining wedding guests (that's you) by sniffing out Professor Plum and his devastating pipe, or something like that.
Tickets are £45 person inc. welcome drinks at 7pm, a three-course 'dinner to die for' at 8pm and entertainment | Fri 31 Oct | Food by James Martin Manchester | More here
"And this is my scary claw... grrrr"
