It’s autumn and that officially means it’s spooky season in Manchester. There’ll be parties a-plenty the weekend before Halloween. But many enjoy dedicating the whole month of October to indulging in the macabre and attending hair-raising events. Here’s three of the best happening in Manchester in the coming month.

Grimmfest 2022

October 6th-9th
Manchester Odeon

Grimmfest 2022

Tickets at: https://grimmfest.com/festival/

Manchester’s finest and coolest festival of horror film is back! With 23 screenings across four days, there really is no better way to immerse yourself in gothic gore this October. Truly international in scope, the festival kicks-off with an exclusive UK screening of Martin Owen’s The Loneliest Boy in the World, with a final night screening of Lee Thongkham’s The Lake completing the programme. The Lake is a creature feature extravaganza that combines awesome physical effects work with state of the art VFX. There are so many highlights in the programme that it’s hard to pick out just a few. That said, Michel Hazanavicius’s Final Cut and Ryan Stevens Harris’s steampunk gothic fairy tale Moon Garden are certainly not to be missed. The amazing schedule can be found in full on Grimmfest’s website. See you there!

Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, by M R James

October 22nd and 23rd
The Chapeltown Picture House

Ghost Stories of Antiquary

Tickets at: https://gsamanchester.eventbrite.co.uk

Mancunians have a rare chance to enter the world of master Edwardian ghost story writer M R James in an extraordinary one-man show that’s coming soon to The Chapletown Picture House. For the last 15 years, performance storyteller Robert Lloyd Parry has been travelling the earth enacting the ‘M R James Project,’ a series of six critically acclaimed one-man shows based upon James’s tales. Now for the first time he will perform the whole of James’s most renowned collection Ghost Stories of an Antiquary, by candlelight, over two nights at The Chapeltown. "M R James dedicated his stories to 'those who have at various times listened to them,’” explains Lloyd Parry, “and I try to evoke the tone and atmosphere of his original performances.” Ghost story lovers should book now as tickets will sell out fast.

For more info visit www.nunkie.co.uk.

Jon Ajvide Lindqvist’s Let the Right One In

Let the right one in ad

October 22nd to November 19
Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre

Tickets: https://www.royalexchange.co.uk/whats-on-and-tickets/let-the-right-one-in-2022

Adapted by Jack Thorne and directed by Bryony Shanahan, this reimagining of Jon Ajvide Lindqvist’s now classic (and horrifying) vampire novel Let the Right One In is set to be a powerful and unmissable theatrical event. Gothic aficionados across the North West are intrigued to see how this chilling and troubling tale will be adapted to the Royal Exchange’s stage after Thorne’s play debuted in Dundee almost a decade ago. We are certainly in safe hands. Bryony Shanahan brings together a cast of nine renowned actors, including Pete MacHale as Oskar and Rhian Blundell as Eli, both of whom make their Royal Exchange debuts. Jack Thorne is one of the UK’s finest playwrights and screenwriters. Most famously, he wrote the stage play for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. He has won five BAFTAS and recent television work includes writing for the BBC production of His Dark Materials. Lindqvist’s novel is challenging and dark; Thorne and Shanahan’s dramatic adaptation is likely to be the same. Not one for the faint-hearted.