Emerson All-In on Spirited hALLoween Season

This year, Emerson College is set to deliver a Halloween experience like no other. 

The College has put together a nine-day program spanning from October 23 through Halloween with spooky celebrations, including live music, film screenings, a drag show, tarot readings, and costume contests.

Keeping with Emerson’s proud tradition of unity and inclusivity, the week’s events, dubbed “hALLoween,” encourages students to participate in the festivities in their own unique way.

“I’ve seen firsthand how much stronger we are when we are together. Gathering in creative spaces sparks unexpected delights and discoveries, offering everyone the chance to contribute,”  said Marketing Communication affiliated faculty member and Senior Advisor to the President Sharon Topper, responsible for much of the organizing behind hALLoween.

The signature event of the celebration will be the Emerson Phantasmagorium. On Thursday, October 30, from 8:00 to 11:00 pm, the Lion’s Den and The Loft will be transformed into mystical spaces of bizarre and whimsical hALLoween fun with activities, spooky refreshments, and more.

“The Phantasmagorium is just what its name suggests: a constantly shifting mix of things seen or imagined. It is part spectacle, part surprise, and never the same moment twice. That unpredictability is what makes it so exciting,” said Topper. “There is no better holiday to represent Emerson than Halloween.”

Addy Lamaute ’28, is headlining a live-music performance at the UnCommon Stage on Saturday, October 25, 4:00 pm. Lamaute will perform a hALLoween-inspired two-hour set featuring a combination of covers and original songs, paying homage to Halloween-themed music.

“Honestly, I feel like there’s not enough Halloween music,” said Lamaute. “You have Christmas music, you have all kinds of music, you have love songs all the time, but we need more Halloween songs. We need more!”

Along with the cult classics The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Bride of Frankenstein, there will be a screening of Blood Fest , a horror-comedy directed, written, and starring School of Film, Television, and Media Arts Assistant Professor Owen Egerton. 

The movie centers around a madman’s quest to assemble the “perfect Halloween movie.”  Egerton likes that the Halloween season “provides people with…a chance to play with our feelings. A chance to experiment and have fun with the very ideas that terrorize us.”

Blood Fest will be displayed at the Bright Family Screening Room in the Paramount Theater Thursday, October 30, at 7:00 pm. The screening will be followed by a post-film discussion led by Egerton.

For a full schedule of events, visit the hALLoween at Emerson webpage.