light it up!

12 sparkling holiday light shows spreading cheer to Houston

The pandemic may have nixed many holiday happenings this year. But that won't stop Houstonians from getting their spirit on with festive holiday lights. Taking in holiday lighting is a safe, socially distanced activity that's fun for whole family.

With that in mind, here are a dozen places you can check out and enjoy all the shiny, yuletide splendor:

Commercial displays

Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston
Space Center Houston is back with this festive holiday adventure. In a new outdoor path, guests will walk through a 200-foot, LED light tunnel made of more than 250,000 lights synchronized to festive holiday music. Runs through January 3. 6 pm.

Holiday at the Gardens at Moody Gardens
The beloved Festival of Lights is still a favorite annual holiday happening. This year, look for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 4D, the Arctic Slide, holiday 3D films, Star: The Dancing Tree of Light, train rides, and more. Runs through December 31. 6 pm.

The Light Park
Billed as "a very merry, drive-thru spectacular at Hurricane Harbor Splashtown," this Spring park boasts more than a million LED lights throughout its one-mile light show/musical experience. $35 per vehicle. Runs through December 31. 5:30 pm.

Merry & Bright Tour of Lights at Christine Allen Nature Park
In Montgomery, Woodforest presents these three miles of shimmering holiday displays. Guests can follow the signs for the drive-thru tour of more than 70 light displays and to “Santa’s Workshop,” where they can take holiday photos and drop off letters in Santa’s mailbox. Runs through December 31. 6 pm.

Rudolph's Lightshow
This premium holiday light experience over in Hockley, which features over 1 million lights that "dance" or are synced to holiday classics that can be heard over a specified radio station, can be enjoyed from the comfort of your own vehicle. Runs through January 3. 6:30 pm.

Sugar Land Holiday Nights at Constellation Field Stadium
The Sugar Land Skeeters will once again present this glowing spectacular. This time around, the holiday fun will be socially distanced, complete with over 3 million lights, great food, holiday vendors, a carnival, and more. Runs through January 3. 6 pm.

Texas Winter Lights at Marriott Marquis Houston
This hotel's iconic, Texas-shaped lazy river will be surrounded by one mile worth of sparkling lights, providing an interactive light experience 110-feet above street level. Light displays include the Light Up Sports Lawn, Glow Garden, Hanging Icicles, and various Instagram-worthy set ups. Runs through January 3. 5 pm.

Zoo Lights at Houston Zoo
TXU Energy presents this fun time, where guests can sip hot chocolate, stroll through a 125-foot-long, Infinity Tunnel of Light, see dragons come to life in the 4-D Enchanted Forest (presented by King & Spalding LLP), and experience “snow” in Texas. Runs through January 10. 5:30 pm.

Neighborhoods

Christmas Ranch in Cleveland
It's that time again, when this Cleveland ranch gets all splacked out for the yuletide season. And, as always, Santa is scheduled to visit Saturdays in December from 6 to 8 pm, and on Christmas Eve from 6 to 8 pm. Runs through December 31. 6 pm.

Prestonwood Forest
This neighborhood will once again throw its 43rd annual Nite of Lites celebration. Starting December 12, 785 homes will participate in friendly, holiday-spirited competition for a variety of individual and block recognition categories, which are awarded by a committee of guest judges. Runs through December 27. 6 pm.

River Oaks
The lights will be sparkling over River Oaks this holiday season. People will be able to check out all the decorated home via bus tours, carriage rides, etc. Runs through December 25 (some residents will leave decorations and lights until 1st week in January). 5:30 pm.

Woodland Heights
It's Lights in the Heights time over at this part of town, starting December 11. Among the events that'll be going on during the night (and day) in this neighborhood: family tree decorating at the Norhill Esplanade, a traditional house-decorating contest, and a neighborhood scavenger hunt. Runs through December 26. 7:30 pm.

Blast off with Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston.

Photo courtesy of Space Center Houston

Blast off with Galaxy Lights at Space Center Houston.

holidays

Movie Review

Final Destination: Bloodlines reboots cult favorite horror franchise

Photo by Eric Milner

Kaitlyn Santa Juana in Final Destination: Bloodlines.

On the surface, the Final Destination films really shouldn’t work. There is no villain other than the concept of death itself, and nearly every death that occurs is foreshadowed so heavily that it removes the normal suspense that comes in horror films. And yet the franchise was successful enough to spawn five films over 11 years in the early 2000s, and now a reboot, Final Destination: Bloodlines.

A fantastic opening sequence set in the 1960s sets both the tone and the plot of the film, in which Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) has a recurring nightmare about a disaster that her grandmother, Iris (Gabrielle Rose), helped to avert. A visit to the reclusive Iris convinces Stefani that she and her family should not exist, and that each one of them is destined to meet a grisly end in the near future.

Met with resistance from her family members, Kaitlyn is unsurprisingly proven right as the film goes along, with different people dying in a variety of bizarre ways. A visit to William Bludworth (the late Tony Todd), a mortician who’s been the one constant in the series, provides a glimmer of hope that they can cheat death. But will they figure it out before it’s too late?

Directed by Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein, and written by Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, the film does not try to reinvent the wheel for the concept. The entire point is to get as creative as possible with the death scenes, and the filmmakers take that mandate seriously, with each successive death becoming increasingly gruesome. The Rube Goldberg-like manner in which each death occurs makes the scenes come off as entertaining instead of off-putting.

The idea of Death hunting down an entire family line due to the actions of the family elder is a solid twist on the series’ central premise, and that change keeps the film from feeling repetitive. The story also introduces the possibility that the entire series is connected due to Iris’ actions, with the character possessing a scrapbook that references well-known incidents from previous films, a fun Easter egg for longtime fans.

The creativity of the kill sequences does not carry over to the overall story, though. Almost every character in the film only exists in order to meet a horrific end, so anything that they have going on outside of being stalked by Death is purely window dressing. Consequently, it’s hard to really care about anybody, even if they are all related to one another.

Because characters are so easily dispatched in the film, the cast is devoid of well-known actors. This is by far Santa Juana’s biggest role to date, and she does well enough to want to see more of her in the future. Adults like Alex Zahara and Rya Kihlstedt are character actors who bring some history with them, while the younger group is composed of people still trying to make names for themselves.

Final Destination: Bloodlines is a solid return for the franchise, even if it feels more like a one-off film rather than a justification for more stories in the future. But given how easily the concept can be adapted into new circumstances, don’t be surprised if another movie pops up in a couple of years.

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Final Destination: Bloodlines opens in theaters on May 16.

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Movie Review

Final Destination: Bloodlines reboots cult favorite horror franchise