weekend event planner

Here are the top 14 things to do in Houston this weekend

Opa! The Original Greek Festival returns this weekend.

Photo courtesy of St. Basil the Great Christian Orthodox Church

Fall is here, and that means festivals (Greek Fest), fashion (Fashion X), and...depressed cakes (?). We're curious about that last one too. Look forward to a weekend packed with fun, can't-miss events.

Thursday, October 4

Eat and be merry at the 52nd Houston Original Greek Festival
The Original Greek Festival, held at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral has been around for 52 years, hipping Houston folk to the delicious food (did someone say moussaka), festive dancing, and other fascinating facets of Greek culture. This year, there will be tours of the newly expanded Cathedral, live music from the Golden Greek ensemble, and an Athenian playground for the younger set. 5-10 pm (11 am-10 pm Saturday; Noon-6 pm Sunday).

The runway rocks at Fashion X Houston
Fashion X Houston is back, style-savvy, fashionista friends. For three nights, models will be walking the runway, decked out in duds from emerging and established Houston-based fashion designers, including winners and all-stars from that do-or-die reality competition Project Runway. Proceeds from each night will be donated to the event's VIP Style Setters' local Houston nonprofits of choice. 6:30 pm

Learn just how much damage humans can do in this new exhibit
Whether you want to accept it or not, humanity just has a knack for picking off species one after the next. Houston-based multidisciplinary artist/anthropologist Lina Dib is here to remind people of that with her new exhibit, aptly titled Like There is No Tomorrow. Created in collaboration with Taylor Knapps at Main Street Projects Gallery, this large-scale, interactive video instillation examines the decline of species caused by human interactions. 7-10 pm.

Friday, October 5

Join in on the jam-band love with ElectroLuv 2018
ElectroLuv 2018 may sound like a music festival where you'd hear nothing but EDM coming out of every nook and cranny of the place and see people dancing in one spot forever, zonked out of their minds on some substance. But this two-day live-a-palooza is actually devoted to jam bands and the fans who love them. You'll get groups with names like Drum Circle, Hell in a Bucket, Heights Funk Collective and — our favorite — PotRoast. 6:30 pm.

See the theatrical side of Snoop Dogg in his new show
Snoop Dogg has taken some odd detours in his life. You can currently see him on television, co-hosting the VH1 cooking show Martha & Snoop's Potluck Party with Martha Stewart and as host of the rebooted game show The Joker's Wild. But this weekend, you can actually catch him on stage — not at a live concert, but as the star of the stage show, Redemption of a Dogg. Not only will Snoop perform some of his classics, but he'll drop some tunes from his gospel album Bible of Love. 8 pm (3 pm Saturday and Sunday; 7:30 pm Sunday).

Saturday, October 6

Sip on wine and buy some art at the Texas Wine & Art Festival
Here at CultureMap, we love to attend art-exhibit opening receptions where you can look at art while drinking. So, of course, we're glad to hear that the Texas Wine & Art Festival is back. This two-day fest will highlight 15 Texas-based wineries, while artisan booths will be selling hand-crafted artworks, photography, fashion, crafts, and so much more. 10 am-6 pm (11 am-5 pm Sunday).

The MFAH has some kicks off its latest, royal-themed exhibit
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is going all out for its Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Exhibits from Holbein to Warhol exhibit, starting Sunday. But, before that, there will be a screening of The Queen, the 2007 movie that won star Dame Helen Mirren an Oscar. After that, there's a lecture, "Kings and Queens: Royal Portraiture at the National Portrait Gallery, Houston," presented by Louise Stewart, the gallery's curator of 16th-century to contemporary collections. 1 pm.

Return to David Lynch's strange world with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
David Lynch wasn't done with Twin Peaks when his ultra-weird-but-buzzworthy nighttime soap was cancelled in 1991. The following year, he made Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, a prequel that fizzled at the box office mainly because it was even more baffling & strange than the original show. Now that Lynch gave us that Peaks reboot that aired on Showtime last year, it turns out this cult fave serves as the haunting bridge between these two shows. It's still weird though. 10 pm.

Stand-up comedy and rap join forces for The Krunk Komedy Tour
The Krunk Komedy Tour promises to be an evening of Southern-fried rap along with downright ignant (not "ignorant" — ignant) stand-up comedy. On the comedy side, look for headlining comedians Donnell Rawlings (Chappelle's Show) and Red Grant (Def Comedy Jam, Comic View), along with several other funny folk. And over on the rap side, expect the Ying Yang Twins, Lil Scrappy, Yung Joc, Travis Porter, Young Dro, and Houston's very own Trae tha Truth. 8:30 pm.

Sunday, October 7

Bike and learn about the city at this bike rally/scavenger hunt
The 13th Annual Houston Heights Bicycle Rally and Scavenger Hunt once again seeks out kids and families to have some heart-pumping fun, while also hipping them to local history along the way. The heart-pumping will happen during the bicycle rally, where riders can select from a five-mile, 20-mile or new stroller-and-bike parade. As for the hunt, it will highlight historical and notable landmarks throughout the ride. Prizes will be awarded during the after-party. 8 am-5:30 pm.

Sample baked goods at The Depressed Cake Shop
Okay, this sounds interesting. This sixth-annual event showcases donated cakes and desserts that could also double as art pieces. These baked goods are usually decorated in somber colors that "signify the gray cloud that can descend over a beautiful world when someone is struggling with mental issues." But don't worry — slices of these goodies will be available for purchase, as the proceeds will go to NAMI Greater Houston and The Montrose Center. Noon-4 pm.

Learn about Houston neighborhoods with Cigna Sunday Streets
Now in its fifth year, the monthly Cigna Sunday Streets returns to spotlight Houston's most unique neighborhoods, with a focus on hyping up alternative transportation as well as supporting neighborhood economies and a sense of community. This combination bike/walking tour will focus on three parts of town: Near Northside, Rice Village and Downtown Houston. First up is Near Northside, part of Mayor Turner's Complete Communities initiative. Noon-4 pm.

Feast on delicious meats at The Woodlands BBQ Festival
This has us salivating all over our keyboards. The third-annual barbecue throwdown will have a diverse collection of pitmasters grilling up a storm and serving all-you-can-sample portions. With all this artery-clogging goodness ready to go down, it's kinda ironic that this fest is also benefitting pulmonary hypertension. 1-4 pm.

Pets get blessed at St. Luke's Blessing of the Animals
Is there anything you wouldn't do for your dog? If you would like your dog to be welcomed into the kingdom of Heaven when he or she passes on, you can take your mutt to this special service, where people can bring their pets to be blessed. If all dogs truly go to heaven, this event is out to make sure of it. 4-5:30 pm.

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Movie Review

New horror movie Faces of Death puts a modern twist on cult classic

Photo courtesy of of IFC Films

Dacre Montgomery in Faces of Death.

True horror fans will likely be familiar with the 1978 cult film Faces of Death, which purported to be a documentary showing real-life killings in gory detail. It didn’t, of course, but that didn’t stop rumors from continuing to spread for decades. Now, almost 50 years and multiple sequels later, comes a new version of Faces of Death, an actual movie that pays homage to the original in interesting ways.

Margot (Barbie Ferreira) works at a YouTube-like company called Kino as a content moderator, flagging videos that violate the company’s policies. This means her job often involves seeing some truly despicable things from all manner of depraved people. One day, though, she comes across a video that seems a little too real, and after seeing more similar videos, she starts to believe they’re genuine murders.

Going against her company NDA, she starts to investigate the videos on her own, which puts her on the radar of Arthur (Dacre Montgomery), who is actually kidnapping people and killing them on camera through methods seen in the original Faces of Death film. It’s not long before Arthur tracks her down, with a plan to make her one of his next victims.

Written and directed by Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) and co-written by Isa Mazzei, the film is not so much scary as it is creepy, with the occasional gross-out sequence. The idea of having someone emulate the killings in the cult film is a good idea, and pairing it with the modern-day attention economy — in which content creators go to increasing lengths for clicks — is a clever twist on a concept that other films have done.

The film as a whole is a commentary on how social media and video sharing sites have often decided to prioritize profits over the well-being of their users. Margot is shown allowing videos involving violence and sexual assault to stay on the site while nixing ones depicting how to use Narcan or demonstrating putting on a condom on a banana. Josh (Jermaine Fowler), Margot’s boss, is even explicit in the company mandate that outrageous videos drive views.

While Arthur has the makings of a good villain, there are few attempts to make him seem truly diabolical. His kidnappings often seem more spur-of-the-moment than calculated, and even though he has a well thought-out dungeon at home, the house’s location in the suburbs seems to make him vulnerable to easy discovery. Goldhaber and Mazzei leave more than a few unanswered questions along the way that take away from the intensity of the story.

Ferreira is yet another actor from Euphoria who’s capitalizing on her exposure from that show. She plays Margot’s increasing anxiety well, and when the action ratchets up in the final act, she meets the moment in a satisfying way. Montgomery returns to the vibe he had while playing the evil Billy on Stranger Things, and even though his character doesn’t fully live up to his potential, Montgomery sells his evil for all it’s worth.

The new Faces of Death may not be what some are expecting given the reputation of the previous films, but it’s a solid horror/thriller that uses the brand as a launching pad into something different. It doesn’t make much of a dent in the scare department, but it does give its violence and gore a degree of relevance in today’s often desensitized world.

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Faces of Death is now playing in theaters.

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