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    a real scream

    18 scream-worthy events for a frightfully fun Halloween weekend in Houston

    Craig Lindsey
    Oct 25, 2021 | 2:43 pm
    13th Floor Haunted House Houston
    Get your scream on at 13th Floor Haunted House Houston.
    13th Floor Haunted House Houston/Facebook

    It's time to break out those costumes, Houston. Halloween is here and myriad events and spectacles are vying for your patronage. From haunted houses to pet-friendly activities to boozy bashes, these 18 events are a real scream.

    Some events are already on; many start Thursday, October 28 and run through Halloween weekend.

    The 13th Floor Haunted House features three separate attractions, including Dead in the Water, Bad Blood, and The Dollmaker. It also features axe throwing, mini escape games, the shooting game Zombie Apocalypse Live, and Bar13, where patrons 21 and over can enjoy spooky libations before or after experiencing the haunted house. Through Saturday, November 6. 7:30 pm (7 pm on Halloween).

    The Big Bounce America’s 2021 tour stop continues in Houston, Friday through Sunday at AVEVA Stadium. To celebrate Halloween, the largest touring inflatable event in the world will give out prizes for “best dressed” costumes and candy, alongside its four inflatable attractions. 9 am.

    Over in Rosharon, Creepy Hollow Haunted House features three haunted attractions — 288 Scare Factory, Dark Woods, and Pitch Black — as well as Freak Show, Creepy Hollow World Of Oddities, Voodoo Lounge, Axis Pole, and Fire by the Pits. Through Saturday, November 6. 7:30 pm (7 pm on Halloween).

    Haunted Trails boasts acres of mortifying scenes and unnatural creatures await eagerly to quench the monsters' undying thirst for screams. What lurks among these trees? What sinister beings have you in their sights? It also features Pyscho Hollow 3D and the new Escape the Guillotine escape game puzzle. Through Sunday, October 31. 8 pm (7:30 pm on Halloween).

    During the day, Haunted Houstonopoly will be decked out in seasonal decor and ready to welcome little ones of all ages with Halloween photo ops and plenty of family-friendly fun. When the sun sets, it’s transformed into an interactive fright fest for 16-and-older souls, as sets change and creatures lurk in the darkness, waiting for players to roll the dice and attempt to make their way around the game board. Through Sunday, October 31. 5:30 pm.

    The Heights House Hotel & Space Cowboy will host two Halloween events on Saturday. The first is “A Dog Pop,” a Halloween party for dogs at 11 am. There will be a variety of vendors, DJ and three categories of dog costume contest with cash and other prizes. Later that evening, there will be a “Noche de los Muertos” Halloween party at 7 pm. The party will also include several vendors, a DJ and costume contests with cash prizes, as well as Loteria.

    House of Spirits: A Haunted Cocktail Soirée is a peculiar experience unlike any other. Visitors can freely roam a bizarre residence and experience a night of themed cocktails, mystifying magic, sinister séances, tarot readings, strange roaming specters, live music, hidden secret games, giant Ouija boards, and more. Guests are encouraged to dress up for the soirée in any time period specific fashion, costume, or elegant dress. Through Saturday, November 6. 6 pm (3:30 pm on Halloween).

    On Thursday night, the Houston BARC Foundation presents Tails from the Crypt, its second-annual, Howl-o-ween cocktail party. Along with frightfully fantastic cocktails and fun surprises, there will also be a thrilling auction full of items sure to disappear quickly like a ghost into the shadows. 5:30 pm.

    The Houston Scream Fest prides itself on being the first haunted event in Texas with a midway featuring carnival games and a food court with adult beverages. Guests can also participate in the Zombie PaintBall attraction. Through Saturday, November 13. 8 pm.

    Channelview’s Houston Terror Dome is the most terrifying of all Houston haunted houses. They will have improved rooms, new effects, and new characters. New for 2021 is the Nightmare Alley Selfie Saloon, a one-of-a-kind experience that combines a haunted bar with haunted house themed selfie adventures. Through Sunday, October 31. 7 pm.

    The Kemah Boardwalk’s annual Boo on the Boardwalk celebration returns with Freaky Fridays, Scary Saturdays and Spooky Sundays, each night featuring free activities, live music and ghostly entertainment. Guests of all ages can enjoy a variety of festive and spooky thrills, including the Little Boo Haunted Fun House, Halloween-themed crafts, balloon artists, vampire stilt walkers, creepy creatures, and live concerts. Through Sunday, October 31. 6 pm (2 pm on Halloween).

    Speaking of Kemah, Kemah Aquarium will present the Halloween Kids Bash on Sunday, offering families Halloween events and activities. Ghouls and boys can enjoy a variety of games and activities including Keeper Chats, trick-or-treating, Halloween-themed arts & crafts, and more. Mummies of the year can also treat their little ones to .99 cent kids meals at the Aquarium Restaurant with the purchase of an adult entrée. 11 am.

    There’s something for every ghost and goblin at Margaritaville Lake Resort during the Second Annual Halloween Adventure, going down on Saturday. The all-day shindig will have a Supernatural Morning Stretch, Pumpkin Painting, a Family Costume Contest, a Halloween Bar Crawl and an Adult Costume Contest. 9 am.

    Ouzo Bay and Loch Bar will go all out on Halloween night. The Halloween party will include a toga-wearing stilt walker dressed as Barbarella’s Pygar and special performances featuring a belly dancer and a sword and candle show. Additionally, Loch Bar will transform into a retro-futuristic “Loch Barbarella” costume party featuring retro sci-fi posters, disco balls and entertainment by stilt walkers. 8 pm.

    Phobia Haunted Houses features five single attractions, including Dawn of the Machine, Mind Control, Genetic Nightmare, Clown Mania, and Darke Institute, as well as the triple attraction Exile, featuring Darke World, Savage Ground, and Contagion. Through Saturday, November 6. 8 pm.

    Formerly known as the Kingwood Asylum, Purgatory Scream Park in Porter is a nationally-ranked haunted house featuring intense and realistic haunted houses. The experience features over 27,000 square feet of pure terror and lasts around 40 minutes. Through Saturday, November 6. 8 pm.

    Redrum Fear Park in Richmond features four different attractions, including Twisted Circus Rewired, Cinegore, Deadwood Asylum, and Redrum Lazer Fury. The park offers a wide array of entertainment, as well as live music, outdoor seating, food, outside crowd actors, merchandise, and indoor climate-controlled restrooms on-site. Through Saturday, November 6. 7 pm.

    For the weekend, Space Center Houston’s Galaxy Frights features a number of Halloween-themed activities. Visitors can dress up and join the costume parades in the main plaza, see Spidernaut, NASA’s spider-like robot prototype, and visit multiple candy stations for socially distanced and safe trick or treating. 10 am.

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    Movie Review

    Star TV producer James L. Brooks stumbles with meandering movie Ella McCay

    Alex Bentley
    Dec 12, 2025 | 2:30 pm
    Emma Mackey in Ella McCay
    Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios
    Emma Mackey in Ella McCay.

    The impact that writer/director/producer James L. Brooks has made on Hollywood cannot be understated. The 85-year-old created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, personally won three Oscars for Terms of Endearment, and was one of the driving forces behind The Simpsons, among many other credits. Now, 15 years after his last movie, he’s back in the directing chair with Ella McCay.

    The similarly-named Emma Mackey plays Ella, a 34-year-old lieutenant governor of an unnamed state in 2008 who’s on the verge of becoming governor when Governor Bill (Albert Brooks) gets picked to be a member of the president’s Cabinet. What should be a happy time is sullied by her needy husband, Ryan (Jack Lowden), her agoraphobic brother, Casey (Spike Fearn), and her perpetually-cheating father, Eddie (Woody Harrelson).

    Despite the trio of men competing to bring her down, Ella remains an unapologetic optimist, an attitude bolstered by her aunt Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), her assistant Estelle (Julie Kavner), and her police escort, Trooper Nash (Kumail Nanjiani). The film follows her over a few days as she navigates the perils of governing, the distractions her family brings, and the expectations being thrust upon her by many different people.

    Brooks, who wrote and directed the film, is all over the place with his storytelling. What at first seems to be a straightforward story about Ella and her various issues soon starts meandering into areas that, while related to Ella, don’t make the film better. Prime among them are her brother and father, who are given a relatively small amount of screentime in comparison to the importance they have in her life. This is compounded by a confounding subplot in which Casey tries to win back his girlfriend, Susan (Ayo Edebiri).

    Then there’s the whole political side of the story, which never finds its focus and is stuck in the past. Though it’s never stated explicitly, Ella and Governor Bill appear to be Democrats, especially given a signature program Ella pushes to help mothers in need. But if Brooks was trying to provide an antidote to the current real world politics, he doesn’t succeed, as Ella’s full goals are never clear. He also inexplicably shows her boring her fellow lawmakers to tears, a strange trait to give the person for whom the audience is supposed to be rooting.

    What saves the movie from being an all-out train wreck is the performances of Mackey and Curtis. Mackey, best known for the Netflix show Sex Education, has an assured confidence to her that keeps the character interesting and likable even when the story goes downhill. Curtis, who has tended to go over-the-top with her roles in recent years, tones it down, offering a warm place of comfort for Ella to turn to when she needs it. The two complement each other very well and are the best parts of the movie by far.

    Brooks puts much more effort into his female actors, including Kavner, who, even though she serves as an unnecessary narrator, gets most of the best laugh lines in the film. Harrelson is capable of playing a great cad, but his character here isn’t fleshed out enough. Fearn is super annoying in his role, and Lowden isn’t much better, although that could be mostly due to what his character is called to do. Were it not for the always-great Brooks and Nanjiani, the movie might be devoid of good male performances.

    Brooks has made many great TV shows and movies in his 60+ year career, but Ella McCay is a far cry from his best. The only positive that comes out of it is the boosting of Mackey, who proves herself capable of not only leading a film, but also elevating one that would otherwise be a slog to get through.

    ---

    Ella McCay opens in theaters on December 12.

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