Ten Halloween film pop-ups to book now

Where better for a spooky screening than a church? For three nights, St James in West Hampstead will be decked out with cobwebs for a mini-season of horror classics. There’s something for all horror tolerance levels. Giggle along to ‘Beetlejuice’ or chew your fingers in fright at ‘Hellraiser’ and ‘Saw’.

A flyover in West London hosts three nights of scares, dressing up, Halloween cocktails and apple bobbing. Get your laughs in early with ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ on Friday and a dance-along to ‘The Rocky Horror Show Picture Show’ on Saturday. Or chill your blood with ‘Halloween’ on Sunday. The space is covered and rainproof, but wrap up toasty.

America invented drive-in cinema and Halloween (the trick-or-treat, eating sweets bit). Now the two come together in an unholy union, with a screening of John Carpenter’s watch-behind-the-sofa-scary ‘Halloween’. The venue is a new pop-up drive-in cinema at Brent Cross, with a giant screen and roller girl waitresses.

They’re promising live zombies (if that’s not a contradiction) and Swat teams before these screenings in Camden Lock Indoor Market. Films are a mix of horror classics (‘Evil Dead’) and new films (‘World War Z’ and ‘I Spit on Your Grave’). The Backyard Cinema crew is big on food and booze, so expect craft beers and posh burgers with your frights.

The edible cinema concept is simple: tuck into boxes of mystery food while you watch a movie. What’s in the box matches what’s happening on screen. Sounds gimmicky, right? Wrong, it’s a fun, brilliant way to watch a familiar classic. Horror buff Jonathan Ross has curated ‘An American Werewolf in London’ for Halloween. He’ll be at the Electric in Notting Hill in person on Saturday. Can’t wait to see what they serve up for the man-eats-deer scene.

Okay, so ’80s-tastic teen movie ‘The Lost Boys’ isn’t the scariest ever. It’s the location that’ll spook you with this one – the Lost Boys cave recreated in an eco-building hidden away in a copse in the middle of Hyde Park. Wear sensible shoes. Garlic and holy water optional.

The Prince Charles is the home of the raucous sing-along. Their ‘Rocky Horror’ knees ups are legendary and so popular they’re staging it twice on Halloween night. If you feel the urge to burst into song or slip into suspenders, this is for you. Arrive 30 minutes before the film for a warm-up and fancy dress competition. If that’s all a bit tame, there’s a late night screening of John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’.

The biggest screen in the UK is opening up for insomniac vampire types with a blood-sucking all-nighter. It kicks off at midnight, naturally, with ‘Interview with the Vampire’ and runs through till 9am, finishing with ‘Fright Night’.

Pop-up experts Nomad put on London’s best outdoor film events, popping up in cemeteries and all sorts of odd nooks and crannies around the city. Over winter, they’re cosying down with monthly screenings in The Hoxton Hotel’s Apartment – a fancy-pants flat inside the hotel. They’re calling it ‘Slackers Movie Lounge’ and the Halloween screening is ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. You’ll get a gruesome welcome with a free blood-red cocktail and homemade popcorn.

Arthouse lovers more interested in movies than fake blood should head to BFI Southbank, where the Gothic season is in full swing. On Halloween, you’ll catch two vampire classics, Carl Dreyer’s 1932 ‘Vampyr’ and Werner Herzog’s ‘Nosferatu the Vampyre’, plus Kathryn Bigelow’s creepy ‘Near Dark’ and Hammer Horror’s ‘The Mummy’. And not a Freddie Krueger mask in sight.