Here's the thing about Halloween week in Vancouver: everyone assumes there's a packed slate of horror movie marathons at some indie theatre, the kind of thing you'd screenshot and send to the group chat. This year, that's not really what's on offer. What is on offer — genuinely, verifiably, dates-and-prices-attached — is a stretch of haunted houses, scare mazes, and community fundraisers running right up through Halloween night. So let's talk about what's actually real.
The Big Scream Park Still Delivers
Fright Nights at Playland is the one most people already know, and it's back for its 23rd year at the PNE grounds. Select dates run through Halloween night, with haunted houses, roaming monsters, live performances, and the regular Playland rides turned spooky for the season. Tickets are paid and priced various ways depending on the night you go, so check before you commit — but if you want the full theme-park-horror experience with actors in your face and strobe lights everywhere, this is still the anchor event for the whole region.
What I'd flag for anyone going for the first time: go on a weeknight if you can. Scream parks like this get loud and crowded fast on weekends, and half the fun — the actual jump-scares — gets diluted when you're shuffling through a line instead of moving at your own pace.
The Free (or Donation-Based) Side Nobody Talks About
Not every haunted house in Metro Vancouver needs a ticket purchase in advance, and this is where the budget-conscious crowd should be paying attention. The Gallery of Horrors at The Arts Conservatory in Richmond runs Saturday, October 24, from 5 to 8 p.m., and it's free to attend — trick-or-treating, carnival games, a photo booth, airbrush art — with the haunted house itself by donation. All proceeds go to Jeremy's Memorial Foundation, which supports women's shelters, so it's one of those rare Halloween events where the "scary" and the "good deed" live in the same building.
A few minutes away, Richmond Nature Park's Halloween Hoot runs daily from Saturday, October 24, through Sunday, November 1, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with over 35 inflatables and nature-themed art installations along the Pond Trail. It's admission by donation, rain or shine, which makes it one of the more low-stakes ways to get a Halloween outing in without committing to a full evening of lines and loud speakers.
Zoom out to Burnaby and you'll find a citywide celebration rather than a single site: the Burnaby Halloween Festival runs October 1 through November 8 across the city, mixing glowing pumpkin displays, a "freaky fun run," horror films, and zombie-themed events into one long seasonal stretch rather than a single night. If you've got a car and some patience, it's worth building a whole afternoon around.
Where the "Horror Movie Night" Idea Actually Falls Apart
Here's where I have to be straight with you. The closest thing to a horror-movie event this week is the Rocky Horror Music Show at the Hollywood Theatre on Sunday, October 25, doors at 7 p.m., tickets starting at $30. It's a live 13-piece band performing the music from the cult classic, with a Cryptkeepers set of Halloween tunes thrown in. It is explicitly not a screening of the film — the band plays the music, nobody's projecting the movie on a wall. If you were hoping for a cheap, dark-room, popcorn-and-screaming-at-the-screen kind of night, this isn't that. It's a concert with a Halloween costume built in, and honestly, that might be more fun — but go in knowing what you're buying.
I looked for an actual repertory horror screening series happening this week and came up empty in what's confirmed right now. That doesn't mean one doesn't exist somewhere in the city — it means I'm not going to invent a theatre and a showtime just to fill out a section.
What to Actually Do With This Week
If you want the scream-park adrenaline, Fright Nights is your move before it wraps on Halloween night. If you want free or cheap and family-adjacent, Richmond's got you covered through November 1. And if you want music that happens to be Halloween-flavored, the Hollywood Theatre on Sunday is the real option — just don't walk in expecting a movie. Vancouver's haunted house scene is doing exactly what it says on the label this year. The horror movie night scene just hasn't shown up yet.