Cool mornings and leaves crackling under students’ shoes can only mean one thing: the changing of seasons in Aggieland.
The Halloween season has already kicked off at The Queen Theatre in downtown Bryan. Halloween originals like “The Shining,” “Scream,” “Friday the 13th,” “Nosferatu” and “Halloween” are just a few of the classics the theater has been showing since mid-October.
A crowd favorite has been “The Lost Boys,” a 1987 horror comedy about teenage vampires. Commentators J.T. Habersaat, English Matt and Brian Posehn were brought in during one of “The Lost Boys” showings for a specialty event called Monster Movie Mockery where they added comedy sketches and horror movie trivia.
“That specific event we sold a lot of tickets, and a lot of the people that came were grandparents that have watched the movie when they were kids,” movie runner Emily Locke said. “The three guys sat at the front of the theater, and as the movie was playing, they had commentary about it. People thought it was pretty funny because it was one of those movies that people kind of made fun of back in the day, and now, they are coming back with their grandkids — and it’s still getting made fun of. They thought it was hilarious.”
Halloween decorations adorn the lobby along with a poster listing Halloween showings. Still, The Queen Theatre’s manager, Cameron Harris, hopes viewers take some Halloween spirit into their own hands.
“I would love to see people come in here with costumes and dressing up getting into the movie wanting to be a part of the show and everything,” Harris said. “ I think it’d be a lot of fun. I bought a suit a couple years ago to be The Joker, and I just keep wearing that same suit every year just because I spent the money to buy a suit — so I’m going to wear it this year, too”
But some horror elements are not just decorations waiting to be put back into storage. Rumor amongst employees has it that the ghost of the owner’s father roams the theater at night.
“We just call him Billy,” Harris said. “I was up at the bar one time, but it was when I was just a bartender. I wasn’t a manager then. There was nobody else in this entire building. I was the only one here. I heard three huge stomps in the office, so I went there and looked and there was nobody. I don’t think I ever closed faster in my life. It was absolutely terrifying.”
Fitting with hauntings, Halloween showings will be coming to a close on Oct. 28 with “The Exorcist,” a horror movie loosely based on true events. Until then, visitors of The Queen can watch “The Strangers” and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.”
