Halloween is Spooktacular in New York City

No city does Halloween like New York City! From chilling haunted houses to thrilling plays to raging Halloween parties on the night itself, New York City serves up entertainment that you can really sink your fangs into!

Start the thrills off early with a visit to New York's most horrifying haunted house, "Nightmare: Fairy Tales", located on the Lower East Side's Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center. Creator and co-director Timothy Haskell goes straight to the core of the Grimm's Fairy Tales and extracts the frightening essence.

"The original purpose for virtually all fairy tales was to scare children straight, so they wouldn't do anything dangerous, bad, or amoral," said Haskell. �"We are going to teach those same lessons to our audiences! The narratives of the Fairy Tales chosen lend themselves to Nightmare's unique theatricality, while giving opportunities for fantastical scenarios and set pieces."

A core of actors dressed in garish fairy tale masks lead small groups of participants through cottages featuring an enraged Pinocchio, a demented Rumpelstiltskin, and other storybook characters intent upon scaring the wits out of participants. (Guests can indicate beforehand whether or not they are welcome to being touched by the actors.)

The group is eventually lead upstairs, to what may be the scariest part of the event. Under the guise of conducting "fear experiments," a lab-coated woman instructs the group to walk through a dark, tight-pressed tunnel to a makeshift laboratory, where rats, cockroaches, and other frightening elements are presented.

Although city dwellers are familiar with vermin, being trapped in a dark tunnel relying only on one's sense of touch hit upon some very real fears. And with a run time of about an hour as opposed to the 10-minute walk-through of other city haunted houses, "Nightmare: Fairy Tales" is certainly the best deal you'll find this Halloween.

"Nightmare: Fairy Tales" runs through Nov. 5 at 107 Suffolk St., btw Rivington and Delancey. Tickets $30/$35 at the door. For more information, visit Fairy Tales" website>

The Blood Hits the Boards With Halloween Performances

It may not be Balanchine, but fans of dance are sure to love "The Tragedy of Maria Macabre", a theatrical dance piece inspired by 19th Century European circus imagery, silent horror films, and Dia de los Muertos.

The tale begins with the death of the heroine, Maria Macabre. Denied her eternal slumber, Maria is taken through a morbid house of horrors, where humanity is stripped away in favor of a gruesome chorus line. The King and Queen of the Dead greet Maria, and she and the audience is treated to displays by a maniacal Ringmistress, a char-broiled Beauty Queen, a menacing French Clown, and three skeletal Mariachis in desperate need of a Grande Burrito combo. Think "Beetlejuice" meets "The Nutcracker Suite".

Whether you're a lover of dance or simply of the absurd, this Halloween-themed evening of modern movement will definitely put you in the mood for All Hallow's Eve.

"The Tragedy of Maria Macabre" plays through October 30 at The Wild Project, 195 E. 3rd St. Tickets are $20. For more information, visit this website

As part of their annual October tradition, The Horse Trade Theater Group stages their "Pumpkin Pie Show." The evening features four tales of romance gone wrong -- some ripped from the headlines. These all-new stories are written and performed by Clay McLeod Chapman, with Hanna Cheek and music by Kyle Jarrow and Sky-Pony.

Among them are "Ascending the Stairway", a how-to guide on middle-school tongue kissing to classic the Led Zeppelin hit. In "Daughter of C.H.U.D", Cheek takes a hard look at her damaged love life, and pays tribute to her father Douglas Cheek's cult classic thriller, "C.H.U.D.: Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers."

A man recounts leading a search part for his next-door neighbor's missing teenage daughter in "Michelle", and an outbreak of STDs ravages a Viagra-addled retirement community in "Condo Lothario".

Fans of vampires, zombies, and charismatic serial killers will get their fill in this annual presentation of lore and gore on the Lower East Side.

"The Pumpkin Pie Show" runs through October 29 at Under St. Marks, 94 St. Marks Place. Tickets are $15. For info or tickets call 212-868-4444 or visit