With Halloween just around the corner, all things monstrous and macabre are to be celebrated at the third Gothic Manchester Festival. Plenty of Lovecraft inspired events will be on offer including a Lovecraftian film double bill and a special goth club night within a church.
Taking place over three days from October 23-25, the event is organised by Manchester Metropolitan University’s Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies and aims to be entertaining, thought-provoking and ever so slightly disturbing.
Gothic Manchester Festival opens with an exhibition based on Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, ‘Crafting the Weird’, which also takes cues from US magazine ‘Weird Tales’. Taking place at the Holden Space Café within the Grosvenor Building, the exhibition will launch at a party on Thursday October 22 and run until Halloween.
It’s not the only Lovecraftian event on the programme – Grimm Up North will be hosting a double-bill of Lovecraft films at MMU’s Geoffrey Manton building on October 24. ‘Re-Animator’ and ‘From Beyond’ will be screened alongside a Q&A from the films’ producer Brian Yuzna where he’ll be discussing the films and the influence of Lovecraft.
The festival will also include a very special goth club night at a unique venue. 'ArA presents: TentaculArA SpectaculArA' will be hosted at Salford’s Sacred Trinity and feature DJs spinning goth, metal, EBM, punk and 80s tracks within a unique venue decked out with Lovecraft-inspired décor.
The weekend will be rounded off with a Lovecraft-inspired pub quiz at Hold Fast which will also include a Cute-Thulhu raffle raising cash for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation with a variety of knitted and crocheted Cthulhus on offer to support the charity so you can take home your very own cuddly reminder of the festival.
See the full programme for the festival.
Gothic Manchester Festival, October 23-25, various venues.
See more things to do in Manchester from Time Out.