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Plenty of frightening drinking games await, but first spend a little time enjoying the theatrics of horror tonight.
My sons and I went to a few haunts last week so I could share them with you now. When a theater group known for working with youth puts on a Halloween show, you don't expect a body count, but mauled bodies pile up in Wayne Mitchell's conventional, but creepy take on the "beast within" in "Legend of Wolfman" by TBA Theatre (www.tbatheatre.org). His story takes place in Idaho, 1907, right after a young reverend and his wife move into an isolated town. The full moon reveals a world of hurt and an unwanted love triangle involving a hairy killer who behaves like just another strange townsfolk by day. The production values click in this gorefest featuring everything from frenzied mobs and a wise crone to young innocents roaming the streets after nightfall. We all know who dies, of course. The cast does a wonderful job keeping up the pace, with Erin Dagon Mitchell providing glue as the ever-grounded Mother Graham and James Girten giving off weird vibes as Claude Garnier. A few lines were hard to hear, but who needs dialogue when screams, loud noises and a raging wolfman skulk about the place? Young kids might find the play harsh. Murders and blood-spattered shirts can shock the young, but my boys did just fine -- if you don't count their terror at walking to the parking lot after the show. Let's just say that my older boy, Aidan, 11, got cozy and told me to shut up when I started howling in the woods. (He also watched the play with his hands over his ears and his cap over his forehead). "That was way freakier than 'Indiana Jones,' " he said. "I don't really like stuff that's supposed to make you jump."As for my 8-year-old intellectual Sawyer, well once he got done inspecting the van for wild beasts, he affirmed the play's spookiness factor. "You didn't know who the wolfman was," he said, "and it was dark."The play runs about 90 minutes, plus intermission, and the cast hands out candy at the end, which makes it well worth the scare, my boys, said. On to Fright Nite.Right after "Wolfman," we headed over to Fright Nite Haunted House in Northway Mall. My older boy wanted to bag the plan but felt compelled to muscle through it when his nonplussed younger brother eagerly jumped out of the van.They both entered the haunted house eagerly as the ticket-taker yelled, "Fresh meat!" but quickly latched onto me until I could barely move. "I just don't want to go first," said my younger boy, dead-set on unraveling the mystery behind each gag and scare."Mom, we're going in circles," said Aidan in a fluster while clinging to my arm. They moved through the darn place so fast I couldn't pay attention to the gory or bizarre illusions or bits of gruesome wit. I suggest taking time to linger because the place isn't huge, but there's a lot to see, even if someone's always lurching out of the dark.Fright Nite offers plenty of horror for all ages, but the scariest space relied on two primal fears -- darkness and abandonment.As we inched through the pitch-black room, my boys fused to my hips, and vague figures wandered close by and bumped into us, each repeating the same eerie phrase: "Mommy? Mommy. Mommy!"Go figure. Most kids will love Fright Nite because of its scare tactics or enjoy disassembling the tricks of the trade. Kurt Solberg has instigated the frightening maze of illusions and scares for 23 years, donating proceeds to sports teams. As for "Mommy?" well, she doesn't scare easily. If she really wants a good fright, she checks the balance on her 401k.