By Lauren Friederman, Reporter
The Waco Hippodrome is kicking off its first Halloween with a new series, the Hippodrome Horrorfest.
This series features seven movies, with the possibility of adding an eighth. On Wednesdays, classic horror movies will be shown, including “Wolf Man,” “Dracula,” “Frankenstein,” and “Creature from the Black Lagoon”. On Thursdays, the Hippodrome will show Wes Craven films, including “Scream” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. On Halloween weekend, “Beetlejuice” will be shown.
“The classics we wanted to go with are the really original horror movies that I think everyone has heard of,” said Amy Gillham, Hippodrome director of programming.
During the movie selection process, it was important to select movies that everyone was familiar with, Gillham said.
“Those are the movies that really paved the way for the scary movies we see now,” Gillham said. “Even though the effects are really different and out-dated, or they’re really truly not that scary, those are the foundation of horror movies.”
Gillham said she is hoping to add “Goosebumps” to the horror movies series, making it the eighth overall.
“I think with our theater, we try to keep it attractive to a diverse range of age groups,” Gillham said. “[Goosebumps is] a PG-13 movie, so we thought families that want to see a Halloween movie could go see that.”
One goal is that the Horrorfest series will attract new patrons, Gillham said.
“We want to get new people in the door that have never been to the Hippodrome,” Gilham said. “We want to show that we are true lovers of film. We do different things. We don’t just do new releases all the time. We try to pay tribute to everything else that paved the way.”
Kirk Richard, the Hippodrome general manager, said the Hippodrome offers moviegoers a different experience than simply showing new movies.
“We don’t want to be known as a big box movie theater. We want to be known for creativity, culture and diversity,” Richard said. “Our guests have told us this and we’re listening to them.”
This series is new for the Hippodrome, but theater officials are planning to do it again next year, Gillham said.
“I feel really excited about the collection of movies. I think that it could appeal to a lot of different people,” Gillham said. “I think the older movies are not going to be too scary for a lot of people, and then the people who grew up in the early ’90s and 2000s are going to be all over seeing ‘Scream.’”
For this series, movie-goers can purchase four tickets for $20. These tickets can be used at any time throughout the month for any of the Horrorfest shows. Regular ticket prices apply for singular showings.
For show listings and times, check out the Hippodrome website.
