Meridian is a quiet town, and residents often complain that there’s nothing to do, but this Halloween, that complaint is blown out the window. There are pumpkin patches, haunted houses, haunted trails, costume contests, and live music blowouts, just to name a few.

    But of all the numerous places hosting Halloween festivities this year, the Temple Theater takes the cake by hosting not one, but three of them — two film festivals and a haunted tour.

    The haunted tour began earlier this month and has been a big hit.

    “It’s turned out to be a real big deal,” said theater owner Roger Smith. “We didn’t realize how much it would.”

    The tour, which Smith said is put on by the Queen City Gypsies, will be open every night between now and Halloween except for Sunday. He said the tour is more about the history surrounding the building than about cheesy haunted house tricks.

    “(Meridianites) aren’t so much wanting fake skeletons,” Smith said. “They’re intrigued about freemasonry and the knights templar, things like that.”

    Tours run from 7-11 p.m. on weeknights and 7 p.m.-midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Tour admission is $5 per person.

    Tours will be going on throughout both of the Halloween film festivals the theater is hosting, the first of which starts today.

    The Queen City Scare Fair Horror Film Festival, presented by the Meridian Grindhouse Association, begins this evening and continues all day tomorrow with classic horror films and new independent films, some of which were made right here in Mississippi.

    The festival will include nine short films made in Mississippi, courtesy of the Tupelo Horror Fest, as well as two short films from Alabama, and several from other countries, according to event promoter Withrow Newell.

    Feature films to be shown at the festival include NIght of the Living Dead, My Bloody Wedding, Best Worst Movie, and Attack of the Giant Leeches, to name a few.

    The festival will also include Q&A’s with cast and crew of some of the short films and with two Mississippi Comic Book Artists.

    Admission is $8 for a one day pass, and $12 for a two day pass. The festival runs tonight from 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. For more information, visit the event on Facebook.

    Another group will host another horror film event at the Temple on Halloween weekend. The Watcher’s Council Film Society, a non-profit film society that shows films at the Temple often, will present The Mischievous History of Devil’s Night on Saturday, Oct. 30.

    There will be five feature films shown at the event, according to TWCFS president John Hanks, with short films and black and white cartoons in between. The feature films range from the not rated classic vampire flick Nosferatu to The House of the Devil, 2009’s R-rated thriller about a babysitter’s struggle to escape her Satan worshiping clients.

    The event will also include raffles and prizes, a visit from two of the Ghostbusters, and information on the history of Devil’s Night and Halloween.

    The Mischievous History of Devil’s Night starts Saturday, Oct. 30 at  noon with Nosferatu, and concludes at midnight with The House of the Devil. Advance all day passes are $13 and are available until Friday in limited quantity at Meridian Underground Music and Crossfire Comics in Meridian, and at The Mailbox, Inc. in Philadelphia. Tickets at the door are $5 per film.

    For more information, visit the The Watcher’s Council Film Society on the Web at www.twcfilmsociety.org or give them a call at (601) 885-3455.

Want to go?

    • Temple Theater Halloween Tours: Tours will be held every night except Sunday through Halloween, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. on weeknights and from 7 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Admission is $5 and is available at the theater.

    • Queen City Scare Fair Horror Film Festival: The festival runs tonight from 7 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Passes are $8 for one day or $12 for two days, with discounts for military, students, and civil servants.

    • The Mischievous History of Devil’s Night: The Halloween film event runs from noon to midnight on Saturday, Oct. 30. Advance all day admission for $13 is available in limited quantity through Friday at Meridian Underground Music and Crossfire Comics in Meridian, and The Mailbox, Inc. in Philadelphia. Admission at the door is $5 per film.

What’s playing?

Queen City Scare Fair

Friday:

Interplanetary

Best Worst Movie

Deep Red

Attack of the Giant Leeches

Saturday:

Short films

Blood Car

My Bloody Wedding

Deadlands 2: Trapped

Night of the Living Dead

The Wasp Woman

The Mischievous History of Devil’s Night

Short films and cartoons

Nosferatu (NR)

The Monster Squad (PG-13)

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (R)

Trick R Treat (R)

The House of the Devil (R)