Three spooky nights, nine films, one downtown parking lot. Horizon Drive-In, the pop-up outdoor cinema that takes over the Badlands Parking Lot in central Calgary, is running a Halloween movie series from Thursday, Oct. 22 to Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, with screenings rolling from early evening to well past midnight.

Each night has three showtimes at 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m., and the lineup mixes family-friendly picks with proper horror. Thursday opens with Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!, followed by The Addams Family and the original 1978 Halloween. Friday brings The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice and Final Destination. Saturday closes things out with Hocus Pocus, Ghostbusters and Scream — so you can pick your scare level, from kids-in-costumes cute to genuinely tense late-night viewing.

Tickets come in two flavours. An outdoor viewing pass costs $10.74 and gets you into the front-row seating area, though you'll need to bring your own lawn chair or blanket and it doesn't include vehicle access. Prefer to watch from the car? A vehicle ticket runs $16.12 for the driver, with additional adult passengers at $16.12 each and kids 15 and under at $10.64. Every passenger needs their own ticket, and extras can only be added to a vehicle booking.

There's a sweet deal on snacks too. Through the Popcorn for a Cause initiative, donating $5 worth of non-perishable food gets you a free bag of movie theatre popcorn — a nice excuse to clear out the pantry before you go. Concessions with snacks and drinks will also be on site.

A few practical notes before you roll in: the audio is broadcast over FM radio, so your car stereo needs to work. Parking spots are first come, first served, and organizers suggest arriving 30 to 45 minutes early to snag a decent one. The address is 725 9th Ave. SW, right downtown, so it's easy to reach on foot or by transit if you're going the blanket-and-chair route.

For travellers, this is a fun, cheap autumn evening in a city that tends to fly under the radar. Calgary makes a solid fall base — the Rockies are under 90 minutes away — and an outdoor movie night downtown is an easy add-on to a longer Alberta trip. Just bring layers; late October nights on the prairies can dip close to freezing, so a thermos and a sleeping bag blanket wouldn't hurt. If you can only make one night, Saturday is the crowd-pleaser with Hocus Pocus and Ghostbusters back to back.