While celebrated with less universal gusto in the UK than across the Atlantic, Halloween is still a favorite for St Andrews students because, let’s be honest, who doesn’t love an excuse to drink and dance in an extravagant ensemble. Whether you opted for the Karen Smith approach (lingerie and mouse ears, we see you), or had been carefully constructing you sartorial masterpiece with months of Amazon orders, charity shop pilgrimages, and hot glue gun splurges, you were sure to find like-minded folk at this year’s House of Horrors. As a proud member of the latter group, and someone who tends to look on Halloween not as a day but as a season, I was thrilled to see the level of commitment from both the event organizers and the attendees.
The theme, “the wonderful world of Tim Burton,” was certainly palpable throughout Kinkell, with quirky or quaint characters and signage stashed unexpectedly in corners, paying homage to Burton classics like Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and Sweeney Todd. The Byre is a notoriously difficult venue to decorate (it is, after all, a glorified barn), with vast open spaces and soaring, exposed-beam ceilings the sheer expanses of which make it difficult to tie together any kind of cohesive themed design. However, in opting for smaller, more detailed touches of decoration, the committee managed to create an ambiance without having to go overboard.
Guests cited other favorite elements as including the carnival ride outside the venue (best enjoyed earlier in the evening, to be sure), and the “sweets table,” offering bored waiters-in-line for the aforementioned attraction the opportunity to stuff their faces and pockets with an assortment of gummy goodies – although, for this author, what with the recent uptick in both covid cases and spiking reports, this seemed like a risky addition.
The music, provided by BPM, made for a satisfactory, if relatively standard dance floor experience. A few spooky bops might not have been amiss, but for those there to twist the night away to some good classic club tunes, little more could have been desired.
All in all, for those looking for a good, proper Halloween party, House of Horrors was certainly the place to be on the 31st. Though Christmas decorations might already have been creeping their way across the streets of St Andrews, out at Kinkell Byre, sexy mice and franken-brides alike danced until the witching hour, and well beyond.