7 places to get spooky tattoos this Halloween

Local Toronto tattoo parlours are offering discounted ink for thrill seekers this October

By: Amany Abubaker

A person in the process of being tattooed (Cottonbro via Pexels)

For some, tattoos and Halloween exist synonymously in the fall season. Getting tattooed is a popular activity during this time of year, as local parlours often offer special discounts on tattoos, allowing customers to choose from exclusive Halloween-themed flash sheets — small-scale pre-sketched designs. As a fun way to spice up this Halloween’s “spooktivites” in Toronto, take advantage of the Halloween deals at one of the tattoo shops listed below and get a permanent reminder of the spooky season!

Storm Horse Tattoo

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Storm Horse Tattoo has an annual Halloween flash sale that you don’t want to miss. It runs throughout the whole month of October and with a plethora of designs to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find what you like. To celebrate the big holiday, they’re offering all-flash designs completely tax-free, from candy corn to skeletons. The studio is located at 847 Dundas St. W. and their designs start at just $80.

Abstract Arts

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New Tribe is holding their annual Halloween flash sale from Oct. 27 to Oct. 31 and are offering flash tattoos starting at just $100. Both appointments and walk-ins are available for pre-sized flash tattoos, which can all be found on their website. New Tribe Tattoo and Piercing is located at 232 Queen St. W.

Finest Ink by Los Pintados

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For the month of October, Finest Ink is having its Halloween Flash sale on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at just $60. Opening daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m, they are located at 7191 Yonge St., and are only accepting walk-ins for this promotion. They have all of their flash tattoo options listed on their Instagram so don’t forget to check that out!

Playhouse Tattoos

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Playhouse Tattoos, located at 900 Rathburn Rd W. Unit D7 in Mississauga, will be having a Halloween flash sale from Oct. 28 to Oct. 31. You can get 50 per cent off any of their Halloween flash tattoos during their weekend sale. From small ghost tattoos to other spooky creatures, you can see their full list of flash tattoos here. Also in an upcoming giveaway, a lucky winner will get a free tattoo from their flash sheets.

Taunton Tattoo Co.

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One of Toronto’s most anticipated flash events is Taunton Tattoo Co's official Halloween Flash Day! On Oct. 31, they will be offering walk-in and by-appointment flash tattoos. Located at 50 Taunton Rd E., Taunton Tattoo Co.’s has seven artists participating in this flash event and each will have their own pieces available for preview!

Wild Ink Oshawa

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On Oct. 31 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Wild Ink Oshawa will be hosting their flash sale where they will be having special pricing on Halloween-themed flash tattoos starting at $150. For this promotion, they will be accepting walk-ins only on a first come first serve basis. The shop is located at 375 Bond St. W. and their design previews are available on their Instagram.

No matter the tattoo you choose, you now have some amazing spooky options to select from, scattered all throughout the haunted hollows of Toronto. It's time to spice things up to celebrate the most unique and artistic Halloween ever!

13 ways to celebrate this Halloween in Toronto

Stuck on how to celebrate this spooky season? Worry no more

By: Hannah Mercanti

(Sama Nemat Allah/CanCulture)

Having trouble figuring out what to do for Halloween? You’re not alone. It can get old doing the same thing year after year, and the repetition makes the season lose some of what makes it so much fun. No matter what your perfect Halloween looks like, we’ve got you covered this spooky season with the scariest number (13, of course) of different fun activities all around the city guaranteed to get you in the spirit. 

If you’re looking to relax:

D.I.Y. Pumpkin Spice

Halloween is the perfect time for a D.I.Y. project. Gather some friends and ingredients to make your very own pumpkin spice base for endless PSL’s in any season.

Spooky Baking

Got a sweet tooth? It’s time to do some Halloween baking! A simple sugar cookie recipe can go a long way into creating the spooky cookie graveyard of your dreams.

Have a Themed Movie Night

There's no better time for a movie marathon than Halloween. Pick a series – Scream, Twilight, Halloween – whatever puts you in a spooky mood and have a themed movie night! Make some themed-snacks, dim the lights and get cozy.

Pick Fresh Pumpkins

Classics are classic for a reason — nothing puts you more in the Halloween spirit than a pumpkin patch. Sweet Ridge Farms in Scarborough allows visitors to pick their own fresh pumpkins straight from the patch. 

If you’re looking to go out in Toronto:

Black Lagoon Pop-up Bar

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For the month of October, Black Lagoon is hosting a pop-up bar on Bloor Street. Aside from spooky drinks and eats, they have tarot readings and costume contests. This event is 19+ and admission is free, but activities cost extra.

80’s Dance and Costume Party

On Oct. 29, The Garrison is hosting a dark 1980’s dance party. Goth, post-punk, new wave and more underground ‘80’s hits will be playing all night, and costumes are more than encouraged. This event does not allow minors. Tickets are available online or at the door for $20.

ROM After Dark

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On Oct. 28th, The Royal Ontario Museum is opening its doors for a Halloween spectacular. Tickets include curated music, food and access to the Fantastic Beasts: The Wonder of Nature exhibit.  This event is 19+. Tickets are priced at $30 and are available online.

Halloween Punk Rock Show

For all the concert junkies out there, Angoria productions is showcasing four spook-tacular bands on Oct. 28 at their Halloween punk rock show at The Baby G.This event is 19+ and tickets are priced between $15-17 dollars.

SCENES Interactive Halloween Experience

For the month of October, SCENES Studio on Queen Street West is hosting the ultimate interactive Halloween photo booth experience. With eight different eerie scenes ranging from blood spattered living rooms to old Victorian mansions, visitors are invited to express themselves through photo and video and make some truly horrifying seasonal memories to last far beyond October. Tickets are $25 at the door.

If you’re looking to get spooked:

The Great Canadian Horror Film Festival

Calling all film buffs! The Great Canadian Horror Film Festival is screening 12 new terrifying films encompassing all genres of horror on Oct. 29 at the Royal Theatre. Films include the animated French psychological horror film Contretemps and The Man Who Loves Flowers, a short film adapted from a Stephen King novel of the same name. Tickets are priced at $20 and can be purchased online or in-person at the box office.

Casa Loma Legends of Horror

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Casa Loma’s interactive theatrical experience, the Legends of Horror, is now running until Halloween. Guests are invited to tour the grounds, which have been transformed into a haunted castle infested with ghouls at their own pace and explore never before seen areas of the historic site. Tickets are available online and are priced at $48. 

Alone in the Dark Ghost Tours

For all the theatre kids out there, The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre has your Phantom of the Opera dreams covered with ghost tours of the haunted theatre. Tickets include access to the lobby and theatres after dark for investigative purposes. Visitors also get to attempt to contact one of the theatre's many alleged ghosts through different communicative techniques. The event runs until Oct. 27. Tickets are priced at $84.99 and are available online.

Rocky Horror TO

Oh, Rocky! Rocky Horror TO is hosting live performances of the cult classic from Oct. 28 - 31 at The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on 506 Bloor Street West. Tickets are priced at $15 dollars and can be bought online.

Now you’ve got a whole bunch of awesome ways to get spooky all around Toronto, regardless of how you choose to celebrate. Now it’s time to put your costume on and have the best Halloween of your life!

The AGO's At Home With Monsters exhibit is eerily wonderful

By: Lauren Kaminski

Halloween is over, but the Art Gallery of Ontario continues to celebrate the spirit of mystery and thrills. During the fall and winter season, the frightful and peculiar imagination of famed Mexican filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro is brought to life in the AGO’s exhibit, At Home With Monsters. It offers a unique beyond-the-screen view of the inspiration and processes Del Toro uses to create his art.

An audio guide narrated by the filmmaker completes the experience.

“This exhibition presents a small fraction of the things that have moved me, inspired me, and consoled me as I transit through life. It’s a devotional sampling of the enormous love that is required to create, maintain, and love monsters in our lives,” Del Toro said.

The exhibit displays approximately 500 relics from the director’s personal collection of paintings, sculptures, artifacts and original sketches. It also houses costumes and props from his film sets, many of which he keeps in Bleak House, his residence and source of inspiration in the suburbs of Los Angeles.

Del Toro said that creating Bleak House is the best thing he’s ever done.

“It’s everything. It is the single thing that I have done that expresses me the most completely, more than any of my films,” he said. Toronto currently has the privilege of viewing this storied work and what inspires a master of horror and fantasy every day.

Before the At Home With Monsters appearance at the AGO on Sept. 30th, the exhibit debuted at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and then the Los Angeles County Museum of Art later in the summer, and will continue to run in Toronto through Jan. 7.

“By witnessing his incredible creative process, we can make unexpected connections among different genres and narratives, high art and pop culture, and blur boundaries between fantasy and reality," co-curator Jim Shedden said in a statement.

Presented in glass cases and life-like sculptures are the supernatural fantasies that emerged from Del Toro’s lifelong work of bringing Monsters to life in his chilling films, which include Hellboy,Pan’s Labyrinth, and Crimson Peak.

Sculpture of the ‘Pale Man’, a monster from Del Toro’s film, Pan’s Labyrinth. (Lauren Kaminski/CanCulture.)

The exhibit is broken into eight different themed sections. They are built on themes like pop culture, the Victorian era, and Frankenstein. Each section is inspired by subjects that fascinate Del Toro and provide the framework for his darkly charming films.

‘Childhood and Innocence’ is the first section of the showroom, dedicated to Del Toro’s youth. It provides an understanding of the artist’s soul and inspiration through the lens of his childhood experiences. The section seems to have a theme of childhood vulnerability and the loss of innocence, which may be based on Del Toro’s dark memories of his own childhood. He said his grandmother, who was extremely religious, used to scare him as a little boy. He once told Metro News that she could be compared to the unstable mother character in Stephen King’s Carrie.

"In fairytales ogres and wolves eat children, and I think that it goes to the root of storytelling, to have children as vulnerable,” he said.

Immediately upon entrance to the showroom, visitors are greeted by a life-sized and incredibly realistic ‘Pale Man’, a villain from Del Toro’s 2006 film Pan’s Labyrinth. With flesh that appears melted, a habit of eating children, and red eyes on its palms, Del Toro said that this monster is actually capable of scaring him. He wanted it in the ‘Childhood and Innocence’ section because he said the Pale Man literally eats innocence

Presented in glass cases and life-like sculptures are the supernatural fantasies that make Del Toro’s films so thrilling. Along with the Pale Man are 21 other life-sized sculptures, modelled after characters from classic horror films, along with some of Del Toro’s own movies. The frightening Angel of Death from Hellboy 2: The Golden Army looms in one area. The ghostly character ‘Santi’ in The Devil’s Backbone is illuminated by special effects, creating an unsettling experience.

There is a clear Disney influence in this section, which can be seen in the artwork. The filmmaker said he believes Walt Disney had “an incredibly dark side,” and that “his films have some of the scariest sequences ever created.” He described some ominous scenes from the classic films, such as the death of Bambi’s mother and the Evil Queen becoming a witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Perhaps Disney inspired much of his work by his mixing of whimsy and darkness to create a captivating magic.

The rain room is another alluring part of the exhibit to walk through. It is a replica of Del Toro’s favourite place in Bleak House. With a fake window that displays a constant rain storm, it sets the perfect atmosphere for some of Del Toro’s chilling stories.

Toward the end of the showrooms is a corner with walls stacked from floor to ceiling with over a thousand comic books. They provide both the inspiration for Del Toro’s works as well as a fun photo background for attendees.

Frankenstein’s monster resides in the final section. A seven-foot bust of the character looms in the room, surrounded by various figures from the classic Mike Hill film. Del Toro’s deep love of Frankenstein, and his compassionate view of the unaccepted monster influenced this part of the exhibit.

Some gallery members find meaning in the showroom outside of their own interests.

“I’m not a huge fan of horror, but the actual craftsmanship and the artistic level that is brought to Del Toro’s work makes it a fantastic exhibit,” said attendee Frank Meschkuleit, who is a voice actor and puppeteer. “I think it speaks to a non-traditional audience for the gallery.”

Yesica Covaleda, a student at the University of Toronto, is a big fan of comics and horror films. She believes that the exhibit did the films justice.

“Hellboy is my favourite movie [by Del Toro]. I think that the exhibit did a good job of capturing the movie, especially through showing costume design parts specifically.” She said that she really liked the replica of the Angel of Death, as well as the artwork of Kronen’s clockwork vest. She also admired the props for Hellboy's gun and his leather jacket.

At Home With Monsters is not solely for adults or horror fans. “The exhibit is being pushed more for its art merit,” said Andrew Adbool, a protection services officer at the AGO. He explained that during the daytime, lots of students from high schools and elementary schools come to view the exhibit.

Because of the heavy traffic during school hours, Adbool recommends that the best time to attend the exhibit is just after 3:30 p.m. For those who want to experience the eerie exhibit in the dark of the night, Adbool said it’s best to book tickets in advance.

An ominous quote from Del Toro hangs at the exit, left for attendees to ponder upon: “The reason I create monsters and love them is that they speak to a very deep, spiritual part of ourselves. It is my most cherished desire that as you leave the exhibition, the monsters follow you home, and that they live with you for the rest of your life.” Certainly, one cannot leave At Home With Monsters lightly and forget the strange wonders it houses.