Entertainment

A 4-day Bram Stoker festival is coming to Dublin and it looks genuinely terrifying

Little Shop of Horrors at the National Botanical Gardens, as part of Bram Stoker Festival, an initiative of Dublin City Council and Failte Ireland, taking place in venues throughout Dublin this October Bank Holiday Weekend. Photo; Allen Kiely

A 4-DAY festival dedicated to Bram Stoker is coming to Dublin and just reading about the self-described 'gloriously gothic' event has us creeped out!

A celebration of Ireland's legendary gothic writer and creator of the original Dracula, the festival promises to cater for both children and adults, with dress-up parties, 'Dracula discos' and pop-up Victorian fun parks making up part of the week-long package.

Dracula Disco (Bram Stoker Festival website)

But it's when the sun goes down that the real horror happens, with events like seances in the dead of night, dramatic horror theatre in empty churches and 'foodie tours with a devilish twist'-- we're not even sure what that means but it's certainly ominous-- and the seance comes with a warning that the medium cannot be held responsible for the outcome, which is just terrifying.

The main events take place from Friday the 25th to Monday the 28th of October, but special events will continue throughout the week, aptly finishing up on the spookiest day of the year, Halloween.

SEANCE (Bram Stoker Festival website)

The fang-tastic event (Excuse the pun, but it's mandatory when writing about vampires) takes place across the city of Dublin, with the Victorian fun park set in the gorgeous greenery of St Patrick's Park, complete with a gothic cathedral marking the background.

STOKERLAND (Photo: Allen Kiely / Olga Kuzmenko)

But the part we're most looking forward to is the Night Watch-- a completely free light show event on the water of Dublin's Grand Canal Dock that's on all day, every day throughout the festival, but which will definitely look the best after nightfall.

The Bram Stoker Festival website describes the Night Watch show beautifully:

"Swathed in fog and foreboding lights, a sinewy forest of reflections shifts and sways on the water, while watching eyes blink and turn in the wind. Lurking further out in darker waters, a ghostly fragmented ship hovers, moored with unknown intent, while a ghostly fog shrouds a shadowy vampirical form. Superstition confuses science, fact and folklore intertwine as a slowly turning heart, caged in a ship’s wheel, pulses and beckons us deeper and deeper…"