FILM

HORROR NIGHT DOUBLE FEATURE

RALEIGH ROAD OUTDOOR THEATRE, HENDERSON

FRIDAY, OCT. 31

Two horror filmsone a vintage studio production, the other a new, local, independent effortmake a perfect Halloween-night double feature at a drive-in theater near Raleigh. 1959’s The House on Haunted Hill, a bona fide classic starring Vincent Price, is an archetypal take on the “spend the night in a haunted house for money” concept, leagues scarier than the limp 1999 remake. It’s paired with the premiere of another “survive the night” film, Honeyspider, a retro-flavored feature by independent filmmakers Kenny Capertonthe same guy who built a replica of the Myers House from Halloween in Hillsboroughand Josh Hasty. Locally filmed and produced, the movie is set on Halloween in 1989, when college student and movie theater employee Jackie Blue finds the supernatural and the murderous seeping off the silver screen and into her real lifeor whatever remains of it. 8:45 p.m., $7, 3336 Raleigh Rd., 252-438-6959, www.raleighroaddrivein.com. Brian Howe

THEATER

INTO THE WOODS AND A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM | PAUL GREEN THEATRE, CHAPEL HILL

SATURDAY, NOV. 1–SUNDAY, DEC. 7

Originally, someone was “bewildered” when they were literally abducted into the wilderness and left there without maps or supplies. Though Shakespeare and Sondheim don’t seem like particularly organic partners for PlayMakers Rep’s annual rotating repertory slot, bewilderment in a forest presages transformations in both. And in each, lovers or family members being treated as possessions sets off a series of unexpected consequences. In Sondheim’s 1986 Tony-winning musical, a witch (Lisa Brescia, from PRC’s Cabaret) teaching a gaggle of modern-day fairy tale characters a thing or two about personal property must also learn a lesson of her own. And in the Bard’s comic, cosmic meditation from the 1590s, fairies and mortals alike must sort through charges false and true. Artistic director Joseph Haj and musical director Mark Hartman lead us into the Woods; guest Shana Cooper reiterates the Dream she directed in March at California Shakespeare Theater. 7:30 p.m. Tues.–Sun.; 2 p.m. Sat.–Sun., $10–$52, 150 Country Club Rd., 919-962-7529, www.playmakersrep.org. Byron Woods

MUSIC

PALLBEARER, TOMBS, VATTNET VISKAR | LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL | FRIDAY, OCT. 31

At which rural Orange County crossroads did the new owners of Local 506 meet Beelzebub in order to make a deal for the arrival of this show on Halloween? This three-band get is not only one of the best touring metal packages of the year but one of the most holistically dynamic, too. From Arkansas, headliners Pallbearer render gorgeous, graceful doom that, despite its loaded volume and 10-minute track times, bends toward popular accessibility; their second album, Foundations of Burden, feels like enjoying your brush with mortality, smiling at the lip of the void. New Hampshire’s Vattnet Viskar offer an economic alternative to Deafheaven, trimming some of that band’s wide-sky, sentimental excess so that their still-grandiose black metal moves with maximum efficiency. Likewise, New York’s Tombs are delightfully mechanical and precise, bending wires of black, death and industrial metal across a complicated math-rock skeleton; their new album, Savage Gold, requires no costumes in order to sound tough. Chapel Hill’s Solar Halos open. 8 p.m., $12–$14, 506 W. Franklin St., 919-942-5506, local506.com. Grayson Haver Currin

ALICE GERRARD

THE ARTSCENTER, CARRBORO | THURSDAY, OCT. 30

On a recent sunny autumn afternoon, I drove to Duke Gardensnot to see the plants but to catch another Durham treasure, folk and bluegrass icon Alice Gerrard. Alongside Hiss Golden Messenger’s Mike Taylor, she played “Strange Land,” the second track from her new Taylor-produced LP, Follow the Music, a beautiful record drawn perfectly from pools of melancholy and reflection. The way Gerrard’s voice spilled across the dirt path and late-blooming flowers of the Discovery Garden gave me chills, powerful as it was to be in the presence of someone so crucial to a genre in such an intimate setting. Taylor again joins Gerrard for this CD release party and on Saturday at Durham’s Dear Hearts, where she’ll help celebrate the first anniversary of the vintage boutique. 8 p.m., $10–$15, 300 E. Main St., 919-929-2787, www.artscenterlive.org. Allison Hussey

ROBYN HITCHCOCK

KINGS, RALEIGH

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5–THURSDAY, NOV. 6

A beguiling and unpredictable performer in all the right ways, Robyn Hitchcock never plays the same show twice. Last winter, during a two-night stand in the Cat’s Cradle’s Back Room, he served up deep album tracks and audience favorites on one night, only to return for a set that drew heavily on covers like “A Day in the Life” and “Dead Flowers” the next. At one point, he strummed his way through the crowd. None of this seems surprising for a songwriter whose principal touchstones are Dylan, the Byrds and Lewis Carroll. Whichever mode of Hitchcock you happen to catch, expect plenty of his trademark stage stories, which the word “banter” does not even begin to cover. 8 p.m., $20–$23, 14 W. Martin St., 919-833-1091, kingsbarcade.com. David Klein