QUEENS — Zombies are taking over Long Island City this weekend.
The neighborhood will host a number of Halloween events this Saturday, including a zombie march and a beer garden that will be transformed into a "fear" garden.
The zombie march will take place around 5Pointz, a graffiti mecca on Davis Street. The event will kick off at The Shannon Pot bar at 45-06 Davis St. around 5 p.m.
The march will be followed by the inaugural Long Island City Horror Film Festival, which will be held at 5Pointz and the nearby Local Project Art Space.
“It will be a massive event,” said Jason Artiga, one of the organizers and the festival artistic curator, who also lives in the neighborhood.
Artiga, who said he expected several hundred people to participate, hopes the event will become "an art epicenter for Long Island City."
At The Shannon Pot, free zombie make up will be provided. Zombies can also participate in producing short videos that will be edited for a mini-movie directed by Artiga.
About 20 short films will be shown during this free festival, some directed by Queens filmth makers, including "The Story of Mrs. Crumley" by Byron Guinanzaca; "Sacrebleu" by Fabian Elias Jimenez; and "Tenant Patrol" by Ray and Rita Normandeau.
The event will end with an after-party where a well-known hip-hop artist, Dj Marley Marl will spin.
If all that is not enough, fear lovers can also visit Studio Square, a vast beer garden on 36th Street in Long Island City, which on Saturday night will turn into a "garden of fear."
The 30,000-square foot open air space will be pumped full of a thick mist, and suds enthusiasts will have to find their way to the "blood cafe," passing at their peril by numerous spiders, spooks and graves.
There will be a rock 'n roll karaoke in front of a live band and a costume contest. The grand prize will be two round trip vouchers from JetBlue to a choice of destinations — limited only by where JetBlue flies. Drink specials include $15 pitchers of Pyrat Rum Punch. The cover charge will be $10.
For those who want to honor the spooky tradition, but prefer a little less fright, the Greater Astoria Historical Society is hosting what it bills as “a tour of murder and mystery along the Long Island City waterfront.”
The walk, according to the historical society's website, “will take place along the treacherous East River as tales are told of those lost long ago among the churning whirlpools and electric eels." Participants will hear the history of the Hell Gate and the sinking of both the HMS Hussar and the General Slocum.
The tour starts at 11 a.m. under the Hell Gate Bridge in Astoria Park (Shore Boulevard) and will continue along the waterfront to Socrates Sculpture Park. It costs $20 ($15 for historical society members and ghouls in costume).
