Halloween Underground Cinema | The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Nightmare Before Christmas is screening at The Undercroft, Cardiff Castle on Saturday 31 October, part of the Halloween Underground Cinema. It's presented by Darkened Rooms, who've taken over the castle's stone-vaulted Undercroft for the day, dressing it with spooky decorations and an eerie ambience to turn the space into an underground cinema.

The programme they're running this year goes from family-friendly Halloween favourites to full-blooded horror, and this screening brings Tim Burton's animated classic to the screen. It's the one you know: Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, stumbles upon a portal to Christmas Town and decides to celebrate its traditions in his own way. The film is rated PG and runs for 73 minutes, so it's a short one that works for younger kids as well as adults. It's been enchanting audiences for 30 years now, so it's a familiar sight for a lot of us.

Because it's in the Undercroft, you're watching it beneath the castle walls rather than in a proper cinema, which is half the point of the whole thing. The stone vaulting and the Halloween decor set the scene before the film even starts, and the PG rating means it's a safe bet for a family outing on the day itself. If you're taking children, it's a good way to get them into the spirit of the date without anything too intense.

Tickets are £15 for adults (16+) and £9 for children (2-15). The screening is on Saturday 31 October at 10:00, so it's a morning session rather than an evening one. The Undercroft is inside Cardiff Castle on Castle Street, CF10 3RB.