Trick-or-treating, costume parties, scary movies — these Halloween activities all go better when they fall on a Friday or Saturday night with no school or work the next day. Throw in an extra hour of sleep Sunday due to the change back to standard time and there’s even more reason for nighttime fun to celebrate this Halloween. It looks like local planners are well aware of this as there’s a busy weekend of Halloween events from now till Sunday. Here’s a sample of what’s happening.

Baylor University organists play music suitable for the creepy season at the 19th annual Halloween Organ Concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Jones Concert Hall in the McCrary Music Building. Admission is free.

The program includes Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Saint-Saens’s “Danse Macabre,” P.D.Q. Bach’s “Toot Suite” and Richard Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries.”

The concert will feature a costume parade, spooky orange lighting and dancing skeletons. The organists will be in costume, and audience members are encouraged to dress up.

Kids get to trick-or-treat on the Cameron Park Zoo grounds — but not in the animals’ cages — in the zoo’s annual Zoo Boo, held at 6 p.m. Saturday at the zoo, 1701 N. Fourth St. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for children 4 to 12.

Participants can visit the herpatarium, the Flower Garden Reef and the Asian Forest as they trick-or-treat. Children must be accompanied by an adult.

There’s nothing like sharing horror movies with a crowd and several Waco venues will give that opportunity this weekend.

The Waco Hippodrome Theatre will screen two films in separate showings on Friday night . The locally made zombie movie Risen starts the evening at 7 p.m., with tickets costing $5 for adults, $3 for senior adults and students.

After Risen, the theater will be cleared for a midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with audience response led by a Waco shadow cast group called the Unholy Herd of Hotdogs.

The UHH will sell a prop bag for $5 with goodies needed for audience participation parts, though fans can bring their own material with the exception of rice, confetti, water pistols, toast, hot dogs and prunes (bags will be checked). Admission costs $10 and the propless can buy bags of Rocky Horror necessities from UHH members. Risen is unrated and The Rocky Horror Picture Show is rated R.

On Halloween night, the Hippodrome will show the 1973 classic The Exorcist at 7 p.m. Admission is $5 and $3. The movie is rated R.

Baylor-area coffeehouse Common Grounds will offer a Halloween movie, too, screening the German silent film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari at 8 p.m. Saturday as part of a fundraiser for the independent film Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Good.

The event runs from 3 p.m. to midnight at the coffeehouse, 1123 S. Eighth St., and features the bands OneWomanBandit, The Eyes Project, Cosmic Ice, Lesser Beggars, Delays and Whispers, Five Dollar Shake and the UP3s. Admission costs $5 for an armband.

Mentalist Blake Herridge — performing name Blake Adams — says up front his act isn’t magic, but sharpened behavioral observation. “I won’t read your mind, but I do pick up clues from how you act or answer,” he said.

Adams, 24, performs at approximately 8 p.m. Friday at Common Grounds, 1123 S. Eighth St. It’s part of an afternoon and evening event to raise funds for the indie film Hear No Evil, See No Evil, Speak No Good, and Adams’ audience is a preferred one: college students. “They get it,” he said.

He’s also part of that college population, currently studying for a Masters of Divinity in Baylor’s Truett Seminary.

Adams anticipates the next question without having to read minds. He often performs at church functions, sometimes shares a Christian message and doesn’t depend on deceiving an audience as much as watching it closely. “I don’t contact the dead or read the stars,” he added.

While the San Antonio native started as a kid with magic tricks and some simple sleight-of-hand, he found mentalism more of a challenge and equally entertaining.

“A lot of my effects are based on psychology,” he said, adding there’s some major differences in preparing one’s act: You can’t practice in front of a mirror, nor can you read your own mind. There’s a healthy measure of trial-and-error, at least in the beginning, as a mentalist works on observational skills as well as implanting suggestions in his subjects. “When you start, you mess up a lot and look like a fool,” he explained.

After several years, Adams has a polished routine that includes tricks like staple gun roulette; slamming his hand down on disposable cups, one of which hides a metal spike; and sightless vision, where he guesses what object an audience volunteer might be holding.

Adams tries to keep his performing life separate from his personal one, but there’s often an intersection. One seminary professor couldn’t resist the temptation and told Adams if he could guess the first question on a test, everyone in class would get five bonus points. Adams said he got lucky, guessed correctly — and found classmates in other classes lobbying him for similar help.

He said he keeps his mentalist tricks out of his relationships, but noted he’s encountered at least one social consequence to his work.

“A lot of people don’t want to play cards with me,” he said.

A clever ghost story and a costume ball highlight the Waco Civic Theatre’s Halloween weekend. The theater will continue its run of “The Woman in Black,” an eerie ghost story, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the theater, 1517 Lake Air Drive. Tickets cost $13 for adults, $10 for senior adults and students.

The theater stages its annual Masquerade Ball beginning at 6:30 p.m. Saturday. A buffet catered by Patti’s Kitchen and dance music provided by the band Sandusky will follow the play. Tickets cost $25, $17 for season-ticket holders. Call 776-1591 for information.

It’s not Halloween, but an observance for many at this time of year: El Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead.

Art Center Waco continues its tradition of marking El Dia de los Muertos with a public celebration from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday in memory of family, friends and loved ones who’ve died over the last year.

The celebration at the center, 1300 College Drive, includes a public ofrenda, or offering, music and dancing. Admission is free.

The Waco-area’s two longtime haunted houses (at least during Octobers), the Museum of Horrors and the Chainsaw Nightmare Haunted House, head into their final nights of frights tonight through Saturday night.

The two houses, located at Interstate 35 Exit 345 near Elm Mott, will be open from 8 p.m. to midnight all three nights. Admission is $13 per haunted house or $20 for both houses. Those who bring two canned goods can get a $2 discount on the ticket price. Call (254) VAM-PIRE for information.

Five Texas bands provide the music at this weekend’s H.O.T. Howl-O-Ween Biker Bash held at Lost Prairie Cycles Ranch near Groesbeck.

The fourth annual bash, held Friday through Sunday, features motorcycle contests and shows; Halloween costume, bikini, wet T-shirt and “naughty nighty” contests; poker runs, dirt drags and bonfires. Admission is $40 and for those 21 years and older. Free tent camping is available with RVs charged $35 for the weekend on a space-available basis.

The bash is located at 5544 State Highway 164 East, Lost Prairie. Call (254) 729-3104 for information.