Seven

The Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture will capitalize on the house’s natural spookiness by hosting a family-friendly open house Monday for the second year.

It turns out that the British prog rock band Jethro Tull and the 18th-century agriculturalist Jethro Tull have more in common than just a name. Ian Anderson, the now-defunct group’s longtime frontman, performs some of Jethro Tull’s most famous tunes at Northern Quest Resort and Casino on Saturday, and it’s a show that also functions as a musical biography of its namesake.

Imagine a less spry and agile Indiana Jones and you have Professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a Harvard professor of religious iconography and symbology (not a real academic discipline). He’s riddled his way from the page to the screen in the wildly popular “The DaVinci Code,” and “Angels & Demons,” adapted from Dan Brown’s series of quasi-religious, art history-inspired mystery novels most likely to be found on the shelf of an Airbnb rental. Now imagine a less spry and agile Indiana Jones in “The Hangover,” with shades of “Contagion” wafting about, and you have the third film in the trilogy, “Inferno.”

The typical fairy tale ending gets thrown by the wayside at Coeur d’Alene Murder Mystery Theatre’s “Fairy Tale Murder Show,” a murder mystery show just in time for Halloween.

The last time the British metalcore band Asking Alexandria played Spokane in 2014, it was to a sold out crowd with a lead singer who has since quit the group. Now touring behind its brooding breakup album “The Black,” the band, anchored by guitarist and songwriter Ben Bruce, returns to the Knitting on Thursday,

Our guide to thing to do on the cheap in the Inland Northwest.

A fall trip to Greenbluff for pumpkins and apples is practically obligatory. But, it’s not the only place to go to find your perfect jack-o’-lantern.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is a serious undertaking. It runs nearly 100 minutes, it leapfrogs from one distinct style to another and it requires an orchestra of 200 or so. Mahler isn’t known for his brevity, but this is the longest piece in his ouvre, and he reportedly referred to it as “My Monster.” The Spokane Symphony continues its season with a Classics program devoted entirely to the Austrian composer’s landmark piece, which was performed in full for the first time in 1902.

At this point in his career, Paul Nelson has pretty much done it all. As a guitarist, he’s worked with Steve Vai, Eric Clapton, Kool and the Gang’s J.T. Taylor, Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and countless others. He was also the longtime guitarist and friend of legendary blues musician Johnny Winter.

The ending of “ ’night, Mother” isn’t exactly a surprise: It’s basically announced at the play’s outset. What is

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to hand over your conscience to somebody else?” asks Deborah Lipstadt (Rachel Weisz), eyes wide. That’s the fascinating idea behind Mick Jackson’s drama “Denial,” based on a real-life lawsuit argued in a London courtroom in 2000. Lipstadt, an American historian and professor (early in her career, she was a faculty member in the University of Washington’s Jewish Studies department), was sued for libel in 1996 by British author and Holocaust denier David Irving (Timothy Spall). Refusing to settle the case, Lipstadt went to court – and had to sit quietly while British lawyers (led by Richard Rampton, played by Tom Wilkinson) argued her case for her. It’s one of those stories that perhaps makes a better book than a movie (Lipstadt has written about the experience, in the memoir “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier”). The film never finds a distinctive visual language, and screenwriter David Hare struggles to simplify a complex case. The characters here are constantly explaining legal matters to each other, for the benefit of the audience.

Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) will use a gun if the situation calls for it, but he prefers to use his fists. His punches in “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” don’t so much land as explode like cannon shots, decimating car windows, cement walls and the faces of his enemies: soldiers turned mercenaries with grown-out buzz cuts. Reacher’s former military himself, an ex-major (emphasis on the “ex”) in the Military Police Corps.

A wise person once claimed “comparison is the thief of joy” – wise words to keep in mind when impossibly perfect, gorgeous, worldly new neighbors move into the cul-de-sac, as they do in the action-comedy “Keeping Up with the Joneses.” But those Joneses (Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot) aren’t exactly what they seem, and have more than a few surprises up their tailored sleeves.

For a horror sequel built around a foundation of genre trends, “Ouija: Origin of Evil” contains far more goofy-spooky-fun than one might expect. This prequel to 2014’s “Ouija” takes the retro approach that has made “The Conjuring” franchise so appealing, and layers it on top of the classic little girl possessed narrative. The result isn’t so original, but it sports plenty of stylized thrills and chills that might make you think twice about a night with the Ouija board.

Few pieces of theater better represent the culture’s shifting social mores than “The Rocky Horror Show.” What was seen as a risque cult curiosity upon its premiere in 1973 is now a beloved mainstream classic, thanks in large part to the 1975 film adaptation that still plays to sold-out midnight audiences around the country. The show’s depiction of bold sexuality and gender non-conformity might not seem so controversial anymore, but Spokane Civic Theatre’s upcoming production of Richard O’Brien’s sci-fi musical is likely going to raise a few eyebrows.