With Halloween fast approaching, the itching desire to be scared has started to escalate. Haunted houses, corn mazes and pumpkin patches are opening to the public.

In addition to those, the Third Annual Slash-N-Bash Horror Movie Festival took place on Oct. 5 and 6 at the West Ridge 8 Theatres.

The special guest of honor was actress Dee Wallace Stone. She has appeared in several movies including “The Howling,” “Cujo” and “E.T.” She spoke of how much she enjoyed being in horror movies and how there was something so unique about that acting style.

Other features that were shown on Saturday were Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” “Army of Darkness,” “The Lost Boys,” “Evil Dead II,” “Monster House,” “The Washingtonians,” “Sounds Like” and “Monster House.”

However, the main attraction on Friday was “Heartland of Horrors,” a collection of short films by Kansans. There were 10 pieces shown, ranging from three and a half to 13 minutes long. The clips were unique in their thought processes, showing new horror flick twists instead of banal outcomes.

Producers of “Heartland of Horrors” will soon begin work on a feature length horror film being shot in Lawrence. It will be the first full-length movie the team will create.

There were several horror junkies there that evening, including some Washburn students. Brittanie Marcotte, freshman, attended the films anxious to see “Heartland of Horrors.”

“It was really intriguing,” said Marcotte. “There were a couple of films that had me thinking long after I walked out of the movie theater.”