This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

Annual Village Voice Halloween Parade was a little glum this year. Not enough floats or glitter or drag queens. The general level of super creative freaks appeared to be a bit lower than usual. All apparently due to a lack of funding and sponsorship: including a newly enforced 15th street cutoff(?!) Wild. What is New York City coming to?

At least these lovely sisters were there.

Well, there were still some other awesome goings on. Reina Terror celebrated a Halloween birthday at Blue Ruin in Hell's Kitchen (@538 Ninth Ave.) by serving up some scary drinks and performing a pretty fantastic fire show.

The crowd at Blue Ruin was looking better than most parade-goers: a tediously constructed DIY gladiator costume (yes, that is a zillion and one red pipe cleaners) and a convincing Clockwork Orange Alex were among the best costumes of the night.

Michele @ Blue Ruin

Would've brought a tear to Kubrick's eye.

My lack of a costume was pretty disheartening, especially after last year's wicked Silent Hill Nurse getup. On the upside: there's always next year...