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Halloween is a holiday for mischief and mayhem. Halloween is a holiday for outsiders. Halloween is a holiday for Edgar Allan Poe.

“He had directed, in great part, the moveable embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders. Be sure they were grotesque. There were much glare and glitter and piquancy and phantasm” (from “The Masque of the Red Death”).

Students looking for much glare, glitter, piquancy and phantasm this Halloween can turn to Poe as their ringmaster once again. Tonight at 8 p.m. in Royce Hall “Never Bet the Devil Your Head,” a Poe extravaganza of readings, music and performance co-produced by Hal Willner and Janine Nichols, will be held. UCLA Performing Arts is selling all tickets for the event at a discounted $15 for students, and anyone (student or civilian) willing to brave the last-minute madness can try to get tickets 30 minutes before the show for $15.

Among the show’s performers will be Antony and the Johnsons, Will Ferrell, Harry Shearer, Howard Hessman, Michael Rooker, Karen Black, and yes, Velvet Underground legend Lou Reed.

“Lou loves Hal,” Nichols said.

Reed even loves Willner enough to have re-written Poe’s most famous poem “The Raven” to perform at the event, as well as working with him on an entire album of Poe-inspired material scheduled to be released in January. Willner and Nichols described Reed’s “Raven” as “amazing” and “astonishing,” not to mention that Nichols said Reed will also be performing some older material (Velvet or “Transformer,” anyone?).

Like a reinterpretation of “The Raven” suggests, “Never Bet the Devil Your Head” is not a show about resting on your laurels and letting Poe’s words do all the work. The title story, which wasn’t even performed at last year’s event, was re-cut to fit the evening’s tone.

“We thought (the title was) a good overview, because Poe writes all about what’s in your head,” Nichols said. “But then we were able to cut it in a way we thought really worked. And Howard (Hessman, who will be reading the story) laughed out loud when he read it.”

Comedy, it turns out, can work just as well with Poe’s stories as gloominess. Just look at the names like Ferrell and Shearer.

“It’s nice to have someone with a comic sensibility, because there’s a sick comic element to a lot of it,” Nichols said. “Poe’s stories in a lot of ways aren’t really scary, but they cause you to think ... because they’re so over the top and metaphorical.”

This year’s event is Willner’s fourth Poe show (one year he did the Marquis de Sade), and second at UCLA. The first two were in St. Anne’s church in New York, but, according to Willner, the event now is much more consistent, professional and less dangerous – although it’s tough to replace a gothic church for Poe readings. To that end Nichols said they’ll be raiding the prop house for items like a chandelier or a candelabra.

“We’ll have some set pieces, but it’s certainly not high theater. It’s like jazz, very improvisational,” Nichols said.

As open to new ideas and innovation as Willner and Nichols are, Willner cautions that Poe isn’t the easiest thing to read.

“(The works of) Edgar Allan Poe are beautiful to read out loud, they’re effective,” Willner said. “But you can’t just put on a jacket, show up, and read it cold.”

While the show clocked in at around four hours last year, Nichols guessed that it would be about three hours tonight including intermission, but with so many creative people onstage, she couldn’t say for sure.

“You can’t overstate Poe’s importance in American literature,” Nichols said. “For me it’s a can’t miss (event).”