Zombos' Closet

Halloween Rattlin' Candy Coffin

This is actually quite creepy-cool: you pull on the skeleton's foot dangling out of the coffin and he shakes, rattles, and rolls like an Elvis Impersonator. The spider and web graphic on the coffin lid is a wonderful touch.

My Halloween: Halloween Addict

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Allhollow Steve of Halloween Addict who keeps his October Dreams in mind all through the year...

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

I think it's one of the few holidays that is really about fun. It hasn't been clouded by set-in-stone tradition, family politics, overcrowded holiday travel, gift buying stress, etc.  It's about the thrill of being out at night, getting free candy and treasures, dressing up in costumes, watching scary movies.

You can celebrate Halloween however you want: with loved ones indoors, traipsing through a corn maze at night, by the warm glowing warming glow of a television horror marathon, handing candy out to kids and families at your door, building a yard display for the community to walk by and see.  So many different things, and it's all about fun.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

My ideal Halloween would be waking up with a balanced Halloween breakfast of pumpkin pancakes and a bowl of a General Mills Monster Cereal. Then I'd be out the door embracing the crisp Fall day and off to the local pumpkin patch for pumpkin scrutinizing and picking. From there I'd head back home to read a little from my favorite Halloween tome "October Dreams" while sipping a pumpkin spice latte. With AMC's FearFest on, I'd spruce up my house with any last minute decorations and carve my jack o' lantern before the trick or treaters start showing up (I'll be the cool house giving out mini Jones Halloween sodas and full sized candy).  When the doorbell stops ringing I'll switch over to my annual tradition of watching Trick 'r Treat with the lights off. I'd close the evening with John Carpenter's Halloween.  Once the clock 'ticks to 12:01am on November 1st the magic of the night dissipates...

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

As a kid, I had a 55" classic Beistle jointed green-tinged skeleton that hung on my bedroom door every October.  I loved that thing.  When the skeleton got hung up I knew that candy wasn't far behind. As for collectibles/decorations I don't like, I'm not a huge fan of vintage Halloween collectibles. I think it comes down to the fact that I don't like googly-eyed jack o' lanterns. I like a traditional jack o' lantern with empty triangle eyes. There's something both friendly and sinister about that traditional look.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I can't quite remember my very first.  I know that one of my very first costumes was a Collegeville "Tiger" but the one I really look fondly on was when I was in Elementary School and asked for and received a Ben Cooper "Darth Vader" costume.  My mom had this black velvet cape from a Halloween party she and my dad had gone to a few years before and I swapped the crappy, short vinyl cape that came with the boxed costume with the huge, black velvet one.

I wore it to school for the October "costume day" (when the teachers parade the classes around to each other's classrooms). In my mind I WAS Darth Vader. There was no more authentic looking Vader in that parade.  Didn't matter that I was still wearing the bright yellow vinyl suit part that said "DARTH VADER" across the chest, or that the cape was red on the inside (clearly more Dracula than Vader), OR that I was only 3 1/2 feet tall and not a 6' 5" David Prowse, OR that the mask had a rubber band holding it to my head.  Didn't matter.  I was rockin' that Vader costume.  Even had the "Imperial March" tune stuck in my head as I tromped around.  I couldn't have been happier.

What's the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what's your answer?

Clever answer:

Question: Do you want to see something really scary?

Answer:  [attacking] Raawwwwwwwwr!

Straight answer:

Question: Would you like to make enough money doing HalloweenAddict.com to quit your day job and live comfortably?

Answer: Yes. Yes I would.

I Know What I Did Last Weekend

Hersheypark was a blast! The Wildcat is the most exhilirating wooden roller coaster ride I've ever experienced. It's bone jarring fun you can really sink your screams into.

Equally exhilirating, but not as gut-wrenching, is the Hersheypark Carrousel. An exquisite parade of fantasticly carved wooden horses, prancing proudly around regal chariots. Quick, can you name movies that had carousels in important scenes? (Hint: one is by Alfred Hitchcock.)

Two superb examples of our fantastic culture: one with a hint of fear, the other a merry nod of the head captured in color and motion.  Both go round and round, and up and down, and carry lots of riders.

But all good things, as the saying goes, so now I'm back to blogging, and catching up on all those reviews and skewy views piling up in the closet.

My Halloween: My Ghoul Friday

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with My Ghoul Friday who's the kind of girl you want to have around every day of the week, but especially on Halloween...

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is the one season of the year when the general public gets on the same page as they engage in play, and they see beauty in the dark.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

That's really tough. My ideal Halloween might be a bright, crisp, but not too cold day that started with pumpkin flavoured coffee before heading to a pumpkin patch that had different types and colours of pumpkins and gourds. After choosing a wheelbarrow full of goodies, and maybe consuming some hot apple cider, I would make my way to a place in the country - maybe a cottage - where I and my closest friends (Oooo and let's throw in a number of fellow haunters I've always wanted to meet) would spend the afternoon adding the final touches to decorations (would be nice if there was a barn available). There would be cooking over a fire and music as we got closer to evening. And the night would be capped off with some excellent horror movies and perhaps a few games. I suppose that's a bit boring. Even if we added attending a Halloween fair or parade in the afternoon, my ideal Halloween doesn't get very fancy.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

I have a plastic vintage black cat & pumpkin lamp I found at a second hand store for a dollar. It sits in my office year-round.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

If you've ever gone to my "About Me" page, you've read the story. It started when my parents let me spray paint a tombstone on the concrete wall of our basement for my Grade 4 Halloween party.

It was my first real Halloween party, and I wanted it to be great. I constructed a haunted house the length of the basement and led people through dangling, slimy snakes hanging from the ceiling - just one example of the many forms and obstacles waiting for them in the shadow. I hadn't gotten over my fear of the dark, and I was deathly afraid of being in the basement alone (never mind with the lights off), but to make sure I could see well enough to safely guide each guest one by one through the haunted space, I sat alone in the pitch black basement for 20 minutes before the party goers even started to arrive.

That's when she was born, the little ghoul in the basement. Since then, she has come back to me every year, usually in late summer, ready to build creatures for Halloween. Sure, she's there throughout the other months, peeking through my eyes at the newest horror film being released, or tickling my neck so I turn to see the brochure for the Festival of Fear coming to the city.

What's the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what's your answer?

Q: Can we, the general public, help you with time and donations to make your ideal Halloween come true?

A: And my answer is yes ;)

Halloween Howlin' Heads Candy Treat

Press the buttons on these Bowtie Pumpkin and Hooded Skull Howlin' Heads and their eyes light up while spooky sounds scare away the vampires while you eat the candy. I like candy treats that entertain you while you eat.

My Halloween: The Moon Is a Dead World

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Ryne who beams some Halloween rays from The Moon Is a Dead World to light up the night...

 

Why is Halloween important to you?

I can't remember when Halloween first became a staple of my life. Each Halloween in my younger years gets jumbled together into one big happy, spooky memory. I think, strangely enough, my love of Halloween began when I was eight or nine years old. My family was eating dinner in the living room on Halloween night when trick-or-treaters showed up at 5 o'clock! Trick-or-treating wasn't supposed to start until 7, and it was a surprise to us that anyone would begin so  early. For some reason, this memory sticks with me as the biggest reason of why I love Halloween so much. Maybe it was the fact that I was with my family on that fateful Halloween, or maybe it was the enthusiasm of the trick-or-treaters that visited so early. Either way, Halloween became one of my favorite times of year, and it still holds that magical feeling from when I was a kid.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

I prefer my Halloween spooky rather than playful, so the trick-or-treaters in my ideal Halloween would have to be decked out in scary apparel - no princesses or pirates allowed! Also, you know that scene in Trick 'r Treat where Anna Paquin walks down a forested path decorated on either side by jack-o-lanterns? That would be included as well, because the whole town gets caught up in the festivities.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

This is a little embarrassing, but I really enjoy the old McDonald's Halloween Happy Meal toys they gave out in the '90s - the ones that feature the Hamburgler, Grimace, and Ronald McDonald, where their costumes can be interchanged. It's a nostalgic thing for me, I guess, because it reminds me of my childhood. We've had them for years, and still never hesitate to put them around the house each Halloween.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

My very first Halloween...like I said, my past Halloweens are all a jumble of memories, but I think I had to have been 4 or 5. I was Frankenstein, and I had a fuzzy, puffy Frankenstein mask and clogs to make me taller. We put something on my neck to look like bolts, although I can't remember what we used.

What's the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what's your answer?

Q: Trick, or treat?

A: TRICK! For me, it's never about the candy!

Halloween 2010: Skull-Top Potion Bottles

Picked up this trio of small ceramic skull-top potion bottles at Marshalls...

My Halloween: Fascination With Fear

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Christine of Fascination With Fear who tells us what else holds her fascination...

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is my favorite day of the year.  Has been since I was small enough to know what a favorite is.  It's rather funny to think I love the holiday so much when I'm not really a big fan of kids (that alone should get me burned at the stake).  But it is such a fabulous time of the year.  In addition, October is my favorite month, and it's just capped off by the holiday.  Over the years, I've always tried to take off work on October 31st, and sometimes November 1st as well - as the horror movies run late into the night.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

Well I might piss the parents off here, but I don't have kids - so my Halloween is sans children.  Though I can very much appreciate kids in their costumes wandering aimlessly around my small town - I remember when I was a kid how much it meant to me.   But my perfect Halloween would consist of driving up to our cabin in the woods about an hour north of home (the one we lovingly dubbed the Evil Dead cabin, due to its similar look).  We'd have to take along our jack-o-lantern, cause that's only right.  I'd sit outside and read in the crisp fall air so I could smell the dead leaves and feel the last of the autumn sunshine, then I'd have the hubby start a campfire and we'd hang out around that toasting up some marshmallows and such.  Then of course, it would be horror movie central for the rest of the evening, capped off by a trip to the outhouse in the dead of night right at the edge of the (Blair Witch) woods.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

My movie (DVD/VHS) collection would have to be my biggest horror/Halloween collection, but I do have a ton of Halloween decor. As I get older I cringe at the thought of putting it all away in November, so I haven't been putting out quite as much. But I love antique looking Halloween collectibles - things that look decades old. Oh, and I collect witches.  Lots of them.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I grew up in western Pennsylvania, so sometimes it can actually snow around Halloween. I recall one year when I was quite young and wanting to be a veterinarian for Halloween (you know, scrubs and a stuffed dog -real inspired), but it turned out to be like, thirty degrees outside. Hence, my hunter costume. Yep, camo and a shotgun.  Unloaded of course, but this was back in the day when a seven year old could tote a gun around town without getting thrown in juvie. Oh well, that big coat held a lot of extra candy.

What's the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what's your answer?

Q: Why doesn't my town hold Trick-or-Treat AT NIGHT???

A: I've been asking myself that question for over thirty years.  Runs in my mind when I was small, we trick-or-treated at night.  Folks with the porch light on were handing out candy, if the house was dark you steered clear (or threw corn at it later on). Later in my teens, my town changed it to daylight only. From around noon till 4pm. And no, my town is not full of crime.  At all.  There is no real reason why kids can't trick-or-treat at night here.  It makes me so mad when I think about it, them taking away our fun and making kids even more afraid of the dark than usual.

The Wolf Man Teeth for Halloween

These teeth aren't as formidable looking as the Wolf Teeth appliance. They're more for nibbling rather than biting out chunks of flesh...

My Halloween: Spooky Little Girl

Five questions asked over a glowing Jack o'Lantern, under an Autumn moon obscured by passing clouds...in between mouthfuls of candy corn...with Zombie Ballerina dancing at Spooky Little Girl all Halloween Night long...

Why is Halloween important to you?

Halloween is, needless to say, my favorite time of year. It has an air of mystery and magic about it, and no matter how old I get, that magic never quite fades. I think Halloween gives people a great opportunity to have a little fun with "the dark side," something that is ignored or abhorred all too often throughout the rest of the year. During the entire month of October, there are things that appeal directly to my interests everywhere I look; even a mundane trip to the drugstore can be fun. TV programming is just a little bit better, there are haunted houses and horror movie revival screenings everywhere, and finally - finally! - it feels like everyone is on the same page as me.

Describe your ideal Halloween.

I would love to throw an amazing Halloween party in a quintessentially spooky old mansion. (Think 1313 Mockingbird Lane, or Hill House.) Someplace vast and eerie and unsettling. Themed food, including an array of pumpkin-based dishes, both savory and sweet. No one is admitted without a scary costume; no joke costumes or T-shirts that say "THIS IS MY COSTUME" allowed.

Ideally, during the course of the evening, myself and my partygoers would somehow manage to raise the dead, who would emerge from the backyard cemetery to perform an elaborately choreographed creepy dance, a la Thriller.

What Halloween collectibles do you cherish, or hate, or both?

My boyfriend and I have a small but much loved collection of Spooky Town houses and similar Halloween figurines, which we display year round. I also have a soft spot in my heart for old school paper decorations - cutouts of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, etc., the likes of which you can buy at any party supply store for like 50 cents.

When was your very first Halloween, the one where you really knew it was Halloween, and how was it?

I think I was around 3 or 4 years old. I remember piles of dead leaves and cheap black capes and crying when I saw how ugly I looked in my witch costume, with my carefully applied green makeup and spirit gum wart (courtesy of my mom). I remember trick-or-treating shyly and feeling intimidated by the older kids and their rambunctiousness, but I also remember feeling excited and intensely curious about what was going on.

What's the one Halloween question you want to be asked and what's your answer?

Q: What is your favorite Halloween-appropriate song?

And the answer is a tie: "Spooky" by the Classics IV (of course!) and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult.

Halloween Wolf Teeth

Great artwork on the card and big chompers to put the bite on Halloween...

Halloween Monster Teeth A Dentist's Nightmare

And the best part is one size fits all...

Targets (1968): Is This What I Was Afraid Of? Part 2

WHY? The invariable question of today's headlines about the random sniper-murder of innocent people is never answered in "Targets." This is the only flaw, and a serious one, in the original and brilliant melodrama that opened yesterday at the 46th Street Embassy Theater. (Howard Thompson, New York Times movie review, 1968)

 

Part 1

The greatest fear is the one breathing down your neck with its hands in your pockets. You can ask all the questions you want, but no answers will come. They never do. So you make up your own answers to satisfy yourself that you know WHY. But you never really do. There is no real WHY. There's only how, and when, and who will be next.

Clean cut, upper middle-class Charles Whitman went on a shooting spree at the University of Texas at Austin, indiscriminately killing or injuring anyone he could target in his 4x Leopold Scope, mounted on his hunting rifle. Why he did that on an ordinary day in August, 1966, is anyone's guess. He had a brain tumor. He had a ruptured family life with a domineering, perfectionist father. He had an unhappy marriage. He had too many guns.

Bobby Thompson (Tim O'Kelly), the indiscriminate, sniping murderer in Targets is Bogdanovich's Whitman. Bobby's unhappy but he doesn't know why. Bobby wants to murder his family, but he's not sure why. Bobby needs to shoot as many people dead as possible. We don't know why. Not knowing why is the true horror in Targets, and a brilliant understatement by Bogdanovich.  The remaining horror is death; all the death Bobby deals through his targeting scope and the fear of death the aged and tired Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff) feels breathing down his neck. Roger Corman may have insisted Bogdanovich use Karloff's contracted time, and the extra minutes of footage from Karloff's movies (The Terror and The Criminal Code) to pad the film's running time, but Bogdanovich turns this budget thriller into a masterpiece of terror by incorporating those minutes as essential extensions to his story while allowing Karloff's notoriety to flesh out Orlok's credibility: they enhance the film's theme of fait accompli death; the irreconcilable one brought about by Bobby's hand, and the impending one soon to overtake Orlok, who, at the end of his career is closer to Death's hand and now questions the worth of his life and career. Both men are preoccupied with death, but Orlok turns inwardly to shut off his future while Bobby turns outwardly to shut down his past.

Orlok doesn't want to do any more movies. He turns down Sammy's (Peter Bogdanovich) next script and suddenly decides to retire from the screen. Bobby doesn't want to keep living the way he does so he starts planning his family's murder and the killing spree. A glimpse into his car trunk reveals an arsenal of firepower, lovingly arranged like butterflies stuck on needles in a glass showcase to be admired. From a gun shop Bobby examines his new gun scope closely. He chances on seeing Orlok across the street and lines up the famed horror actor in the crosshairs. Afterwards, Bobby eats candy bars and blasts his car radio while he drives around to find the perfect killing ground along the Reseda Freeway. Orlok heads off to enjoy a quiet dinner, celebrating his retirement from movies where, as he says, anyone can be painted up to scare the audience these days.

Sammy persists. He shows up in Orlok's hotel room, script in hand. He gets drunk with Orlok as they watch The Criminal Code. Both sleep it off. Orlok's assistant, Jenny (Nancy Hsueh), convinces Orlok to reconsider Sammy's movie offer. Orlok also finally agrees to do the personal appearance he promised for the Reseda Drive-In, during the screening of his The Terror. While preparing his questions and answers for the appearance, Orlok, annoyed by the flippant interviewer (Sandy Baron) he's to appear with, recommends he tell a story instead. Bogdanovich pulls the camera in close as Orlok, now Karloff the Uncanny, relates the ironic twist of fate in An Appointment in Samarra. Not only does Bogdanovich pay homage to a master craftsman whose name is synonymous with horror cinema, but he uses this wonderful opportunity to further his theme of death.

Both Orlok and Bobby have an appointment to keep at the Reseda Drive-In. Orlok arrives in his limousine and waits for his interview. Bobby sees an opportunity to evade the police and hides behind the screen after his earlier rampage sniping at cars on the Reseda Freeway is interrupted. One by one he begins to shoot people in the audience, until someone notices what's going on and spreads the warning there's a sniper. Cars begin to leave, prompting Orlok to joke how much they enjoy his movie. Bogdanovich shows scenes of Orlok/Karloff in The Terror in-between scenes of Bobby killing Drive-In patrons, contrasting old horror with new. One scene, the one which upset me when I first watched Targets--and still does each time I see it--involves a dome-lighted car interior, a crying youngster, and his unfortunate father. We see the youngster's face first, the tears, the terror on his face; then we see his father shot through the head: unexpected death in an unsuspecting place. In this single moment, Bogdanovich shows us the most important thing we need to know about true horrors: it does not come from seeing the monster, but from seeing the monster's aftermath.

Orlok, seeing Bobby has a rife, goes after him with his cane. Bobby, confronted by an approaching Orlok on the big screen behind him and the approaching Orlok in front of him, becomes confused. Orlok knocks the gun from Bobby's hands, proclaiming  "Is this what I was afraid off?"  As the police grab Bobby, he boasts he rarely missed.

And isn't that what we're all afraid of?

Targets makes us miss Boris Karloff and his world of horror even more, even if it was frighteningly predictable; unlike Bobby's consumerist world of mass murder purchased with a credit card, where you never know who will be painted up next to scare us in our safe, unsuspectinging places.

 

 

Halloween Frankie and Friends Door Covers

These Happy Halloween door decorations set the mood rather well, don't you think?

 

Blogging Around: Lovecraft

HPL eternal lies, but always roams, and never dies...

Larry Latham investigates why Lovecraft is Missing. Clues can be found in his webcomic, along with tentacled monsters and more...

Chris Perridas explores H. P. Lovecraft and His Legacy. 1908: Not a good year for Lovecraft. 1907 had started off terrific - he met Percival Lowell! - and then as he was heading for 18, he derailed somewhere along the way. No college. No career. Just sadness for a long time.

David Kidd asks What's Mouldy and Shadowy and Full of Dim Rumours? The H.P. Lovecraft news wire. Here, you'll find an aggregation of news and bits and pieces about, or derived from, his works and legacy, including fiction, art, interviews, film, comics, games, and more.

An antiquarian of questionable pursuits leans precariously over the edge to catch Papers Falling From An Attic Window. I’m a librarian and the author of the Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia and, with John Wisdom Gonce III, The Necronomicon Files.

Justin Woodman listens to sibilant Whispers From the Ghooric Zone. Whilst the thick, gloopy strands of Azathothian entropy have entangled us further and drawn us deeper into the unreflective depths of cosmic ennui, we at Ghooric Zone are still making the occasional attempt - as the mood takes us - to pass on our reflections on Lovecraftian popular culture.

Even Yog-Sothoth will have His say. Yog-Sothoth is devoted to Lovecraftian games and media, as well as the works of Jazz Age author, H.P. Lovecraft and those he inspired.

Wrap your Tentaclii around HPL. An occasion literary and visual arts blog on the famous author.