A Septic Spiel of Spooky Scares, Super Heroes, and Strange Stories from Miles Beneath the Crud of New Jersey!
Dunkin’ Donuts: get your medium coffee and the shit scared out of you! Many of the Dunkin’ Donuts locations in New Jersey decorate for Halloween, but a relatively small D&D in Perth Amboy, NJ went beyond hanging a few cobwebs and the face of a cardboard witch, they transformed into a virtual haunted house! It’s awesome when the Halloween spirit even spreads to store owners. Enjoy some of the pictures I was able to snap!
The Sexy Armpit wishes all of you a Happy Halloween, and to celebrate here’s some NJ related videos from YouTube that will scare up the spirits:
YouTube user clarkkent1367 posted a news clip reporting when Castle Dracula burned down.
Mike Spade’s legendary Halloween display:
Here’s one that I first saw at our friend The Retroist‘s site, A Halloween Safety video from 1977! The adviser was the Toms River, NJ Chief of Police! Posted by YouTube user vancefink.
October is the time of year that excites me beyond belief. The eerie nights filled with cool air bring to mind memories of Halloween and horror movies. Halloween time is the best time to be a part of this grand blogosphere thanks to what is known as The Countdown to Halloween. It’s a month chock full of the coolest scary, ghoulish, and horrific posts we bloggers can come up with. Of course, not all posts are scary. Some posts will be about candy, costumes, or decorations and that just adds to the fun.
Whether you are a blogger, a reader, let yourself get wrapped up in the mood of the Halloween season. To begin the celebration I’ve compiled a list of the most entertaining posts from past Halloween Countdowns. If you missed any, be sure to check them out, it’s much appreciated! As for this year, there’s so much material to post and I can’t wait! Also, look out for the long awaited next installment of Jay’s Nocturna Mission!
To be part of the Countdown to Halloween, and find out what other sites are participating, visit Shawn Robare, John Rozum, and Jon K at HQ: http://www.countdowntohalloween.com/ or you can click on the link on the top right of the sidebar.
I’m shocked that Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 didn’t fare too well at the box office this past weekend. Are people still skeptical about this beloved horror franchise being in Zombie’s demonic hands? I figured they would’ve gotten over that by now. Or is it just that moviegoers would rather watch crappy, uninspired retreads? If you saw Halloween 2 this weekend here’s my question to you: Would you have been more satisfied by a run of the mill Halloween film on par with every installment released from ’88 – ’02?
Zombie’s Halloween 2 didn’t live up to my expectations as a Halloween film nor as a Rob Zombie film. The film was well made, but the atmospheric tension and creepiness that the 1978 original had in abundance seemed to be tossed aside. Even Zombie’s first Halloween outing retained some of that mood. Halloween 2 didn’t even feature John Carpenter’s Halloween theme music until the end. This sequel served as an excellent follow up to Zombie’s Halloween reimagining, but not for the franchise as a whole.
In contrast to 2009’s Friday the 13th reboot, Zombie’s Halloween 2 seems to grant Michael Myers freedom to grow, whereas Jason Voorhees remains basically the same. Is that what we want? One dimensional horror icons? We want them to be what we expect them to be, nothing more, nothing less. They should kill, they should be scary, and they need to maintain a consistent look. In Halloween 2, that Shatner mask started to look like someone actually SHAT on it. Like in Nolan’s Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, every facet of the film is based in reality to help refresh Batman’s story and supply the franchise with endurance to last far into the future. Clearly, Michael Myer’s mask wouldn’t have stayed pearly white with all the schmutz he gets all over it. Zombie gave it a valiant effort, and no matter how derided, his vision for the Halloween films served to inject new life into the franchise.
To bring the greatness of Zombie’s first Halloween into focus, here’s a list of what made it so frigging cool.
10. Sherri Moon is ridiculously hot.
9. The opening scene blasts KISS’ “God of Thunder,” aside from the usual KISS songs, this underrated track hasn’t appeared in many films at all. Zombie deserves credit for having the balls to showcase it in his movie, which means he’s not embarrassed about being a KISS fan. White Zombie covered the song for an EP and on the VH1 Rock Honors Rob Zombie sang lead vocals on the track while joined by a supergroup including Ace Frehley, Slash, Tommy Lee, Scott Iian, and Gilby Clarke. Even young Michael Myers is wearing a KISS Destroyer t-shirt.
The KISS t-shirt is a sign of the times and it adds to the macabre tone. One of the underlying themes of the film involves Michael Myers’ reliance on masks to cover up his tortured soul, so it’s appropriate to make reference to KISS’ ghastly faces.
8. It’s clear that Malcolm McDowell was a fine choice for Loomis. McDowell puts a very different and interesting spin on the character. F-cking Shirtuckers!
7. Not taking anything away from the 1978 original since it’s the best film of it’s kind, but there’s more layers to this films story. We discover that Michael Myers has an Oedipus Complex which is ripe for dissection in film class.
6. Shit, I would have an Oedipus Complex too. Look. OMG. OMG.
5. In this film we come to realize that Michael Myers is quite a ladies man! Look how he fondles sister’s leg:
4. Ben Tramer = the male horror movie version of Gwendolyn Pierce. Ben Tramer must’ve been one dreamy heartthrob.
3. Annie Brackett (Danielle Harris) delivers the sluttiest line of the movie: “Do you want to f-ck me? Let me hear you say it.”
2. The doucher Paul (Max Van Ville) who Annie’s making out with follows that line up with “It’s so fucking warm” WTF??? Before that Annie scolded him for almost ruining her expensive sweater, “…hey, don’t pull it like that, you’re gonna stretch it all out! Stop it…this is expensive idiot!”
1. The who’s who list of cameos include Clint Howard, Sid Haig, Mickey Dolenz, Sybil Danning, Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, Bill Mosely, Leslie Easterbrook, Danny Trejo, Courtney Gains, and Adrienne Barbeau. That about covers every guest at your next horror convention.
If Dimension films wants to continue the exploits of Michael Myers at this point, they sure as hell can. Michael Myers always comes back, and at this point perhaps the fans would enjoy a more traditional take on the character. But after we’ve seen Zombie’s tragic and psychotic look behind Myers’ mask, would an archetypical Halloween film really impress us?
also…
I’m back from Disney World and I’ll definitely fill you in on the details of the trip within the next few days or so! I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween extravaganzas! I must say, I had a lot of fun this year doing the countdown and getting my costume together. Thanks to everyone who stopped by and to all the awesome bloggers out there who put up killer posts throughout the entire month!
I’ve dressed up as Gene Simmons from KISS many times in the past, but this year I decided to get the group together and do a Dressed to Kill album cover theme. It’s always fun to dress up as The Demon because the women LOVE it and it’s pretty bad ass. Most of all, it’s fun because people are in awe and even a bit scared at the same time. If you aren’t familiar with KISS then the makeup is pretty menacing. The group went to terrorize The Breakfast Club in Old Bridge, NJ. Here are some pics taken on Halloween night:
A BIG thank you to Jamdin at Moongem Comics for keeping me entertained this Halloween season with his killer Elvira posts all throughout the month! For me Elvira always =’s good times.
I’m a yearly Six Flags season pass holder and this season I made it to Great Adventure only a handful of times. Every time I go it seems like there’s over an hour wait on all of my favorite rides! What the hell is that crap? There’s only one way around that and I refuse to give them MORE money to buy a Flash Pass. If they are free at Disney World, they should be free in Jackson, N.J. Despite those disappointments, I still get a season pass and try to make it to Fright Fest even though it doesn’t feel half as fun as it used to. I wonder if it’s just that I’m getting older or if it’s actually getting suckier?
One attraction that I still refer to as the Mach 1 Adventure (cause I’m old school) transforms into the Elvira Superstition ride during Fright Fest. Every time I pass the big Elvira banner I get excited and it’s the one attraction I hope Great Adventure will offer during Fright Fest each year. Elvira is the one true icon of Halloween aside from all the classic movie monsters and killers and the thought of her fills me with the Halloween spirit. Elvira to Halloween is basically what Santa Claus is to Christmas, or better yet…some really hot playboy playmate dressed as one of Santa’s sexy helpers.
Superstition is a fun attraction, although I wish your coaster car wound up rolling into the Haunted House at the end and getting to see the interior more in depth. This You Tube video features Elvira’s ride in its entirety. First you’ll see the pre-show video, and then the ride! Buckle up.
