Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween to all, and to all a good fright


Aaahh, one of my favorite days of the year; Halloween! Often the only day of the year when we can dress up as anything we like and indulge ourselves with the mystical, the supernatural and the frightening. Yippeee!

Halloween is an odd time of year. If you were to put up a graveyard in your front yard in, say June, people would think you were crazy. In October though, it's a perfecty acceptable practice. Halloween has existed in one form or another for almost 3 000 years, and what may help explain it's staying power through religious and conservative attacks is because it speaks to a part of ourselves we don't really acknowledge at any other time, but we need to let out every now and then. What part of ourselves that is, I'll let you decide.

I've always been a fan of the supernatural and fantasy, no matter what time of year...ghosts, vampires, magic, etc. Anything along those lines I tend to gobble up. And on Halloween it's practically required that you watch scary movies and TV specials, tell spooky stories and be a little spooky yourself. Pure joy!

Some of the Halloween related movies I would recommend...

The Evil Dead trilogy: Gore, laughs and screams. Plus my man Bruce Campbell.

Sleepy Hollow: I loved this story as a kid, as well as the Disney cartoon that brought the legend to life. This Johnny Depp starring-Tim Burton directed movie is the classic tale for grown-ups.

The Shining: A damn scary movie that's also quiet, artful and interesting.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Just so much fun. Catchy tunes, too.

But in the midst of all these good scares and the effort of putting great costumes together, lets not forget the candy! Oh, the candy, in all shapes and sizes, all varieties and levels of sweetness. Mini chocolate bars are my favorite, but there are lots of different kinds to choose from. I'm sure you have your favorites too.

So happy haunting. Whatever this odd holiday means to you I hope you have fun and a few good scares along the way.

No comments:

Post a Comment