Halloween is coming soon, dear simians. As I took a morning walk around my neighborhood to enjoy the crisp, gray fall weather, plenty of houses have pulled out all the stops for the holiday. One house had splattered some fake blood on its glass front door, with messy smears and handprints and a message proclaiming, “Get Out.” Another turned a quartet of trees in its front yard into a giant spiderweb, complete with a very real-looking black widow suspended in midair. And a humorous tombstone proclaims, “Here Lies the Last Dog Who Pissed On My Lawn.”
If you’ve been reading me for a while, you know I’m a big Halloween fan. I love horror movies, being scared, and the change of weather that comes along with it. And although I love being scared and taking things up a notch, I draw the line at ouija boards, seances, and the like. Quite frankly, I don’t want those things coming after me!
In one of the groups I was involved with in my undergrad, a fellow Halloween maniac and I took the group to a haunted house on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (Nightmare NYC, to be exact: http://nightmarenyc.com/?gclid=CKrk2MOnnLMCFdE7OgodIjwAkA). The theme when we went the first time was “Superstitions,” and it was a no-holds-barred experience. The monsters (actors?) even came after you as you stood in line! When you actually got in there, you had to step through a rusty iron butchers’ chamber that looked like the cover of a Cannibal Corpse album--and of course, you had to actually step over the scene of bloody carnage; there was no going around it. Plus there was a room covered from ceiling to floor with freaky-looking dolls.
A couple of the club members still haven’t quite forgiven us for dragging them through that.
On the more traditional side, a group of friends and I had privileged roof access (don’t ask how) to view the West Village Halloween Parade, the biggest of its kind in the country. Over 50,000 costumed revelers took part, and there were over two million spectators; Sixth Avenue was packed wall-to-wall with people, and with the Empire State Building glowing orange to our north, it was a sight to behold. A group of over 200 dancers performed “Thriller” in unison.
This year I’ll probably tone it down a bit; there’s a Silent Hill movie coming out that merits my viewing, and there’s an interesting bar called the Slaughtered Lamb Pub that I’ve wanted to check out for a while (http://www.slaughteredlambpub.com/).
Halloween hardly ever gets its due respect. Recently it has been robbed of its spirit by becoming an excuse to drink heavily and dress provocatively, or on the other end of the spectrum not being celebrated at all (some folks even believe it’s wrong to do so).
I encourage you monkeys to escape from the office for a couple of hours if you can and enjoy yourself. Go out and see that scary movie, or ask that cute girl or guy if they want to check out the Nightmare haunted house with you (great excuse to hold each other close). Me, I’ll crack open a pumpkin ale and watch “The Evil Dead.”
What are your favorite Halloween experiences and traditions? What do you like to do?
+1 on the pumpkin ale. Best time of year to drink it. Also - don't waste your time with the new Silent Hill movie. It wasn't released to reviewers (usually a bad sign) and apparently sucked. I am a huge fan of the games and just seeing Pyramid Head was cool in itself, but everyone is saying it's a generic action film, disguised as horror.
So I guess I'm going to see Sinister instead! Heard it was amazing. If anyone has checked it out, please let me know your thoughts.
I bucked your advice and saw Silent Hill anyway. Surprised to hear that folks considered it an action movie, as there really isn't that much of it.
I thought it was very well done and faithful to the original game without being slavish imitation. Great job building the tension, and Carrie Ann Moss is an excellent villain. Then again, I love the entire Silent Hill franchise and the mythos that goes along with it. Scary fun.
Someone needs to remake the Hellraiser series, such a great idea, such poor execution.
And Halloween will be so bad this year in NYC which is a shame, usually it's my favorite night of the year.
Would SB if I had the credits for just the Silent Hill soundtrack. Theme of Laura was also one of my favorite songs as well.
Entire soundtrack is dark, ambient and at times touching masterpiece. It's one of the main reasons the franchise is so entertaining.
I've actually been to the Slaughtered Lamb. Might head down that way tonight if they have power.
May have to hit that place up at some point in the fall regardless. Stupid weather.
Glad to hear Silent Hill was a good film and it stayed faithful to the game. I may have to see it. I usually tend to take the reviews with a huge grain of salt, but it had consistently negative reviews. Plus a few friends of mine saw it opening night and didn't think much of it. But they seem to be wrong! Which in turn is a good thing.
So it looks like Sinister and Silent Hill are on my viewing list for this weekend! BTW- if any people here are fans of movies like Snatch, I would highly recommend Seven Psychopaths. Hilarious, awesome plot and is a real fun flick.
The building where I get to spend Halloween:
I am more of a fan of gothic horror- with death and the supernatural and ritual, but not a total gorefest.
The Innocents and The Haunting are two classic movies that I will tell anyone are worth 90 minutes of their time.
I would have probably enjoyed Edgar Allen Poe had I not been so ambitious as to try and read him when I was in fourth grade.
Poe is magnificent, a true genius. And HP Lovecraft is his finest disciple.
On this topic: anyone have recommendations for scare-you-shitless games to play? I've done Amnesia, I've done Slender, I've done SCP (CB and 087) -- everything is lackluster. Surely there is -something- out there?
Haven't played a lot of them in a LONG time, but off the top of my head: FEAR, the original Silent Hill and Resident Evil, and...you know what, here:
Nice Illini! Where is that if you don't mind? (You can PM me if you don't feel like sharing with the whole forum). And I agree about the gothic horror. Gore is more funny than anything (The Hills Have Eyes series as an example of excessive gore). Atmosphere was more important to me anyway.
Also- I don't know offhand of any scare-you-shitless video games, which is a shame. Most of them are quite lackluster at best. My biggest frights did come from playing the original Silent Hill back on the PSX. I tried Amnesia, but that was quite weak.
On an aside: Has anyone watched Rosmary's Baby? I want to watch that as well as I have heard it is an absolutely incredible horror film.
It's incredibly because it doesn't use the slightest bit of gore. Any movie that can make Scrabble terrifying is a classic. Watch.
Yeah. Its out on DVD and is a must buy for me. Just heard so many good things about it.
Anyone a fan of American Horror Story?
Silent Hill was good, although that was a long time ago and I honestly don't remember much of it. I didn't like Resident Evil (nice graphics though), haven't played FEAR. I'll check it out.
Resident Evil, you mean? ;) Talk about the best bad voice acting in the history of forever! EsPECially Barry Burton. The guy needs his own game.
But just TAKE--A--LOOK--AT--THIS. Fatal Frame 2 had a pretty high entry on the list:
lol you managed to quote before I edited, damn you. I've heard good things about Fatal Frame; Japanese psychological horror is always appreciated. I'll probably give it a try as well.
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