Barring holidays that involve feasts/and or presents, Halloween is my favorite of them all.  The creepy tone, inventive costumes which may or may not indicate Daddy issues, and candy.  It’s just great.

And during the Halloween season (though Christmas seems intent on encroaching upon it), one of my favorite things to do is watch horror movies to get into the Halloween spirit.  Sometimes they’re related to Halloween itself, like HALLOWEEN, or just a horror movie in general, like NIGHT OF THE CREEPS.  Admittedly, that’s kind of a spoof, but you get the idea.

I also watched TRICK R TREAT for the first time recently which was just a delight.  Not dealing in ultra-gore or shock, or even psychological terror, it just has a creepy Halloweeny vibe throughout.  The movie definitely feels like there should be a rating between PG-13 and R though.  There is some gore, and some nudity, but for the most part it’s pretty understated. 

Not that many anthology movies are made anymore, and I have to admit that I don’t particularly care for the style, though I like CREEPSHOW quite a bit.  The lesson that is the underpinning of all the stories though is to not screw with Halloween.  Which is something that we could learn.  I do have to say though, Sam is freaking adorable as the mascot/personification of Halloween.

Look at him:

The Goosebumps comparison is pretty apt, and it ends up just going for a little bit of creepiness instead of trying to freak you out in some major way.  I have no problem with that actually.  I know that there’s something of a love it or hate it going on with this movie, but I come down firmly on the love it side of things.

I also watched ORPHAN and am planning on watching a few more horror movies I have on DVD.  I wish it was available on DVD, but the film version of Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree is great.  It’s pretty much straight edutainment, and technically not completely accurate, but the spookiness of the piece while explaining the history of Halloween and how different cultures reacted to death.  It also got pretty dark in the end, which was something of a surprise for a cartoon movie about Halloween.  Ironic, I know.

One of the things I don’t like about Halloween as it is today though, is the prepackaged and quite crappy costumes that one can buy.  I understand that people may not have the time to create something awesome, but many of the ones that you can buy are just sad.  Especially given how expensive they are.


Seriously?

Cardboard robots beat the hell out of something like that.

Not much candy eating or giving out of said treats this time though.  When I was a kid, though, my favorite were Milky Ways and Twixes.  Now, I think my favorite are Mounds and Krackles.

Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.

Happy Halloween!