It Really Is The Scariest Time of the Year

This is the last big post before Halloween, and while I would like to focus solely on my favorite time of year, there is something else far more frightening that has been on my mind. This is also the last long post before Election Day. I hope you won’t mind if I turn away from our usual frivolity and get serious for just a moment.

The country has a choice. As I have stated on social media, I understand if you have spent years identifying with one of the candidates and it may seem like you can’t stop supporting that individual now. However, that person has made it perfectly clear that he is a racist, misogynist, homophobe who idealizes dictators and plans to do everything in his power to subvert the very democracy that is the bedrock of our country. If you have not already done so, vote.

Vote like your life and the lives of your loved ones depend upon it.

And now we return to your regularly scheduled programming.

It is currently 75 degrees and I’m sitting in shorts and a tee shirt while watching The Crow (more on that below). For decades I was only able to put up my Halloween decorations a few days before the holiday (they had an unfortunate habit of disappearing otherwise). Invariably, the days leading up to Halloween would be cold and drizzly, often with ridiculously high winds. In other words, the perfect weather for being outside and putting up Halloween decorations.

So naturally, now that everything has been up for a while, it’s beautiful outside. Still, I’m not going to complain.

The GLAHW Halloween party was a rousing success. The Mrs and I won the awards for Best Couples Costume and she won Sexiest Costume.

I haven’t been to any haunted attractions this year, but I have been keeping busy with plenty of horror movies and documentaries to make up for it.

Last week I attended a reading/autographing featuring Grady Hendrix talking about his latest release How to Sell a Haunted House. If you haven’t seen Hendrix in person, I highly recommend that you remedy this as soon as you are able. He is always hilarious (this presentation starts with him explaining why The Haunting of Hill House is a horrible Zillow listing.). I’ve seen the Paperbacks from Hell presentation multiple times and laughed until I cried every time. I also went to the main branch of the Detroit Public Library last night to Nicole Beauchamp’s discussion of haunted objects.

I do so love Spooky Season.

Listening To: The soundtrack to The Crow. This is an absolute banger of an album, right up there with The Lost Boys for best soundtrack.

Currently Reading: I finished Satan in the Celluloid last night and haven’t chosen my next read yet.

Current Obsession: Trying to get caught up on everything.

After weeks of going back and forth, we finally received the approval from BackerKit and have sent out the Smoke Test. We have received a number of responses already. Unless something comes up in the next few responses, we will send out the rest of the surveys tomorrow so we can make sure that everyone has their books in hand for the holidays.

The night before Halloween is known as Devil’s Night where I come from. For years it was not only a night of pranks, but one filled with arson and vandalism. Fortunately, concerted efforts have greatly reduced this practice and made the night much safer.

These Devil’s Night fires are a major plot point of The Crow and it is a tradition that we watch this wonderful film every October 30th.

For the record, when I refer to The Crow, I am only referring to the 1994 starring the late Brandon Lee. I’m certain that everyone is familiar with the tragic events which happened during the filming of the movie so I am not going to go into that here. Suffice it to say that The Crow is one of my favorite films and one which I have seen more than most (the only movie I know for sure that I have seen more often is Casablanca which I have seen more than 100 times).

I recently was part of a conversation about Hollywood and its history of remakes. Although I mentioned my disdain for them, I didn’t go in to much detail (it wasn’t the time). This has been bothering me for a while, however, so I want to clarify a point. I am not against all remakes. In fact, there are some amazing movies which are remakes of other films. I also agree with the person the idea that a new version of something that you love does not taint the original. I will never watch the new version of The Crow, but knowing that it is out there does not mean I enjoy the original less. I also recognize that the new version may actually be a closer adaptation of the source material.

The main problem that I have with remakes/reboots/reimaginings is that while they do not take away from the originals, they do use funds that could be used to make other projects. There is a finite amount of money that any particular production company is willing to spend in a year (although some would debate this). When a producer decides that this money will be spent redoing a film which came out 40 (or 20 or 10) years ago, this means that other, original, movies will not be made. Or, if they are made, they will not receive the marketing that they require to be successful. The whole thing becomes a vicious circle where producers point to the original films that they dumped in the cinema with no fanfare in traditionally underperforming times of year and say “see, no one wants new stuff.”

Well, I, for one, do want new stuff. Some of the best horror movies I have seen in the past few years were original films. I would like to see writers and directors have the chance to do something new instead of rehashing the same stuff that we have already seen.

And I had better cut this particular rant short because the heart rate alarm on my smartwatch just went off. I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!