Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Halloween. Show all posts
It's that time of year again! It's that time of bags and bags of caramel apple milky ways, peanuts with candy corn, and every casserole made from my online recipe book. But most importantly, it is the time for all the classic horror movies that AMC and ABC Family just won't touch! Turner Classic Movies does not entirely knock it out of the park (How many times can a girl watch "The Devil Doll" or "The Dead of Night" without wanting to recreate a few classic murder movie scenes?), but a whole night devoted to Val Lewton! Halloween Disney things! Homicidal! Mark of the Vampire! The Haunting! The list only goes so far, 

I do understand that Turner Classic can only acquire so many movies considering copyright, but maybe it's time to break out some Universal or, be still my heart, anything creepy lingering in the Warner Archives now forgotten. A night of German expressionism maybe? I find myself very excited for Val Lewton night (which will summon every ounce of my TCM Halloween marathon watching skills acquired in the past 5 years...), a little known British production of "Fall of the House of Usher", and the Spencer Tracy version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" which I have not seen yet! This will prove to be a very productive October.

**CLICK ON TITLE FOR TRAILER**


Friday, October 2nd
TCM Spotlight: Haunted Houses

7:00 pm  Two on a Guillotine (1965)
9:00  House on Haunted Hill (1958) *
10:30 The Haunting (1963) *
2:30 House of Dark Shadows (1970) *


Friday, October 9th
TCM Spotlight: Rogue Body Parts

7:00 pm Mad Love (1935) *
10:15 Hands of a Stranger (1962)
1:30 Corruption (1967)
3:15 Eyes Without a Face (1959)


Friday, October 16
TCM Spotlight: Scary Kids

7:00 pm The Nanny (1965)
8:45 The Bad Seed (1956)
12:45 am The Village of the Damned (1961) 


Friday, October 23
TCM Spotlight: Literary Horror

11:45 The Fall of the House of Usher (1949) 
1:00 am The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) *


Wednesday, October 28
TCM Spotlight: Treasures from the Disney Vault

7:45 pm    The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) *
9:00 (Short) The Old Mill (1937) *
9:15 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color: The Plausible Impossible (1956)
12:00 am (Short) Lonesome Ghosts (1937) *
12:15 (Short) Frankenweenie (1984) *


Thursday, October 29

6:45 am Freaks (1932) *
8:15 The Devil Doll (1936) *
9:45 House on Haunted Hill (1958) *
11:15 Macabre (1958)
12:45 pm Suspicion (1941) *
2:30 Stage Fright (1950)
4:30 A Bucket of Blood (1959) *


Friday, October 30

7:15 am The Mummy (1959) *
3:45 Crescendo (1972)
5:15 Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) 


TCM Spotlight: Val Lewton Horror
7:00 Cat People (1942) *
8:30 Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) *
10:00 The Seventh Victim (1943) *
11:15 The Leopard Man (1941) *
12:30 am The Ghost Ship (1943) *
1:45 The Body Snatcher (1945) *
3:15 Isle of the Dead (1945) *
4:30 Bedlam (1946) *


Saturday, October 31

6:00 am   Doctor X (1932) *
7:30 White Zombie (1932) *
8:45 Dementia 13 (1963)
12:15 Homicidal (1961) *
2:00 The Tingler (1959) *
3:30  House of Wax (1953) *


The Essentials: Happy Halloween
9:00 Curse of the Demon (1958) *
10:30 Dead of Night (1945) *
12:30 am Mark of the Vampire (1935) *
1:45-2:45 David Lynch Shorts



We all know the classic lines, the dance moves (what? I can't be the only one!) and the majesty that is Bette Midler, but after awhile you have to wonder a few things, that is, if not the anachronistic stuff. You know, like when Winifred Sanderson jokes "Pull over, I want to see your driver's permit" or that the Sanderson sisters were burned in October 31, 1692 when the witchcraft hysteria literally just ended a few days before (as well as resulting in the death of my ancestor, Susannah North). Despite my feelings about what "Hocus Pocus" is based on, you have to appreciate Kathy Najmiy's underrated-ness, Sarah Jessica Parker's over the top yet strangely enigmatic seductiveness, and Bette Midler being, simply, Bette Midler. 

  • It's very apparent there are no pictures of the Sanderson sisters in the museum/home yet somehow those three little girls who stole their brooms dressed up as the witches are strangely accurate to their outfits. 
  • The end of "Hocus Pocus" is very indicative of how old you are. If you're younger, the brother-sister dynamic kind of flies over your head. When you're older, you're just a huge sobbing mess wanting to hug your siblings... or a cat... BINX!! :(
  • If Thackeray Binx in cat-form can talk then why didn't he try to get his Dad's attention versus just meowing and brushing his leg? (I understand why plot-wise, but in the moment, come on!)
  • What is it with that scene between Mary and Winifred when Midler's character is distraught losing her book and getting fanned that's just so perfect? Even with the paper-thin plot, the witchs' characterization is just fantastic and shows off how Winifred prefers Mary over Sarah considering the Billy Butcherson incident.
  • Is it really necessary for Sarah to hike up her dress when dancing with "Satan" (Garry Marshall <3)? Her dress really isn't that long! Sexual innuendo, anyone?
  • Allison reads from the info cards in the Sanderson museum/house that Winifred sold her soul to the devil, so why is it that Mary and Sarah also call the fake Satan, "Master"? Nurtured behavior from their older sister? 
  • Can someone please explain to me how Jay and Ice get dragged miles from that neighborhood out to the Sanderson house? (It's kind of presumed the house is out of the way.) It's impossible to be done by magic otherwise the sisters would have used magical transport when they lost their brooms. There is no way three female witches can lug two teenage boys (especially a hefty one) all the way to their house unless they put them under some kind of spell. #foodforthought 




I am jumping right into extreme dorkgasms with the following...
2 DAYS TIL THIS!!!! AAAAAHHHH!!!

OK, now I'm done.
Hey Fellow 90s Kids, Wanna Feel Old?
Hocus Pocus is turning 20.
Yeah, you remember the following: "Come little children, I'll take thee away, into a land of enchantment, come little children the time is to come play, into my land of enchantment" and yeah, maybe I did write that from memory. #90skidsproblems Needless, this is the year to admit that you loved this movie as a kid and even more now. Not just because it's almost Halloween, but because Hocus Pocus turned 20 in July.




I'll give you a moment of silence to let that soak in. 
Are we good? OK.

Despite inaccuracies that Halloween was on a Sunday and there was no way for Max Dennison to come home from school to other flubs and facts you can find here, Hocus Pocus has remained kind of a cult classic.
The best part of a cult classic is the reunions. Omri Katz (Max Dennison), Thora Birch (Dani Dennison), Kathy Najimy (Mary Sanderson) and Vanessa Shaw (Allison) sans the mega stars Bette Midler and the immortal SJP came together for last Saturday's D23 meeting. The official Disney fan club also included an exhibit of many of the props as well, including the cauldron, Winifred's "skin covered" spell book, Parker's costume and more. And doesn't Kathy Najimy look great?






Margaret Berger Back Among the "Human Race" and Kicking it Acoustic with Gabrielle


I Feel You, ThatGurl... The Halloween Edition


As we all know, Halloween is not just a holiday to f*ck around with... note my pissed off geographical post to hellogiggles about this time last year with "The Pagan Diaries": What is Known as Halloween (but I was also suffering from severe Samhain-related exhaustion, completely normal) But think of it this way, if you are a religious person and one of your major holidays have been redeveloped as propaganda against you, wouldn't you be pissed off?
"ThatGurl" on bubblenews.com (thanks, Everything Under the Moon facebook page!) has less of a sledgehammer approach than my own to exposing our ancient context to what most people call a night of "evil and candy" but I could not word it better than she did.

"With all of the emphasis on the evils of Halloween, we lose sight of something very important. Setting aside a special date to remember our loved ones who have passed, to connect with their memories, to share stories about them, to both laugh and cry with others who knew them, and to pass these stories on to the next generation gives us a sense of identity about who we are and where we came from. It makes our family bonds stronger. The demonizing of Old Samhain, in a way, is a demonizing of heritage. " 
Le Kid getting "Physical" when it's really a remix of "Human Behavior"
 The whole world needs to know about the Abba-esque electropop magic that is Le Kid, and their response is damn good remixed version of Human Behavior complete with a video. Really, let's blame this on the Germans as they are growing popular there and oblivious to the Swedish soap opera theme song that is "Human Behavior." You can't blame the band for remixing it. As for the video, Johanna Berglund's (the red head) hair color is AMAZING and the people in animal heads pwns both Miley Cyrus and Allison Goldfrapp in the face.
Dear AWS,

You are seriously my new favorite obsession between hair mask ideas and as for your inspiration section, maybe my life isn't as effed up as I thought. In any event, I can't say I was too surprised at at your choices for 7 Songs That Need to Be On Your Halloween Playlist, but I hope these options will make their way into your readers' Ipod ear buds as well! (To my readers, yeah it's basically an updated Halloween or Halloween-Inspired Songs.)

 
1. No Party
by Marit Bergman
 
 
 
2. Halloween
by Florence Welch (Florrible and Misrabella)
 
 
 
3. Pumpkinteeth
by Hailey Wojicik
 
 
4. Autumn Leaves are Falling
by Clannad
 
 
5. Horror Show
by Bat for Lashes
 
 
7. October by
The Helio Sequence
 
 
8. Leaves in the River
by Sea Wolf
 
 
9. Help, I'm Alive!
by Metric
 
 
10. Thriller (Michael Jackson Cover)
by Imogen Heap
 
Dear Voguegasm Diary,

I feel as a "pagan"* the incentive to finally debunk myths or rather perceptions of what people call Halloween,  but I cannot change minds or say "I am better than this, this, and this." No. It is the general attitude of Western culture of what they want or choose to believe within the present time.  And the general attitude is, based from words alone, "oh how cool" or "those crazy pagans" with a swing of a shoulder with an apple pie in one hand and a baseball in the other. Which,  is OK by me but when it is a topic so personally... just call me the Pat Matthews of the Celtic world.

Jack O Lantern Turnip last year
Diary,  I thank Amy Foster of hellogiggles in writing the recent article today on pre-Christian traditions of what is called by Western culture Halloween. But, not to be egotistical, this is merely the shallow end of the pool of the endless beautiful history that is both my ancestry and the spiritual path that found me -- Wicca 101 in essence. Not to be critical of any points Ms. Foster makes, but she doesn't include the detail Irish tradition of the Jack-O-Lantern in its previous counterpart of a turnip. It is when the Irish immigrated to America their fields were not equipped for turnip growing. So they turned to pumpkins which grew far better than turnips. *star swoosh: the more you know.*

V-Diary, I could easily take a trip through the UK Isles and go country by country of their geographical traditions that have turned into the melting pot of America's Halloween, but that would be too easy but in the immortal words of Mary Poppins "Oh well, if I must I must."

Wales  

October 31st: Nos Calan Gaeaf (pr. Nahs Calan Gay-ev) meaning (loosely), "The Night of the First Month of Winter" or Ysbyrdnos (pr. Es-birt-nos) meaning Spirit Night
November 1st: Calan Gaeaf (pr. Calan Gay-ev): meaning "The First Month of Winter."


This is the spiritual path that found me so I feel it is only right to start with what I know. Granted, I know the exact stories that Foster cites in "Stingy Jack, Soul Cakes and All Saints..." but the Welsh were, as I have written in my prose. "the original fantasy writers."

Calan Gaeaf was the perfect time for the Welsh as they had created beautiful yet creepy myths of Yr Hwch Ddu Gwta (Er Hew-wik Thu Gweh-ta) (loose pronounciation) , a spirit that takes shape of tail-less black sow (as the sow in Welsh symbolism means wealth, black obviously meaning evil) who roams the country fields Nos Calan Gaeaf with a headless woman, much in the tradition of the headless horseman. There is also a belief if you put a few twigs of ivy, you would experience Eiddiorwg Dalen (Aithiwrong Talen) or Ivy Dreams. If you are a boy, cut ten leaves and throw one away and you will have prophetic dreams (prophets often were bards in ancient Wales and are very important to its writerly culture).

Like in the other UK Isles, and as well as inching towards the East, this night was the most appropriate for divination because the veil between worlds is at its thinnest (although the Welsh believed the veil between worlds is far more flexible than one believes) and one can easily use divination to find out the important stages of pre-Christian life: marriage, children and death through messages from the Otherworld. Another divination in Wales is the Coelcerth or Bonfire where a family would write their names on white rocks, leave them at the bonfire once the fire is completely out, run back to their homes. In the morning if one stone is missing, that person is said to die within the next year. If someone found their stone, they are to have good luck for the rest of the year.

this year's altar
Ireland
October 31st: Oiche Samhna (pr. ee-eh-why SOW-in) "The Eve of End of  Summer = Samhain""
November 1st : Samhna (SOW-in) = Samhain "End of Summer"

If Wales was the pessimist "The Night of the First Month of Winter" then Ireland would do the opposite in "The Eve of the End of Summer", because that is like the Irish. It is most Irish customs that have been Americanized, which Ms. Foster brings up in the article. I don't blame her entirely, but most often it has been the more popular traditions of Wicca that has come from Ireland. And I don't blame anyone but Gerald Gardner (the reason why Wicca is what is is since the '50s/'60s) for incorporating the "popular kids" otherwise known as Ireland.

So what of Ireland has seeped into the American Halloween? Other than the Jack-O-Lantern, you also have costumes/trick or treating (Ms. Foster has that covered) which was more time appropriate in dressing as dead ancestors, goblins or other types of what things people feared from that time from the veil between worlds as well as Snap Apple, which is now in America Bobbing for Apples.

Scotland
October 31st: Oidhche Shamhna (pr. Oy-cha-HOW-na) "The Night of the End of Summer = Samhain"

Because of their shared Gaelic genetics, Scotland and Ireland are practically cut from the same cloth, save for the fact the similarities in language. A few special divination have set them apart from Ireland. If you put two large nuts next to each other in the hearth representing yourself and a significant other and the nuts stay together, it is a good omen; if they jump apart, it is not meant to be. They also partook in Coel Coeth in their bonfires much like the Welsh.

But it is fire is most associated with the holiday but Scotland takes it all the way, including Samhnags (Scottish Jack-O-Lanterns in Turnips) in the windows, which kept homes and trick or treating children (dressed as supernatural beings) safe from evil spirits. But if a spirit made through into the house, it would be common courtesy to leave a meal so they would not come around a second time next year.


England
October 31st: Mischief Night, Nutcracker Night, Snap Apple Night
November 1st: All Saint's Day, All Hallows,
November 2nd: All Soul's Day
 
England's traditions have evolved from a melting pot of both Welsh and Scottish traditions, and even geographical from North and South England. And to specify anything pre-Christian would be difficult as it is more difficult in a larger vicinity as England to narrow down. Where Scotland and Wales had turnips, England had beets called "punkies."  Both Wales and England shares the tradition of divination with nuts and rocks.

And the one thing all the Celtic countries (with the exception of Gaul), they all have bonfires. Fire is a common way to divine the future from scrying into a candle (which adapted itself into post '60s Wicca) and the nut and rock divination. But in the spiritual aspect, fire involved the wheel of the year. Whatever you want to call the 31st, it is the last night of the year, the entrance into winter or death for light to reappear around Yule (Christmas) bringing warmer weather and the ability for hearth fires to be taken outside when Beltane/Calan Mai etc etc hits as the first day of spring.

I guess the mission of this whole post, especially in response to the hellogiggles article was to display it is all about intent and people who want to be educated. Some people who are educated in this arena (I can only speak for myself) this is their way of life, especially in "Pagan" Reconstructionism. And I'm sure insult was Foster's intent but my theory is is that "those of the earth" are extremely sensitive people. We are in tune to the elements and some, if lucky, have higher intuition to more. So to have someone swing that arm with a baseball in one hand and an apple pie in the other is almost like a slap in the face and watering our beliefs down into what has evolved into the American over-industrialized, over-corporated Halloween that the low to middle class are not exposed to unless they want to learn more. It's all about education and a deeper to-the-vein respect that goes into human attitudes than just a holiday that kids dress up and get candy. But it is all about perception.



*= that's another blog post all on its own.
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