The Halloween Zine: The cool August weather conjured serious Halloween vibes this week
#2 - Start revving your Halloween engines... the season's upon us (and always within us)
Hello, Superfans!
Can you believe next week’s edition will arrive on Labor Day weekend??
Bring it on, September! Be sure to invite your fascinating next-door neighbor!
Spirit Halloween stores are popping up around the country like popcorn left on an active volcano. Sign of the times (the stores, not the volcano).
Our first visit will be later today. Looking forward to the immersive ambience and the first look at what’s for sale in-store this year. Expect visuals in the next edition.
I wish Spirit could acquire the licensing rights to all Halloween franchise movies so I could score merch based on my favorite installments.
Surely John Carpenter would sign off on a LOT more disposable income?
HalloweenCostumes.com survey results
HalloweenCostumes.com released their 2024 survey results. The largest online-only retailer asked more than 1,000 adults nationwide about their views on celebrating the season.
Coolest takeaways:
Year-round costume use: Over 60% wear their costumes outside of Halloween for cosplay, events, festivals, and parties. And those are all great reasons! Other great reasons include any day with the word “day” in it.
Inclusive costume options: 67% felt there were enough costumes for all body types, an almost 37% increase from the previous year.
Taking down Halloween decorations: 74% do so between November 1st and Christmas. I wish they broke the results out for this. How many people leave them up after November 1? 15? 30? New Year’s-ish? It’d help to know who to move near.
Ki-Ki-Ki, Ma-Ma-Ma…
Bloody Disgusting reports Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, the Friday the 13th filming location and an active Hardwick, New Jersey Boy Scouts camp, is offering tours through Crystal Lake Tours.
If I still lived in the Garden State, it’d be on my list. I love behind-the-scenes info about movies I enjoy, and a fall tour of Jason Voorhees’ old hunting grounds sure checks that box.
Fun fact: I grew up in the one county east of this campground. How many times have I visited? An embarrassing zero! New stop on the itinerary for my next trip home when it’s open.
Maybe they’ll give me a tour so I can write about the experience for you?
“I will, Jason. I will.”
Jason Voorhees’ deranged mother, Pamela, assuringi her “dead” son during an imagined conversation that she’ll kill the campers to avenge his drowning death.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Movies
Alien: Romulus
Alien: Romulus was fantastic, face-hugging fun.
It absolutely nailed the visual elements, and it balanced an homage to what worked so well in Alien and Aliens with fresh ideas and new takes on the classic story elements.
Director Fede Alvarez brought his signature intensity to the action scenes and sequences. I didn’t envy Cailee Spaeny for having to fill Sigourney Weaver’s shoes. Rain is a very different character than Ripley, but the strong, independent female DNA courses through her veins, too.
I have to say some of the accents made the dialogue tough for me to follow in the earliest moments
My wife thought it was good, but not excellent (she’s wrong). Good thing she won’t be reading this (Of course, she will! It’s fun to say because she’s in on the joke.).
Hauntology
Halloween (1978) fans will remember Nancy Loomis, also known as Nancy Kyes: She played Anne Brackett, one of Michael Myers’ early victims.
She’s returning to the screen after a 30-plus year hiatus! That’s showing Michael what REAL patience looks like!
The horror anthology features four vignettes. I didn’t spot her in the teaser, which could either suggest a limited role or they’re saving her for the full trailer.
It could also suggest my upcoming eye exam may be timely.
As for the teaser… it didn’t grab me. More melancholy than menace. Still, a teaser isn’t a full trailer, so I’ll reserve judgment. There was a cool shot at the end.
Bloody Disgusting reporting.
Consumed
The premise: A married couple take a celebratory camping trip that becomes a fight for survival. Because campers NEVER learn. Just ask Jason Voorhees.
The main villain? A wendigo.
Did I have to look up wendigo? Sure did! And you pronounce it almost exactly like “when to go” (or “WHEN TO GO!!).
A wendigo is a carnivorous mythical creature from Native American folklore with an insatiable appetite, and humans are a welcome addition to its food pyramid.
I found the trailer predictable. I understand there’s nothing original, only fresh takes on the familiar.
Halloween Daily News had the scoop.
Consumed is available NOW on Amazon Prime.
Television
Peacock’s movie marathon
Peacock is looking to strut its stuff this Halloween. The NBCUniversal streaming platform is adding over 150 new Halloween titles and a couple of horror originals to its catalog starting September 1.
That’s not a typo: over 150. Some are classics, some are cringeworthy, but hey, sometimes they’re so bad they’re can’t-stop-watching good. Or a drinking game in the making.
So, stock up on the popcorn and slap fresh Energizers in the remote’s batteries.
You’ve got 61 days.
A “True Detective”wannabe
Before you settle in for those Peacock movie replays, you might want to give Collider described Netflix’s Dark Winds as a gritty crime thriller with supernatural elements.
I found the trailer interesting, and with two seasons in the binge queue, I was eager to give it a chance.
The article also compared it to True Detective. Ahem…
That sets a stratospheric bar given True Detective season one was phenomenal. I don’t expect anything to compete with it. I’d love to hear from you if you think there’s another show on par with it.
True Detective: Night Country looked promising in the early episodes before going off the rails in the home stretch with a disappointing reveal and a pat ending. I still enjoyed seeing Jodie Foster don a badge again, as The Silence of the Lambs is one of my all-time favorites. Kali Reis was solid as Angeline Navarro.
But…
We found Dark Winds episode one glacially paced with heavy-handed direction. I think there were no less than six close ups of the main character staring ahead at who-knows-what.
They did have a few good lines and reveals here and there, but not enough to keep me interested.
I’ll leave the bar True Detective set in nosebleed territory where it belongs. I hope to find a worthy comp or score a solid recommendation from you.
See ya in September!