Halloween 2014

DavePeterson

DavePeterson

Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2014
Messages
204
IMG_1495.JPG


I'm a halloween nutcase. I love it. It's getting cold outside, the leaves are falling off the trees, we put on sweaters, dim the lights and watch scary movies with hot coco. :D

Looking at the calender I see that this year has 5 fridays in the month of halloween, so it would be appropriate to revisit 5 of my favorite scary movies.

The Monster Squad (1987)
"Dracula is alive. In fact, he plans to rule the world and that is why he seeks the help of other legendary monsters..." I remember watching this as a kid and I've loved it ever since. Think Goonies with a horror theme.

Ghost Busters (1984)
"Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service."
This is a classic. I also watched this as a kid but never caught it at a theater until a few years ago where a theater not far from me showed it as a special one month. It was quite the pleasing experience.

Poltergeist (1982)
"A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts."
Another movie I watched as a kid. This one scared the shiz out of me.

Halloween (1978)
"A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish adolescent girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets."
Can't be halloween without watching John Carpenters 1978 Classic, Halloween, starring Jamie Lee "the scream queen" Curtis. Fun Fact: My parents met her at a nail salon in LA earlier this year, those lucky bastards!

The 'Burbs (1989)
"An overstressed suburbanite and his paramilitaric neighbor struggle to prove their paranoid theory that the new family in town is a front for a cannibalistic cult."
The movie we all know and love. Perfect occasion to re-watch it... again...

Recommendation:
Trick'r Treat (2009)
"Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband."

I'm also BIG into videogames, and I like to play some scary'ish games in the month of October. This year I will play 2 games I haven't played before and replay my favorite game of all time Zombies ate my Neighbours for Super Nintendo. It has it all: Responsive controls, great music, sound and theme, great cooperative play and fun weaponry.

Telltale Games makes some great adventure games and a couple of years ago I played through their season 1 of The Walking Dead on PC. It has 5 episodes that take about 2 hours each to complete. You make hard choices throughout the game and each decision changes the story and takes in a slighty different direction. The final episode of season 2 got released recently, so I'm ready to play through season 2 in it's entirety.

And the final game I intend to complete this halloween is Ghostbusters the Videogame for Nintendo Wii. It's considered the 3rd "movie" in the franchise, so I'm very much looking forward to playing this one. If I recall correctly they got the original cast to do voices for the characters in this videogame.

Other Activities I will be doing in the month of October:
James Rolfe, also known as The Angry Videogame nerd (AVGN), is also a huge horror fan, and each year during halloween he's doing a video series on horror movies. This is his 8th year. Check out his site (Cinemassacre) and watch his 2014 monster madness promo
http://cinemassacre.com/2014/09/23/monster-madness-2014-promo/

Pumpkin carving
Like last year we are going to carv pumpkins with the kids. We had a lot of fun last year and the end results were great. Check out the picture at the top of this post to see our pumpkins from last year.

Prepare for trick or treaters
Halloween is really catching on in Denmark. In my last neighbourhood there were a lot of trick or treaters and they cleaned out my candy supply. I barely had enough to go around, so this year I will be prepared. I have no idea if there's trick or treaters here, but I have to be prepared.

And the big event of the year that I'm really looking forward to is visiting a halloween town that's about an hour drive from my house. I discovered it last year, but it was too late as it only for a couple of weekends, but listen to this:

"This year we're ready for an even bigger event.
Halloween Horror event 2014

We promise lot's of Horror & Terror
More than 100 people in makeup ready to scare you
Lot's of sound, light and special effects in scary surroundings.
Get an adrenalinkick that will make you die laughing."

http://www.halloween-sydfyn.dk/

What are your plans for halloween 2014? Do you celebrate it in your country? Is it big, or is it catching on?
 
I have a 31 Days of Halloween movie/television event. Most of these are in no particular order, except for 1-3 and the 31st.

1. Hocus Pocus
2. Ernest Scared Stupid
3. The 'burbs
4. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
5. Halloween
6. Halloween 2
7. Fright Night
8. Fright Night part 2
9-11. Various Halloween tv episodes. Any horror/Halloween film I find on tv.
12. Silver Bullet
13. Casper
14. Halloweentown(these movies aren't that good but have a Halloween feel)
15. Clue
16. Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episodes
17. The Frighteners
18. Are You Afraid of the Dark
19. Beetlejuice
20. Monster Squad
21. Ginger Snaps
22. Lost Boys & Lost Boys 3(not 2)
23. Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
24. Cursed
25. Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2
26. Army of Darkness
27. Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein
28. House on Haunted Hill
29. Various Dracula films
30. Van Helsing
31. All day marathon(if I don't work) which must include Hocus Pocus and Ernest Scared Stupid to finish the month off.

I also enjoy Cinemassacre's Monster Madness. I usually always play the Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare game in October.

I'm a Halloween nutcase too. It's my favorite time of the year.
 
That's a solid list of good horror movies, but I think Fright Night 2 is a bit lackluster compared to the first one.

And I learned something new, hoorya!, 3 Lost Boys movies? I re-watched the 1st one a couple of weeks ago. Never knew there were more than 1?

Are you on the Neogaf forum by any chance? I know I've seen a 31 days of halloween movie thing over there.
 
Yes, there are three Lost Boys movies. I didn't think the second one was that great, but the third one was pretty good. It has one of my favorite movie vampire kills ever.

Also, it's officially October, so my October Halloween Movie-O-Thon(I should come up with a better name) has begun!
 
Yeah, October has begun and it's quite a golden one so far here in Germany with still 21-23 degrees celsius (about 72/73 Fahrenheit). Yesterday I was sitting in the sun, probably wearing my bermudas for the last time.

Yes it will become colder and more autumn-like very soon but I'm also looking forward to it. In my opinion all of the 4 seasons have something cool about them and I'm glad living in a country which has all 4 seasons in their typical way.

Dave, good choice of movies and games. I remember "Zombies ate my neighbours" and it was a great game, used to play it on my emulator a lot a couple of years ago. Looks like your October planning is full of great activities, enjoy them.
 
Autumn has hit us here in the South of Sweden, colored leaves everywhere, debris here and there. :oops:

Yesterday and today (Saturday) 4th of October is acceptably nice though, 17c (62.6F). My cucumber plants that I planted 1. of August are actually my size right now, so it's still amazingly mild.

I have a indoor terrace with plenty of lights, so I suspect it's possible to prolong the summer a little longer, in there I had about 26c (78.8F) yesterday...because of the sun exposure. But the nights can get very cold (and kill of the plants that way).

 
Here in Denmark the weather has been nice as well. it was 20c this weekend, so I was out mowing the lawn for the 800th time. Drank a couple of beers while renovating the guest bathroom.

Next weekend we're visiting that Halloween town. I'm looking forward to that a lot. It sounds pretty awesome.
 
I can cross Monster Squad off the list.

And I started playing The Walking Dead Season 1 yesterday. I'm playing it on PC and I figured I would replay Season 1, which I played before on Xbox 360, before playing the new Season 2. The choices you make carry over, so I have to play Season 1 again, to get the best experience.
Anyway, I finished the 1st episode in about 2 hours. I had totally forgotten how tense this game is and how tough the choices are. It's like an interactive animated series with a great story and interesting characters. I can't recommend this game enough.

Visiting Halloween town this weekend. I'm very excited.
 
Sweet bonus!!

My girlfriend is in the mood for a scary movie, so tonight we decided to watch the now 1996 Wes Crawen classic, Scream. I'm a big fan of this movie and I'm excited to watch it again...

.. and tomorrow is my visit to the halloween town..

... God, I love halloween!
 
What a great saturday night. My girlfriend and I met up with my 2 buddies. We went and had dinner at a restaurant before driving 1½ hours to the halloween town. It was in the middle of nowhere, and when we arrived it was 7.30pm and pitch black.
A few kilometers out, signs began popping up pointing in the direction of the event. Driving into the small town the locasls set the mood. Right when crossing the town limits a local farmer had a pumpin sale and getting further towards the event, local residents had decorated their houses. It looked really fantastic. Carved Pumpkins with lights, scarecrows, big spiders etc.
We parked at the church which was lighted in a spooky way and had to walk along the graveyard to get to the entrance of the event which took place at the local school.
I had no idea what to expect, but we got into this hub area which had 3 things. 1. the main attraction. 2. A Silent Hill themed basement attraction and 3. A beer tent.
Ok? We looked around, and there was a few people there. Main attraction was a big white tent, hmmm, 100 people with makeup, in that tent? Oh well, we walked in and security guy was there with a walkie talkie and announced to someone that a group of four was coming in. I thought this was just the tent area but was I in for a surprise. This thing turned out to be a 1-1½km walk through several themed areas. I have a feeling my words wont describe just how awesome this was, but let me try and break it down...

The emporers theme (star wars) was playing as we walked through a curtain. On the other side we were met with a big bloody butched holding a meat cleaver. Right as we walked through the curtain he came right at us. (the whole way through the "actors" got real close, but never touched us). We squeeked past him and found our way into the apple orchard with lots of trees and a couple of scarecrows. There was great lighting here and our path was lit with small lanterns. All of a sudden one of the scarecrows came to life and reached for us. Scared the crap out of my girlfriend.

We entered the next shed which had dracula lying in a coffin. There was a narrow path on both sides of the coffin heading for the exit on the other side. Right as we walked past he sat up and hissed at us. Sounded unreal. We get out into a big field. Theres vampires lurking in the shadows. We follow the path as the Vampires follow us really close. This one female vampire got way up close and made this hissing sound that got the hairs on the back of my head to stand up. Her makeup was incredible. We turn a corner, path is clear so I look back to see if my buddies have kept up. They're right behind us and as I face forward again a vampire is RIGHT in front of me. DAMN, it scared me. Probably the biggest scare or atleast one of the top ones.

Now we head towards a green laser light. We have to walk through a lot of pinetrees to continue our journey. The hook man, a man wearing a black fishedrmans slick coat, a lantern and a huge hook is walking around in here. Really scary. We get through the pinetrees and walk past a sheed to get to the next themed shed. Right as we walk past the shed a really tall dude steps out from behind it. That really made my girlfriend jump.

Now we're at the silent hill'ish themed section. We walk through a shed which is lit only by a old TV showing static. Hooks and and chains are hanging from the ceiling. On the other side there's an old car and a train cart we have to walk past. There's a big dude just standing there with his back turned to us. As we get closer he turns around. He muscular with bare upper torso. Wearing big chains and a welding mask that is lit from the inside. That looked really cool.

We make our way towards a church looking shed and as we enter it's chaos. A woman is walking around screaming that her baby is possesed and that we have to save the baby. Meanwhile a priest is performing an exorcism on a young girl strapped to a chair. This young girl was yelling and cussing. Really great demonic makeup on this girl like in the movie.

Next up it get's really quiet. We have to enter a shed that's pitch black. That's pretty scary in itself as you can't see where you're going and you don't want to walk into anything. The layout is like a maze. STOMP! a strobe light flickers and you see your own reflection in the mirrors on the wall for a second before it's pitch black again. You hear a sinister laugh. STOMP! a lady in white appears laughing running towards us and then it's pitch black again. REAL scary,... I scrambled for the exit.

On the other side the lanterns lead us into a forest. You see these weird symbols made from branches haning in the trees. Yes, Blairwitch stuff. Even with the lanterns it's hard to see the path. Besides the path, in the darkness, you could hear "things" following us. you could hear howling. Really unsettling but nothing came at us. In the distance we can hear the music from the LEft 4 Dead videogame playing. We begin to see millitary vehicles as we get to a well lit clearing and what gets to be the coolest part of the tour.

2 soldiers in hazmat suits and gasmasks great us. With handsignals they wants us to come closer. This is a quarantine zone with a checkpoint. He walks up and checks our pupils with a flashlight. Behind them Theres a long fence covered with a blue tarp. As we are allowed through the checkpoint Zombies scale the fence and try to grab us. We turn a corner and have to walk really close to a non-tarped fence to get ahead. The Zombies can almost reach us. As we turn another corner heading away we can hear the Zombies get more aggressive. They break down the fence and start chasing us!! That section was REALLY well made. The whole setting, the lighting and the zombie makeup, WOW!

This next section was kind of disappointing as it made no sense. We walked into this Viking camp and as we walked past the guard he shouted "FRESH MEAT", so they were cannibals? We make our way through the camp where there's not much going on and on the other side theres a beautiful woman making hand gestures that we should follow her and get off the path. No way! But has she got our attention this troll creatures jumps out from the other side. BIG JUMP SCARE, HOLY SH..,

We now head to the final section and we can hear the Halloween them playing. It's a path around a small lake. A smoke machine is pouring smoke out onto the water. We see figures staggering along ahead and as we get closer we can see that it's zombies. There's a green'ish lighting to the lake that make it look really eerie. There's a zombie standing with it's back to us and a bench on the other side. We squeeze past is and all of a sudden another zombie jumps out from underneath the bench. My heart surely skipped a beat.

And that was the end of the tour. We headed back to the school walking through the neighbourhood. Great decorations. It was nice to see the locals support the event and set the mood. We get back and decided to try the Silent Hill Basement.

The guard at the door says we can only go 2 and 2, so my girlfriend and I head in first. There's a lot of smoke and it's hard to see in the dim lights. It's a long hallway. All of a sudden a airraid siren sounds and the lights flicker before they go out. My girlfriend completely freezes. the lights come back on and we walk forward. We see what looks like manequinns in nurses outfits. On comes to life and staggers towards us while making this terrible breathing sound. We turn a corner and walk through an open door. A tall, skinny doctor covered in blood jumps out infront of us while laughing hysterically. BIG Scare again! Turn another corner and walkinto a big room. My eyes are focused on a bed in the middle of the room with somebody lying in it. it completely miss the scary looking dude right next to me. Another Big scare. We head towards the exit and out steps pyramid head to block our way. He chase us around and we head towards the exit. Really scary basement with a great Silent Hill theme. They did it all right.

We sit down for a drink in the beer tent and talk about the various themes and experiences. After that we try each attraction another time and head home after that. We were there from 7.30pm to 11.30pm.

TL:DR
We had a great time. We got scared good and the settings, themes and makeup was great. There was even a busload of people from Poland? I talked to one of the staff members and he said this was their 5th year, and it just keeps getting bigger. He told us that every year is different, so we should come back.

I tried to take some pictures but it was too dark so you can't see anything in them...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top