iPhoneography Part … uh … more Halloween photos

It has been too long since the last installment of iPhone pictures of fun, cool and cheesy Halloween costumes, masks and decor available in your finer retail establishments. So long, in fact, that I’ve lost track of how many installments we’ve had.

So let’s get to it!

First, with apologies to IT guys and girls everywhere, there’s the computer nerd costume. The dorky glasses and pocket protector, sure, but the teeth? I’ve never seen an IT person with those teeth. I think they’re hillbilly costume teeth that got included in this package by accident.

Speaking of odd costume choices, what is it about this trench coat that makes it a “nightmare trench coat?” Beats me.

And who knew they had carvable artificial pumpkins? They’re kind of an interesting variation on the traditional pumpkin, without all the guts and seeds. But the one that I checked out was hard as a rock. I foresee even more pumpkin-carving-related trips to the emergency room with this baby. Funkins indeed.

I think these skeleton candleholders are actually pretty darn cool.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but this is a freaky little doll, only four or five inches tall. You squeeze its lower midsection and it shrieks and its eyes light up. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s freaky.

Of course, my eyes light up if you squeeze my lower midsection. I might even shriek.

The last two photos for this time around are of those wall decorations that look like a three-dimensional face (and hand, in this case) pushing out of the wall. Kinda cool, huh?

But … the manufacturer ruins everything by hiring a bad actor for the packaging. Look at this guy. Do you believe he’s frightened by that face pushing out of the wall behind him? Or does that expression say something else, like “Wow, I shouldn’t have had that burrito.”

More next time!

‘Shocking’ developments in horror movies chronicled

If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll forget the anticipation I felt waiting to see the 1973 thriller “The Exorcist.”

The movie, which had opened just after Christmas in big cities, had made its way to Muncie movie theaters by early 1974 and my friends and I at Cowan High School were eager to see it.

Eager? We were positively nuts about seeing the movie.

I was a horror movie fan from childhood, having grown up on classic Universal horror films and fun-but-sometimes-camp 1960s Vincent Price/Roger Corman flicks.

But “The Exorcist” was something else entirely. A big-studio movie, it was being promoted through a high-profile TV and newspaper ad campaign and the kind of word of mouth that money couldn’t buy.

Newspaper and magazine articles recounted the audience reaction to the film, about a pre-teen girl apparently possessed by the devil. People who saw the movie were fainting and wretching in theaters when confronted by scenes of the girl — played by newcomer Linda Blair — vomiting green bile and backhanding priests. Not to mention that crucifix scene.

My friends and I talked and joked about the movie incessantly. When we finally went to see it, some of the joking stopped. As we waited in the crowded theater for the movie to begin, I could hear a very anxious woman behind me, expressing concern that the movie might be too much for her. I sat forward in my seat, worried that she might throw up on me.

“The Exorcist” was in many ways typical of the new wave of more realistic, more controversial horror movies that were released in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, a period documented in Jason Zinoman’s new book, “Shock Value.”

Zinoman covers a lot of ground and a lot of personalities in his book. The big, well-known movies and names are here, as well as the players who had great influence on the new wave of horror films but who were little-known outside Hollywood circles.

One of them is Dan O’Bannon, who, while a student at USC, made a funny science fiction movie called “Dark Star” along with a friend and fellow student, John Carpenter. The ultra-low-budget movie, about the growing madness among members of the crew of a deep-space mission to destroy unstable planets, is odd and funny and made the best of its shoestring budget. The movie’s alien is a spray-painted beach ball with feet. Seriously.

Carpenter, as some of you might know, went on four years later to direct “Halloween,” the 1978 classic that changed horror movies and influenced generations of filmmakers.

O’Bannon co-wrote another classic, “Alien,” but found his career eclipsed by Carpenter. Plagued by medical problems and a bad reputation in moviemaking circles, O’Bannon died in 2009; his memorial service was attended by relatively few of his contemporaries. Zinoman’s book portrays him as a pivotal but tragic figure in modern-day movies.

“Shock Value” touches on many of the best and most notorious movies and filmmakers of the period, from “Night of the Living Dead” and its director, George Romero — I’ll tell you about my interview with Romero in another blog entry — as well as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and its director, Tobe Hooper. Like O’Bannon, Hooper was responsible for one of the most influential movies ever made. And as was the case with O’Bannon, Hooper found himself struggling to equal his early successes.

I was a movie fan and, later, a movie reviewer during much of the period documented in the book and even interviewed some of the leading characters from Zinoman’s story, including Romero and Carpenter. But “Shock Value” told me things I didn’t know, including the shady reputation of the people who financed “Chainsaw Massacre” and some of Carpenter’s inspirations for “Halloween.” If you’ve ever seen the 1961 ghost story “The Innocents,” for example, you’ll appreciate when Zinoman quotes Carpenter about the effectiveness of placing macabre characters in the far background of a shot.

In these days of the Internet and instant updates on movies while they’re still in production, it’s refreshing to find a scholarly but accessible look back at some classic scary movies and the people who made them. “Shock Value” is both enjoyable and informative.

iPhoneography: Halloween at the dollar store

It’s a very special installment of iPhone photos of Halloween stuff. This time: Halloween stuff at the dollar store!

Dollar stores are an increasingly successful part of the country’s retail industry. Customers have even forsaken discount stores like Walmart to patronize dollar stores.

Of course, dollar stores have their limitations, especially when it comes to Halloween merchandise. You won’t find a large selection of masks and costumes there. You will find some basic masks, a good variety of creepy decor and bags of sugary treats.

Here’s a quick look at the best of the dollar store’s eerie merchandise.

These skeletons wearing shrouds are actually pretty cool. They’re small, of course, but detailed and effective.

And here’s the Carrot Top version:

Dollar stores might not have elaborate costumes, but they’ve got a heck of a variety of cloth to compliment a costume.

There’s creepy cloth:

Not sure exactly what makes it creepy.

And bloody cloth, which is self-explanatory and just as creepy. Maybe creepier.

My favorite part of this is imagining the offshore factory where this is made. “Yeah, Marge, they switched me from the creepy cloth to the bloody cloth production line today.”

Here’s the 787th invention that I wish I had come up with. I hope the person who invented the squashed witch is getting some royalties.

And thank goodness for warnings:

“Oh my gosh, I was about to give this blow-up plastic ghost to Timmy to use in the pool as a floatation device. Good thing I saw this warning.”

And, last but not least, the ever-popular graveyard rat.

Now with extra red eyes!

More to come.

iPhoneography: Halloween stuff part three

I’ve neglected the posting of iPhone photos of masks, decor and the proverbial etcetera about my favorite holiday for too long. Time to remedy that oversight.

The National Retail Federation, that pro-shopping, pro-spending outfit that forecasts consumer trends, hasn’t yet predicted how much we’ll spend on Halloween this year. Last year, the NRF forecast Americans would spend $6 billion on Halloween costumes, candy and decorations. I’m not sure that projection worked out, considering the state of the economy. We’ll see what they say when they come up with this year’s number.

As Halloween has morphed from a holiday for kids that adults tolerated a generation ago to a full-blown excuse to party and begin eating snack-size Snickers in September, canny retailers have found bigger, better and bloodier Halloween goodies to sell us.

“Bigger” especially applies to the trend we’ve seen in the past few years of life-size ghouls and ghosts for Halloween decor.

While I’m not a huge fan of the “Scream” movie franchise — I thought the first film was pretty good though — I have to say I’d be impressed if somebody put this life-size Ghostface figure on their porch.

 

Much more timeless is a good old human skull replica. Here’s a shelf full at Target.

I thought this mini skeleton at Target was pretty cool. It’s appropriately spooky and atmospheric.

To round out this edition, how about this: A bag of mice. Who doesn’t need a bag of mice? Although if we brought these into the house, my cat would go nuts.

More next time!

iPhoneography: Halloween stuff part one

I love Halloween. And I love Halloween stores.

It’s a little more than a week into September, but yes, the first Halloween stores are open and Halloween stuff is popping up around town.

Expect to read a lot more about Halloween in this blog between now and the night itself, but here are a few iPhone shots I took tonight.

What says Halloween more than some bloody, severed fingers? Actually, I’m not that crazy about the dismembered body parts element to Halloween decorating. But here’s an acknowledgement of that interest.

Now this is more like it: Your good old fashioned spooky ghost type dude, hanging in mid-air. When you show up at somebody’s house in September and they have one of these babies up, you know they’re serious Halloween people.

One of my favorite things about Halloween is the creative costumes. Good homemade ones are the best, but sometimes professional costume makers come up with some funny ideas. Of course, I’m not sure most of us need help with an oversized belly costume, but in case you do, they have you covered.

Now this is a creepy mask. If I walked into someone in a dark room wearing a ventriloquist’s dummy mask, I would leave one of those Wile E. Coyote-style hole in the nearest door.

More soon!