Halloween celebration thread.

[trashcanman]

So in my world every day is Halloween in terms of the things I like to immerse myself in, but around this time of year it just seems better. October is overdose time for horror and my former habit of listening to Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, and The Misfits for a month straight fell through since I have had so much new music clogging my CD player at the moment and I haven't made time for my usual all-time classics like Dracula and Vampire Hunter D so I've made it up in other ways. Here's what I've been doing to pump myself up for All Hallow's eve this year. Also: general Halloween recommendation thread.



Going to see Sinister.
Scared the hell out of me, which is unusual for a dude who's seen it all. I wish I'd watched this with a crowd so I could've seen everyone lose their shit. Definitely horror done right.





Watching Paranormal Activity 4.
Not a bad film at all, but it just didn't do for me what the first three did. Thankfully, Sinister picked up the slack.




Playing Blazblu: Continuum Shift Extend as Rachel Alucard
Good times. They seem to have nerfed one of my bread and butter moves since the first game making her a much weaker character in this one, but she still serves up wicked disses in story mode and her werewolf butler is playable now. Also, her level looks like this:



Bitchin'.





Watching Satan's Little Helper
A shockingly disturbing and well-executed low-budget Halloween film that I'd call a must-see. Also, one of the most gifable movies ever in spite of a lack of gifs actually made for it.

"Hey Satan, where's your pitchfork?"






Rewatching Princess Resurrection.
Japan's attempt at cramming every horror concept ever conceived into one animated sitcom. Funny as hell and features one of the best female vampires ever as a regular cast member.




Catching the pilot for Mockingbird Lane.
Who thought a Munsters remake would actually work? Sadly, the pilot appears to be all there is going to be (probably due to cost), but the gallows humor of this one was all sorts of awesome. "Hobo Murder House" for the win.


And now the recommendation portion of the post.


The first Hellsing Ultimate box set came out today with the first 4 movies. Pretty much the coolest and most psychotic animated vampire series ever so if that sounds like a thing you'd be interested in seeing now's the time. The next 4 films (previously unreleased in America) are a mere two weeks away in the second set. Fuck. Yeah.



The poster is not lying. This is indeed the best Halloween film since the film actually named "Halloween". If you ain't seen it, see it.


So how have you spent this horror season?

[The Curmudgeon]

Damn dude, you win hands down in the celebration stakes. In fact, I'd have loved to get into the spirit of things as much as that, but it's just not been possible this year.

We did attend the "Scarefest" event at Alton Towers, and that was a blast. You can roam huge mazes that are covered with zombies and evil killer clowns that "attack" you. There are great "entrance" videos to some of the rides that you can watch before going in. Check this one out, for example..

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWTMa9mHmzc

And then the doors open for you to walk inside..

Anyway, the most frightening part of the whole day was turning up around 12pm in full Teen Wolf and Wednesday Addams costumes (wigs, teeth, hair, claws, dress, make-up)... only to find out NO ONE in the entire theme park was dressed up. This happened. It was only around 6 or 7pm when the costumes came out, and we had to walk around in full Halloween get-up for hours before that. THAT is horror, folks.

As for on-screen scares, the closest I can compare is the new series of American Horror Story.



That debuted over here on the 31st October, so that will be essential viewing once we actually stop moving around for 2 damn minutes. Anyone seen this yet? As good as the first season? For what it's worth, I thought the first season was as frightening as any TV show I've ever seen. Yet the Walking fucking Dead seems to grab everyone's attention. Pffff.

The Munster's remake had me hooked in from the start with the inclusion of Eddie Izzard (and he looks fucking awesome in that red cloak). I read on Wikipedia that it's still a "maybe" regarding a TV series. Fingers crossed. What's the deal with the family, then? Herman doesn't look anything like the original. They look more like the Addams Family.

Now, Trick R Treat is interesting. I bought it on DVD a few months ago and haven't got round to watching it yet. The best Halloween movie since Halloween? Oh man. I need to watch this.

[trashcanman]

Mockingbird Lane had a massive budget with lots of CG so don't expect that one to go anywhere unless the ratings were massive, and I doubt they were. But it was a pretty great one-off. My only real complaint was Grandpa's "bat" form looked really dumb to me. Like a giant baby mouse grew wings or something. The character himself is fucking great, though. 100% black comedy gold. About the rest of the family: Herman's scars are below the neckline and his heart is all steampunk modded and accessible via a zipper on his chest. Lily is also a vampire (being Grandpa's daughter) and is hot as fuck. Her introduction is her forming out of vapor naked and being dressed by an army of spiders spinning a gown of silk around her. Pretty awesome. The opening sequence is Eddy out camping in the woods with his boy scout troop when he changes into a full-on werewolf and massacres them all. No shit. This show was actually pretty dark. Eddy's lychanthropy is of the American Werewolf in London type so he doesn't remember what happened and the family tells him a "baby bear" keeps killing his fellow scouts wherever they move. Marilyn is, of course, normal and a constant source of disappointment to Grandpa ("none of us has anything to be ashamed of....except Marilyn"). All-in-all, I very much enjoyed it.

American Horror Story. Honesty, the second season is shaping up to leave the first season in the dust. It has borrowed elements from Shock Corridor, The Exorcist, Freaks, and of course the dozens of other horror films made about asylums over the years and is just all around killer. My only complaint with the first few episodes is they seem to be bringing aliens into the mix which doesn't really sit right with me for some reason.

The Walking Dead is actually looking really good so far this season. They skipped over the serial killer storyline for reasons I simply cannot comprehend and Andrea is still breathing and saying idiotic things every time she does (she actually berated a man with a gun on her for shooting a "man" who had been cut in half and was snarling at them...she literally seemed to have forgotten the whole "zombie" thing was still a thing), but still, the show is back on a roll after blowing Shane away. Hopefully Andrea's next.