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While Most people always loved Easter, and the 4th and St. Patty's Day oh and of course Turkey Day and Christmas. Halloween has always been a particular favorite of mine. Why? I don't know really. My love of true Horror actually comes much later, believe it or not i was rather a scaredy cat and hated horror films when i was a kid. I mean to the point of really avoiding them. Wanna know secret???

When I saw Jedi in the theaters, Jabba's Palace freaked me out with all the monsters!

had to convince my friends not to go see Nightmare On Elm Street 2 in the theaters(that took some finesse) and came down with the, "My Grandma wont give me money to see Jason Lives" but its funny, I enjoyed hearing about it second hand....

Not too mention the summers when my brother was off, he made a point of renting everything to scare me. He made me watch the original Elm Street in the Dark(yes he would make comments if I hid my eyes). Day of the Dead, and Aliens...To this day I have an aversion to Zombie Apocalypses and Facehuggers. I mean after watching it, I'd sleep with the sheet over my head and made sure to never leave a foot dangling.

My Grandmother, well she was an interesting person. I can truthfully say my love of sci fi, fantasy and all that was because of her. After she was done with her errands, we would go to the neighborhood theater. For me well, I was a kid and nothing mattered but well...you know(He wears black and has a mechanical breathing device) So we'd see that first. then we go to another film for a double feature. By then I'd fall asleep. I remember waking up and seeing the Alien for the first time all black and slimy and crying.... Then we saw the Zombie Poster outside(the Italian one with the Rotting face and maggots in the eyesocket)....

Back in the olden days...Channel 11 here in NYC had Chiller Theater and Channel 5 had Hammer Horror Films and Kung Fu Theater. I would love watching Chiller Theater. Also in the Summer PBS would air Universal Horror Films.

Which brings us to October. I loved getting costumes even though I was soooooooooooo monotonous when it came to a costume. Who could forget that hot plastic mask and the rubber bands that would bind into your skin. Oh and I wouldnt trust getting a costume from my mom. Nope, she never knew what I wanted...No this fell to my grandmother. She'd get it early and hide it. In Kindergarten I remember our halloween party we bobbed for apples and stuff and watched Disney halloween toons. Oh we were also paraded around the school in our cute costumes.

1st Grade I believe i was Mork. I kept falling though and the costume was totally ripped by the time I got home.
2nd Grade Vader
3rd Grade Artoo Detoo, I was sooo upset at the time. Who wanted to be a dumb droid....BLECH. I've since grown fond of that little droid and name all my Laptops after him. This is also around the time I started hearing about the razors in apples and the black van driving around snatching little kids and killing them. We saw a Black Van and ran.
4th Grade I dont remember. Actually I do, this was the year I was down in Atlantic City at a Hospice. I didnt have a Costume so I went as a makeshift Boba Fett....
5th Grade, no vader because the costume wasn't around. So i was another clown but I looked more like a Hobo....
Didnt go to 6th Grade.
7th Grade, dressing up was a kiddie thing to my classmates so no.
8th grade....a party with candy and music but nothing fun.

We'll completely skip over the High School Years. And thus ended my costuming for many many moons.

After Grammar school i did start to watch more things and rediscovered Jason and Freddy. I went and saw Friday 7 in the theater, at the time it was just alright, its since become my fave Jason simply because of the Look and his Mannerisms(this would be the first time Kane Hodder played Jason).

OF course Freddy became my fave villain. I started watching them with my Grandma and we would sit in the dark and watch them all night. It was great when Halloween Fell on a Friday or Saturday because I could stay up and watch the movies with her and eventually with friends and then alone. I also remember going trick or treating with my friends in the Neighborhood around Branch Brook Park. At that time, we covered Newark, BLoomfield and parts of east orange. Our trek would start at 6:00 and be done by 10 or 11 sometimes. It was a group of us and nothing bad happened except the big kids trying to take our candy. A few times I'd bring my bag filled to the brim and just dump it for my grandparents to have(i wasnt into candy, except mounds, hershey or bubble gum). Then when I got home, I'd watch movies. One year my brother took me trick or treating...wasnt as fun....

That eventually stopped and for a long time, October was the month before my birthday. I wouldnt really notice the leaves changing or getting colder. It just was a month.

I dont know when it exactly changed but...okay maybe I do, I was in college and I was sitting on the green watching life past by(it was such an overcast day) that I said, I want to write something. Well what should I write? Sci fi? No its too much like trek(i was heavily into TNG at the time) Plus I was the only one wearing darker clothes(not goth per say but i was certainly moody) so I said horror. ok What horror, well I wasnt into Werewolves. I said Vampires...yeah...yeah(i had read INterview and fell in love with the Emo Vamp). She's gotta be HOT though and thus my opus was born.

I met a friend in college who was soo hardcore into Horror, she told me about Clive Barker(Who? I asked at the time)we watched Hellraiser. I was floored. She introduced me to Re-animator, and the gorier side of Horror(I at the time only watched slasher stuff and my material was getting dated). We went to a Horror con and I got to meet Clive Barker. She also showed me the joys of erotic horror writing(to this day I can't get it right) and that I think is where the Demented side took over. If it was on cable I'd watch it. I loved Syndication during this period. For a time I had Friday the 13th the Series(HEY where's JASON????), Tales from the Darkside(again scared at the music and some episodes) Monsters. Freddy's Nightmares Not too mention Tales From the Crypt on HBO...ahhh it was great.

October soon became not just a month before my birthday but a season of change. I began to love seeing the leaves turn. And I counted down to 31st. AMC(before it went commercial) would run Monsterfest, a week or sometimes 2 weeks of horror leading to Halloween(I mean everything, hammer, universal, Godzilla) It was awesome. TNT had Monstervision and weird saturdays. In later years IFC gave me the hard to find stuff(its because of them I saw sleepaway camp and still get weirded out at the ending) Corman films and forgotten 80s horror(this is the era I really missed. I wish i could see alot of these films uncut).

There was another lull, I still hadn't discovered the more out there things. I wouldnt do that until i joined SG actually and met another person who would expand my darkside thinking. Sadly she is gone now but she told me about VIncent Price and other Hammer films. Actually European and Italian Horror. Because of her, i learned about Zombies besides Romero(she also told me to watch Dawn of the Dead). Helped me with my research and expanded my mind. Her Group was a group where you talked about obscure films that I had to dig and hunt for. When I went and visited her, I saw Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things(imagine watching that half asleep with your people half stoned around you...fucking weird movie) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, The Argento with Jennifer Connelly, Bride of Re-animator and Re-animator 2. And gave me lovecraft stories to read.

So to you Gorewhore I salute you and you are missed. SG also brought me across the paths of Jovanka editor of Rue Morgue magazine(for us americans for the longest we only had Fangoria) and other knowledgeable people.

I also took classes based on British Italian Horror from the 60s through the 80s. MY professor was amazing. He broke it down by historical facts, the eras and the key players. Because of him i saw Suspiria. In class after he asked us what did we think I said meh didnt like it. There were collective gasps and he said well y not. I said, It insisted upon itself(i dont remember if I had seen Family Guy by then but I did say it) i then explained why i didnt care for it. He nodded and said its not for everyone.

Because of Professor Freitas I saw More Italian Horror films and Giallos. I also for the first time in years had to cover my face(the Beyond and the spider attack). He would tell me what movies to see on my own. In NYC there was this great rental place called TL something that had obscure films down on West 4th. I'd rent from there, go home, watch, write notes and discuss them with him. He was a screenwriter too(he wrote the Sisters Remake, I haven't seen it but I did enjoy the original) that Fall I took American Horror and thats when i learned all horror films is symbolic and if its a slasher its Freudian with its images of the Phallic or something, I dont remember actually which is which. But the subject matter wasnt engaging and i didnt learn anything new. So Another summer of American horror during the 60s and 70s with Professor Freitas. In here, I saw for the first time, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween. These films have been around but never got around to seeing. Not too mention the idea of possession scared me(a kid would go around the hospital as being possessed).

By this time i learned that

A) I want my Horror R Rated.

B) Brain Dead is still the goriest movie i've ever seen

C) REMAKES FUCKING SUCK(with the following exceptions, Night of the Living Dead, The Thing, Bram Stoker's Dracula)

D) Most New horror doesn't do it for me. I think I'm an elitist in that regard but if its good its good.

E) Thank you for Netflix.

Also now as i've gotten older, I love TCM because I get to see older horror films that arent Universal but still interesting. They also do TCM Underground that has shown me, Faster Pussycat KILL KILL! The Tingler, Night of the Lepus, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies(god this was sooo bad). Death Race 2000.

So I sit here looking out on 14th Street, its only the 3rd and the feeling of spookiness hasnt truly settled in yet. The weather is still relatively warm. The leaves havent really changed yet. True Costumes and candy were out as of friggin labor day but no sense of urgency. I look forward to the Pumpkin Gutting and candy gathering. I also must watch The Great Pumpkin, i really need to just get it on dvd since they edit it on ABC. The haunted houses and Parades and the Movie marathons. This year I may actually be home for Halloween with a busted Leg so we shall see. Wouldnt be the first time I was sick for halloween. One year I had an asthma attack and had to go to the Hospital wound up watching Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein in my hospital room.

Next week, we go looking for pumpkins in a real live pumpkin patch...HEHEHEHE. THE SEASON of THE WITCH HAS BEGUN!!!!!