13 Days of Halloween: Review of The American Scream

“Every Halloween, sleepy Fairhaven, Massachusetts erupts with the most ambitiously creative spookery in the world. Endless styrofoam tombstones and backyard beasts come courtesy of a few supremely dedicated local "home haunters" who've devoted their lives to the art of handmade monstermaking. In this surprisingly touching documentary, The American Scream follows three of these horrific households to uncover the triumphs and tragedies that come with carrying the blackened banner of true Halloween spirit.”

I’ll admit, I’ve been looking forward to seeing this documentary for quite a while. I’d always felt that home haunters didn’t always get the same media coverage as the pro haunts. Don’t get me wrong, I love pro haunts, I intend to own a pro haunt one day; but they do seem to get the lion’s share of the media attention. Apart from one or two solitary HGTV specials, home haunts mostly get their coverage through local news or the internet. So when I heard that a full-length documentary was being made, that focused exclusively on home haunters, I was already jonesing to see it. Sadly, two years went by before I actually had the opportunity to view it. And when I did I was not disappointed.

The American Scream focuses on three sets of haunters: Victor Bariteau and his family, Manny Souza, and Matthew and Richard Brodeur, all of whom reside in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The film follows all of them over the course of October 2011, as they prepare for the big 10-31. It shows the thought process of each haunter behind their creation, and examines why they (and by extension, most haunters) go the extreme of creating a haunted wonderland in their backyard. It shows the trials and tribulations, and the toll it sometimes takes on their family and friends. It also perfectly (and hilariously) captures that last minute feeling of panic that every haunter has; spills, not being able to finish one project on time, props breaking/disappearing/not working right, and plentiful frustrated cries of “motherf#cker!” But then, as darkness descends, it shows the family, friends, and neighbors converging on the haunts to celebrate the greatest night of the year.

I have to say, the thing I liked best about The American Scream was how it focused on the haunters, not on the haunts. Don’t get me wrong, like any haunter I enjoy seeing the handiwork of my peers, but this was different. It focused on the people behind the art (and yes, I consider haunting to be an art form as well as entertainment). It told their stories, in a very touching way, very different than the angle most coverage of haunts take, which portray us haunters as kooky and off-center (we are, but that’s not the point). Ultimately, I cannot say enough good things about The American Scream. Everything about was very professional, from the camerawork to the music. It never once became cheesy, and remained a fascinating, touching, yet clear-eyed tribute to the Home Haunt subculture. If you are at all a Halloween or Haunt fan, you must see this film.

HalloweeNut’s Verdict:

4 out of 4 Skulls

Carnival of Curiosity and Chaos

Sometimes it really does pay to just get out of the house and go for a walk.

Last Saturday, for no reason in particular, I went for a walk and decided to veer from my usual path from and go on Philadelphia Street, the main stretch of Indiana, PA. Much to my surprise, Sacred Ink Tattoos, a popular tattoo parlor, had flown in a sideshow troupe, the Carnival of Curiosity and Chaos, from Chicago, for a one-night-only live performance, free of charge. And there was to be not one, but two performances of body suspension.

How could I say no?

What followed was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had a long while. In addition to the show, there was free food (hot dogs and shrimp!), live music, and art and tattoo/piercing antiques on display, such as an actual centuries-old Mayan ear spool. As for the sideshow itself, the only way I have to describe it is this: it was f**cking awesome! The performer, Tom Hill, did a jaw-dropping, and sometimes side-splitting, variety of stunts, including (but not limited to) fire-eating, whip cracking, upside-down straightjacket escape, jumping up and down on broken glass (with an audience member on his back!), eating fire, staple-gunning paper donkey tails to his ass, and hammering over 12 nails into his nostrils… at the same time. At certain points throughout the show audience members were called upon to “assist” in the acts, although mostly they were made the butt of some fairly raunchy jokes. For example, I myself foolishly volunteered, and, while I won’t go into details, I can say this: never before (and hopefully never again) have I found myself wearing a balloon animal strap-on. Yep, that’s right, balloon animal strap-on. It’s that kind of show. After the show, I got to talking to Tom and he was a pretty cool guy, very interesting to speak with.

As for the body suspension, I took some video for you all to see. I only managed to film the first performance, by Tom (my phone’s battery died), but the other performance, by Sacred Ink owner Sean Hughes, was just as impressive. Here’s the video:

I’d like to thank Sean and the very cool people at Sacred Ink for putting the whole evening, free of charge. An awesome time was had by all, and it was a very cool event. If you ever get a tattoo or piercing there, tell them I sent you!

13 Days of Halloween: An Interview with Sharon Day, of Ghost Hunting Theories

We are now half-way through October, and just two weeks shy of Halloween itself. Halloween, a day with deep roots in tales of hauntings and the unexplained. It seems only appropriate, then, that this interview be with someone who with a life-long fascination with the paranormal. She is Paranormal Expert, horror author, blogger, and my good friend, Sharon Day, of the renowned blog Ghost Hunting Theories. So, without further a do, let's get started:

Q: For those who don’t know you, tell us a little about yourself?

I’m the author of the blog Ghost Hunting Theories and over a dozen books involving the paranormal and horror themes. I grew up in a very actively haunted home that was a Civil War hospital and there I developed my skills of psychometry (the ability to read objects background by touching them).

Q: What was it that drew you to the paranormal in the first place?

I grew up from the time I was a baby in a very actively haunted home in Northern Virginia. I saw it as a normal part of the world and how it works. It never involved magic or fearfulness, but just the world and its many layers. I began to wonder about other things in the paranormal realm and transferred my concepts of it all being part of nature to other paranormal arenas. I now spend my spare time working on theories about all things paranormal.

Q: You say you lived in a house with ghosts from the Civil War? What was it like growing up in that environment?

My parents had a great attitude about the home. They said, “these soldier died alone, away from family and now the house has 5 kids in it. If you hear them walking the halls at night, they are doing their rounds protecting you. Who better to protect you than soldiers?”

Q: Your blog, Ghost Hunting Theories, has enjoyed enormous popularity. What made you start blogging?

I had my Achilles tendon reattached and couldn’t walk for months. I was in a funk. My son said, “mom, you’re into ghost hunting, why not meet others through blogging?” He got me started. I was apprehensive since I only knew enough on the computer to do basic things, but I had nothing else to do and he was right. I not only picked it up quickly, but I finally found my tribe – I hadn’t found people like me in Arizona where I live, who were asking the big questions, but online, I found a community of paranormal geeks – which ultimately inspired my book “Paranormal Geeks” about our unique group.

Q: You’re the author of many books, both fiction and non-fiction, including Paranormal Geeks, Zombie Housewives of the Apocalypse, Growing up with Ghosts, and Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories. What inspired you to become a writer, and out of all the books you’ve written, which would you say is favorite?

I had been writing romance novels and submitting them for years, and getting rejections. When I started blogging, the readers were giving me such good feedback about my writing that I entered a contest for writing an essay for Ghost Adventures show and I won. Then, I realized I might have a real talent. I knocked around a book concept with a friend, we decided to publish it ourselves, then another, then another, and pretty soon, we were putting out books regularly. I have also done many books on my own. I am very proud to have a horror/SciFi novel, MetaNet coming within the year and that is going to be my favorite, but believe it or not my favorite right now is Don’t Go There! A Flash Horror Anthology because I actually have a hard copy and read it when I’m curled up at night. It’s dozens of short stories on every horror theme and they are timed out so you know how long it will take to read each one.

Q: You’ve also written erotic horror, including the ebook Philia: Sex in Dark Places. What inspired you to go in this direction?

I’ve always had an odd talent for erotica and I love horror, and to me sex and horror go together – it’s all about the tension and the climax!

Q: Any more books in the works you’d care to tell us about? 

Abandoned Places: Abandoned Memories (Appalachian Edition) comes out October 1^st. I have an erotic horror novella Pagan Bloodlust coming very soon, a romantic horror series opening book The Hunt: Ghosts coming soon, MetaNet and a children’s book Twice As Special. I plan to do a tween-aged horror series about some kids who start a paranormal club and a couple members live in an antebellum mansion in the south that is haunted. Their team includes a Bigfoot from the woods and two ghost soldiers from the North and South who assist.

Q: When you are preparing to go on a ghost hunt, how to do you prepare? What sort of equipment to you normally bring when you’re beginning an investigation?

I bring all the standard equipment except for talk boxes – I am not at all impressed with those hocus pocus devices. In fact, the best hunt is done with absolutely no equipment, simply your senses for observation. We get so caught up in equipment which isn’t effective and we miss the real action. I don’t do protections or any of that stuff. I don’t have a personal concept that involves Devil, demons, Evil or possession, and consequently, I never run into it. I do appreciate setting up equipment and leaving the building to rest a while before reentering.

Q: You’ve done a lot of urban photography. What drew you to this?

When I was a kid, we had some outbuildings on the estate that were old and decrepit and had old abandoned furniture in them and an abandoned 1940s car in the field.  Mom was an historian and we spent a lot of time at historic sites in the east. I found myself drawn to places people no longer inhabited. They looked sad, but also beautiful as the elements rusted, peeled, and aged the sites. I wanted to try to capture my feelings for these sites, so I began to photograph them the way I saw them and people reacted strongly to the images. About half the time I photograph a site, it’s torn down within the next year, so sometimes I’m one of the last people to ever document it. It’s a moment in time that no longer exists.

Q: You’ve stated countless times on your blog that you are a huge horror fan. What would you say are your favorite horror films?

Oh, this is soooo tough. Usually I’m driven by moods, but there are some standards that pass the test of time – Night of the Living Dead, The Haunting, The Changeling, The Fog, Legend of Hell House. I have a very special place in my heart for everything from the 70s from Hammer Films and the Brit works to made for TV horror which was a huge genre then.

Q: No doubt you have had to put up with a lot of naysayers who claim that the paranormal is a load of malarkey and that you’re either a fool or a liar. How do you deal with people like that?

I really don’t have to deal with folks like that because it’s not my driving force to prove to others anything paranormal exists. I am on a journey to understand what I know of it from my own encounters and observations. This is my journey. Not theirs. They can take their own.

Q: I understand you’re a big fan of Halloween. What is your favorite Halloween memory?

I have so many, but the one that really sticks out in my mind influenced my Halloweens the most. When we were living in the haunted estate, we rented the cottages to students from George Mason University. One student in one of the cottages had a Halloween party. It was my first Halloween to Trick Or Treat. I was 4. My brother was 9. We were all dressed and ready but we stopped by the cottage and they told us to come in and there as a lady at the table with a crystal ball doing  gypsy readings. I was fascinated forever with gypsy and crystal balls. We went into the main room where the costumed people were. I was nervous, but when a man entered holding his head in his arm, I freaked out. My brother freaked out. He pushed me back against the wall in horror and was crushing me. I was screaming more from my brother’s squashing than the headless dude. I was so scared, I didn’t go trick or treating, so my brother took a bag for me and got me candy. It was my first image of a costume party and gypsies and I have forever been changed by the love of Halloween parties and costumes.

Q: What has been the coolest moment of your paranormal career?

Hmm…. I have done some TV and some radio and interviews that were cool, but I think the moment I most enjoyed was when Ben Hansen from “Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files” on Syfy contacted me. He was in town and wanted me to interview him. He came to my home and we talked for 4 hours nonstop about everything paranormal. It was a fun interview, but the really cool thing was just having someone so experienced in the field to share concepts and compare notes with. It made me realize the value of paranormal conferences and events where you can meet with other minds and discuss the juicy stuff in the field.

Q: Finally, do you have any advice for aspiring ghost hunters who may read this interview?

First and foremost, figure out your motivation. Some people enter the field hoping to get a TV show, which is not only ridiculous, but it drives your decisions quite differently than someone who has experienced the unexplained and wants answers. Know if you seek research, seek helping homeowners, or seek fame. You must make decisions based upon these goals.

13 Days of Halloween: Review of Dark Harvest

“You remember how it feels, don’t you? All that desire scorching you straight through. Feeling like you’re penned up in a small-town cage, jailed by cornstalk bars. Knowing, just knowing, that you’ll be stuck in that quiet little town forever if you don’t take a chance.”

In Dark Harvest, the novel by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Norman Partridge, it is Halloween, 1963. In a strange, yet familiar rural American town, a strange and sinister ritual is about to take place. The teenage boys between 16 and 19 are penned up in their rooms with no food for three days, three nights. Then, on October 31^st, they are unleashed upon the town in pursuit of mythic creature known as “the October Boy”. They are permitted to catch and kill this creature by any means necessary, before it reaches the town church at midnight. For the one who kills the October Boy, it means freedom from a dead-end future… but at what cost?

This slim, stark little book is strange creation: part Halloween tale, part noir, part prose, it is anything but typical. It strikes as being similar to the kind of thing Ray Bradbury might write if he had wanted to write horror noir. It sometimes has the feel of a fairy tale, yet at other times it’s dark and violent in a very gritty way. Though I suppose that’s an appropriate contrast; not only were all the old fairy tales dark and violent, it reflects Halloween’s own duality: sometimes magical, sometimes frightening, but always mysterious. I liked how the book, despite its twists and turns, never spells everything out. It leaves it up to the reader to fill in some of the blanks, instead of spoon-feeding it to you. I can easily see this book being adapted to film; John Carpenter’s Halloween by way of Terrance Malick’s Badlands. I can see connections between Dark Harvest and other works in fiction, with its “rural-small-town’s-evil-ritual” plot harkening to books and films as varied as Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, The Wicker Man, and even (more recently) The Purge. In summary, if you’re looking for a quick, powerful read for the Halloween season, put Dark Harvest on your list.

HalloweeNut’s Verdict:

4 out of 4 Skulls

13 Days of Halloween: Haunt Soundtrack

Earlier this month I posted a playlist of Halloween tunes off the beaten path. Well, I’m here to present my second Halloween playlist. Unlike the previous one, which was the kind of music you could play at a party, this is designed to be of more use in haunt environment. I’ve plundered multiple movie soundtracks, dark ambient bands and other sources to create this playlist, also being used at my family’s haunt this year. Like the previous playlist, it’s designed to be listened to, not watched. Click the scarecrow, hit "Play All", downscale, and enjoy!

13 Days of Halloween: Review of Trick 'r Treat

In this horror anthology, five different, intertwined stories revolving around Halloween, told out of order, unfold with grisly results.

 Trick ‘r Treat, first feature by director Michael Dougherty, has a sad history: filmed in 2006 to be released the following year, it was instead shelved for two years, for reasons unknown, and then dumped straight to video in 2009. I’ve no idea why Warner Bros. did this, because this movie could have been perfect theater fare. This is the sort movie that IS going to scare you, but more than that, it is also the kind of movie that manages to make you laugh and squirm at the same time (perfect example: the infamous “chocolate vomit” scene). It has a truly wicked sense of humor, which seems appropriate considering this is a movie centered around Halloween. Which leads me to say this: this is probably the only movie I have ever seen that is truly revolving around the High Holiday. Let’s be honest, classic though it is, John Carpenter’s Halloween could have been set on just about any night of the year. Trick ‘r Treat is clearly made by someone who has a passion for the holiday, like us haunters. Halloween is soaked into frame of this movie, and literally personified by the now-iconic character of Sam (Quinn Lord), a sort-of avenging Spirit of Halloween. This little guy has built up quite the cult following, and not unusual to see figures of him in yard haunts.

Trick ‘r Treat is very well made, especially considering this is Dougherty’s first time directing. Although it is obviously influenced by Pulp Fiction in its narrative format and (SPOILER!) Ginger Snaps in one of its stories, Trick ‘r Treat never once becomes derivative, always remaining its own unique film (though it does see fit to pay homage to Halloween in the opening scene). All in all, this is without a doubt my all-time favorite Halloween film. Anyone who calls themselves a Halloween fan must see this movie.

HalloweeNut’s Verdict:

3 out of 4 Skulls

By the way, I found this awesome little video homage someone made to the movie. Enjoy!

13 Days of Halloween: Review of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978)

“Death has come to your little town sheriff. You can either ignore it, or you can help me destroy it.”

- Dr. Sam Loomis, Halloween

Halloween has become one of those movies that need no introduction. Any horror fan (or regular movie fan, for that matter) worth his salt has seen it, usually more than once. Every year, it is watched countless times in darkened living rooms, the famous piano score drifting eerily over the leaf-strewn streets of Haddonfield. The film captures the feel of a chilly October night perfectly. It is the movie that forged the careers of both director John Carpenter and Jamie Lee Curtis. It also created one of the most iconic movie villains of all time: Michael Myers, the Boogeyman of Haddonfield. 

With his butcher’s blade and ghostly white mask, Michael is described as the boogeyman, and he looks every inch of it. Every facet of this movie’s lore and legend is hungrily absorbed by horror fans, and becomes common fact: that Michael’s mask was supposed to be a William Shatner mask; that Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) was named after a minor character in Psycho; that Jamie Lee Curtis was cast specifically because her mother had been in Psycho. We all know these facts, and many more, but rather than trivialize the film, they just seem to enhance it.

Granted, it’s a far from perfect film. The scenes with the babysitters’ dialogue are painfully dated, and wooden in their delivery. Some of the acting is a tad hammy, and the sometimes the film betrays its low budget seems. However, this is all made up for in the scare department. Though very tame indeed when compared with more recent shockers, Halloween never seeks to shock you or gross you out: instead, it tries to (and very much succeeds in) scare you silly. For first time viewers, this is one best watched in a dark room, with nothing but the movie for company. You’ll be sleeping with the lights on, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, like most successful movies that are any good, Halloween spawned lousy sequels and countless imitators that tarnished the reputation of the original. But in the end, John Carpenter, and of course, Michael, have emerged triumphant. If you plan on watching on movies on All Hallow’s Eve, Halloween belongs on your list.

HalloweeNut’s Verdict:

3 out of 4 Skulls

A foot note: as part of its 35^th anniversary, Halloween is being re-released to select theaters. You can look for on near you here:

http://www.screenvision.com/cinema-events/halloween/