Scary Movie Time!

So its that scary time of year again. Halloween! And this brings me to my favorite topic. MOVIES! And my favorite genre of movie is HORROR! So what better time of year than now to show you my top ten list of all time favorite horror films. In no particular order, here they are...

1. Let The Right One In. Made in 2008, this film gives the old vampire story a much needed shot in  the arm. There's no sparkly pretty boys or brooding beautiful high school girls here. Leave that to Twilight which will NOT be making my list. No, Let The Right One In, is the story of a lonely boy named Oskar who meets his seemingly equally lonely neighbor. She only comes out at night and there is a series of terrible murders going on around them. They develop a caring friendship that is doomed because of what she really is. A beautifully written story and a wonderfully acted and directed film. Well worth watching, even if you are not a horror fan. 
2. Rosemary's Baby. Roman Polanski's brilliant film about a young couple who move into a new apartment and into the world of the demon. Mia Farrow is frail and scared and quirky throughout. Ruth Gordon is fabulous as the pushy Satan worshipping neighbor. The sequence where Mia is..ahem..taken by Satan is psychedelic cool. Love this movie and highly recommend it! 
3. Ringu. This was my first foray into amazing Japanese horror films. In this one, there is a video that if you watch it, you get a call telling you that you're going to die. The main character goes on a hunt to find the origin of the tape and as the story unfolds so does the scares! Brilliant!
4. As long as we're talking Japanese horror, my next pick is The Grudge. There is a legend that if something bad happens, sometimes the house it happens in retains the badness. There is a house in Tokyo that does just that. Something very bad happened there and now the badness is unleashed on anyone who sets foot in the home. The special effects, if you can call them that - its mostly an eerily contorted woman - is so creepy! Add the weird throaty cackling sound and it makes my skin crawl! A truly scary movie! 
5. Halloween. Having been a baby sitter, and having been scared out of my wits while baby sitting, there are scenes in this movie that get to me every time. This is the original. Michael Myers at his evil best. You just can't kill this guy! Jamie Lee Curtis taking her rightful place as a scream queen! So much fun in this movie and so many good fast scares! This was the one that started the franchise and it's still the best! 
6. Paranormal Activity. Again, this was the original. This film was touted as one of the scariest films you'll ever see and the ads did not lie. This has so many good quick scares. The audience I saw this with was screaming out loud, always a good sign. The rest of the films in this franchise have not lived up to this first one but I did just watched a teaser for the next one and it does show some promise. We'll see. 
7. The Shining. So, Stephen King hated Kubrick's version of The Shining. Boo hop! I think it's brilliant. Visually this film is amazing and the pictures he creates will stay in your head for a long time to come. Shelly Duvall and Jack Nicholson are so damn good. The hotel, the real star of the film, is vast and welcoming and frightening all at the same time. Love love love this movie. They remade this for TV with King's input and I watched that too. It was so saccharine sweet I nearly developed diabetes. Sheesh! 
8. The Birds. I think Alfred Hitchcock is a genius and I've seen all of his films. Yes, there are some that are arguably more frightening than The Birds but this one stands out in my mind for one reason alone. Every year, my friend Liz would have a slumber party for her birthday and every year we would watch this film. We knew all the dialogue by heart. And later, when we were sleeping I would have visions of men lying with their eyes pecked out and women being covered by crows and I would be scared out of  my mind. This will always be a favorite. 
9. Exorcist. What can I say? I was raised Catholic. The idea that devil possession exists is very real to me! This movie scares the crap out of me to this day! 
10. The Haunting of Hill House. This was remade too but I'm talking about the original British film starring Julie Harris. She's invited to meet up with a team of likewise "gifted" people at the notoriously haunted Hill House. The scares start the minute they all arrive. The best thing about this movie is that there is very little by way of special effects. The scariest bits are all done using shear suspense and sound. Another brilliant film,

So there you have it. My top ten list of horror films for this year. To tell you the truth this list could go on forever because I love horror films and watch them all the time. I'm always looking for really scary movies. Most of films being made today just aren't all that scary. The last two really scary films I saw, which could certainly have made this list were The Conjuring and Insidious. Both excellent movies! Now go out there and get SCARED!!! 

Happy Halloween!

This is Halloween weekend and I am stoked! I love this holiday almost as much as Christmas and the funny thing is that I do very little for this holiday. Well, little is relative, I guess.

For the past few years, my sister and I have put on costumes to hand out our trick or treat candy. We sit outside and swarms of kids come to our house. I love thinking of what we can be each year. One year we were the creepiest clowns ever! And I hate clowns. Last year, we got Alex into the act and we were two zombie brides and he was the zombie groom. We looked creepy and, most appropriately, dead! This year, in honor of Alex's Swedishness, we three are going to be Vikings! And not the purple Minnesota loser football kind either. We're going to be the horned helmet wearing, sword bearing, fur covered kind. I have about half a costume right now and yards of fake fur that I have to contend with yet but, rest assured, by Trick or Treat time tomorrow, we'll be ready!

This year we carved some jack o'lanterns too. I haven't done that in a while because that's always been more fun if someone is there to do it with you and this year someone was. I ended up doing both but they turned out pretty good, in my own humble opinion. They're out on the porch right now, awaiting the tea lights so they can glow in the Halloween night!

I remember looking forward to Halloween as a kid. We rarely spent a dime on our costumes. If we had anything purchased it was usually a mask of some sort. Everything else was left to us and Mom to create. One year I was Batman. The old Adam West Batman too...not the new Christian Bale Batman. I had a mask. That was it. My mom made a cape out of an old towel and my Dad let me wear his old tool belt for the Batman utility belt. The thing was, everybody knew exactly who I was supposed to be and they thought my costume was great! So did I. I wore it around the house until Thanksgiving!

Trick or Treating back then wasn't during special hours or during the day, for that matter. We freely scoured all of Kenosha, parent-free, with not just a small pumpkin candy bag but a huge pillow case and by the time we were done we had been to the far ends of town and that pillow case was full! Mom would go through all of the candy when we got home but homemade treats were okay to eat and most of them were delicious! I used to hate the people that gave out raisins. RAISINS! Really? EW.
Of course, our town was smaller back then and we knew mostly everyone in it. People were more trustworthy then. Or were they really? Or was it just that we were less scared of each other. We live in a world of media that keeps us on high alert at all times. It's no wonder we won't eat a cookie made by our neighbors. They're probably murderers, child molesters, or terrorists. Funny thing is, in my entire life, I have never personally known or even heard of anyone in our town that has been harmed in any way by a home made caramel apple. Ah, well...I digress.

Anyway, I do love Halloween. I love the darkness, the scariness, the fun of dressing up and being a little silly for a while. I love it so much I already know what I'm doing to be for next year! :)

ZOMBIES!!!

Each year at this time Zombies infiltrate Kenosha, WI. They ride their bikes around the town, stopping at local bars for a brew or two, scare unsuspecting passersby, and just have a good old Zombie time. This weekend was the annual Zombie Ride here! I didn't participate but two of my nieces and some of their friends did. Here's some Zombified fun!!

Not sure what to write about...

I haven't really been sure what to write about here since last week. I don't want to go on and on about what's happening with my family because, well, I think it would be pretty boring to read for one thing and I'm not sure I can even express that just yet. I know it will come in time but for now there's just too much we don't know and the emotions are pretty raw.

I sat outside yesterday handing out the Halloween candy. For some reason they always have Trick or Treating on the Sunday before Halloween and it's during the day time which seems to suck the life right out of Halloween. I mean I get it...there are too many weirdo's out there these days but Halloween used to be so much fun partly because you WERE allowed to go out dressed in a costume and run around the neighborhood at night. Still, we had hoards of kiddoes at the house which was pretty amazing considering it was colder than a witch's you know what and there were 25 mile an hour wind gusts. I gave up an hour before the festivities ended. I was just too cold. Today I woke up with a sore throat and ears. Probably just the wind but, eh, it's tea for me all day today.

One thing that always makes me laugh at Halloween is those people who say "Did you see that? Those people brought a baby in a stroller who can't even eat candy yet! That's not right!!" OR they say "Those kids were at least 13!! That's not right!!!" I mean seriously people - you're handing out a Snickers bar the size of a quarter. Does it really matter how old or young the kids are? It's once a year, people. Sheesh!