31 Days of Scary Movies

* Prom Night

* The Canterville Ghost

* To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story

* Dracula

* Escape To and * Return From Witch Mountain

♥ House of the Long Shadows

* Return to Oz

♥ Mr. Boogedy and * Bride of Boogedy

♥ Watcher in the Woods

Lady in White

♥ The Fog

* Fright Night (2011)

* Halloween

* Terror Train

♥ The Tingler (on Svengoolie!)

♥♥ The Changeling

Frankenweenie (♥ 1984 and 2012)

* Psycho

The Murders in the Rue Morgue

The Pit and the Pendulum

* The Evil of Frankenstein

♥♥ Poltergeist

* The Bride of Frankenstein

* The Fall of the House of Usher

House

* Shaun of the Dead

* Deadly Strangers

* Summer of Fear

* Theatre of Blood

* Edward Scissorhands

♥♥ The Exorcist

bonus shows:

* Halloween II

The Box

* The Watcher series

♥ Modern Family "Halloween" episode from season two

* The Good Witch TV series 

* Kolchak: The Night Stalker “The Werewolf” episode

* Disney's DTV Monster Hits

* Constantine

* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Haunted Reads - October 2022

* Ghost Buddy: From Zero to Hero ¹ by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver

♥ 'Salem's Lot ¹ by Stephen King - Every October I so love to revisit this brilliant, brilliant story. My memory isn't what it once was and there are so many moments I forget until I hear them again. King did an incredible job of setting up the characters so that you really care about them and even though I knew what I was getting in to, I still somehow believed that maybe it would turn out to be just a nice story about the inhabitants of this small New England town. Maybe this time around it'll all work out. But that's just never gonna happen. But even though the bad guy kills some wonderful characters and the ending isn't 100% happy-happy, as soon as it ends, I wanna play it all over again. Oh and Ron McLarty's narration? In a word, stupendous. I'm already looking forward to next October when I can relive it one more time.

♥ The Exorcist ¹ by William Peter Blatty

* Carrie ¹ by Stephen King - What the hell, let's put on another spooky tale by Stephen King that you know will be just enough scary to keep you from falling asleep at the wheel. I found myself driving around more and taking the longer way so as to listen to the incomparable Sissy Spacek tell me all about Carrie White. Even though I love 'Salem's Lot way more than this novel, I feel that Carrie is so beautiful because of how well King captured the thoughts, nervousness, anxiety, fear, and shame that women, and especially young women, often feel. 

* The Book of Joe ¹ by Vincent Price - In preparation for Vincent Price Day, I wanted to re-listen to Ms. Victoria Price read her father's book about his beloved dog, Joe. It's such a sweet book that gives great insight as to the real man that Vincent Price was. I'm looking forward to reading more of his books plus Ms. Price's bio of her father.

* Thinner ¹ by Stephen King - I decided to end October with one more King story. Thinner was new to me and it was so good! Kept me hooked the whole way through.

¹ - audiobook

² - abridged version
* - liked
♥ - loved
Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

Vincent Price Day!

Tonight The Colonial was showing Vincent Price's film Theatre of Blood. Wayne is a huge VP fan and last month I rang him up and said, "we gotta go!" He heartily agreed. But then I went to check the time and saw that they managed to book Victoria Price to do a bit of a Q&A after the show. Hot dog!!! I ordered tickets in advance and Wayne and I decided to meet up for an early bite at 4:30 and catch up before heading to the show. It was such fun! The movie was much better with the crowd, who laughed at all the over-the-top moments and clapped at the end. On a mid-movie peepod break, I looked over the balcony landing to see Ms. Price and her adorable pooch, Vincent's grand-doggie, Allie, sitting at a little table, looking at her phone. Good manners be damned, I crept down, went over to her and asked, "Excuse me, Ms. Price, do you have a minute?" She looked up, smiled, and said of course she did. I asked if she would sign my copy of her book and she did! I told her how much I enjoyed her narrating her father's memoir The Book of Joe and that her Dad and I share the same bday "Oh! May 27th!" she said with excitement. It was only a couple minutes but she was so nice and so pretty, with gorgeous curls and a lovely smile. Then after the movie and the Q&A session, we stopped at the table so Wayne could grab a copy of her book, Vincent Price - A Daughter's Biography, and get it signed. She recognised me and as she was processing the sale I mentioned that at dinner we were discussing our fave Vincent Price films and I said how I love House of the Long Shadows because it also starred Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. "Oh that one is fun!" Ms. Price said. Then Wayne and I walked back to our cars, but not before I said, "We just met Vincent Price's daughter!" "Yes, we did! My social circle just expanded leaps and bounds!" What a great evening!

Ghostie Skeleton Hands

Barbara sent me another fantastic carving by her Sophie. This is just too cool for words!

Dragons, Exorcists, and Alan

Halloween Cards for Me!

Lookee what I got!!

And this one I got on Vincent Price Day from BFF Amy!

Spookified & Petrified

Happy Halloween - Jim Dooley, Tim Davies, & Hollywood Studio Symphony

Spooky - Dusty Springfield

Dragula - White Zombie

Under Your Spell - Desire

Ghosts That We Knew - Mumford & Sons

Over at the Frankenstein Place - cast of Rocky Horror

Season of the Witch - Donovan

They Are Night Zombies! - Sufjan Stevens

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The Smiths

Evil Woman - Electric Light Orchestra

Dead and Lovely - Tom Waits

Dead and Bloated - Stone Temple Pilots

Scary Mad Wishes - Daniel Knox

A Ghost of a Chance - Mildred Bailey

Witchcraft - Robert Davi

Monster Mash - Bobby "Boris" Pickett

Halloween - Phoebe Bridgers

My Boy Builds Coffins - Florence + The Machine

Superstition - Stevie Wonder

Through the Ghost - Shinedown

Halloween Parade - Lou Reed

Demon Stuck in Your Eye - Le Butcherettes

Ghost Behind My Eyes - Ozzy Osbourne

Deadcrush - Alt-J

Cre(mate) - Northern Liberties

Ghost - Kelley McRae

This Is the Witch - Vum

Dead Souls - Joy Division

Astro Zombies - The Misfits

Ghosts - Dirty Vegas

Witches - Switchblade Symphony

Monster - Lady Gaga

Vampires - Adam Ant

I Put a Spell on You - Marilyn Manson

Halloween 2010

This was the only year I went around with Zach and Syd. It was fun to see them get ready and actually have real costumes - not phoning it in by wearing pjs and saying "I'm a baby" or "I'm a serial killer." Zach was Boba Fett and Syd was a super scary looking vampire. But neither of them could hold a candle to Marina's Chilean Miner. Below you see her portraying the excitement of their finally being rescued.

Then in the evening I went with Marina and Lauryn (who was a sexy devil!) to Sleeves house for their front lawn-fire pit get together. I don't do costumes, but Bishop helped me come up with a fantastic idea. I wore a name tag that read Hello My Name Is Debt. One of the other guests asked about it and I told them Bishop's line, "nothing's scarier than debt." The guy seemed puzzled so I said, "Do you have a car payment? How about your mortgage? Student loans? Credit cards? What do you think is the grand total of all of that?" I could see him calculating the hundreds of thousands of dollars and watched as his face fell. Debt. It's frightening as all get-out.

Batkids

Here I am with Dave, back in the day, sporting our absolute fave Halloween costumes - homemade Batman and Batgirl. We still have them!

Kay's Halloween Decorations

Kayla is a huge Halloween fan and today I saw all of her newest seasonal decor. This year she went all-out with spooky kitty skeletons. It was like a game trying to find them all. 

Black Cat Celebration

In recent years ModCloth has been a bit of a disappointment. However, I so love their work with Collectif. This dress is a sensation and in an ideal world I'd be wearin' it all year 'round.

Halloween 2006 - The Kids

Throughout the first decade of the new millennium I would always go over to Philly to hang out with Donna and walk around the neighbourhood while the kids went trick 'r treating. 2006 was the year that the girls did their own thing and Donna and I just took MJ out, who was dressed as a Black Knight. Still, I at least got to see the ladies and snap some selfies before heading back across the bridge to Jersey. I miss Donna like crazy and I also miss texting and being actual friends with Ashlee and Nicole. But things don't stay the same forever, so that's why sifting through old photos and "remembering when" can be such a comfort.

My Kinda Haunted House

I am gobsmacked at this spectacular creation by Vegan Treats. It is absolutely perfect. And it's called the Gingerdead House. How cute is that?!

Dracula Posties

Discovered these on PemberleyPond’s Etsy page and thought they were so striking and eerie. 

Out of Print's Horror Collection

I'm obsessed with Out of Print shirts and pretty much exclusively wear them. This month I scored a VIP discount from them and treated myself to this gorgeous Dracula tee from their Horror Collection.

Vegan Treats

This shop in Bethlehem PA is responsible for making one of my all-time favourite cakes - the Peanut Butter Bomb. Kristin introduced me to it and Govinda's in Philly always had one on hand. It was never to be passed up. When I used to take the kids to Vgë Café in Bryn Mawr it was something that we all looked forward to having. Jaeden and Bella and MJ and Jackson and Kay all lived for our lunches there. (We were totes dev when they closed up shop.) I've been wanting to drive out there for ages but I know I'd go overboard and spend way too much money buying way too many sweets. Their goodies for Halloween are spellbinding. I think I see a lil' road trip in me and Jackson's future...