1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers is neither the most beloved nor the most reviled entry in the franchise. It’s a bit on the bland side for me (Michael’s mask, in particular, lacks any personality whatsoever), but man—I do love these opening credits.Continue Reading
Earlier this month, we featured Neil Gaiman, in a graveyard, talking about All Hallow’s Eve. Now, with Halloween peeking around the corner, we return to Mr. Gaiman, broadcasting from the woods on Halloween 2015, reading a poem called “Witch Work.”Continue Reading
Among the top Halloween urban legends that circulate each year is the idea that the candy your child accepts from strangers while trick-or-treating could be poisoned.
It was in wide circulation when I was of trick-or-treating age; I vividly remember my parents inspecting my candy haul piece-by-piece while I stood by impatiently. Of course, this was back in the ’70s, which means we didn’t have the Internet and we didn’t have Snopes.Continue Reading
Hip hop music and horror movies go way back. Sometimes the two came together as a promotional gimmick (see Freddy Krueger’s collaborations with Will Smith and The Fat Boys), sometimes it was a case of an artist paying homage to (or making fun of) the horror icons of their time.Continue Reading
Is it a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie? I know several people who struggle with that distinction, but for me it’s easy: The Nightmare Before Christmas is a straight-up Halloween move, and a very good one at that.Continue Reading
Three men in an isolated lighthouse…a derelict ship swarming with rats…a desperate struggle for survival…all narrated by the late, great Vincent Price.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories A Halloween Thing A DayLeave a comment on A Halloween Thing A Day: Extreme Pumpkin Carving
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories A Halloween Thing A Day1 Comment on A Halloween Thing A Day: ‘Witches Brew’
While the Internet has given us many things we could probably have lived without, it delivers plenty of good as well—this site being one of them, of course. But what I’m talking about today is the proliferation of short horror films you can easily find online.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories A Halloween Thing A DayLeave a comment on A Halloween Thing A Day: Bad Michael Myers Masks 
One of the hardest things for those who followed John Carpenter in adding to the Halloween movie franchise to get right has been the mask worn by Michael Myers. Nothing has matched (or even come close to matching) the soul-chilling look of that first mask, the now-famously-modified William Shatner hood that Carpenter used to such great effect.
But, man, if you thought the filmmakers have had a tough time nailing down that iconic look, wait ’till you see some of the misguided attempts from merchandisers.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories A Halloween Thing A DayLeave a comment on A Halloween Thing A Day: Blockhead’s Revenge
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a bona fide Halloween classic. But what if it was a horror movie?
Back in 2011, the folks at Funny or Die created a trailer that re-imagined the gentle Charles Schultz masterpiece as a gritty horror flick called Blockhead’s Revenge. Continue Reading
Art is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One man’s trash….you get the idea. Different people see things differently, and few things have as big a dividing line as art…except maybe Halloween. Combine the two and you’re likely to draw some severely conflicting opinions about your work.Continue Reading
There are many things that are integral to Halloween: jack o’ lanterns, ghost stories, Michael Myers and the Great Pumpkin all come to mind. Also, the annual celebration/parodying/lampooning of horror that is the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes of “The Simpsons.”Continue Reading
Ah, the ’80s, when heavy metal music was rotting our brains, and Satanic messages were buried in records, just waiting for some poor schmuck to play the album backwards and succumb to its demonic temptations.Continue Reading
Author Cemetery Dance OnlinePosted on Categories A Halloween Thing A DayLeave a comment on A Halloween Thing A Day: A Halloween S.O.S.
Halloween is mostly concerned with made-up horrors—a time to celebrate “safe” scares. However, a CNN article I stumbled across served as a stark reminder that, sometimes, real-life horror intrudes on even the most innocent of occasions.
When I’m writing about Halloween, eventually I’m going to get around to writing about Halloween. While I have a lot of affection for the franchise as a whole—and yes, that includes Rob Zombie’s two entries—my absolute favorite is the original John Carpenter classic.Continue Reading
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