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New Pitch Black & Old Shocktober Ads!


Welcome to the second week of X-E's Halloween Countdown. Oh, the times we'll have. Let's kick it. You've heard the rumors, and the rumors are true: Mountain Dew Pitch Black IS BACK. Sort of. It's back in ICEE Freeze form. This isn't as big of a cause for celebration as a legit Mountain Dew Pitch Black III in cans & bottles would've been, but it's something, and it's allll good. Read all about it!

It got really hot this weekend. If the sun doesn't knock it off and let the leaves do their orange thing, I'm going to beat it up.

Oh, remember my tribute to former NY television station WPIX's old Shocktober events? If not, and you don't feel like reading a two-year-old article, I'll summarize: What later became the WB Network in New York was formerly WPIX, a mostly identity-less station that managed to stay relevant with its weekday afternoon airing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and reruns Saved By The Bell. The station also ran popular-but-obsolete movies on a regular basis, but nothing was as cool as their "Shocktober" events, where horror/slasher/spooky films were broadcast with all the good parts and dirty lines cut out almost nightly.

If you want to know more about Shocktober, read the old article, but new for today's post are two of the movie-specific promos that fell under Shocktober's umbrella. In the original article, I talked about the Shocktober kickoff ad. Here are some of that ad's children...


A lot of people like The Gate, and they should, because the movie holds up with equal levels of nostalgic and horror appeal, kind of like the less good-looking cousin of The Lost Boys. The Wraith was more of a science fiction film, and a pretty poorly received one at that. Both movies came off looking aces in their Shocktober promos, because Shocktober promos were AWESOME. They used WPIX's standard voice-over guy, but that guy had range, and knew how to make something sound creepy even if it really wasn't.

I have such fond memories of those long ago Shocktober months. Sometimes I'd watch 'em alone, sometimes a few friends and I would feel all privileged by being able to both stay up late and watch scary movies. Some of the movies were better than others, obviously, but as every commercial break was littered with Hallmark Halloween commercials and promos for other Shocktober movies, who cared?

Click here to download the Shocktober promo for The Gate.
...or here for The Wraith.

Posted by Matt on 09/17/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 92 comments

Oh damn that rocks. Sad about no PB3, but I’ll take what I can get. The video was an awesome touch :D

Chestnuts roasted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 09/17/2006 7:02 PM

…I liked Career Opportunities!

Chestnuts roasted by Katherine @ 09/17/2006 7:02 PM

Hey now, I actually saw it in theaters! Yes, I am one of the three!

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 09/17/2006 7:04 PM

Pitch Black, we hardly knew ye – rest in piece, my grapey friend. Even if you only showed up in Canada for like a week, you bastard.

Chestnuts roasted by Roadblock @ 09/17/2006 7:23 PM

Interesting observation about the Mountain Dew Pitch Black flavor of ICEE. I checked the ICEE corporate site, and there is abso-frickin-lutely no mention of either Mountain Dew or Mountain Dew Pitch Black anywhere on the site. I did, however, discover that there are 5 different locations within a 5-mile radius of my house where I can obtain an ice-cold ICEE treat.

Chestnuts roasted by Jeff @ 09/17/2006 7:26 PM

Holy god those Pitch Black ICEEs are awesome. I had one on my last trip to Target and it was holy and good. Sad to see there won’t be a Pitch Black III, though. The ICEE is amazing but it’s just not the same as having a 12 pack of Pitch Black in the fridge.

On a slightly related note, am I the only person that always accidentally types “Mountain Dew Bitch Black”? It’s like my brain refuses to believe I could type a word ending in “itch” without swearing.

Chestnuts roasted by jazzy @ 09/17/2006 7:30 PM

hey, im a target team member, and target makes sure that the icee flavors they sell are exclusive to target. That and the fact that every part of the store “decorates” for the season…so look for red and green icee’s soon! Christman begins November 1st in a Target near you.

Chestnuts roasted by kevo @ 09/17/2006 7:39 PM

Wow, it’s funny hearing about the wraith on here. I picked that up in the $5 bin at wal mart and was shocked at just how bad it was. I was also shocked that it was rated PG-13 yet had frontal nudity and downright horribly bad acting on Charlie Sheen’s part. It should have been rated R just for the crappy acting and dialogue. Scary stuff

Oh well, I guess if I was gonna hear about that movie anywhere it would be on this site.

Chestnuts roasted by TC Falcon @ 09/17/2006 7:41 PM

Kevo – Does that mean the Freezes are a Target-exclusive ICEE, or just a Target-exclusive?

Also, I’ve finally given the blog its complete hallo makeover, along with the main page.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 09/17/2006 7:46 PM

Target-exclusive ICEE…you will only find it at Target

Chestnuts roasted by Kevo @ 09/17/2006 7:56 PM

I’m diggin’ The Gate, and The Wraith! I have never heard of either, but now I just gotta see em’ I’ll add that to my list of, Things I Never Thought I Would Want To See Or Do, But Now I Need To Because Of X-Entertainment!

Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 09/17/2006 8:02 PM

Heh, it’s great to know I’m not the only one who avoids places where you’ll run into old classmates, or anything that’s been “tainted with thoughts of beer pong and “shocker” hand gestures”.
Nice seeing the Halloween mood spread to the blog. :)

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 09/17/2006 8:04 PM

OK, this seems a little off to me. Review these 2 quotes from our beloved blogmaster:

“I hate grape soda. Like, you could hold a vial containing the cure to my rare disease against my face and offer it to me only on the condition that I drink a glass of grape soda, and I’d still sit there and die because, well, no fuckin way dude. ”

“Mountain Dew Pitch Black IS BACK. Sort of. It’s back in ICEE Freeze form. This isn’t as big of a cause for celebration as a legit Mountain Dew Pitch Black III in cans & bottles would’ve been, but it’s something, and it’s allll good.”

Contradict yourself much? Mountain Dew Pitch Black is GRAPE soda. Please explain.

Chestnuts roasted by Hazzard @ 09/17/2006 8:15 PM

Ah yes, but I also added:

“Granted, the taste was secondary to just knowing what I was tasting, but a Halloween without Mountain Dew Pitch Black is like a Thanksgiving without turkey.”

But I’m not above contradicting myself for the sake of being excited. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 09/17/2006 8:16 PM

Bummer about the Pitch Black Icee; I have no idea where the Target around here is.

One of the advantages to living in southern New Jersey is most local cable companies pick up the independant (former WB and UPN) stations for both Philadelphia and New York. I have fond memories of the “Shocktober” commercials, though I would have avoided the movies myself, not being a horror fan by any stretch of the imagination. The commercials themselves were pretty nifty, though, with their wavy fall-colored graphics.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 09/17/2006 8:36 PM

Matt,

Will there be a Halloween contest this year? (Last year’s “Draw a horror icon doing a normal task” contest for example).

Chestnuts roasted by Cotter @ 09/17/2006 8:53 PM

Hey everyone….after a month of no computer, I’M BACK!

Now pretend you missed me.

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 09/17/2006 8:56 PM

I LOVE the Gate! It is an amazing horror movie.
The Halloween Design is awesome Matt.

Chestnuts roasted by Joker @ 09/17/2006 9:02 PM

Hey Starwenn, they just opened a target in Millville, NJ and theres also one in Depford and Mays Landing. I dont know how far south you are. im in ocean county

Chestnuts roasted by kevo @ 09/17/2006 9:03 PM

I SAID, pretend you missed me!

Chestnuts roasted by Mars @ 09/17/2006 9:05 PM

Hey, the date on the battery in the “Count Duracula” commercial said “JAN 92.” Considering the claim that the batteries could be stored for three years, that makes the ad from either 1989 (me birth year!) or 1990.

Chestnuts roasted by Der Super @ 09/17/2006 9:08 PM

Good old Mars, always joking about… and the whole career thing he/she has… and the Marscurse, that too. Good to have you back Mors.

Chestnuts roasted by dohopoki @ 09/17/2006 9:22 PM

YAY!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!1!1!!! Its Mars!!!!!!!! Mars is back, how have you been! Where have you been?

Chestnuts roasted by IHAQ @ 09/17/2006 9:33 PM

ICEEs better than Slurpees? that’s blasphemy.

Chestnuts roasted by dylan @ 09/17/2006 9:34 PM

I was just thinking about Pitch Black yesterday… I have a couple cans of PB2 leftover from last year, but on two of them, the soda ate through a little spot, half of the can leaked out, and then the soda coagulated and stopped any further spills. Very strange.. Strange and evil!

When I read the title for this entry, I was *so* sure you were going to say PB3 was announced. :( I’ll have to attempt to find the icee version when I go to a Target other than my most local one, which is remodeling and totally behind on having cool things.

Chestnuts roasted by Christine @ 09/17/2006 9:40 PM

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This entry was posted on Sunday, September 17th, 2006 at 6:50 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.