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10/01/2007: The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t!

It’s October! Kind of feels like September flew by. I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I often have trouble persuading myself to have fun, but this is the time to do it. I spent the morning scouring the web for semi-local pumpkin patches and hayride places, and even if I never make it to them, at least I got to see a ton of hijacked Halloween clipart, oftentimes animated with crude lightning bolts. Is it some sort of prerequisite for any pumpkin patch or hayride place with an Internet connection to make their homepage look like complete shit? I’m not complaining, though. It’s part of their charm. Plus, I get paid a dollar every time I set eyes on the image below, and today, I saw it like 9,000 times:

Now, if only it wasn’t still so damned hot outside. I haven’t heard wind in the trees around here since 1957. I don’t get it. It’s sort of like how I can just never understand Christmas in Australia. October doesn’t feel right unless I’m getting blown all over while clouds piss on me. Whatever, October 1st is an important day, as it marks the exact moment that we can openly gush about Halloweeny things without anyone yelling at us because “it’s too early.” Let us celebrate with this review of The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t, later retitled, The Night That Dracula Saved The World. Originally airing in 1979 and starring Judd Hirsch as Dracula, it’s a nice, quiet, fun little Halloween special that reminds us to love our mummies and witches just as much as all of the sleeker horror movie characters who stole their place later.

Also, I didn’t touch on this in the article, but I need to get it off my chest. I have no idea why they renamed it The Night That Dracula Saved The World. Number one, the world is never in any danger and thus is not in any need of saving. There is no “world saving” to speak of within this special. Two, even if you had an argument against what I just wrote, it isn’t Dracula who actually does the saving here, but rather THE WITCH! SO many things wrong with that title! Why did they change it?


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Discussion Thread: 166 comments

We need more ironic action movies where unlikely heroes save the world. Dracula, Carrot Top, Leonid the Maginificent…any of those would be great, really.

Ghosted by Der Super @ 10/02/2007 3:51 PM EDT

I have been having trouble posting on here lately. I am starting to get a complex like I have been blocked or something but have not had time enough to whine about until this very moment!

I so love October because it is the beginning of what can only be referred to as the start of the most kick ass 3 months of the entire calendar year! My little girl loves scary stuff so we seem to be spending lots of time looking for scary monsters and fun halloween stuff for her to play with. I am sure that this should disturb me on some deep level given that she is not quite 4 years old yet but instead it makes me proud because she is so much like me in this regard. :-)

As for my favorite hokey Halloween movie I think it has to be Hocus Pocus. Yep. That is all I have to say about that.

Ghosted by Cricket @ 10/02/2007 4:03 PM EDT

I Like the part in Hocus Pocus when Bette Midler tells that guy….
GET UP! Get out of that Ditch!
and he just tells her to go to Hell.

Ghosted by RhubarbVelicoraptor @ 10/02/2007 4:13 PM EDT

What I want to know is how Matt could skip out on all the Halloween town movies. Seriously campy and hard to watch stuff there and it seems like there’s more of them than the Olson twins movies.

Ghosted by Wenthral @ 10/02/2007 4:20 PM EDT

Cricket: Thank you for allaying my fears! I had a really funny thought yesterday and tried three times to post it along with a link to a picture, but I thought I’d been blocked, so I’ve been depressed all day until I was able to post just a couple of hours ago. lol Is it sad that that ruined my day?

And I *completely* agree with your comments about October! And bravo to you for being a good parent who encourages a love of the strange and macabre! My parents tried to repress those qualities in my 4-year-old self and it just made me weirder. haha

And I love Hocus Pocus, but for some reason I don’t own it. That’s what I asked The Great Pumpkin for for Halloween. :D

Ghosted by Special K @ 10/02/2007 4:25 PM EDT

what’s a halloween town movie?

Ghosted by RhubarbVelociraptor @ 10/02/2007 4:25 PM EDT

hocus pocus is great, if for nothing more than sarah jessica parker’s amazing bust in that movie.. i’ve never even been attracted to her but got damn

Ghosted by nogood @ 10/02/2007 5:06 PM EDT

“what’s a halloween town movie?”

Halloween Town is this series of made-for-tv movies that aired on the Disney Channel. They starred Debbie Reynolds and were about a young girl who found out she was actually a witch, and that as such she had access to a magical land of monsters called Halloween Town.

That description, as bad as it was, was about 30% more entertaining than any of the movies.

Ghosted by Wukong @ 10/02/2007 5:31 PM EDT

Toxikfoxx: I have ‘The Worst Witch’ on video from YEARS ago. I watch that movie Every year :-P I can’t help it, I frigg’n love that movie!!

Ghosted by Jeffininer @ 10/02/2007 6:04 PM EDT

“Of course, I’m not sure how many hardcore monster fans wanted to see Dracula pratfall and disco dance…” i thought that was my only reason for living. without seeing this i will surely die an unhappy woman.

Ghosted by Leigha @ 10/02/2007 6:19 PM EDT

I would just like to point out that whenever I tell a friend about this site it usually goes like this “Yeah, it’s cool, this guy writes about all the toys we played with when we were kids and stuff. Oh, and here’s the link to ‘The Worst Witch’ review.” So thats usually the 1st exposure people have to X-E!

Ghosted by Ann @ 10/02/2007 6:31 PM EDT

Hocus Pocus was a good pre-September movie to get you in the mood. Even if Sarah Jessica Parker does look like a foot. (that always makes me laugh)

Ghosted by Bill @ 10/02/2007 6:38 PM EDT

Does anyone else remember a Fraggle Rock show that was on Halloween night around 1985? I remember watching it after tick or treating one night.
This year we are in a new neighborhood so I am not sure the best place to take my son. He chose the Red Power Ranger costume at Target the other day based soley on the weapon that the red ranger carries.

Ghosted by kb @ 10/02/2007 6:52 PM EDT

Anyone looking for a fun no-brainer sorta Halloween related (cause the devil and demons are in it) show to watch, watch Reaper tonight on CW at 9pm. Not spam; just wanted to share the good word…it’s like if Shaun of the Dead and Buffy made it; this would be the show that is produced….

Ghosted by Shuanfu @ 10/02/2007 7:01 PM EDT

Shuanfu: Take the Haunted Hearse tour in Savannah! Word to the wise, don’t take red wine on the tour. Take my word for it.

Ghosted by Bill @ 10/02/2007 7:06 PM EDT

So have you guys heard? Friday the 13th remake, its official. Looks like Michael Bay is a producer. No joke.
oh, and the word is its “Jason front and center, Mrs. Vorhees takes a backseat”.

Ghosted by Joker @ 10/02/2007 7:32 PM EDT

I’m sick of these remakes. I don’t care how good they are, doesn’t anyone in hollywood have any creativity anymore? “That doesn’t matter Tate, millions of stupid fucking americans will watch whatever shit we put out there.” I forgot.

Ghosted by Tenacious Tate @ 10/02/2007 8:13 PM EDT

Everybody go and watch the caveman tv show right now, cause by the looks of the first ten minutes, you will not have another chance…it is awful.

Ghosted by kb @ 10/02/2007 8:13 PM EDT

Sorry for jumping the gun with my pouty nobody loves me post, Kneg.
I didn’t assume that you hover here all day, I just thought that after posting a comment you might hang around for a little while, that’s all.
Annette, I am japanese. Thanks for liking my country, it does have alot of cool stuff, but it also has alot of terrible stuff, like any country.
I always laugh when i see a documentary about Japan on the Discovery channel or whatever.
There are a few stereotypes that I wonder how they ever became stereotypes of japanese. Just the language barrier causing misunderstandings, i guess.
(one of my parents is not japanese, in case you’re wondering why I can read this site !)

Ghosted by diamonds @ 10/02/2007 8:14 PM EDT

Oh my fucking GOD I missed the Caveman show? DETAILS, please!

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/02/2007 9:01 PM EDT

I do usually hang out for a couple minutes after I post, but this morning I had to finish writing some lesson plans. So, it was post and go.

There have been times in my life where I hovered over the blog, but I have to say (perhaps counterintuitively to some) that those were some of my worse days. I have much more going on online and in real life these days, and I’m much happier.

So, no harm no foul, we cool ;)

Ghosted by Knegative @ 10/02/2007 9:03 PM EDT

We were flipping around during commercials and noticed the Cavemen were on Dancing with the Stars in the audience…WTF? It makes me wonder how some tv shows and movies get into the public when so many others -that are decent, or at least better than most shit- get buired forever….

Ghosted by Shuanfu @ 10/02/2007 10:16 PM EDT

I actually liked Cavemen. I thought it was pretty subtley funny. Sure the plot was nothing spectacular, but it’s pretty original and opens up a lot of new possibilities for awkward, situational comedy.

Look at it this way, sure they’re an ad gimmick that somehow got a show. You know who else started the same way? Ernest P. Fucking Worrell…went from small-town advertising gimmick to superstar. I doubt the Cavemen will ever reach that kind of cult status, but I’m willing to give them a shot.

Ghosted by Anonymous @ 10/02/2007 10:56 PM EDT

Whoops, forgot to slap my name on that Cavemen comment.

Anonymous above = Ken

Ghosted by Ken @ 10/02/2007 10:58 PM EDT

Probably gonna be a few hours late on the next entry, but not too too late.

I’m sure I’m gonna love the cavemen show. I’ll be happy if it’s actually good, but I think I’d love a terrible cavemen show all the same. Not sure what they could possibly do to make me not like a cavemen show. It’d have to be horrible in a way I’m as of yet totally unfamiliar with.

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/02/2007 11:05 PM EDT

Matt, do you sleep in October or December? Don’t kill yourself, man.

Ghosted by Bill @ 10/02/2007 11:12 PM EDT

Wow, I finally got on here again today. My last post was made this morning before I left for work, and here it is after 1:00am and I’m just about to go to bed and this is my first chance to sit down in front of the computer all day…ok, now to respond quickly to a whole day of posting before I go off to a much needed visit to sleepytown…

Jedoc: See, that’s exactly what I thought at first too, and I could never pull it off. I would spend too much time fortifying and not attacking so that by the time I was ready to spread out everyone else had fortified their borders pretty well and would gang up on me, OR, I would try to get too ambitious too soon, and spread out too thin and conquer nothing. I just couldn’t hack hanging onto Europe. I did really well with the Americas though. My favorite times in the game are in the beginning when it’s all building fairly quickly and you can kind of see where people are settling down and where the lines are being drawn, and then later about three-fourths of the way through when everyone’s at the peak of their strength and the shit starts to really go down.

Ann: I fully intend to see more of Jersey one day when time and money permits. I only wish I could have seen more of it at the time other than the inside of an airport and the view from out of the window of the plane. No offense or anything, but that was the craziest airport experience I’ve ever had. After I arrived back from London, everyone was told to literally throw our baggage into a pile and it would all be returned to us later cause our next flights were coming. No security check, no scanning, no nothing. Just throw your bags in this pile here and run (this was all pre-9/11 by the way). I hauled it across the airport cause of course my gate was all the way at the other end, and got there with about a minute to spare for my next flight from NJ to Charlotte. My bag never showed up to Charlotte when I got there, and instead showed up on my doorstep about a week later in SC.

FeedMyFrankenstein: I LOVE The Midnight Hour. I used to have a ritual of watching that every year around Halloween. I even like the random, completely unnecessary musical number that comes out of nowhere in the middle of the movie. And yeah, the part where the zombies show up along with a random werewolf used to scare the pants off of me. I never did understand why all the undead looked like the undead except for the one hot, blonde ’50’s girl. How did she get a pass? I mean, surely some of those other guys had unfinished buisiness too. Great movie, though.

Wenthral: The Halloweentown movies are some great fun. I would think those would be totally up Matt’s alley and a perfect addition to the site. Good suggestion, that…I actually spent an entire Saturday last fall watching all 4 of them in one go. How come “Darcy’s Wild Life” had to star in the last one? I guess they wanted to go with a bigger star. But did you notice the budget kind of got bigger as they went along? The skeleton cab driver guy looked a lot better in the 4th one than he did in the first one.

diamonds: At the radio station where I have my show I used to work with a guy who did a J-Pop show. He went by J-Poppa on the air, and he was obsessed with Japan. I truly feel was just a reincarnated Japanese guy stuck in a white guy’s body. He was way into anime and manga, listened to nothing but J-Pop, spoke Japanese, and had a Japanese girlfriend. Last I heard, he moved there. Good for him. He should be right at home now.

Ok, that’s it. I’m off to bed. I might check in in the morning before work…Just 2 more days left at that job! Woo-doo! Too bad I won’t be around to catch the premiere of today’s new article if it’s posted in the next hour so. Guess I’ll catch it tomorrow. Later, folks.

Ghosted by DJ D @ 10/03/2007 1:46 AM EDT

So in australia, sweet nothing is done here for halloween, maybe a few kids in a bed sheet or a fairy outfit but thats it.

ANd I like a hot Christmas, nothing like a nice christmas dinner then a few beers and in the afternoon a swim in the pool

Would like some of those halloween reese’s though, love my reese’s pieces

Ghosted by AUssie ROck @ 10/03/2007 2:16 AM EDT

How come nobody’s mentioned the Halloween Tree movie yet? That’s one of the best specials out there, and certainly needs more air-time.

Ghosted by DocDragon @ 10/03/2007 4:08 AM EDT

I’ve got nothing to say but it’s okay

Good morning, good morning

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 10/03/2007 6:14 AM EDT

It’s great to stay up late.

Ghosted by Jedoc @ 10/03/2007 7:28 AM EDT

Kinda random post here, but I thought I’d bring something to the attention of “Halloween” movie completists out there: If you don’t own a copy of “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers” (part 6) on DVD and don’t feel like dropping at least $40 for a new copy on amazon or eBay, right now most Blockbusters are carrying it for $8.99. (Must be overstock or something since I’m pretty sure this one’s out of print.) Just go to their handy “$8.99 New DVDs” section at the front of the store; they’re all arranged alphabetically. Commander out.

Ghosted by Commander Awesome @ 10/03/2007 10:36 AM EDT

Thanks Manimal, that’ll be in my head all day :)
I would love it if the Caveman show was any good, but everything I’ve heard and seen has indicated otherwise. I didn’t even realize it was on last night. I want details too!

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 10/03/2007 10:44 AM EDT

“October 1st is an important day, as it marks the exact moment that we can openly gush about Halloweeny things without anyone yelling at us because ‘it’s too early.’”

Screw the nay-sayers. For god’s sake, some stores already have Christmas decorations out alongside the Halloween stuff. FREAKIN CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS. That, my friends, is exemplary of the statement “it’s too early.”

Ghosted by Cheetara @ 10/03/2007 11:38 AM EDT

The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t is part of the great canon of Disney Channel Halloween specials, from back when it was a premium channel. Other, similarly pricey specials included:

Mr. Boogedy
Witch’s Night Out
Halloween Is Grinch Night
Casper’s Halloween Special
Raggedy Ann & Andy In: The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile
and, of course, Disney’s Halloween Treat.

The line that has forever haunted me from The Halloween That Almost Wasn’t: “Illusion?! Then who did that, a termite?”

Ghosted by G'Tron @ 10/03/2007 5:26 PM EDT

G’Tron: I’ve been trying to remember this movie that I watched in elementary school for years, and I think it might be Mr. Boogedy. Please tell me it so this thing that’s been bugging me for nigh on 20 years now can finally be settled. It was about a family or some kids who I think moved in to a house and heard stories about it being haunted by somebody. I seem to remember that he was dressed up in a devil costume or something red. It’s all really foggy though. Does any of this sound like Mr Boogedy at all? I guess I could just Google it or something but asking you is a lot more interesting.

Ghosted by DJ D @ 10/03/2007 8:31 PM EDT

Man, I hope Martha Stewart shits herself in jealousy.

Ghosted by Knegative @ 10/03/2007 11:31 PM EDT

After over a day of knowing it needed it, I’ve finally gone back through this article to clean up some of the editorial messes. So, if you feel like reading it again for approximately three changed words, by all means…

Ghosted by Matt @ 10/04/2007 1:18 AM EDT

The mood table concept is, by the way, one of the best holiday-decorating ideas ever, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts to catch on.

Ghosted by Monte @ 10/04/2007 7:20 PM EDT

so i turned on the local news for once (cleveland, OH area) and definitely they just said that one of the local communities is “CANCELLING HALLOWEEN” WHAT THE FUCK……i am now certain that Dracula (or the witch for that matter) did not save halloween.

Ghosted by Leigha @ 10/04/2007 10:26 PM EDT

ok, so they just ran the story, apparently its not cleveland, its somewhere in colorado. they dont want kids dressing up at school because they deem halloween costumes as “violent” and say that they dont want kids left out who come from poor families who cant afford costumes…..whatever happened to the good old standbys like a ghost….everyone has sheets….. they said that the community is going to have a fall celebration or something…..LAME

Ghosted by Leigha @ 10/04/2007 11:00 PM EDT

Is anyone else getting overly annoyed with today’s PC culture? I read the article out of Colorado where they are having a fall party on October 5th, but Halloween is forbotten. I also saw another article out of Chicago where one of the local schools were considering cancelling Halloween and Christmas, but instead decided to add a Ramadan festival inbetween the two.

It’s sad really, I’m sure most of us get a nostalgic feeling when we look through a lot of Matt’s awesome articles and I think a lot of kids are missing that these days. Sure, they’ll have their own memories but it may be of the year Christmas was canned in school or how they weren’t allowed to play tag or dodgeball. Most of us grew up looking forward to the yearly Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas specials that would be promenently featured on any given broadcast channel. Damn shame that some of that is going away. Hell, with the news Kids WB! is closing shop in favor of a 4Kids block at the end of this season, one could even wonder how much longer kids will be able to wake up on a Saturday morning and enjoy some good old (non-imported) toons.

Ghosted by jjwspider @ 10/04/2007 11:58 PM EDT

Instead of getting rid of Halloween, there should be a money drive of some sort to help get kids costumes that cant afford them, and EVERY HOLIDAY known to human kind should be celebrated so no one is left out. Um, unless of course, their religion doesnt allow for any holidays??? Hmmmmm that would be tough to get around…

Ghosted by crazy_mainer @ 10/05/2007 12:29 AM EDT

i guess my family did the right thing in not raising me with religion so i got to do all of the fun things i wanted to as a kid…..like worship satan….

Ghosted by Leigha @ 10/05/2007 11:47 AM EDT

DJ D: I’m pretty sure you are thinking of Mr. Boogedy. There was a guy in a devil costume, although it wasn’t Mr. Boogedy himself, but The DEVIL, selling him his magic invisibility cloak. Mr. Boogedy was an evil pilgrim ghost with a face that was “all yucky like a grilled cheese sandwich.”

Ghosted by G\\\'Tron @ 10/06/2007 3:42 AM EDT

Holy friggin’ crap! Man, I was wondering if you’d ever feature this thing on here. I’m 21 years old and I remember watching this thing on the Disney Channel around 1990-ish. I had it on tape for a few years, then it got lost in the shuffle. Sometime last year, it just popped up in my head, and thank god, youtube actually has it.

Ghosted by David R @ 10/09/2007 12:18 AM EDT

Hey Matt! Did Judd Hirsch get you or what?

Ghosted by Trace @ 10/09/2007 9:51 AM EDT

DocDragon: I’m SOO with you on the Halloween Tree. In fact, I’m going to have to go find it online and order a copy now that you reminded me of it. Does anybody out there remember the Olsen twins’ Double Double Toil and Trouble movie? Cloris Leachman is the best crazy old lady witch EVER.

Ghosted by Crystal @ 10/09/2007 7:45 PM EDT

seriously…is anyone else starting to get worried about matt? hopefully he didn’t get eaten by a pack of rabid werewolves…

Ghosted by Leigha @ 10/13/2007 12:52 PM EDT

Paging Matt. Matt, please pick up a white courtesy phone.

Ghosted by 180 @ 10/14/2007 5:09 AM EDT

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