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HALLOWEEN IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW.

It's Halloween! I challenge you to make the most of it! Go trick-or-treating! Go trunk-or-treating! Bob for apples! Watch the Elm Street series in its entirety! Sacrifice owls!

The weather here is perfect: Gloomy, grey and inoffensively chilly. I haven't checked the forecast, but judging by the wind and clouds, it wouldn't surprise me to be completely underwater by 9 PM. My kingdom for a thunder clap.

Tonight, we're heading to a friend's house to drink and eat our way through a pile of scary DVDs that would stack taller than Andre, all while carving pumpkins with designs that are certain to be obscene. It's the last hurrah for horror, and it's hard to imagine that by this time tomorrow, I'll be waist deep in red-and-green Sunday circulars, fifty times more excited that I am now. There are four quarters in the year, and people, we're living in the only one that matters.

So ends the Halloween Countdown -- thanks again for continuing to make the site worth keeping alive, and I hope your howliday is a good one! Course, if you're stuck home with nothing to do, you could always relive this year's creepy content, conveniently linked below!

The “Ghost Finders” Haunted Camera!
Evil Clowns, Evil Lip Balm and more Spooky Die-O-Ramas!
Halloween Mood DVDs: The Mega Review!
Cape is the new rock.
Frightening Filler.
And exposed viscera.
Milton Bradley’s SPIDER WARS, from 1988!
The NY Aquarium’s HAUNTED SEA-FARI!
Haunted Snack Mansion! Color-Changing Cars! AND MORE!
X-E’s Shoebox Die-O-Rama Contest: THE RESULTS!!!
Madballs Jumpers & Halloween Popcorn!
Halloween Window Silhouettes, Bubble Tape, and Spider Lights.
Kind and Gentle Freddy Krueger toys.
The Halloween Cocktail!
The Trix O’Lantern!
Along came a giant fake spider.
Halloween Velvet Treats!
Blood Bag: The Candy!
The Snoopy-O’-Lantern?
LIFE-SIZED MOTION ACTIVATED AUDIO-ANIMATRONIC JASON VOORHEES OMG OMG
Cap’n Crunch’s Halloween Crunch Cereal!
Chucky: Pro-Wrestling Superstar.
Halloween Slinky! Halloween Hot Wheels! Halloween Fruit Things!
X-E’s Shoebox Die-O-Rama Art Contest!
Deadly Dollar Store Stuff.
Dots Halloween Mix!
Monsters: A Pop-Up Book.
Halloween Chips Ahoy!

We've got a few hours to kill, because our little party is sure to last until tomorrow afternoon, and if we show up too early, we'll be unconscious by midnight. I've been waiting for trick-or-treaters, but none have arrived. Not a single one. I'm aghast that we've scared society into ditching one of its greatest traditions, but on the other hand...more Twizzlers for me.

Normally, we just combine assorted candies into Ziploc bags to give to trick-or-treaters, but Target was selling these awesome boxes of full-sized Twizzlers varieties for ten bucks. Couldn't resist. I'm so anxious to hear a knock on our door, because giving retail-sized candies to trick-or-treaters is sure to make me the hero of the neighborhood. Alas, nobody has come. Maybe it was a bad idea to decorate the front lawn in a dead ferret motif.

In the comments, discuss your Halloween adventures! Don't know what kind of computer access I'm going to have by tonight, but if there's any, I'll pop by with drunken tales of poker games won and face paint tubes exploded.

Oh, and as promised, below are the final entries in the Spooky Die-O-Rama contest! I'm sure I missed a few, since I never get through one of these art contests without pissing off several people. Thanks again to everyone who entered -- these entries were truly the soul of this year's Countdown!


(Click here to see a larger photo!)

"Attack of the Corn"
Created By: Stephanie B.

Stephanie is just one of the many entrants who was robbed of a spot in the winner's circle, but at least she's done her part to make the last batch of Die-O-Ramas feel mighty and proud.

There's a lot to love with this one -- from the wholly custom scarecrow with the paper facial features, to the evil corn dudes who seem to have been crafted out of those amazing corn-themed corn on the cob holders. Any justification for using the word "corn" that many times in a single sentence equals brilliance. Steph, you're my favorite Steph out of all the Stephs I've ever known.



"Count Dogula"
Created By: Tommy

Oooh! This one is pure glee. It's hard to find dioramas featuring vampires in blood-soaked chambers that manage to seem so harmless and cheerful, but I suppose that's the benefit of making a vampire out of a hot dog. Tommy even provided a photo of Count Dogula burnt to a crisp, and though he didn't provide an explanation, I'm guessing that it represents a vampire who was exposed to sunlight.

Also, is this really the only Die-O-Rama that made use of those five-point casino arcade spider rings? To everyone besides Tommy: For shame.



"Die-O-Hazard"
Created By: Nick

Nick's diorama is pretty wonderful, mixing LEGO figurines and fallen branches to recreate a scene from Resident Evil. I just wish he included some larger photos, because who wouldn't love a closer look at Cujo mangling Man Eating Chicken in the lower left?



"Haunted Evening"
Created By: Nakairra D.

Nakairra went through a lot of trouble to send me this entry. The pictures kept bouncing and the links kept dying, and by the time I actually got to see it, Christmas had already come and gone. Really dig the haunted mansion in the background, and the pipe cleaner trees are just the thing October 31st needed to double its birthright specialness.



"A (Star)Scream of a Good Time"
Created By: Alienux

Alienux provided no description of his diorama, save for its title. I'll have to piece this one together myself. Seems as if Starscream is spending his Halloween torturing a skeleton, while a living-but-sadly-stationary Demon Apple voices his displeasure in the background. I don't know why the Demon Apple is wearing an enormous severed finger, but then, Halloween is all about mystery.

PS, I can't tell if that's the original Starscream figure or one of the many re-issues. I'm guessing "re-issue," because there is not a single original Starscream figure left in the universe that still has its forearm missiles.



"The Terryfying Tale of the Tricks and the Treats"
Created By: OrbitalVelocity

Perhaps it's best that Orbital handles the explanation. "Our little protagonist just wants Mr. McEvil to give her some of his shitty candy, but he's gone to great lengths to make sure that doesn't happen. He's blocked off the path to his haunted mansion with a spooky toothpick fence and a giant man-eating spider! Oh nooo..."

Does the crayon castle in the background remind anyone else of Bowser's fortress from Super Mario World? I've gonna have that ominous techno beat playing in my head until Thanksgiving now. Thanks, OrbitalVelocity.



"Sneakerama"
Created By: Kristin M.

HEY, that's not a diorama. Kristin knew that skirting the rules was grounds for disqualification, and said as much in her e-mail. But look closer, and you'll likely forgive her. Here, the shoebox diorama is less a diorama and more of an actual shoebox, playing home to a pair of sneakers with iconic horror-related images painted on the sides. I'd totally wear these, but truth be told, I have hooves.

Have a good one, monsters!

Posted by Matt on 10/31/2009. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 212 comments

Happy Halloween! I have learned my lesson this year-Latex masks make you very sweaty :3

Chestnuts roasted by DarkLugiaMaster-Gir @ 10/31/2009 9:05 PM

Happy Halloween to Matt and all bloggers! Despite the weather, this is one of the better Halloweens in a while, maybe because I got off of work early enough to enjoy it. I worked fairly early this morning. It was insanely busy. There’s about 15,000 things going on in the Philadelphia/Camden area this weekend, including the big Phillies-Yankees World Series game (now on rain delay), a Flyers game (they won), and Pearl Jam playing the last concert in the fabled Spectrum stadium.

I dressed as a witch for Halloween this year. A nice witch – I didn’t feel like slathering my face with green makeup and warts. My wide-brimmed hat that wouldn’t stay on, cherry-red lipstick, and long black skirt went over very well. I received many compliments on my costumes at work.

We were dead in the middle of trick-or-treating when I rode home, so I went over my dad and uncle’s to help them give out candy. We actually got quite a few kids before it started raining. After I got home, I ran “Mad Monster Party?” and a couple of Halloween-themed cartoons, including the famous Donald Duck “Trick or Treat,” and made pumpkin bread.

My favorite of the remaining dioramas was the “Die-O-Hazard.” Very creative use of Lego pieces, Nick.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 10/31/2009 9:05 PM

meh…we had six kids walk by the apartment and not stop. Just as well, I didn’t buy candy since we never got anyone here after 3 years. Hoping we don’t get egged or someone messes with my truck.

Anyone see This is it, yet?

Chestnuts roasted by mandy_Reeves @ 10/31/2009 9:09 PM

happy halloween!!!!

Chestnuts roasted by JoshC @ 10/31/2009 9:22 PM

Aw Matt, where’s the love???? You didn’t show my die-o-rama! It was the Night of the Living Smurfs one!

Chestnuts roasted by emosewa @ 10/31/2009 9:34 PM

I won’t go watch This Is It out of pure respect for Michael Jackson.

If I have ever in my life seen an attempt to cash-in and exploit celebrity tragedy, this is it.

Disgusting, really.

Chestnuts roasted by wroclawski @ 10/31/2009 10:26 PM

Full day:
Woke up and watched Great Pumpkin with the Baby Stella. Listened to 1950′s-60′s and classical Halloween music all day. Made a scarecrow with the young-un and some of her cousins (complete with skull mask, cape, and bloody heart-stake, and actually stuffed with LEAVES, not newspaper). Took the girl trick-or-treating for the first time (she was Elmo). Received a steady stream of trick-or-treaters until 9pm, taking exactly ALL our candy (and Rock Halloween themed temp-tats), and watched Nightmare Before Christmas, and ate pizza. And read this once my wife and daughter crashed.

Pretty well perfect.

Chestnuts roasted by dj BC @ 10/31/2009 10:43 PM

see the thing about This is It, is that they started making it before he died so

Chestnuts roasted by AJ @ 10/31/2009 10:57 PM

Happy Halloween! Wanna make my appearance tonight~!

Been drinkin’!

Chestnuts roasted by Alexander @ 10/31/2009 11:00 PM

I’m going to guess the “burnt” effect of the hot dog on Count Dogula is actually supposed to his hair.

Chestnuts roasted by The Pups @ 10/31/2009 11:22 PM

What up y’all? Happy Halloween!!!!!!!

Hope everyone’s having a safe and fun one. I went and got my hurr and face did this afternoon for a party, just pregaming now. Had the Nancy Kerrigan/Manheim Steamroller Halloween on Ice special going in the background earlier. Got me a designated driver and a platter of crudites, and hair of positively Winehousian proportions, and I’m gonna make the most of it ;)

Keep it spooky, guys. Love ya X-E!

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 10/31/2009 11:32 PM

The Pups – Nah, it’s gotta be him being exposed to the sunlight… hence the big construction paper sun on the wall behind him. :D hehe

I love Count Dogula!

Chestnuts roasted by Ryane @ 10/31/2009 11:35 PM

AJ, you are wrong.

Michael died in June 2009

This Is It was approved for production in August 2009

Get your facts straight next time, smart ass.

Chestnuts roasted by wroclawski @ 10/31/2009 11:51 PM

Wow. Michael Jackson Exploitation Chronology is apparently a very tender subject among nostalgia site blog comment readers.

Who knew.

Chestnuts roasted by Rev. Back It On Up 13 @ 10/31/2009 11:58 PM

Happy Halloween, everyone! I just watched the Great Pumpkin on DVD. We only got a few trick-or-treaters this year (two groups between 7:00 and 8:00), as is usually the case. It’s a bit disappointing, but ours is not a street that’s very well-suited to trick-or-treating. Anyway, I’ll be watching a Treehouse of Horror marathon, volumes I-VI, off of my brother’s DVD box sets. Stay safe, everyone!

Chestnuts roasted by Hoverbored @ 11/01/2009 12:10 AM

This was my first Halloween away from New England. It’s not quite the same when you spend the day in Downtown Disney, sweating your ass off under 90 degree temps.

No trick or treaters, but that may be because we’re an apartment and there’s not even a single porch with jack-o-lanterns.

Chestnuts roasted by Paul @ 11/01/2009 12:28 AM

I saw “This is It” on Thursday. It was more of a “What Could Have Been” type of thing. It was rehearsal for the potential London concerts (which would have looked AWESOME, especially Thriller).

I participated in my yearly viewing of “Garfield’s Halloween Adventure.” It’s still awesome. You’ll never see that creepy old guy in Peanuts, nor talk about a blood oath by Pirates who return as creepy-assed ghosts…

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 11/01/2009 12:48 AM

Saw “The BoonDock Saints: all saints day”.

Would have no idea it opened had I not visited Fandango.

Very fun flick. Not very imaginative, mind you, the characters are so likable we forgive lack of story. Looks to be a trilogy, due to a “conspiracy”.

All in all, burnt out on Halloween. Went to a crazy bash last night. Realized, I’m too grown for these young folks. Smoked too much…..

Here I am, eating cold pizza, in my boxer briefs and…still smoking.

Halloween was a blur.

To all the regulars, I read. Hope you had a kick ass Holiday!

Chestnuts roasted by JERRY HORROR @ 11/01/2009 1:05 AM

halloween was great this year! thanks to matt for all of the great articles. im looking forward to christmas now.

one last halloween PSA – if youre over the age of 14, and an asshole, please dont form herds of like-minded people and go trick or treating.

i saw way too many of these tonight.

typically these groups consisted of girls dressed in the way over-used (but never boring) “sexy” type costumes accompanied by an equal number of guys (usually costumeless) giving me go-to-hell looks because they thought i was ogling their girlfriends.

what annoyed me the most was how the guys usually just stuck their hands out and stared at me until i gave them something, which they proceeded to eat immediately and drop the wrapper as they left my yard. but i had to give em something or run the risk of being targetted for late-night vandalism.

Chestnuts roasted by Simon @ 11/01/2009 1:26 AM

Happy Halloween everyone! I watched Garfield’s Halloween on DVD earlier and then took my son out for Halloween and visited relatives in Jersey. The cloudy and drizzy rain day made it an awesome Halloween. Was also listening to Nightmare Revisited. It was ok. Now I’m watching Rocky Horror while drinking Blackberry Sam Adams? Weird. Sigh, I’m gonna miss Oktoberfest. Well, I should sign off since I’m going to Six Flags Great Adventure tomorrow (today). Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Chestnuts roasted by Berdo @ 11/01/2009 1:38 AM

Happy Halloween everybody!

Not much going on here tonight, as I’m waiting for my lovely wife to get back from chaperoning a school dance at the college she works at (10p to 2a. Dances were never that late when I was in school. Get off my lawn!). But, I amused myself with some scary TV and a bottle of Rogue Dead Guy and Unibroue’s Maudite–two very Halloweeny beers if I do say so.

Tomorrow we conquer Target and their sale prices on macabrely cute skelanimals. That is, if we can find them amidst the hedge maze of Christmas trees. :)

Chestnuts roasted by Mike P. @ 11/01/2009 1:39 AM

“Attack of the Corn” deserves a prize. It’s right at the place where genius meets simplicity. Well done.

Chestnuts roasted by Thorzul @ 11/01/2009 1:45 AM

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Glad to see some of you got some trick-or-treaters. I didn’t know if anyone would come by our place, since it’s our first year here. Unfortunately, no one did, so now me and m’lady have a whole bag a twix to ourselves. Good thing that’s all I bought.

I did get to see lots of kids at the event our mall had going on (not much of a choice. I work there), though I’m kinda dissapointed I didn’t see one home-made costume in the entire crowd. Plastic Optimus Prime masks aside, it was still fun watching the smaller kids get excited over a sucker or something.

Chestnuts roasted by Duskull @ 11/01/2009 1:58 AM

We had goose egg trick or treaters tonight too and it sucked. Total bummer. I decorated up the hallway by the door with all sorts of luminarias & LED stuff for atmosphere… myself, DH, and friends were all in costume with Halloween sounds playing, and NOTHING. We finally gave up and went to a really cool FREE (!) haunted house made by a Disney Imagineer, then changed, had dinner, and were WILDLY entertained driving around town looking at the thousands of college kids dressed up (I live in a college town). I have determined that the lady bug costume was THE costume to have this year if you were a girl, in various forms of nudity depending on frame size LOL.

Chestnuts roasted by a2stylee @ 11/01/2009 2:00 AM

I found nerds!

My wife had taken our toddler out for a walk earlier in the evening. When she came back she urged me and my neighbor to go wander around the neighborhood and check our some of the cooler decorations she had seen. Since we had already finished off most of the hot wings and highly alcoholic punch I had made, and the flow of trick or treaters was pitifully meager, I agreed.

So we saw a few cool displays, and the house that was giving away fresh-spun cotton candy, and were staggering towards home. Came across one place that had a really cool graveyard set up in their front yard and stopped to look. The homeowners popped out to say hi, and after a brief exchange during which my viking-helmeted neighbor half jokingly asked if they had any brewskis, (he’s a lot more outgoing than I, especially when he’s drinking. Which is usually. Normally it annoys the crap out of me, but this time it turned out alright),were invited in to their party.

Brief introductions were made, we were given drinks and chocolate chip cookies, and the guy says “come on back to the garage, that’s where most of us are”. Got back there and saw an anvil and a bunch of tools and bits and pieces of medieval armor. I commented that I must have found the headquarters of the local SCA chapter, and dude says, “yeah, basically.”

Anyway we hit it off real well and had a good time. The place was only one street over, and the folks are in to a lot of the stuff I am that generally makes my wife’s eyes glaze over. So maybe I’ll go back for a game of Warhammer 40k or something sometime.

All in all, not a bad Halloween, aside from the low turnout for free candy, which I now have to eat myself.

Chestnuts roasted by Braindumper @ 11/01/2009 2:03 AM

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