Boxing Halloween

Posted by Richard Harland Smith on November 4, 2011

Is it just me or is November 1st about the worst day on the calendar? No more Halloween for a year! With the passing of every All Saints Day I start doing the math. It’s the hardest 364 days of my life.

I used to feel this way about December 26th, too, but as an adult I now welcome the return of normalcy and plainness after the Yuletide hubub. Not so with Halloween, though, which is the purer, calmer, less anxiety-ridden holiday to me. I don’t go all out in any way – we put up decorations for the kids, we carve a Jack-o-Lantern of course and we wear festive socks, but All Hallows Eve is more a state of mind than a mindless ritual of decking the halls. It’s a precious headspace, where music and cool autumn air and books and movies come together to complete a setting, an ambiance, a mood. I don’t think differently in October, I don’t become somebody else… I just focus in, I subspecialize, I become more me. It’s fun that other people get into the act, even those who would be loath to watch CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962) or WEREWOLF OF LONDON (1935) or THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940) at any other time of the year. In October, major news outlets condescend to Halloween-themed reporting, Google changes its logo to reflect the bizarre and Gothic, Martha Stewart reveals the inner witch, and Turner Classic Movies programs all-night classic spook shows. With this type of roll out, October 31st itself is almost an anticlimax. And then… it’s over. November signals the approach of The Holidays. Scarecrows yield to Gingerbread Men, Old Nick grants passage to Saint Nick, and tales of the grotesque and arabesque are drowned out by the cacophony of Christmas carols.

The first week of November is always a bitch. Switch on TCM and instead of THE BODY SNATCHER (1945), THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1919) or THE HAUNTING (1963) you’ve got WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? (1957) and MCLINTOCK! (1963) and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 (1935). I’m not knocking those movies, I like them okay, they’re just not… you know. By Halloween afternoon, most pharmacies have pulled all the ghost and goblins off their shelves and have put up the Christmas decorations. Come November One and TCM, AMC, IFC and other channels have run through their respective month-long fear fests and have reverted to regular programming. At home, we start the mundane process of boxing up the Halloween trinkets, taking down the GelGems, and tossing our gerny, liquifying Jack-o-Lantern down the trash chute. It’s grim. It feels wrong and I can’t get old Prospero out of my head: “Our revels now are ended…”

I don’t know why I get so blue come November, given that it’s pretty much Halloween all year long at my house. I mean, I never stop listening to the Horror Pops and October Project and the collected Hans Salter and the nervier Ennio Morricone and I drive around sunny Los Angeles chilling to the scores to BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW (1970) and SILENT NIGHT BLOODY NIGHT (1970) whether it’s 31st day of October or 4th day of July, and at any given moment I’ve got VAMPYR (1932), EL VAMPIRO (1957), KILL, BABY… KILL (1965), ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968), WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (1979), ZOMBIE (1979), WHITE ZOMBIE (1932), ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST (1980), ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957), VIJ (1967), and LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (1971) at my elbow ready to watch when the mood strikes me, plus almost the entire Universal and Hammer canons, plus the Criterion ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) still in its shrinkwrap beckoning me to fire her up – and I will. I’ve still got my Bela Lugosi, Rondo Hatton, Nosferatu, Crimson Ghost, Eerie Comics and LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1974) black tee shirts in regular rotation and THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) is on TCM tonight! So, really… what’s the problem? [Pause for effect.] Maybe there is no problem. Maybe November couldn’t come any sooner. Yeah, it’s fun when everybody plays along but come November the air sure does get a lot cleaner and there’s more room to throw some shade. Once Halloween dips below the horizon, serious critics like Glenn Kenny and Jim Emerson, who deigned during October to engage with my genre-of-choice, return to writing about, Oh I Don’t Know, LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961) or GOODFELLAS (1990) or AU HASARD BALTHAZAR (1966) or that Bela Tarr movie that takes twelve years to watch, and I can actually hear myself think. Horror fans should welcome November 1st. We don’t need them! And now we’ve got the haunted house all to ourselves again!

Maybe we (and I think we all know who I mean by we) should take a more proactive approach to the passing of Halloween. I think November is a perfectly gloomy month in its own right, and I don’t see why the Halloween festivities can’t bleed over into the weeks prior to Thanksgiving. Maybe November should be Ghost Month, a few weeks of spiritual and spectral reflection before the T-Day-Yuletide megalopolis. November is a great time to watch horror movies with characters who wear sweater vests or Anorak coats, who feel chilled and thrilled as their boots tamp down the wet autumn earth. Allow me to point you to ISLAND OF TERROR (1965) with Peter Cushing and Edward Judd, set on an island off the coast of Scotland where everybody wears fishermen sweaters and Wellington boots inside and out. Or DON’T LOOK NOW (1973), which has a real feel for the dimming of the day, both literally and figuratively. I can see THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) as a November movie – ditto DIE MONSTER DIE (1965), FULL CIRCLE (1976), DEAD OF NIGHT (1945), HALLOWEEN II (1981), THE EVIL DEAD (1981) and any 40s era spooker in which the men wear thick tweed suits and there’s no snow on the ground. Add your own titles – you know you have them! I’m excited about this – Renfield excited! Let’s stop feeling sorry for ourselves and stay scared. Can you dig it? I knew that you could. And if you can’t, well… there’s only 361 days until Halloween.

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26 Responses Boxing Halloween

Posted By quicksand : November 4, 2011 8:14 am

WOW…..and to think EYE was the only one…of one of the very few….who had these thoughts on Halloween and on other festivities during the year :):)!! Since I’m a “druid” at heart and NOT very religious to boot, I tend to rejoice when Halloween comes on…..I rejoice much more than when Xmas or Easter comes on…..because I realize the cheesiness in the latter….you know, love each other at Xmas but you can youselves off the rest of the year and nobody would give a f****** damn!!!:):)
HALLOWEEN FOREVER:)

Posted By Michael : November 4, 2011 11:01 am

I’m watching a Karloff/Lewton double feature tonight: “Bedlam” and “Isle of the Dead”!

Posted By Bob Gutowski : November 4, 2011 11:39 am

As if you’d pulled it right out of my head! “I become more me.” Yes, yes, and yes. Amen!

Posted By Emgee : November 4, 2011 4:18 pm

A great horror movie is the perfect antidote to all the sickeningly sweet Christmas treacle we get forcefed every December. I mean, the Sound Of Music to me is real horror!

Posted By dukeroberts : November 4, 2011 7:35 pm

Visitors to this site really hate The Sound of Music, don’t they?

Since I wasn’t able to watch too many horror movies in October due to other obligations, I am also extending my horror movie watching into November. Tonight, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death! Right after Chuck goes off.

Posted By Tom S : November 4, 2011 11:11 pm

I’m going to wind up watching a bunch of the horror stuff Criterion’s just released, as they put it out in October and the 50% off sale at Barnes and Noble just started. I’ve got Island of Lost Souls and the Phantom Carriage, and I’ll probably add Kuroneko in the next couple of weeks- plus Ugetsu and The Virgin Spring, which I’ve had for a while and never gotten around to.

It’s interesting, that’s five movies that are all ‘horror’ but only two are even vaguely the same kind of thing- Ugetsu and Kuroneko. It reminds me of what a huge field ‘horror’ is, really.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : November 4, 2011 11:21 pm

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935 (1935). I’m not knocking those movies, I like them okay, they’re just not… you know…”

GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933? I know, right? Without “We’re in the Money,” what’s the point?

November is a great time to watch horror movies with characters who wear sweater vests or Anorak coats, who feel chilled and thrilled as their boots tamp down the wet autumn earth.

I view November as the month that signals the daylight will be decreasing dramatically, the holidays will be approaching and bitter cold will move in. I. HATE. WINTER. It’s soul-crushing. Also… I. HATE. HOLIDAYS. Really do. I’m the grump of the family. The money, the time, the hassle, the forced gaity… How ’bout we call November “Why Don’t We All Just Die Month” instead?

Posted By dukeroberts : November 5, 2011 12:01 am

Greg- You are a grump. I love the holidays and the cooler weather. It’s such a nice change from friggin’ hot and humid that we have about 10 months out of the year down here.

Tom- How is The Phantom Carriage? I have been extremely interested in seeing it since I read about the Criterion release.

And Let’s Scare Jessica To Death- Weird little movie. I kind of liked it for the eerie atmosphere and creepy whispering.

Posted By Tom S : November 5, 2011 12:08 am

The Phantom Carriage is pretty great, in a Nosferatu-but-less-Expressionist way. But I’m a sucker for any silent movie on Blu, so take that as you will.

I love the holidays, but it’s a damn grind when you’re already on the edge financially- the weather puts strain on your car, you’ve got a lot of presents and such to buy (particularly since everyone in my family’s a winter birthday) and your electric and heating bills all seem to go way up. Plus it’s dark for about 17 hours a day. But, hey, at least my teacher girlfriend gets a nice long vacation that we can spend together (and I can burn off the huge backlog of movies I want to watch with her.)

Posted By Richard Harland Smith : November 5, 2011 1:52 am

For the record, I like The Sound of Music.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : November 5, 2011 11:31 am

Duke, where do you live? Sounds like where I grew up, Charleston, SC. Also, I never really hated the holidays as a kid, just as an adult. The money is certainly a part of it, but mainly, it’s the forced gaiety at work, the endless parties (I hate parties mainly because I hate small talk with strangers or co-workers), the exchanging of presents/cards with people you don’t particularly know well or care for. It just feels sooooooo fake! I find insincerity exhausting. But, if the holidays were just me and the family, subdued and no pressure, then, no, I wouldn’t mind them.

Posted By Fred : November 5, 2011 11:38 am

I think Halloween is becoming to us horror-fans what New Year’s Eve has become to partyers: “amateur night” (giving proper recognition to a late-lamented former colleague and friend who used to go out most nights of the week). A chance for non-horror fans to “slum” by watching our kind of films. I don’t need a calendar to tell me when to watch a horror film.

And for the record, I also like The Sound of Music and HATE WINTER.

Posted By MedusaMorlock : November 5, 2011 4:58 pm

Great post, RHS! I have to say, though, that I’m dismayed about the figures I heard that Americans spend like a billion dollars on Halloween now. It’s become a corporation money-maker and that’s sullied the fun low-rent spookiness it used to have, for me anyway.

Greg, I am with you. I hate the holidays,and boy, did my head almost explode when I went into a store just a day or so after Halloween last week and they’re playing Xmas music! I’m not going to be able to even go grocery shopping for the next two months without wearing earphones so I don’t have to hear that stuff.

Also seems so horrible to be urging Americans to buy more crap this year when things are so tough for a lot of our fellow citizens. And Wal Mart brought back layaway? That seems like a weird move and has a very desperate feeling about it.

I’m just trying to focus on delicious food but the holiday spirit just turns me ultra-grumpy.

Duke, you are right about the weather…you’re in Florida, right? So nice so far this weekend — yep…gotta love that, but that Xmas music in the stores — can’t handle that!

But Happy Time Change to us all! Which also is not agreeing with me this year! lol

Posted By John Helgason : November 5, 2011 9:24 pm

I couldn’t agree more! But hey, at least our month is always 31 days.

Posted By dukeroberts : November 5, 2011 9:28 pm

Greg- Jacksonville, Florida. We’re not too far away from each other, just about 4 hours.

Tom- Sorry, I can’t relate with the car being messed up due to weather. In the winter it gets cold and warms up two days later. I’m gonna Netflix The Phantom Carriage. It looks creepy cool.

Richard and Fred- It’s good to see some love for The Sound of Music.

Posted By Greg Ferrara : November 6, 2011 12:41 am

Jacksonville, huh? I’ve been there a few times. Like everywhere else in the deep south, hot as hell in the summer. Thing is, I don’t miss the heat (I’m in Maryland now) but I hate the cold. Californy is the place I ought to be (perhaps one day I’ll load up the truck and move to… Santa Barbara.)

Posted By dukeroberts : November 6, 2011 10:57 am

Yes, it is hot as hell. I tend to stay inside in the A/C, under the fan most of the time.

Santa Barbara, huh? Well, I watch Psych, which is set in Santa Barbara and it seems to get cold there quite a bit. Of course, it’s shot in Vancouver…

Posted By Heidi : November 7, 2011 1:24 pm

I get depressed for the holidays-because of the aformentioned false gaiety, pressure to buy presents, and all that music! I like Christmas, in it’s fundamental form, but Halloween is my holiday. I get to be my normal weird self, and no one says anything! I don’t watch the slasher type movies, they just don’t do anything for me, other than make me sick! But, give me a Nosferatu, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or the Sound of Music! (kidding, I like the movie, but I really have to be in the right mood to sit through it-which is about once every couple of years)I celebrate the season all year long, but I get to let it all hang out during Halloween!

In Tallahassee the Christmas music started before Halloween was even here. Very depressing. I can take Christmas music for about a week before without pulling my hair out, any longer than that it is stupid. It does get cold here, but I am thankful it isn’t snowing. I moved from Illinois to get away from that and the 5 months of no sun. Was in Jacksonville this weekend, totally different tan I remember when I lived in Orange Park! Progress!

Posted By Emgee : November 7, 2011 5:52 pm

Heidi, are you sure i didn’t write that post? No wait, that can’t be cause i don’t live in Tallahassee! Apart from that you voiced my opinion exactly. Almost scary……

Posted By dukeroberts : November 7, 2011 7:22 pm

I love Christmas. I started listening to Christmas music this week, but I don’t force it on other people until after Thanksgiving. In fact, Christmas time is the only time of year I actually like to shop. I am cynical most of the year, but at Christmas I am happier. Gaiety is not forced in my family, it’s innate at Christmas. If I’m buying presents for my closest friends and family I don’t feel it’s forced. Sorry to sound so Pollyanna.

Heidi- Yes, Orange Park has exploded and Jacksonville has changed quite a bit over the years. My nephew is currently at FSU (Go Noles!) so I will probably make it out there on occasion. It does get a little chilly out that way in the winter.

Posted By Tom S : November 7, 2011 8:13 pm

I wouldn’t mind Christmas music so much if it weren’t the same damn twenty or so songs played over and over- and if you work retail during the holidays, you will know every one of them like it was your child. Why can’t we play Fairytale of New York, or Joni Mitchell’s River?

Posted By dukeroberts : November 7, 2011 8:31 pm

I like hearing all of the old Christmas songs I grew up with. Each year I buy at least one new Christmas CD and one older one so I get something I grew up with and something new.

Posted By Jenni : November 8, 2011 12:05 pm

I too enjoy the Christmas season and the music, but wish the retailers and radio stations would not pop the Christmas stuff at us consumers until after Thanksgiving has passed. Duke, some new Christmas CDs I am thinking of buying, Michael Buble has his first one out, as does Justin Bieber(I don’t want his, but daughter does), and Zoe Deschanel, hers I do know the title, She and He, or is it He and She? I usually buy a cd with oldies and then a new one, as you do.

Posted By dukeroberts : November 8, 2011 9:41 pm

Jenni- Those are two that I would be interested in getting. I like Buble and Zooey.

Posted By MikeL : November 10, 2011 3:28 pm

Tom S,
Fairytale of NY is one great song. I’d love to see that one stuck in the middle of some department store’s Xmas mix.

Posted By November downer : November 25, 2011 11:15 pm

This October was especially fun with Buster Keaton on Sunday and horror galore on Monday. Now it’s over and I’m sad :(

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