When witches go riding,
And black cats are seen,
The moon laughs and whispers,
‘Tis near Halloween. – Author Unknown
Since Halloween is my favorite holiday, I thought it might be fun if this month’s “favorites” column were about all of my favorite things associated with it. Now, I’ve already written a column about my favorite horror movies, and another which listed my picks for the scariest short stories (many of which I included in PDF form). Furthermore, four of the selections in “My Favorite Books” would be considered horror: The Illustrated Man, Conjure Wife, Complete Fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. Three of those, though, are anthologies; though I have often stated that I don’t like novels as much as short stories because it’s too difficult to maintain a mood for the whole of a long work (especially when it comes to horror), surely there must be some exceptions? The answer is of course “yes”, so let’s start with that:
My Favorite Horror Novels
Conjure Wife would have to be my absolute favorite, because it’s the only horror novel (and one of the few novels of any kind) which made it into “My Favorite Books”. But Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes is a very close second; in fact, it was on the short list when I was preparing that column, and I only cut it because my one-to-an-author rule resulted in its being elbowed out by The Illustrated Man. Two other favorites are actually on that list as well, as part of larger books: H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness (which contains one of the scariest passages in his entire oeuvre) starts on page 510 of Complete Fiction, and Edgar Allen Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket starts on page 708 of Complete Tales and Poems. If you’re a Poe fan and have never read that one, you really ought to; though it starts out slowly and not very frighteningly, the pace and weirdness both gradually build to a shattering and horrific conclusion. I don’t generally like modern horror novels, but Tanith Lee’s The Book of the Mad is a notable exception, and the series it concludes (The Secret Books of Paradys) was another that almost made the final cut for my favorite book column.
My Favorite Monsters
Of the classic Universal horror movie monsters, I’d have to say my favorite was the Mummy; interestingly, I also find he’s the one that loses the most in remakes. Karloff’s Im-Ho-Tep was menacing, yet in a way sympathetic; he was a complex monster, unlike the automatons of ‘40s and ‘50s mummy movies or the unremittingly malevolent demigod of the recent ones. Frankenstein’s monster as portrayed in the first two Universal movies has similar appeal, though he also degenerated into a zombie in later films. The shape-shifting alien from The Thing is probably the most powerful of all movie monsters, and my vote for the most unique one would have to be the menace from The Monolith Monsters (1957), which is not any kind of creature but rather a chemical reaction.
My Favorite Horror Stars
When I think of horror actors, one name stands out above all others: Vincent Price. He is the only actor I can think of whose name alone is enough to get me to watch a movie, and his performances can make a poor movie watchable and a mediocre movie entertaining. The first movie I can recall recognizing his name in was The Mad Magician (1954), and it’s still among my favorite of his films, but there are so many others there’s no way to list them all. I’m also very fond of Boris Karloff and Christopher Lee, but I’m afraid they don’t quite reach the level of esteem I have for Vincent.
My Favorite “Horror” Songs
When it comes to setting a horror mood, there’s nothing like Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (I especially recommend the E. Power Biggs recording). But for just plain Halloween fun, I would have to say my all-time favorite song is Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”:
Other favorites: “Jekyll and Hyde” by Renaissance, “Godzilla” by Blue Oyster Cult, “Mr. Crowley” by Ozzy Osbourne and “The Phantom of the Opera” from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.
My Favorite Halloween Candy
When I was a child, people gave all sorts of things for trick or treat: candy, cookies, popcorn balls; my husband says someone in his neighborhood even used to give comic books. But since candy is the classic (and most common) treat, I’ll concentrate on that. As I’ve aged my taste in candy has changed somewhat, but there are two kinds of chocolates I’ve loved since I was a child: the kind with some sort of fruit or fruit gel inside, and the kind with crunchy stuff mixed in. The former type was largely represented in trick or treat bags by Raisinets, and the latter by Nestle’s Crunch bars; I also like Kit Kats, but those weren’t available in Louisiana until I was in my early teens. Other favorites included Sno-Caps (nonpareils) and Three Musketeers. Alas, since I retired I just can’t eat chocolate candy any more; I no longer burn enough calories to keep it from going straight to my waistline. C’est la vie.
My Favorite Way To Spend the Holiday
I’ve never been a Halloween party type of gal; I’ve been to a few over the years, but they were never really my preferred pastime on the night itself. As a child I of course went trick-or-treating, but when I got into my teens that fell by the wayside. Still, I found plenty to do:
If there was a “haunted house” fund-raiser in the planning I was involved, and while I was with Jack in the early ‘90s we always set up our house as one for the trick-or-treaters. While I was working I usually costumed on Halloween; since many people in New Orleans do I didn’t even attract any undue attention, and the clients seemed to like it…Since we live in the country now we don’t get any trick-or-treaters, but we usually celebrate with a Jack o’ Lantern, a Halloween cake and a scary movie, and I read a horror story aloud at some point in the festivities.
Oh, and one other thing; those with sharp eyes have probably noticed that in all the pictures where my fingernails can be seen, they’re different colors; that’s because I get my nails done every three weeks, and always use a color which is appropriate for the season. For Halloween, as you might expect, they’re always glossy black.
I’m guessing here – but are the Monolith Monsters destroyed by water? If so, the trailer rather gives the game away.
Actually, water makes them grow; they lie harmlessly in the desert until a rainstorm activates them.
This has grabbed my interest now. Bang goes my Friday afternoon! I wonder if monoliths feature in any other movies? The only other one I can think of is “2001”.
Excellent mention for the superb Warren Zevon. Any other Zevonoids out there?
Plus, a beautiful picture of you. My day is complete. It’s downhill from now on.
I’ve always liked Warren Zevon’s work, it’s a shame he left us so soon.
Between Werewolves, Excitable Boy and Roland the Headless Thomson Gunner…. there should be a lot of Zevon on your iPod for Halloween.
“He took little Susie to the Junior Prom
Excitable boy, they all said
and he raped her and killed her, then he took her home”
Ya know, I love Zevon’s music, but I’m really kind of glad he didn’t live next door.
Hope he’s still enjoying that sandwich.
His father was William “Stumpy” Zevon, a gangster. I think being related to cops (as I am, my Dad was a cop) or criminals tends to give one a macabre outlook on life, if only because they love to tell gruesome work stories….
But what are you dressing up as for Halloween?
Inquiring minds want to know 🙂
I heard Vincent Price speak at Georgia State U. in Atlanta once. He was a classy guy — avid art collector. About his movie stuff, he said that in his young days, he was a contract-player leading man, until somehow he was given a villain role. After the movie wrapped, he told his agent, “I want only villain parts from now on!” The reason why, he explained to us, is “The actor playing the villain has more fun than the actor playing the hero.”
So much of Voltaire’s music could qualify as Halloween music. Here are some I especially like. (I’m a big Voltaire Fan):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTuhuon1j6U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i7tqWMbUFU&feature=related
(By the way, just to promote Voltaire a bit, his latest is called “BiTrekual”, ribald funny songs about Star Trek and Star Wars.)
Fav scary movie? Well, I still like “Carnival of Souls”. Now, as a child, I was quite fond of the Hammer Studio films, especially the ones with mad scientists, which I so wanted to be someday.
As for literature, you can’t beat H.P. Lovecraft.
I never really appreciated Halloween as a child. It hadn’t become a big holiday in the UK as yet. But we have 5th November, Guy Fawkes night. That was the night for dressing up, begging candy and pennies from the neighborhood, and bonfires.
Halloween is celebrated there now.
I cannot believe you left out Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (which includes Vincent Price by the way).
Yeah – I know he was prolly a pediphile and, at a very minimum, he was a pretty ef’d up guy – but …
I was sitting in a club in Perth, Western Australia called “Pinnochios” the first week of February, 1984. Me and three guys had, like six women sitting with us and we were in HEAVEN – the Aussie girls just loved American Sailors back then (and so did their parents!). Anyway, all my revelry came to a complete stop when “Thriller” came on the TV in the club. From the first few seconds – I knew it was something ground breaking – and it damn sure was! The Aussie girls were unimpressed, as they’d seen it already for a couple of months – but me and my buddies had been underwater for several months on a submarine. All the conversation stopped at that table until those 13 minutes of “Thriller” were over – and then we sat there looking at each other wondering WTF we had just seen!
You can’t believe I don’t much care for Michael Jackson? Seriously? I mean, “Thriller” is OK and all, but IMHO the only outstanding part is Vincent Price’s awesome monologue (including “the funk of forty thousand years”).
“Thriller” knocked me on my ass just like it did everybody else. MJ was to music video what the Beatles were to the recording studio. It has a home on my mp3 player, and Tracy blasts it out the window every Halloween.
Halloween’s always been my favorite holiday as well.
I recently came across the horror film Pontypool (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1226681/). It’s set in small town near the Ontario-Quebec border. There are some winks to Canada-centric aspects such as bilingualism and separatism, but they’re so deeply buried that most outside the context wouldn’t notice.
Without spoiling it, what I like is that for most of the film the ‘monster’ isn’t what you think it is – certainly not the typical ‘zombie’ infection. I love monsters I can’t guess or understand wholly in the first 30 seconds of story. Once I understand something, even if it’s immensely powerful, it becomes much less scary (which is the whole point!). Definitely recommended.
Totally agree with you there; the more inexplicable a monster, the scarier it is. That’s why the original version of The Haunting (where the house was simply “born bad”; no other explanation) is in a totally and completely different realm from its ludicrous “remake” with all that “slave children” idiocy.
Agreed. The remake was actually not too bad until they tried to “explain” things. The scenes they got from Jackson’s novel particularly worked.
Renaissance. One of my favorite groups. One might add “Trip to the Fair” to the spooky list.
You’ll enjoy next month’s “favorites” column. 😉
I liked the first “Mummy” with Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz as it seemed to be a stylistic throwback to the old adventure films like “King Solomon’s Mines” (NOT the Richard Chamberlin version) and the like.
Although I thought the second was far too over the top to be entertaining, I did think that in the climactic scene where Anck-Su-Namun turns and walks away from Im ho tep was a classic example of the ice bitch persona.
My brother used to do an excellent Peter Lorre impersonation. I think half the reason all my siblings loved it is that it drove my parents nuts.
I’m in complete agreement on E. Power Biggs for Bach’s organ music. His album recorded in the Thomaskirche was one of my favorite albums in high school, along with The Wall and Diamond Head’s Lightning to the Nation (yeah, I have eclectic tastes). While I’ve heard good interpretations of Bach’s organ works from others, Biggs will always be the standard for me. I’ve never understood the objection to his preference for playing an instrument and in the style of the Baroque period. I’m not an old fogey who doesn’t appreciate innovation, but there is something to be said for hearing a piece as the composer himself would have head it.
Night on Bald Mountain, Modest Mussorgsky with the Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration. Although I do like the Fantasia Graphics from the Stokowski version.
And Danse Macabre, Camille Saint-Saens
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0glOYQBlSA&feature=related
I think my favorite on-screen use for this was in Joss Whedon’s episode, “Hush”
Each year, I dress in black (long sleeves), go to Tracy’s with my replica double-bladed Spanish battleaxe, and a drip of “blood” from each corner of my lip. I kneel in front of the door, head bowed, with the axe on the floor in front of me until the little monsters knock or ring the bell. My head snaps up, my eyes are wide and staring, and I rise to my feet, adjusting the axe. Then I lurch towards the door and… give the kids some candy.
Tracy and I talked of doing something different this year, like going to a haunted house or a party. Maybe next year, but this year, as we have for some years now, it’s the same thing, and that’s not bad.
For the Lovecraft fans, all i can say is “Tekelili !! Tekelili !!” *pipes mindlessly*
Big fan of The Necroscope series too. 😈