Woooooooot—it’s Halloween! At long last!
Halloween is particularly fun when it’s on a Friday. My little town “observed” trick-or-treating last night, but I’m going with Dr. Fiancée and my niece and nephews tonight (we’re not dressing up, but the kids are). I’m looking forward to some family time.
How are you celebrating tonight, readers?
With that, here is 31 October 2019’s “Happy Halloween!“:
That sweet, crispy, autumnal feel is in the air, which means it’s the perfect time for ghost stories. I love reading a good ghost story as the days grow shorter and darker, and the wind whips leaves through the streets.
Thanks to Ponty’s recommendation that I review The Haunting (1963) for 31 Days of Halloween, I’m going to crack open Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you), which I first read a few years ago. It’s more about the ghosts of the main character’s tortured psyche, but it blends the thin veil between psychological torment and the possibility of non-corporeal supernatural apparitions influencing events in this world.
With that, here is 17 October 2024’s “TBT^256: On Ghost Stories“:
The reblogging of this spooky post is now more relevant than ever. It seems that, in addition to a lot of other controversial (i.e.—interesting) topics, discussion of spiritual warfare and demonic influence has become mainstream again. It feels different, though, than the “Satanic Panic” of the 1980s-1990s, although now I’m beginning to wonder if there was some Truth to that as well.
When Tucker Carlson has a guest on his show to discuss mystical Kabbalah and its influence on computer programming and artificial intelligence—and the goal to create a golem-god that will, inevitably, turn on its fallen creators—you know there’s some serious wickedness and witchcraft afoot. I’ve long maintained that a cadre of shadowy elites partake in some form of Satanism and/or Gnosticism (although, really, the two are the same); it seems that I was, sadly, correct.
With that, here is 10 October 2024’s “TBT^16: Things That Go Bump in the Night“:
Last week I wrote about one of my favorite films, Ghostbusters (1984). It’s the kind of flick that would never get made today, because the entire premise—a group of former academics-turned-paranormal-exterminators saving New York City—is too outrageous and original for any Hollywood studio to touch. Thank goodness for the creative ferment of the 1980s!
Regardless, Ghostbusters has always had a special place in my heart (read last week’s review for a detailed retelling of my quest to obtain the film on DVD in 2010), and while it is controversial to write it, I have always enjoyed its sequel, the oft-delayed Ghostbusters II (1989).
Spooky Season III is out now on all streaming platforms (including Spotify)! Pick up the digital download at Bandcamp, and take 20% off any Bandcamp purchase with this promo code: spooky (code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Thursday, 31 October 2024).
The spooky season keeps on rollin’! Hopefully by the time you read this post yours portly will have completed some Halloween decorating, and maybe even some pumpkin carving. Fun!
Happy Sunday!
—TPP
Other Lazy Sunday Installments:
‘Tis the season, my friends—the spooky season! And it’s a time for reading some good ghost stories.
I have been reading William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist—talk about a spooky read (the link to the book is an Amazon Affiliate link; if you make a purchase through that link, I receive a portion of the proceeds, at no additional cost to you)! By the time this post goes live, I should also be diving into some classic Victorian ghost stories.
I don’t have much to add to this year’s commentary about my favorite short story genre. The world provides plenty of spooks of its own, so it seems appropriate to enjoy some escapism with stories of haunts of a more metaphysical nature.
Of course, most of our problems are, ultimately, spiritual in nature, so perhaps diving into some ghost stories might be preparation. Or they’re just fun to read—you decide!
With that, here is 19 October 2023’s “TBT^16: On Ghost Stories“:
Ah, yes—Spooky Season is back! I love this time of year, so much so that I’ll say if you don’t, you’re a buzzkill.
Indeed, there’s a weird kind of “horseshoe” overlap where extreme progressives—who are notorious buzzkills—meet with extreme Christian fundamentalists, where both end up denouncing Halloween. Look, I’m probably a Christian fundamentalist by most standards, but, c’mon—I love fun. I’m pretty sure God Does, too.
And what’s more fun that getting candy and running around in the dark dressed in some kind of hilarious costume? Well, probably a lot of things if you’re nearly forty, but I can at least appreciate the spooky aesthetic of Halloween.
Anyway, you get my point—this time of year is fun. I don’t know if ghosts are real (probably not, if you believe in the Bible), but I don’t see any harm in speculating wild about the topic.
With that, here is 12 October 2023’s “TBT^4: Things That Go Bump in the Night“:
Spooky Season III is out now on all streaming platforms (including Spotify)! Pick up the digital download at Bandcamp, and take 20% off any Bandcamp purchase with this promo code: spooky (code expires at 11:59 PM UTC on Thursday, 31 October 2024).
The spooky season is here, my friends! To help you get ready, I decided to look back at some classic posts highlighting the fun and the fright of this magically mysterious time of the year:
Happy Sunday—and Happy Hauntings!
—TPP
Other Lazy Sunday Installments:
My blogger buddy photog at Orion’s Cold Fire posted last week about his favorite classic horror films, all of which are pre-1960. It’s a great list, and one of his readers, War Pig, added in some more that go as late as the 1960s. The black-and-white era was truly a golden age of horror, and many of the films on both lists holds up quite well.
The latest film chronologically on photog’s list is House on Haunted Hill (1959), a William Castle ghost story starring Vincent Price as a wealthy industrialist who offers cash-starved party guests $10,000 each if they can survive the night in the titular spook house.
I just happened to watch House on Haunted Hill last Wednesday night (24 July 2024) on Shudder, and while watching it, stumbled upon photog’s list. I’ve seen the film before, but it really struck me this time how spooky it is, perfectly setting the tone and feel of a classic, almost Victorian, ghost story.
It also helped that it was a literal “dark and stormy night” while watching it. The crisp black-and-white cinematography, coupled with the brooding atmosphere, made for perfect ghostly viewing.
There must be magic in Korea—and, according to the subject of today’s Monday Morning Movie Review, there might actually be—because the Korean film industry just keeps hitting homeruns. Since the release of the Oscar-winning Parasite (2019) and the smash series Squid Game (2021), South Korean movies and television shows have been on the West’s radar.
Koreans seem to excel in the horror genre; indeed, I’d argue that both Parasite and Squid Game, while not precisely “horror” films, certainly have very strong horror and thriller elements. They’re good, too, at putting messages into their art that feel both timely and organic, but never overtly preachy; Parasite and Squid Game both touched on issues of class, for example.
This week’s film, 2024’s Exhuma, is overtly a horror film, and also has a message embedded within it, as most horror does. Instead of pointing out the disparities of class, however, Exhuma is a thoroughly nationalist film, in the way that East Asian nations embrace their national identities with a deep, ancestral reverence.
More importantly, it is an excellent—and scary!—film.
The Portly Politico 