Halloween Haunts: Halloween October Fest by Ian Welke

It’s that time of year again. October is upon us once more and with it come the same sets of expectations and disappointments that come every year for those of us that still hold that ideal Halloween in our memories, whether we ever truly experienced it or not.

When I was growing up, Halloween was my favorite time of the year hands down. In school I started drawing cemeteries, bats, and haunted houses well before the teacher instructed us to, and I often kept drawing them well after I was supposed to. Who wants to draw a turkey anyway? Even Santa always struck me as dull, up until well into my adulthood and the Nightmare Before Christmas anyway. Kidnap the Santy Claus indeed. Lock him up so kids won’t have to draw pictures of him.

Living in Suburbia trick or treating was a big deal. My parents were happy to help with costumes and my aunt had an MFA in Theater and extra knowledge on stage makeup.

When I got older and had a place of my own and, for the first time, disposable income, I went a bit berserk in candy buying, hoping that the young budding ghouls who came to my door Halloween night could have the same experience I had, but the last few years have had diminishing numbers of trick or treaters, and I have less desire to eat cheap candy than I once had.

Having given up on passing out candy to trick or treaters, my favorite thing about October has become a month long horror movie marathon. I have a pretty decent library of favorites, and best of all I get to cycle through new and old films I haven’t seen. For all the complaints about a service like Netflix, it’s great to have access to foreign films, older movies, and new-ish releases that aren’t already on my shelves. This allows me to see some smaller films I might’ve missed otherwise. It Follows and Absentia are two interesting horror films that left me thinking about their stories long after the end credits.

Most years I cycle through the movies to avoid the ones watched the previous October. This year though I will rewatch two recently viewed movies: The Mist and It Follows. I want to rewatch The Mist because I flat out loved this film, and only recently saw it for the first time. I think when I first heard about the film I mistakenly thought it was a remake of The Fog. I don’t think it’s a perfect film, but for building atmosphere and delivering that sense that reality isn’t what we think it is, it’s made my favorites list. When I first watched It Follows, I didn’t pay much attention to the mechanics or rules of the monster. This is to the film’s credit. It kept me too entranced to nitpick about how things work, and it’s certainly not the movie’s job to deliver foolproof legal copy on how their monster works. The characters in the film don’t know for sure, why should I? That said I still want to rewatch it to see what I missed, and also to examine how they go about building that story.

Any excuse to play a John Carpenter mini film fest is a good one. I’ll definitely break out Halloween, They Live, The Thing, Prince of Darkness, and In The Mouth of Madness, but can I justify claiming Big Trouble in Little China is appropriate for October? It must be done. Right? Speaking of Carpenter, his Lost Themes album is on in the background as I write this. Every time his music comes up on iTunes, it seems like my mood picks up and I get more done.

Speaking of writing and horror movies, I’m going to the Stanley Hotel Writer’s Retreat this year (https://www.facebook.com/stanleyretreat), so a pre-trip Shining viewing may be in order, despite the fact that I’m told that one of the hotel channels shows it 24-7.

I’m not sure which of the other movies on my shelf will make the cut. I think I’ve watched Slither every year. I’d consider skipping it this time, but it’s such a good movie for having a few shots of whiskey and singing along to the soundtrack. And speaking of singing along, the old Disney Sleepy Hollow with Bing Crosby is always fun with a “hip-hip and a clippity-clop.” I just watched a Doctor Who episode with the guy who played the doctor in An American Werewolf in London, that could go on the list. What else? The madness of Cemetery Man (Gnagi!), or Ozzie Davis and Bruce Campbell in Bubba Hotep? The meta madness of Cabin In The Woods? Or speaking of Whedon, the Buffy Halloween eps? The Evil Dead trilogy? I want to watch them all, but there are only so many days in October, at least until we manage to annex some of the time currently being encroached on by Christmas.

Ah well. With all this horror, it will be a good month in spite of having grown up.

TODAY’S GIVEAWAY: Ian is offering one copy of End Times At Ridgemont High. Enter for the prize by posting in the comments section. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by e-mail. You may enter once for each giveaway, and all entrants may be considered for other giveaways if they don’t win on the day they post. You may also enter by e-mailing membership@horror.org and putting HH CONTEST ENTRY in the header.

IAN WELKE grew up in the library in Long Beach, California. After receiving his BA in History from California State University, Long Beach, he worked in the computer games industry for fifteen years where he was lucky enough to work at Blizzard Entertainment and at Runic Games in Seattle. While living in Seattle he sold his first short story, a space-western, written mainly because he was depressed that Firefly had been canceled. Following the insane notion that life is short and he should do what he wants most, he moved back to southern California and started writing full time. His novels, The Whisperer in Dissonance (2014) and End Times at Ridgemont High (2015) were both published by Ominum Gatherum Media.

Links:

http://www.amazon.com/Whisperer-Dissonance-Ian-Welke/dp/0615964060/

http://www.amazon.com/Ian-Welke/e/B00I6OMA8W/

http://www.amazon.com/End-Times-at-Ridgemont-High/dp/0692415408/