October! The cobwebs are beginning to settle on the summer memories, nights are getting longer and gruesome Halloween trinkets ( gruesome in price AND  quality) have already been set up for sale in the supermarket aisles. Halloween is a time of year that I embrace wholeheartedly because I am, at times, a massive child who loves a big ole novelty themed bag of sweets and a cheap black lipstick smeared all over my face. You can’t beat cosy evenings in whilst the wind howls outside, and of course freaking yourself out with a good horror film and a few ghost stories is always a good way to keep you on your toes. If anyone has any good horror film recommendations I would love to hear from you in the comment section below. Bonus points if it’s something retro with horrifically dated (and therefore comedic) special effects. I will always remember being given a copy of a very strange DVD called “Witchcraft Hotel” at the age of 13 – the tagline was… “We hope you enjoy your slay”. It has a terribly gory plot and left my young naive being mentally scarred – If I recall, I was simultaneously amused and horrified by the casting of David Hasselhoff as the male lead.

If you find yourself having to entertain children (or of course, your inner child) around Halloween then I would recommend sitting down and watching one of the following cult classics ; “Hocus Pocus!”, “The Nightmare before Christmas”, “The Corpse Bride” and “Beetlejuice”. I’ve already spoken about my love of Tim Burton elsewhere on this blog – his films are definitely a ‘must’ around the Halloween holiday. There’s also two great shorts from the 80s/90s by Tim Burton which are worth a watch – an animated poem called “Vincent” which is narrated by the late Vincent Price and the 1984 live action “Frankenweenie” (not to be confused with the more recent disney adaptation, also directed by Tim Burton).

An old photo from the vaults! The morning after…. a Halloween night. An inflatable skeleton floating down the River Weir in Durham.

The highlight of the Halloween season for me, is without a doubt, getting creative (ie. over the top) with costumes! I especially love messing around with face paint and perhaps take the macabre make up looks  a little bit too seriously… It’s time to start thinking ahead of October 31st and get cracking with the costume ideas, my friends!

But don’t be a ‘mean girl’ and go for a simple animal costume (unless it’s an ironic pop culture reference, of course). And try to avoid looking as if you’ve covered yourself in superglue and rolled around a Halloween bargain bucket of flimsy plastic fluorescent things at Poundland, it can only end badly! 😛

Whatever, you decide, keep me updated!