Vintage Halloween Commercials

As a kid, the anticipation of Halloween sometimes equaled Christmas. The prospect of cold nights, scary costumes and buckets and buckets of candy whirled me into a frenzy.
When the Halloween marketing wheels got turning and the commercials started having Frankenstein monsters, and witches flying in front of the moon, that just fueled the fire.

Channel 66.6 Haunted Radio has assembled a YouTube page with a number of little 30 second trips down memory lane. See stores like Woolworth hawk Ben Cooper out of the box costumes like "TV hits" Wonder Woman and Hulk, while McDonald's and Spuds MacKenzie integrate the Bates Motel and vampire McNuggets.

With tons of old school movie trailers and the fact that they generate their own horror-news podcast, Haunted Radio is definitely a place to check-in this Halloween season.

Halloween Party - Bone Chillers Ice Cube Trays

As the Halloween season approaches I'm always on the look-out for items that are off-the-beaten-path-COOL. Something that makes me go, "Hey now THAT is neat!" Here's one of those things...

Sure any Halloween party can be cool, but it's the attention to DETAIL that people remember.

Picture this: your party goers are standing around holding their drinks. The pirate awkwardly converses with the sexy witch. The sexy witch starts to lose interest and gazes down into her drink to exclaim "Hey! My ice cubes are skull and crossbones! Cool!" The pirate senses his moment and says "Arrrr. You're WELCOME." And they laugh. See? Fun.

This is the "Bone Chillers" ice cube tray. Get it? (I wonder which came first, the name or the product?) From a company called "Fred" (I can't make this stuff up) the trays make art-deco stylized skulls and crossbones as separate cubes.

The trays are rubber so it's easy to get the cubes out and preserve their shapes. Check 'em out either at FrightCatalog.com or at Amazon.com (or use the Amazon link below to help contribute to the site's upkeep costs).

New Halloween DVD Releases - "Fat Albert's Halloween Special" & "Nightmare Before Christmas"

We're not even into September and there's already a couple of DVD must-owns for your Halloween holiday season.

For those who grew up in the late 70s early 80s there's "Fat Albert's Halloween Special." Halloween specials seemed to have hit their peak in these decades of the past so it's good to not have to buy bootlegs of poor VHS recordings. From the mind of Bill Cosby, Amazon describes the plot as this:

Rudy and his new friend Devery plan to spend Halloween playing practical jokes on the elderly. They both take aim on Mrs. Bakewell, an old widow living in a spooky house by the graveyard. But the kids get the ultimate scare when two of them don't return from "trick or treating!" Did Mrs. Bakewell have something to do with their mysterious disappearance?

And unless you've been living under a rock in a cave in the desert--on fire you know about the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. Available on both standard DVD and Blu-Ray, I find this film to be a good watch in the limbo month between Halloween and Christmas. ("November." I think that's what people call that month.)

The real draws for me are the shorts available in the special features: "Vincent," "Frankenweenie" and Christopher Lee's reading of Tim Burton's original poem. Must-haves in this year's "Make Your Own Halloween Special." See last year's posting HERE.

They were just released this week, so pick 'em up!
Purchase through the Amazon links below to help contribute to Halloween Addict!

Halloween Papercraft: No Mess Jack o' Lantern

So you love Jack o' Lanterns and Halloween craft projects but the smell of gutted pumpkin makes you want to... well...



Well how about some papercraft jack o' lanterns?

All the fun, none of the mess. AND you don't have to watch it turn into a gummy, soggy old-man of a mess in the days following.

Head on over to Canon's (the camera and printer people!) Creative Park for some free PDF downloads featuring paper jack o' lanterns, haunted houses and more.

Download, print, cut, assemble and then gaze at your handiwork that didn't involve pumpkin flesh.

Sesame Street Yip Yip Muppet Costume

Yipyipyipyipyipyip.
Uhhuh uhhuh.

C'mon you remember the Sesame Street sketch don't you?

Though I don't really consider Halloween Addict a "kids site" I can't help but enjoy both the nostalgia and coolness that this Yip Yip Muppet costume will ooze when you show up to your costume party wearing it.

Head on over to Instructables for a great posting on how to make your own Sesame Street Yip Yip Muppet Costume.

Cool Monster T-Shirts - Threadless Sale

Get a jump on your Halloween apparel with this sale from Threadless tees!

If you'll remember, I make it a habit of wearing their very cool t-shirts whenever I do my Halloween projects, watch my Halloween movies etc.

Use their back-to-school sale to get a jump on zombies, vampires, werewolves, skulls and more (examples below)!
All tees are limited runs so get them before they're G-O-N-E!

Trick 'r Treat - Halloween Anthology Movie Straight to DVD

This is bittersweet news: Mike Dougherty's Halloween-themed anthology film Trick 'r Treat has been announced to be going straight to DVD.

As you can tell from Halloween Addict, I'm also a movie addict. And just like I like short stories over novels... I love me some anthology horror movies. Cat's Eye, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Trilogy of Terror, etc. etc. And THEN if you have the whole anthology film revolve around Halloween-- I'm ecstatic. So imagine my elation when I read about an anthology film ALL ABOUT HALLOWEEN called Trick 'r Treat that would be coming out in October!

I scoured the websites about the film and poured over the beautiful jack o' latern-laden imagery. I found out all I could about the director (Did you know his birthday is on Halloween, October 31st???!! How cool is THAT?!)

And then... October came and went. No movie. It had been pushed to February. Then it got pushed. Then it disappeared. Then there were rumors Warner Bros. was dropping the film entirely.

The big news today is that WB is putting the movie straight to DVD.
Why bittersweet? Well it would have been great to have seen a Halloween themed film on the big screen around the holiday it's based on. But now I'm just glad to be able to see the film at all.

BUT WAIT! Fangoria magazine has news about a screening of Trick 'r Treat in NYC in October! Check out the news HERE.

What's that? You say you don't know anything about this movie at all? Well then take a gander at the trailer here!



Can't get enough. Well Amazon is releasing a book relating to the movie on September 2nd. (Buy it through the link below to help support the site!)



Side note: Do NOT confuse this film with the 80s-alicious film Trick or Treat starring Skippy from Family Ties. This is NOT that film. Though that film DID have Ozzy Osbourne and Gene Simmons... so... brownie points.

Costume Idea REVISITED: Gears of War Costume & Weapon

Boy I tell ya what: Gears of War is a great game. And Gears of War 2 looks to be just as awesome. Watch the trailer and you'll see.

But as I started to say: I tell ya what, I get a LOT of interest in a little post I did HERE about a guy who turned his Nerf gun into a Gears of War Lancer weapon.


Well a lot has happened since January and there are a lot of people who want a Gears of War costume for Halloween. So check out projecttriforce.com because they're selling a "scale" Lancer Assault Rifle. It looks great. Complete with a chainsaw covered in gore.

But something this awesomely accurate comes at a price: $949.99.
Yep that decimal's in the right place.
But, hey, what's a cool grand if not for buying an awesome prop for the awesomest costume ever?

And if you were at Comic Con this year you saw THESE guys wandering around.
Holy crap.
Now THAT'S what I call a COSTUME!

"Where can I buy this??!!" you scream?

Well nightmarearmorstudios.com is saying they're licensed to sell replica armor, but I couldn't for the life of me find any prices. Might want to just drop them an e-mail to see what they carry, charge etc. I'll make sure to say this for them: SERIOUS INQUIRIES ONLY PLEASE. (Seriously these guys look serious.)

So there you go. A few links to get you started on what could be a popular Halloween costume this year for gamers.

Here's that Gears of War 2 trailer too to get you salivating.

Vintage Halloween Pictures, Ads & Memorabilia

If you're a reader of the site you know my penchant for the Halloween iconography and imagery that started with the 1960s and continued on into the 70s and 80s. But I'm not one to not include something Halloween related that might interest someone else.

Click the pic or THIS LINK to go to a Flickr page dedicated to Vintage Halloween Ads, Pictures and Memorabilia. Again: it ain't really my thing. Something about round Jack o' Lanterns with googly eyes. Doesn't do it for me.

But to those whose corks it DOES pop: enjoy.

Crazy Costume Ideas

It's never too early to start thinking about your Halloween costume.

It's also great to think outside the box when it comes to what's going to make you stand out at this year's costume party.

I mean sure YOUR Joker costume is going to look better than the other 14 people who do it, but what if you went as a MAN MADE OF BABIES.

Check out artist Philip Toledano's work on his website mrtoledano.com (specifically the "Hope and Fear" section) for some great pieces that just may inspire you to not wear a t-shirt saying "My other costume is Frank the Bunny."

Happy Birthday Alfred Hitchcock!

August 13th 1899 the master of thrillers was born: Alfred Hitchcock.

After doing some research I amazingly can't seem to find any Halloween Specials that Mr. Hitchcock was involved in. Not even an episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" had a Halloween theme. Huh. How 'bout that?

So this is the best I can do: the spectacular blog Old Haunts has a posting on "Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Ghost Stories for Young People" complete with a download of the long out of print vinyl.

Celebrate the great one by giving it a listen!

Costume Idea: Heath Ledger's Joker from Dark Knight

It's been America's #1 movie for 4 weeks in a row.

There's been talk of Oscar nominations for Heath Ledger.

There's speculation that this movie may be bigger than Titanic in the long run.

What better time to talk about how to dress like the maniacal Batman villain The Joker for your Halloween costume?

Well this young man is already on top of it. Check out the League of Heroes blog for pics on how he assembled his Joker costume.

Before They Were Stars - Actors' First Roles in Horror Films

Actors just starting off in the entertainment business often have to take whatever role comes their way to build their resume and get a foothold in the medium of film. Because of this, you'd be surprised at how many of today's stars have had their careers begin in horror films.

The Washington Post has a brief article/list HERE but I thought of a few more and made my own comprehensive list below.

Jennifer Aniston "Leprechaun"
Kevin Bacon, "Friday the 13th"
George Clooney, "Return of the Killer Tomatoes!"
Jamie Lee Curtis, "Halloween"
Johnny Depp, "A Nightmare on Elm Street"
Leonardo DiCaprio "Critters 3"
Kirsten Dunst, "Interview with a Vampire"
Laurence Fishburne and Patricia Arquette, "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors"
Hugh Grant, "Lair of the White Worm"
Linda Hamilton, "Children of the Corn"
Tom Hanks, "He Knows You're Alone"
Josh Hartnett, "Halloween H20"
Kelly Hu, "Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan"
John Larroquette, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (narrator)
Heather Locklear, "Firestarter"
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Troll"
Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube, "Anaconda"
Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger, "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre"
Demi Moore, "Parasite"
Viggo Mortenson, "The Prophecy"
Jack Nicholson, "The Terror," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "The Raven"
Kelly Preston, "Christine"
Bill Pullman, "The Serpent and the Rainbow"
Meg Ryan, "Amityville 3-D"
Yeardley Smith (the voice of Lisa Simpson), "Maximum Overdrive"
Sissy Spacek, John Travolta and Amy Irving "Carrie"
Charlize Theron, "Children of the Corn III"
John Travolta, "The Devil's Rain"
Katherine Heigl, "Bride of Chucky"

If you can think of any more (and I'm SURE they're out there...) let me know in the comments!

Halloween Furniture: Coffin Couches

You, sitting in your boxer shorts, watching a Vampire movie say aloud: "I wonder how comfortable a coffin really is."
Well my friend in an age of extreme recycling: sick wishes CAN come true.

Enter: Coffin Couches.

Each er, "slightly used" 18 gauge steel coffin is recycled from [mainly] Southern California funeral homes. The cast iron legs are emblazoned with a biohazard logo because (according to the website) a human body is considered biohazard tissue and "in the event body fluids are exchanged in these coffins."
If that doesn't make you want to lounge in one while eating some Cool Ranch Doritos, I don't know what will.

They take about 7 days to make so order yours in plenty of time to kick back in one for AMC's Monsterfest marathon in October.