Halloween Candy May Lift Spirits During Economic Downturn

Ahhhh The New York Times.
It's readin' for smart people!

According to an article in the NY Times from last Monday entitled "When Economy Sours, Tootsie Rolls Soothe Souls"---- candy sales have been soaring as the economy continues to plummet.

The article goes on to theorize some of the reasons for this surge. Reasons such as:

• Sugar helps lift spirits.
• Candy (especially in bulk bins) is relatively cheap.
• It's a nostalgic reminder of better times.

What I found interesting is that a number of "staple" candies debuted in the '30s during the Great Depression. Candy bars such as Snickers, Mars and Three Musketeers all originated in the early 1930s along with the classic Tootsie Pop.
From the ashes comes the phoenix... and that phoenix is filled with nougat!

Here's the kicker: Many historians use the the stock market collapse (known as Black Tuesday) as the starting date for the Great Depression. And what was that starting date?
October 29, 1929.
JUST TWO DAYS BEFORE HALLOWEEN!
Madness.

Check out the article HERE and then head off to your nearest candy store to drown your 401k sorrows in a bucket of Sour Patch kids. You'll be helping the economy and getting a burn mark on your tongue in the name of 'better well being.'

Halloween Flaming Pumpkin Baseball Cap

Found this while looking for cool Halloween apparel.

Now on SALE at Neweracap.com you can get this 59FIFTY Halloween cap featuring a flaming jack o' lantern for the low low depressed economy price of $9.99. I always say it's better to stock up outside of September and October, when the gettin's are CHEAP.

Available in yellow or orange.

CONSUME!

Halloween Memories: Sleepy Hollow Stamp

During my research for this post I realized that fellow bloggers Secret Fun Blog and John Rozum had already done excellent posts on this wonderful little gem. So my turn probably isn't going to say anything that they haven't already said.

Alas... here we go...

I'm a collector.
Always have been.
Whether it was Matchbox cars or Star Wars figures... G.I. Joes, Xevoz, Legos, Micronauts, cereal premiums, record albums, WHATEVER. I've collected.
While in elementary school one day, the librarian decided to give a lesson on stamp collecting. Man could I not have been more bored.
Aside from a very expensive upside down airplane stamp (which for some reason I found HYSTERICAL) that particular genre of collecting bored me to no end.

Then I saw The Legend of Sleepy Hollow stamp. And everything changed.

I was infatuated with this stamp.
As a kid who loved Halloween and everything scary this was a glimmer of cool in a hobby that usually just smelled like glue and gave paper cuts. As there weren't many "scary" stamps my hobby soon just turned into "how many Sleepy Hollow stamps can I collect?"
I would carefully lift off any version I found in any condition using tweezers and hot water and patience... but I lusted after a first day of issue card much like THIS.

As a kid who grew up in the Hudson Valley, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow always fascinated me. I religiously watched the Disney animated version whenever it came on in October. I read the original book. And of course: I was a young Halloween Addict.
Tarrytown, NY (where the legend was to have taken place) put out this brilliant first day of issue envelope complete with, you guessed it, a JACK O' LANTERN.

Imagine my surprise years later when my further research found THIS Postal Museum website with the ORIGINAL artwork for the stamp! For me the feeling of this discovery was akin to my watching my first Laserdisc and seeing all the deleted footage of James Cameron's ALIENS. ("What??? There was a huge Vulcan gun scene that isn't even IN the MOVIE???!!")

Anyway: back to my boring stamp collecting. I fixated on this stamp.
I always believed (then and still now) that it really captures the feeling of a fall night. Something about the orange, black and midnight blue colors really nailed it. You can feel that crisp autumn chill just be looking at it. And the font! They even went with an old vintage bumpy scary font.
Yessir. They don't make stamps like THAT anymore. Sure the United States Post Office is still trying. They had the Universal monsters. And then this year is Poe. But, as far as I know, it's the only US Stamp to feature a jack o' lantern. Where you ask?
Well technically that black lump the headless horseman is holding is a jack o' lantern. Now if we could just get a full glorious orange one on the stamp. THAT would be a Halloween Addict's dream. Sure you can make your own these days, but it feels a little like cheating. Oh who am I kidding, I'll be making my own in October........

My Favorite Horror Movies From Every Year I've Been Alive

If it's one thing that I've learned it's that...
People...
Love...
Lists!

Recently a friend who was bored at work sent a mass e-mail asking to "list your favorite movie from every year you've been alive." About halfway through the task I decided to throw the rest of my day in the crapper and do a list of "My Favorite Horror Movies From Every Year I've Been Alive."

In the interest of cloaking my age, I'll be starting from 1980 because that was when I really started getting into and appreciating horror films.

Clarification: This list is by no means what I consider the BEST horror movies of their respective years, only a list of MY FAVORITES. I consider "my favorites" to be the films that I return to often, or that I watch whenever they're on cable, or that I bring up in conversation, or the ones that make it to lists called "my favorites."

Yo ho ho, here we go...............

1980 - The Fog
Classic Carpenter. Following up Halloween with ghost stories and zombie pirates? I'm listening.

1981 - An American Werewolf in London
Landis in his prime. Great balance between black humor, gore and suspense.

1982 - John Carpenter's The Thing
Carpenter's zenith. He's never been able to hit this height since. A perfect film.

1983 - Twilight Zone: The Movie
Why? Well for one: horror pickin's were slim for this year. And secondly, I watched the crap outta this movie and was always terrified by the "Wanna see something really scary?" and the remake of "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet."

1984 - Friday the 13th Part IV
Why? Because it was the -ahem- "end" of classic hockey mask Jason. Done in by his creator (in makeup) Tom Savini. As a kid, it was "Jason is dead. Long live Jason."

1985 - Day of the Dead
Thanks to Fangoria Magazine's Scream Greats Volume 1: Tom Savini which details how he pulled off all the amazing gore effects complete with anecdotes on production and a VERY young pre-KNB Greg Nicotero. The movie isn't great but the effects are.

1986 - The Hitcher
Love this movie. Two words: Rutger Hauer. Two more words: Creepy scary. Last two words: Ignore remake.

1987 - Lost Boys
Not the best vampire movie. But I had the poster... and the soundtrack... and I watched it A LOT. Best last line to a horror movie. "One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach. All the damn vampires."

1988 - Hellraiser II
I rented the Uncut version of this on VHS at my local video store. It was one of the first movies to turn my stomach.

1989 - Pet Sematary
This year had slim pickings for horror. But this stands out. I don't watch this movie much... because it STILL unsettles me. Dead kids, man. Creepy zombie kids. Yeesh.

1990 - Misery
Sure it was an Academy Award winning film. But the "hobbling scene" really made me squirm.

1991 - Freddys Dead: The Final Nightmare
Just like Friday Pt. 4... this was the death of an icon. This is also the only Nightmare film I saw in the theater. I was there. I had the red and blue specs on. I SAW IT HAPPEN! Yep... one of the lamest deaths of a supernatural character ever. I saw it happen alright.

1992 - Innocent Blood
I like this movie. Period.

1993 - Army of Darkness
Is this even a horror movie? Some would argue. I will not. I've seen this movie more times than I'd care to tell you. I had Bruce Campbell sign my Army of Darkness poster "Well hello Mr. Fancy Pants." It's true.

1994 - Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Yay! Freddy's back! Sorta. I appreciate what Wes was trying to do. And Freddy got semi-scary again.

1995 - Seven/In Mouth of Madness
In case many don't consider Seven a horror film I also have In the Mouth of Madness. Carpenter's last valiant attempt to be scary. That crazy old lady on the bike in the darkness still bugs me. I like this movie.
And Seven... oh my goodness. There aren't too many movies I've seen where the whole film gives you a feeling of loss and dread. Truly scary and unsettling and the ending will sit with you for years.

1996 - Scream
This film renewed my faith in the horror genre. Perfection. It was self-aware and yet its own horror film paying homage to all the classics. A great script. Tons of winks that didn't hit you over the head. A scary killer with a cool mask. Like The Matrix, I still pretend the sequels didn't happen. Perfect.

1997 - Cube
Not a great year for horror. Maybe everyone was scrambling to come up with the Scream clones. But I enjoyed this little gem when I saw it on video. Before Saw, there was Cube.

1998 - Halloween H20: 20 Years Later
I'm just realizing this was the triumverate of me watching my favorite horror icons getting offed. Many hate this film. But as someone who's always had allegiance to the continuity of Halloween 1, 2 and H20 I thought it was great.

1999 - The Blair Witch Project
You can read my feelings on this film HERE. This movie scared the crap outta me for MONTHS.

2000 - Scream 3
Slim pickings this year. So I went with this.
Certainly not the way I wanted this series to end, but I admire them for completing the trilogy. Now there's talk of Scream 4. I ask the world again: has there EVER been a good "4th" part? Oh wait... Friday the 13th Part 4. I guess I've contradicted myself.
Wait: let me rephrase--- Has there ever been a 4th film after a TRILOGY? Hm?
Answer: no, never.

2001 - Hannibal
This is a film on a very short list of films to turn my stomach. I know it's not EXACTLY a horror film... but c'mon... what else would you call a movie about a serial killer on the loose? A thriller?
Bah, I say.
BAH!

2002 - Blade II/The Ring
I know, having a tie is non-committal.
But both of these films are GREAT.
Blade II is one of the best action-horror films in decades.
And The Ring is one of the best remakes behind The Thing.
And this is coming from a guy who LIKED Ringu.

2003 - Freddy Vs. Jason
Is it "good,"... um... not entirely.
But my 13 year old self doesn't care. This is my generation's Frankenstein vs. The Wolfman.

2004 - Dawn of the Dead
The first 13 minutes of this film are pure gold.
And I love the rest of this movie. I still love the original, too.
2nd best action-horror movie. (Check out the next entry for my "3rd best.")

2005 - Constantine
Again, many of you may not consider this horror. But it's my 3rd best action-horror pick.
I know, I know... Keanu shouldn't be in the role. "It should be Sting!" shout the fanboys. I hear what you're saying... buuuuut I still have a great time with this movie.
Hell, I've even had a burger on the same stool at Molly's Burger and Hotdog in Hollywood where Keanu and Rachel Weisz spout exposition.
True story.
I'm a nerd.

2006 - The Descent (Hostel)
Sure this was the same year Hostel came out and spurned what many will debate as the "torture porn" era... but it's also the year The Descent landed. A movie that's scary BEFORE it gets scary.

2007 - The Mist
I'll be honest: The Mist did not have me... until the last 5 minutes.
I watched The Mist with a "What the hell's the big deal?" attitude. I kept fighting the "Couldn't this have been a TV movie?" jaded-ness my first watch-through.
Then the end happened.
Then THE END happened.
Holy cripes on a triscuit, that ending...

2008 - Cloverfield
Is it a horror movie?
Who cares, it's great fun. It's brilliant marketing. It's a well executed idea. It's well acted. It's scary.
Bravo Mr. Abrams.

2009? - Ummmm... if I HAVE to pick something I've seen so far this year... I guess... Friday the 13th Remake.
Why?
Because My Bloody Valentine 3D was all gimmick and no substance.
Because I haven't yet seen Last House on the Left.
Because, as I mentioned HERE, I like seeing that hockey mask on billboards and marquees again.
But the year is young.
Let's see what else is in store............

(As always, if you buy through the Amazon links below I get, like, a quarter which helps me support the site. End of pitch.)

St. Patrick's Day: Killer Leprechaun Slaughters Accent

IrishCentral.com has an article up today entitled "Top 10 Worst Irish Accents on Film."
Why does this interest a horror movie and Halloween Addict other than the obvious "I need a post on St. Patrick's Day?"

Because number 10 of the top ten is "The Leprechaun from Leprechaun."
A horror movie that I've never seen... and from what I hear... I don't really have to.

You've got Jennifer Aniston in one of her first screen roles and PRE-nose job ----and Warwick Davis (Ewok, Willow, Brewer, Patriot) as a killer Leprechaun whose downfall is him having a fetish for shoe buckles.
Shoe buckles?
That's about as lame as Green Lantern's Achilles heel being the color 'yellow.'
And thaaaaaat's really all you need know.

Still curious? Check out this video of "Leprechaun in 10 minutes."
Oughta sum it up.

Scary Props: Poltergeist Clown Doll Replica

There aren't too many things that creep me out.

But if I came home and all the lights were off...
And the TV was on a channel of white noise...
And all the furniture was pushed to the sides of the room...
And this Poltergeist Clown Doll Replica Prop was sitting in the middle with its head turned backwards facing me as I walked in...
I would...
Well, I would poop my pants.
I'm just sayin'.

Buy your own (they're a limited edition!) and come up with your own practical joke. They're only $1200 and available at Supermongrel.net.
Diapers not included.

Watch Horror TV and Movies FOR FREE!

We live in a pretty great time.
Technology allows us to order pizzas from our computers, be reachable via phone anywhere in the world and blog about Halloween to audiences across the globe.

Video on Demand, or "VOD" for those who like to save milliseconds of their lives, has given us Halloween Addicts and horror movie & TV fans instant gratification through a number of different venues.

Thanks to ad-supported sites, even if you don't have Netflix... even if you don't have an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3... even if you don't have Roku or Apple TV or Cable or Dish----and even if you only have your computer, an internet connection and a VHS player you can STILL watch horror movies and television INSTANTLY... RIGHT NOW... FOR FREE.

Rules: I specifically avoided sites like BitTorrent and the like because the point of this is finding places where you can stream the footage rather than download it to your computer. I also made sure to only peruse websites that don't require a subscription fee of any sort.

Let's check out what's out there:

CRACKLE.com
What's available?: Sorta slim pickin's on horror movies. Only Candyman, Idle Hands, and The Breed.

What else is of interest?: A bunch of Godzilla movies. Starman. (Hey, it's John Carpenter!) And most importantly: Ghostbusters.
C'mon. You and I both know you'd put it on "repeat" if you could.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: Only a couple of Halloween TV episodes from the wayback machine: Facts of Life & Square Pegs. Lots of sketch comedy and parody videos that loosely tie in to Halloween.

Grade: B- The only reason it got this grade is because of Ghostbusters.

Hulu.com
What's available?: John Carpenter's The Thing. Wrong Turn, Pulse, Near Dark, Night of the Living Dead, Wolf, Virus, Species III, Amityville II, Carnival of Souls, Madman, The Crawling Hand, and more. I named the titles you'd recognize. If you like more obscure stuff, there's some of that on here too.

What else is of interest?: TV episodes of Scare Tactics, Ghost Hunters, Elvira's Movie Macabre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 30 Days of Night: Blood Trails... and... and I'm tired of typing.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: All kinds. Halloween episodes of various classic TV shows like Alf, 90210, Bewitched, The Addams Family, etc. Not to mention how-to videos for Halloween recipes, make up and costume tips and more.

Grade: A- Why? One word: volume. Better titles, and more of 'em.

NBC.com
What's available?: Night Gallery. Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: A few Halloween episodes from their current series: The Office, Chuck.

Grade: C- Though it's got street cred with classic series' like Rod Serling's Night Gallery, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, that's about all the "scary" available on the site.

CBS.com
What's available?: Um... uh... Ghost Whisperer? Wait I got it: classic TWILIGHT ZONE!!!

What else is of interest? Nothin'.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: Numerous Halloween-related Late Show with David Letterman clips.

Grade: The freakin' Twilight Zone bumps this up to a C+

ABC.com
What's available?: ... Anything horror or scary? Lost? Boy that's reaching too far.
Nope. Nothin'.

What else is of interest?: Nothin'.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: A handful of current series episode recaps. Lame.

Grade: F- It was an F+ but Lost brought it up to a minus.
I mean... it's a good show. Just not scary/horror.

Fox.com/FXNetworks.com
Nothin', Nothin' nothin'.
Not even worth it to type out the breakdown.
F+'s

YouTube.com
What's available?: Everything. And nothing. You name it, you can probably find it on there. I say "probably" because due to copyright violations and depending on the link, the property (i.e. movie or tv show) and the popularity will depend on how long it lives on there.

You want to watch the as-yet-unreleased horror classic Night of the Creeps? Boom. It's there.

You want to see the long-0ut-of-print VHS of Fangoria Scream Greats Volume 1: Tom Savini? Pow. It's there.

You just want to watch The Garfield Halloween Special? Zing. You can probably find it.

What else is of interest?: Everything. And nothing.
Halloween commercials. Halloween Specials. Horror movie trailers. Grindhouse fare. TV specials. Fan-made horror shorts. It's the largest video store in the world that you can visit from the comfort of your couch in the warmth of your underwear.

What Halloween stuff do they have?: Again: everything and nothing. TONS of how-tos. Videos of home haunts and haunt attractions. User generated films. Fan films. Name it. Find it.

Grade: A- Why the minus? Because the uploads are not always high quality. So sure you can watch stuff, but it might be limited to a grainy mess imported off someone's 1984 videocassette.

As you can see, there's a lot of FREE out there to watch on your computer. And with a simple cable purchase you can hook that 13" laptop up to your 66" Flat Screen. So sure times are tight, and pennies are being pinched 'til your fingers hurt, but that doesn't mean your Halloween horror addiction has to go unquenched.

Friday the 13th: Last House on the Left Remake Opens

Horror fans have been pretty blessed so far in 2009.
For the past three months, there has been a major "event" horror movie release every month to keep our fear level up and our Halloween spirit alive.
January gave us My Bloody Valentine 3D.
February gave us a Friday the 13th reimagining on Friday the 13th.
March gives us ANOTHER remakenvisionanaging: Last House on the Left... ALSO on Friday the 13th. Two in one year. Crazy times.

Considered one of the benchmarks in modern American horror, the original was Directed by A Nightmare on Elm Street Writer/Director Wes Craven and Produced by Friday the 13th Writer/Director Sean Cunningham. So, in a way, it was Freddy vs. Jason before Freddy vs. Jason ever existed.
It's a brutal film born from the Vietnam-era unrest of its decade. Before "torture porn" horror, there was Last House on the Left.

The remake is getting positive buzz on the wide wide world o' webs supposedly having fixed some of the flaws the original has that even the creators have fessed up to. Listen to the commentary track on the latest DVD release of the original Last House on the Left to know what I'm talking about.

But with a solid cast featuring Tony Goldwyn (Hey! He was in Ghost!) and Garret Dillahunt (Hey! He was a Terminator!) to name a few I have high hopes that this will deliver on a visceral level of fear much in the way the Alexandre Aja's remake of The Hills Have Eyes did.

It opens today, so report back what you thought.

Metallica's Zombie Homage: All Nightmare Long

Whether you're a fan of heavy metal music and/or of the band Metallica, their latest video is definitely worth checking out if you're a horror fan. Their video for "All Nightmare Long" is a fantastic 10 minute short in the style of a found Soviet propaganda documentary. Detailing the scientific meddlings with some space dust, the sub-titled short shows what happens when space dust is injected into flesh both living and dead.
What happens, you ask?
What do you think happens?
Zombies, man.
Friggin' zombies.
The video is really well done and I can only hope that the upcoming World War Z film tackles the subject as well as this.

Give it a watch HERE. (Don't like the music? That's what your friend "mute" is for.)

Devilish Decorating: The Bloody Lamp

PROS: A fantastic design of a simple item.
Liquid Lamp.
Designed to look like something Colonel Mustard may have used in the Conservatory, this lamp would look great as part of your Halloween decorations, a Psycho Themed room (maybe a BATHROOM?) or a conversation piece at your next Dexter viewing party.

CONS: It's only available HERE on this Japanese site for approximately $227.

If only these things were mass produced and more readily available!
I'd combine these lamps with this Bloody Table design to make my own Bed and Breakfast inspired by The Shining. Ahhhh dreams.

Halloween Action Figures: Playmobil

I was never a Playmobil kid.
I don't know how that happened, but I managed to skip right over Playmobil toys.
I had Lincoln Logs.
I had Weebles.
I had Erector Sets.
I had Tinker Toys.
I had Legos.
I had Megos.
I had Star Wars figures and G.I. Joe... but no Playmobil.
It seems like they should have been right in there between Legos and Star Wars. But nope.
Which is a shame because they're pretty great toys.
Lots of accessories and playsets to collect and all with a pleasant, serene smile just like their Lego cousins.

And now, as an adult, I find them to be pretty great. Why?
Halloween.
There ain't no Halloween Legos.
Or Halloween Star Wars figures.
But there are Halloween Playmobil toys!

There are two specific types of packaging for Halloween Playmobils. There are some that come within an orange plastic jack o' lantern (my personal preference). You can either get a "Ghost" or another package called "Trick or Treaters."

The "Ghost Figure" comes with a figure dressed in black with a BLACK ghost sheet to put over him. The sheet is pre-formed and snaps on like the other Playmobil accessories. He even comes with a trick or treat sack.
I gotta tell ya, this one's my pick.
You get a jack o' lantern, a black ghost (which is pretty bad-ass) and the face on the sheet can almost be construed as a Scream-like homage. A+

The "Trick or Treaters" set also comes in a plastic pumpkin, but this time you get TWO figures. A "Devil" and a "Tiger." Though I should rate this higher because you get TWO figures, I won't because the ghost still looks cooler. B+

The above two seem like they're designed to be given out as treats on Halloween. And no matter what age you are: if you get a smiling jack o' lantern pumpkin you crack that sucker open faster than an Easter egg to see what's inside.

Playmobil also has two Halloween sets.
Each comes with two figures. There's the Dragon and Tiger two-pack and there's the Ghost Pirate and Wizard two-pack.

Neither has my ideal mix of figures so I have to buy them both. Damn you Playmobil and your crafty ways.

The "Dragon" is the cooler of the two figures in that set. It's sort of a mix between Godzilla and the Universal Creature. And this set comes with a jack o' lantern er... "balloon"---I guess-- on a staff. Jack o' lantern and Dragon = PLUS. Tiger = minus. Final grade: B+

Lastly there's the Ghost Pirate. I have thing for skeleton costumes and faithful readers know that I love anything that glows in the dark. But the wanna-be "Gandalf" is a bit lame. A-

The boxes come with printed jack o' lantern angled on the corners and a the picture of the figures have a haunted house/castle complete with a full moon, witch and bats.

If you're only getting a few trick or treaters or if you're independently wealthy, these would be totally awesome to give out.

I, of course, will be purchasing them to place on my desk starting in late-September.
Should you decide to join me in the purchasing, please use the Amazon links provided to help support the site.

"Halloween: The Perfume" or "Jesus is a Halloween Addict"

Whilst perusing my brethren in Halloween's wonderful Pumpkin Rot page, I found THIS post entitled "I Want a Halloween Cologne." The post was about the new "Tiberius" Star Trek cologne and 'Rot raved about how wonderful a Halloween cologne would be and the commenters mused on what, exactly, a Halloween cologne should smell like.

Of course curiosity got the best of me and a few Google searches later I was perusing a few different websites selling variations of a "Halloween" PERFUME.
Huh. How 'bout that?
Who'da thunk it?

Further research found out that there are not one, not two but FOUR Halloween perfumes on the market AND they're all by the same dude: Jesus Del Pozo.

The scents are: Halloween, Halloween Sun, Halloween Freesia, and Halloween Water Lily.

Sounds like this "Jesus" is a Halloween Addict.

As I've never sampled the scents, I can only judge from the pictures. Here's my Halloween Addict two cents:

a) I think the perfume called simply "Halloween" should be in orange and black packaging. Closer to the "Halloween Freesia" box. NOT purple. PURPLE???!!
I TOLERATE purple in my Halloween because it's the color of monsters and a damn fine flavor. But purple for your flagship perfume. Orange and black, my friend. ORANGE and BLACK.

b) The typeface font chosen for "Halloween" is acceptable but I would go for more of a Copperplate Gothic. For obvious reasons.

c) There should be a male cologne.

A little more digging and I found Jesus' Flash-iriffic website HERE. I guess the perfume has been on the market since 1997. Over 10 years. Hm. Must be more "CK" than "High Karate."

What's blowing my mind the most? That I had to create a new label called "toiletries" specifically for this post. Crazy times.

I hope someone buys it (using the Amazon links below MAAAAAAYBE?) and reports in on its scent. Though I am dedicated to my Halloween work, I simply can't justify dropping the 20 bones on something that I'm not going to wear... even to carve pumpkins...........

Watchmen: Rorschach Ski Mask

Unless you've been living in a cave... underwater... on the moon, you're aware that the over-a-decade-in-development film Watchmen opens in theaters today.

As has been the case since Tim Burton's Batman back in 1989, the merchandise machine has been cranking out all manner of books, shirts, hats, action figures, busts and the like.

No Halloween masks of the main characters as of yet, but Halloween usually has to wait a year to catch up with the demand for Hollywood character costumes.

I did happen to find THIS Rorschach Ski Mask though. It'll do for a makeshift costume attending the film, especially if you live in the colder climes.
Side note: When did ski masks come back as the "cool" fashion accessory? Does anyone still wear them for anything but robbing banks?
More importantly: Did I make this very same joke when covering The Dark Knight Joker ski mask? Sorta, yes.

Available at the Warner Bros. store for only $12 you can listen to your buds shout "Save us!" from the snowbank they plowed into... and you'll whisper "No."

Halloween Video Game: Peggle & Peggle Nights

I'm always on the lookout for Halloween in video games.
Though horror games are plentiful and certainly embody the fun of Halloween-- fighting zombies, monsters and the like-- it's rare to see a jack o' lantern pop up in the latest generation platforms.

Which is why I get excited when it DOES.
Enter Peggle.

What's Peggle? To describe it to you will sound clinical and somewhat boring. I'll let Wikipedia take a crack at it:

Peggle features a colorful 2D background filled with different colored "pegs". The objective in each level is to clear all of the orange pegs by hitting them with a ball shot from the top of the screen.

See? Boring. But I will agree with this (also from Wikipedia):

On August 23, 2007, MSNBC named Peggle as one of the "Top 5 most addictive computer games of all time.

I will agree WHOLEHEARTEDLY with THAT.

As a playable character, Peggle and Peggle Nights both feature a grinning jack o' lantern named "Renfield" (HA!).

Renfield's power up?
SPOOKY BALL!

Seriously THIS is what a Halloween themed game should be.
Not to mislead you: the whole game isn't a black and orange masterpiece... but the fact that PART of a VERY ADDICTIVE, easy to play video game features a jack o' lantern and spooky themes is enough to make any fan of the holiday grin.

You can play it online for free on the PopCap website HERE. Or it's available for iPod, PC, Mac, Mobile, DS and probably your grandma's toaster oven.

Peggle is a small diversion of a game that will seize hours of your life.
And if those hours are also HALLOWEEN THEMED... why--- that's what Halloween Addict is all about, isn't it?