AKA Nightmare at Shadow Woods aka Slasher?! As if Thanksgiving in Jacksonville, FL wasn’t scary enough! This little dish from 1983 (or was it ’87?) features all of the awkward family Thanksgiving hits: co-dependency, slut shaming, good twin vs. evil twin, popped collars, machetes (a real missed opportunity to exclusively use a carving knife), gluttonous consumption of leftovers on a linoleum floor, alcoholism, and of course, cranberry sauce. BUT IT’S NOT CRANBERRY SAUCE, ARTIE. It’s a GORE-NUCOPIA of 80s gravy. Serve with crackers, gas station wine, and Virginia Slims.
Well, folks, another Halloween season has come and gone. At least, the official Halloween season because we all know that Halloween lives all year long for us horror nerds. Brett and I typically spend Halloween night at my parents house because they do an amazing trick-or-treat station that gives out hot dog, chili, candy and beer. This year we decided to stay home and see if we got any trick-or-treaters on our street. To my delight we had quite a few candy seekers at our front porch! I’m so happy we stuck around our ‘hood this year and gave out all of the candy we purchased. I dressed up like Elvira because, obviously.
After the last piece of candy was claimed we headed to Triple Crossing Brewery in the Fulton neighborhood of Richmond. Every Thursday in October they hosted a horror movie night and Halloween was no exception. On Halloween night they played two of my all time favorite horror movies: Evil Dead II and Night of the Demons. The movie nights were sponsored by a local haunted house/horror production company called Red Vein. I absolutely loved their simple but very effective pumpkin decor and plan to steal that idea for my own display next year. October 2019 was a whirlwind filled with amazing movies, frightful events, and all things spooky. Does this mean the horror stops? Hell no! But that does it for 31 Nights of Horror VIII: Katie Takes Manhattan. See you next year for year nine!
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure has been a favorite of my fiance for decades, and he’s right – Garfield is fun whether you’re a kid or an adult. In his Halloween special, Garfield ropes Odie into trick-or-treating so he can get more candy and in their efforts the pair runs into a crew of spooky pirate ghosts. The episode features so many wonderful musical numbers, including my favorite “Scaredy Cat”.
In eight years of 31 Nights of Horror I don’t think I’ve duplicated a single movie, and that’s nearly 250 horror films! Though I am always searching for a fresh title to include on the list, sometimes I just want to go back to my favorites. The Evil Dead remake from 2013 is outstanding and was, at one time, the bloodiest movie ever -rewatching it last night definitely reminded me why!
OH MY GOSH, I haven’t seen this movie in years and it’s so much better than I remembered. The costumes, the sets, the makeup… it’s all so delightful and kooky. The opening credits song is fantastic, the gags are hilarious, the effects are surprisingly very well done, and it’s no wonder this is a cult favorite among horror fans.
River City Roll hosted a spooktacular Deadly Drag Ball featuring some of Richmond’s most hauntingly gorgeous queens! The show was an absolute blast as each performer brought their best undead looks and killer performances. The event was a fundraiser for VA Pride and was the perfect culmination of a very Richmond Halloweekend.
For Halloweekend Saturday I met up with my favorite group of boos and ghouls for a frightful night of fun at Kings Dominion’s Halloween Haunt. After an initial worry about long lines we found our groove as we bravely faced five of KD’s haunted houses. The scariest house was a pitch black maze called “blackout” but it was one of the haunters roaming around the park that scared me the most – a creepy scarecrow on stilts that I swore was just a prop until it lunged at me as its handler laughed at my despair!
