60 Days of Halloween – Chick Tracts!
Tomorrow is the big day, a day when all sorts of costumed kids (and adults!) go out and beg for treats to hopefully last them until Christmas. Today’s entry in our “60 Days of Halloween Spectacular” looks at a possible item that your kids might encounter while out trick or treating. Halloween isn’t just a time to get candy and raise some hell, it’s a time when some religions try to evangelize through holding parties or trick or treating in their parking lots. Others go another route and put literature along with a treat in the bags of the trick or treaters. Some just hand out the literature without a treat and Chick tracts are most often that literature.
Jack Chick has become a sort of icon in evangelism through his use of comics to spread the message of salvation. The tracts are available in many languages so that the message of Jesus can be spread throughout the world. The tracts cover all sorts of topics from suicide & drugs to even other religions, the most popular tracts this time of year are the Halloween-themed ones. Today I thought I would share some of them since they are available to be read online. If you haven’t read a Chick tract before, you are in for a treat! Just click on the tract image and read away!:
60 Days of Halloween – Weird Candy Corn
Today’s entry goes through some of the weird candy corn incarnations that are out there. These items are just plain strange…
1) Candy Corn Jello Shots – yep, this is a recipe to create Jello shots that look like candy corn. Would’ve been better if they TASTED like candy corn…
2) Candy Corn Oreos – yes, Oreos colored to look like candy corn. According to the reviews they don’t taste like candy corn but rather frosting…
3) Candy Corn Pops – Kellogg’s Corn Pops cereal changed things up in 2001 with the limited edition pops shaped like candy corn, again no flavor…
4) Candy Corn Jones’ Soda – The reviewer states that it does taste like candy corn… Finally!
5) Candy Corn Cake – I always end up with epic fails when I try to match the finished recipe photo…
60 Days of Halloween – Day of the Dead Zombies!
George R. Romero’s 3rd installment in his “dead” series found his original vision severely stunted due to lack of investors. He apparently had chosen to work with a smaller budget without restrictions in the hopes to at least see some of his original screenplay elements integrated into the film. A much grander vision was that there were 2 factions, ones living in relative luxury below ground while others left to fend for themselves above-ground. This would later show up in the movie, “Land of the Dead“. Another element was “training” zombies for both military & menial tasks. Much too much to cram into the movie at the budget he was working with.
“Day of the Dead” was filled with lots of action, inner turmoil, & of course zombies! This time around they really got into creating more “character” zombies and I wanted to share my 5 favorite zombies with you!
This zombie has been credited as “The Doc”, I’m assuming because of his suit & pocket watch (that you can’t see here unfortunately). As you can see he is missing his entire lower jaw and his tongue is languidly flopping around. Scary…
One of the more amusing entries, a clown! I’m sure that lots of people were met with a sad end working at their jobs during the zombie apocalypse. The tattered costume, the soiled nose, he still has a slight look of amusement to him with most of his makeup intact.
This is the “autopsy” zombie that drops his intestines all over the floor. To hear the “squish” of his guts as they hit the concrete floor will give you the heebie jeebies…
A majorette! She must’ve met her end during a parade or football game. The teeth are just awful…
Now Bub is probably the most famous of the zombies in the film so I listed him last. Bub showed “intelligence” in that he “remembered” parts of his prior life including apparently being in the military & speaking! Bub was the only zombie in the Romero zombie universe to speak. He becomes a hero of sorts in the movie, turning the tables on the military grunts that treated him badly. You root for him, I swear!
And that’s that! You can see this movie on Netflix Instant Streaming, YouTube, & of course if you want to torture yourself you can see the remake starring Mena Suvari & Nick Cannon…
Episode 51
Hey Junkies!
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This week the gang celebrated their 50th podcast with some cupcakes from a local (expensive!) bakery. Matty would have rather enjoyed cupcakes from another source but due to cost & time-constraints couldn’t use her this time around. The holidays are coming up, Matty highly recommends checking out Mae’s Cakes on Facebook and placing an order now if you’re in the Holland/Zeeland area!
Speaking of celebrations, a northern Kentucky elementary school system has banned food from all celebrations in the hopes of combatting childhood obesity…
Like burgers? Like doughnuts? How about a doughnut filled with a cheeseburger filling and topped with bacon?
The quest for the most-expensive regular menu item gets ridiculous. I present, “The Glamburger“…
Is this what we’re coming to? A student sues the school system for an “F” grade that may (or probably not) keep them out of college?
Bookmark this site in case you ever win the lottery…
Lastly, we talked a little about an article from The Atlantic about how clowns became terrifying…
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Until next week!
60 Days of Halloween – Homemade Costumes!
I look forward to every Halloween season to see what Rob Cockerham over at Cockeyed.com comes up with for a costume. He has created some amazing costumes over the years and I love how he shows the step-by-step construction of each. This year’s costume is interesting, he is going as Downton Abbey. No, not a character on the show – he is going as the building Downton Abbey…:
http://www.cockeyed.com/incredible/downton_abbey/downton_abbey_costume.html
60 Days of Halloween – House Decor, pt 2!
Nearing the home stretch, we venture one last time to the gypsy Halloween store to see what more there is to decorate your home/castle/mausoleum for the holiday. Be sure to check out part one to see what we covered already…
Every entryway needs a little sprucing up. How about a zombie jockey statue or a mini Tor Johnson to greet your ghoully guests?
How about some life-like giant bats that light up and make noise?
A shrunken version of Michael Myers’ Shatner mask… What other famous slashers did they have?
Ah, Freddy Kreuger sans his infamous brown fedora hat… Who else did they have?
A lonesome Jigsaw mini-mask atop a fake tombstone… But what about Jason??
Yep. Jason Vorhees in the house! With mask from what looks like the fourth film and of course his machete!
Lots of signs touting all sorts of exotic places like “spooky graveyard”, “blood café”, or of course the traditional “haunted house”…
We hope you enjoyed our tour of the local gypsy Halloween store, its doors will be open for just a few more days before everything will be packed back up and put into storage until next September…
60 Days of Halloween – Creepshow II
I love being scared. I also love stories with a twist ending. I wasn’t able to see “Creepshow II” in the theaters but was the first in line to rent it on VHS (yes, kids, VHS!) at my local video store. My favorite story of the collection was the very first one entitled, “Old Chief Wood’n Head”…
The story starts out in a rundown town out West, a town that had seen better days. Ray Spruce & his wife (George Kennedy & Dorothy Lamour) run the only store and one of 2 remaining businesses. Ray is touching up the old cigar store Indian that has guarded the store for as long as Ray remembers:
Ray’s wife wants to leave town like just about everyone else. There are few customers, and the ones they do have can’t pay and borrow on credit. Ray waxes nostalgic on the store, on the town, and has hope that it will prosper again:
Chief Whitemoon stops by the store to discuss business with Ray. He says that his people are shamed that they owe money to Ray and want to leave a deposit (or “Illi-nee”) until they can pay him back. If they cannot in 2 moons (2 months), he may keep the deposit:
The chief’s nephew and a couple of his friends decide to rob the store to help fund their escape to California. After an accident with a shotgun, the chief’s nephew kills both Ray and his wife and takes off with the Illi-nee:
The new plan is to get their belongings and meet back together for their trip out of town, but the two friends are still shaken up by the murder of the old couple:
But someone isn’t going to let them walk away. Of course the fat guy gets his first:
But who is avenging the old couple? Why it’s Old Chief Wood’n Head! His next victim is the “rich boy”:
And at long last, the chief’s nephew who loses something very precious to him:
Chief Whitemoon awakes from what seems to be a fitful dream to find the Illi-nee returned to him:
He hops out of bed and speeds his Pontiac Chieftain (get it?) to the Spruce’s store. He is in for a surprise when he gets there:
“Your spirit can rest now…”:
A great story indeed. The others in the collection are good as well, one is based on an early Stephen King short story entitled, “The Raft”. I recommend checking the movie out, here’s a trailer if your not convinced by my endorsement:
60 Days of Halloween – Snickers Letdown
In a previous post I spoke about this time of year being the time when manufacturers change their package & sometimes their products to reflect the season. I was excited to find Snickers Bites had done this and was eager to see what was in store!
Pretty neat with the sinister Jack-O-Lantern on the front and the black & orange striped edges. Really speaks “Halloween”, doesn’t it?
A better look at the pumpkin, obviously computer-generated but still nice and creepy…
Not sure why the edges of the package were changed but the overall scheme stayed the same. Does this bode well for what’s inside?
Sorry, Charley. The bites look just like the ones in the un-themed packages. I feel cheated… Bummer…
60 Days of Halloween – 10 Strange Things in Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I’ve been a fan of the Leatherface franchise since seeing the original film, “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre“. On par with other psychotic characters like Jason Vorhees or Michael Meyers, I dare say that Leatherface (aka Thomas Hewitt according to “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: The Beginning“) might be the first modern movie masked psycho killer.
I’ve been to the Sawyer Gas & BBQ building in Texas (had become a thrift shop before it closed permanently), being there and knowing that I was at a significant horror movie location was awesome indeed. I thought I would share my 10 picks of the strangest things found in the movie that might easily be missed.
1) The Corpse Photos
The beginning of the movie tells the tale of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (as voiced by John Larroquette of “Night Court” fame, who later reprised the voiceover for the sequel to the remake film in 2006), followed by flashes of light and grim scenes of bones & rotting flesh. It turned out later to be police taking photographs of a desecrated cemetery. Which brings me to #2…
2) The Grotesque Sculpture
What we later learn was the work of the “hitchhiker”, this corpse was impaled on a tombstone and is holding the head of another corpse. Rather strange and disturbing as you see the rotted flesh glimmer in the light of what could be dawn.
3) The Hitchhiker’s Birthmark
I never really took a good look at his birthmark when I first saw the film (honestly I was creeped out at that point and wondered when Leatherface was going to make an appearance). It is an interesting mark to be sure that runs from the bridge of his nose to his cheek. Definitely makes the character all the more unnerving with the stuff he does and says.
4) The Camo-Netted Cars
Obviously owned by victims of the Sawyer/Hewitt clan, seeing the netting and the dusty old cars keeps with the suspense that something terrible is going to happen.
5) The Tooth!
One of the main characters (or “victims” I should say) happens upon a tooth with a filling lying on the front porch of the killer’s home. This tooth bit is used again in the film’s sequel where Drayton Sawyer claims that it is a peppercorn for his chili.
06) The Caged Chicken!
I’m sure they pulled the cage apart to put the chicken in it, but to give the illusion that the chicken was raised in such a small cage really raises the eerie factor a few notches…
07) The Bone Couch!
One of the victims stumbles across this beauty and the cinematographer takes some time to show us all the features from the “feet” and the “legs” to the “arm” rests and the “back”. A centerpiece in any macabre house of horrors!
08) The Cat!
When Sally is running through the house looking for a place to hide, she ventures in to the grandparents’ room. Grandma has long-since died, her mummified corpse still sitting in her favorite chair and at her feet is apparently her favorite cat that her grandsons had tried to stuff for her. The eaten-away face is enough to give you nightmares for a while…
09) The Chicken Statue!
Literally made from the head and feet of a (now-deceased) chicken. In some interviews with people who were on-set, this scene was one of the most horrendous to shoot because the temperature and humidity in the room was borderline unbearable on top of the smell and there is mention you can see the food & decorations actually rotting from scene to scene because it took so long to film. It’s distinct but you don’t focus in on it because of all the craziness going on in the scene…
10) The Head Light
Over the dinner table is a light made from the head of one of the clan’s victims. I surmise that the head was skinned/tanned to make a lampshade since it gives off a good amount of light. If the skull were present inside the light would not be able to illuminate and show all the features of the face…
Bonus – Leatherface’s “mom” mask!
A scene was cut from the original movie showing Leatherface looking in a mirror while applying makeup to a female mask he created. This remaining scene that was kept gives a short glimpse of the mask since the dinner scene shows him wearing his original mask. He apparently wore this mask while preparing dinner…
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