I tried to avoid spoilers but there are a couple.
Books
Trick or Treat by Richie Tankersly Cuisick
This is a Point Horror book (the series was hugely popular in the 90s, ahhh nostalgia! lol) and the story is about Martha, a girl who moves to a new town after her dad gets married. She finds it hard adjusting to having a stepmum and isn't keen on her stepbrother, Conor but most of all she dislikes the creepy house. She learns that something terrible happened in the house and in the lead-up to Hallowe'en weird things keep happening, especially in Martha's room!
I've had this for years and like to re-read it occasionally around Hallowe'en; I just started reading it again today. :)
Halloween Night by R.L. Stine
Another Point Horror, written by R.L. Stine who also wrote the Goosebumps series (see below). Brenda's cousin Halley is staying with her while her parents go through a divorce, but Brenda isn't her biggest fan because she's been given her room and keeps taking her stuff. Brenda's friends aren't keen on her cousin either, due to the fact she's been stealing their boyfriends. So they get together and plot to murder Halley on the night of Brenda's Hallowe'en party! But they won't really go through with it...will they?
I've had this book for a long time too. I prefer Trick or Treat but this one is also an entertaining read. There's a twist at the end. There's also a sequel called Hallowen Night II. I'm not sure if I've read it but I may have years ago.
Visit R.L. Stine's official website at http://rlstine.com/
If you're a vampire fan then check out the post on my favourite vampire books/series that I did in 2014: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-favourite-vampire-booksseries.html
Films
First of all check out last year's post on Hallowe'en films: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2015/10/halloween-films.html
And continuing the vampire theme, here are posts on my fave vampire movies:
https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-10-vampire-films.html
https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-vampire-films.html
If you like horror anthologies, here are my Top 5: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2011/11/top-5-horror-anthologies.html
Here's a clip from The Monster Club film (No 5 on the list) just for fun! I like this song, lol.
For years I've had the idea to do a post on werewolf films but never got round to it, lol. I prefer vampires to werewolves but there are some films that I like. Here's a trailer for The Company of Wolves, based on the book by British author Angela Carter. It's about a girl in modern times ("modern" being the mid 80s when it was made) who goes into a fantasy world during a dream state, where she meets wolves and other fairytale characters. It's based on Little Red Riding Hood.
For a more family friendly film, check out Hocus Pocus: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/10/hocus-pocus.html
TV
Sabrina, The Teenage Witch
Sabrina was one of my favourite TV shows as a teenager and I still like to watch it now! The series had several Hallowe'en episodes. These are my favourites. :)
A Halloween Story (Series/Season 1, Episode 5)
Sabrina really wants to go to a Hallowe'en party at Harvey's (they're not dating at this point but they like each other), but her aunts Hilda and Zelda also want her to go to a family party in the Other Realm. She discovers that she can actually be in two places at once by casting a cloning spell, so that's what she does! The only problem is her clone can only say a few phrases such as, "That is so true!" so the spell is somewhat limited. Sabrina sends her clone to Harvey's party to make sure arch enemy Libby doesn't make a move on him and goes to the family party with her aunts.
Here's a very short clip from the episode on YouTube:
Update 8/10/17: The clip got removed but here's another one:
A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It (S2, Ep7)
Sabrina hosts a Hallowe'en party at her house after her best friend Valerie kind of forces her into it to get one-up on Libby. But throwing a party for mortals in the Spellman household is no easy task, especially when the furniture is talking, Other Realm carollers (like Christmas carollers) come to call and Hilda overloads on the candy corn! (I think I've tried candy corn once, it's not that popular in the UK but I know it's a Hallowe'en favourite in America).
Episode LXXXI: The Phantom Menace (S4, Ep6)
This year Sabrina tries to avoid Hallowe'en and just have a normal night working at the coffee house. But she can't run away from it and ends up partying with zombies! Meanwhile Zelda and Hilda are excited to be sending the evening with the author Edgar Allen Poe but find him disappointing in person.
I think this video is a clip from that episode but I'm not entirely sure.
Murder on the Halloween Express (S6, Ep4)
Sabrina's college friends and boyfriend Josh don't get her obsession with Hallowe'en but they agree to take part in the Murder Mystery night on the Mystery Train that she organises. However, Sabrina is shocked when she finds out that it's an Other Realm train, and she and the others transform into their characters which include Sabrina as a detective, Harvey as Biff Buffington "International Tennis Star" and Morgan as a snobby countess.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
I really liked Are You Afraid of the Dark? (AYOTD) growing up and have it on DVD now. It's all about spooky stories, so perfect for this time of year! Click here to read more about it and see a clip from one of my favourite episodes, Laughing in the Dark: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-you-afraid-of-dark.html
And check out more episodes below:
Jake and the Leprechaun: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/10/ayatod.html
The Tale of the Dream Machine: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2013/12/ayaotd.html
Also there are a couple of episodes I haven't previously mentioned which I'll feature today. :)
The Tale of the Twisted Claw (Series/Season 1, Episode 4)
On Mischief Night (the night before Hallowe'en in the US) best friends Dougie (played by Noah Plener who also appears in The Magician's Assistant, another good episode and is the brother of Benjamin Plener from Jake and the Leprechaun) and Kevin (Maxwell Medeiros) play a trick on Miss Clove (Ann Page), a local woman rumoured to be a witch and accidentally break her vase.
On Hallowe'en itself they go back to her house while trick or treating and she gives them a gift, a vulture claw which grants wishes. However, they soon discover that the wishes have a habit of going wrong! The episode is based on the short story The Monkey's Paw.
Random fact: I just read that Ann Page (Miss Clove) was married to Aron Tager, a Canadian actor who was quite in a few episodes of AYAOTD, usually as Dr. Vink but he also played Zeebo/the "carny" in Laughing in the Dark.
Part 1:
The Tale of the Dark Music (S1, Ep 11)
Andy (Graham Selkirk), his mum and sister move into his uncle's old house. Down in the basement Andy keeps hearing strange music and he discovers the secret of the house- there's some kind of demon/monster down there who is hungry and tries to lure people in by playing dark music. If it can't have Andy, it's willing to have someone else and the rewards could be great!
Here's Part 1:
The Tale of the Crimson Clown (S3, Ep12)
Michael (played by Christopher Redman) and Sam (Michael Barry) are brothers but they couldn't be more different. While Mike tries his hardest to be responsible and good for their mum, Sam acts like a brat who does things without thinking about the consequences. Yet it's always Mike who gets in trouble because he's the older one.
One day, frustrated after Sam steals the money he's saved up to buy their mum a birthday present and spends it on a video game (Zeebo's Big House), Michael is inspired by a clown in the shop they're in and tells Sam that if he isn't a good boy, the Crimson Clown will get him! Naturally Sam scoffs at this but he soon begins to believe that there's some truth to it...
Note: The clown theme is very relevant considering all the clown pranks going on lately!
Full episode:
Goosebumps
Goosebumps was like a slightly newer version of Are You Afraid of the Dark? but in my opinion it wasn't as good. It just didn't have that creepiness that AYAOTD had. I think that's because Goosebumps was for a younger audience though; AYAOTD was for older teenagers as well as pre-teens but Goosebumps seemed more of a pre-teen series. Having said that, some of them were still unnerving, Welcome to Dead House for example. I used to have the book of that as well.
The show was based on the series of books of the same name by American author R.L. Stine, who also wrote many Point Horror books (see above). Unlike AYAOTD, there were no interlinking/wraparound stories and nobody telling them, just new stories each week (and occasionally sequels). Some of them were very similar to Are You Afraid of the Dark though, e.g. Say Cheese and Die! is the same basic storyline as AYAOTD's The Tale of the Curious Camera (another episode I like).
There's a Goosebumps film based on the books and series which came out this year but it's about R.L. Stine's imaginary demons being set free. I haven't seen it but plan to have a look sometime.
The Haunted Mask: Parts 1 and II
Carly Beth (Kathryn Long) is a shy, nervous girl who often gets pranks played on her by Steve (John White) and Cody. This Hallowe'en she decides that this year she will have a scary costume to impress the others and ends up buying a mask from a costume shop. But when she puts it on her personality starts to change and then she finds she can't get it off!
This was a 2 part TV special and you can watch the first part below:
Update 19/10/23: The video got removed so I've had to replace it. This is both parts together:
The Haunted Mask II
The sequel to the Haunted Mask. This time it's Steve (one of the pranksters from the first HM) who has trouble with a mask on Hallowe'en. I've seen both episodes but this one is more vivid in my mind.
Watch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I0EJxLuHX0
Update 19/10/23: That video is gone but here's another one with the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjaaW5P6BNQ
Note: Episode uploads often get removed due to copyright claims so I won't bother posting it here in case it gets removed. I've posted them on here if they've been on YouTube for a year or so, but if they're newer uploads I'd rather just link to them because it's easier for editing!
Hope you liked the post and Happy Hallowe'en! :)
Want more spooky stuff? Check out these links:
If you're an X-Files fan here are my Top 10 episodes: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2014/02/top-10-x-files-episodes.html
Shakedown's At Night music video: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/2012/10/weekly-music-video_31.html
And if you like fantasy/gothic type stories, this is my own story The Goblin Prince: https://starsparklex.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
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