Friday Night Frights: Night of the Living Dead (1968)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

They're coming to get you, Barbra!

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is the one that started it all. Night of the Living Dead is the classic genre-spawning 1968 horror film directed by zombie master George A. Romero.

The plot revolves around the mysterious reanimation of the dead and the efforts of Ben, Barbra and five others to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse. Chaos descends as the bodies of the recently deceased inexplicably return to life and feed on human flesh. The only way to destroy the zombies is to destroy the brain!

Night of the Living Dead was awarded two honors thirty years after its debut. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1999 with other films deemed "historically, culturally or aesthetically important in any way." In 2001, the American Film Institute named the film to a list of one hundred important horror and thriller films.

70 Years Ago Tonight

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. From the Meridian Room in the Park Plaza in New York City, we bring you the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra."

The sounds of "La Cumparsita" began to fill the airwaves. But within moments, the performance was interrupted by a special bulletin from the Intercontinental Radio News, telling of strange explosions of incandescent gas occurring at regular intervals on the planet Mars.

This dramatic approach - a performance interrupted by periodic news bulletins - is how writer Howard Koch adapted H. G. Wells's classic novel The War of the Worlds for radio broadcast. On October 30, 1938, the actors of The Mercury Theatre on the Air, led by twenty-three-year old Orson Welles, presented the adaptation on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS). Within the first forty minutes of the program, the actors had vividly described Martians landing in New Jersey and decimating the state.

It was Halloween Eve. As Welles explained at the end of the broadcast, the adaptation of The War of the Worlds was a holiday offering - "The Mercury Theatre's own radio version of dressing up in a sheet and jumping out of a bush and saying Boo!" But although CBS made four announcements during the broadcast identifying it as a dramatic performance, at least one million of the estimated nine to twelve million Americans who heard it were deeply scared by that "Boo" - scared into some sort of action.


You can listen to the broadcast by using the
POP-OUT PLAYER in the sidebar. The broadcast is the last item in the playlist. Happy Halloween Eve!


Source: About.com: 20th Century History

Edgar Allan Poe Stamp

Edgar Allan Poe will be featured on a U.S. postage stamp early in 2009, the U.S. Postal Service said last Thursday.

The 42-cent stamp will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of the poet and mystery writer and will be issued Jan. 16 in Richmond, Va.

This 3-cent stamp was issued in 1949, the one-hundreth anniversary of Poe's death. The portrait was based on the engraving by F. T. Stuart.

Bashing Pumpkins

How many can YOU bash?

Nightmare Number Three

Stephen Vincent Benét (July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown's Body (1928), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, "The Devil and Daniel Webster" and "By the Waters of Babylon".

Here's a poem - Nightmare Number Three - from "Nightmares and Visitants", found in The Selected Works of Stephen Vincent Benét Vol I (1942).

Within the Woods

I came across this short film on an online archive site.

It's called Within the Woods, was produced by Jackson McDonald, and gets really interesting beginning at the 00:57 mark.

Very creepy? You decide.

This Week in Horror: Oct 26 - Nov 1

October 26
1979 – When a Stranger Calls (1979) released theatrically
2001 – Bones released theatrically

October 27
1989 – Shocker released theatrically
1989 – Castlevania: The Adventure released on the Game Boy in Japan
1995 – Vampire in Brooklyn released theatrically
1998 – Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 released theatrically

October 28
1951 – Joe R. Lansdale (winner of six Bram Stoker Awards for horror fiction) born
2005 – Saw II released theatrically
2005 – Masters of Horror premieres on television

October 29
1920 – The Golem: How He Came Into the World released theatrically in Germany
1973 – Return of the Blind Dead released theatrically
1993 – Return of the Living Dead III released on VHS
1993 – Demon Castle Dracula X: Rondo of Blood released on the PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 in Japan
2004 – Versus released theatrically
2004 – Saw released theatrically

October 30
1938 – The War of the Worlds radio adaptation airs
1981 – Halloween II released theatrically

October 31
Halloween
1961 – Peter Jackson (director of Bad Taste and Braindead) born
1974 – Phantom of the Paradise released theatrically
1991 – Castlevania II: Simon's Quest released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan

November 1
1985 – A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge released theatrically
1997 – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night released on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in the European Union
2000 – Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem released on the Nintendo GameCube in the European Union
2002 – 28 Days Later released theatrically in the United Kingdom


Source: wikipedia Portal:Horror/This day in horror archive

Please leave a comment with any additions/corrections. Thanks.

Halloween Hatchlings

Description:
The old Count is up to no good as usual. He has created a new breed of monster and is about to release them upon the world this Halloween. You, Snuffit The Vampire Slayer, must kill the hatchlings before the count breeds enough to release.

Instructions:
Click on groups of two or more to destroy the hatchlings. More Hatchlings will spawn every time the blood tube empties, don't let them reach the top!!

Hey Hey Hey

It's the Fat Albert Halloween Special from 1977!

Friday Night Frights: The Blob (1958)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Here it is - the movie that's behind the name of this blog, the first horror movie I remember seeing as a kid on TV, the movie featuring Steve McQueen in his first starring role - The Blob!

What would the average sensible American do if he encountered a pulsing ball of protoplasm from outer space? That's right: he'd poke it with a stick. Thus begins the endearingly earnest and silly tale of The Blob.

Young Steve McQueen takes on his first leading role as, um, Steve, a spunky teenager with plenty of heart. Steve sees the blob kill the local doc, but darn it, none of the town's adults will believe him! Yup, it's up to the teens to save the day! Steve and his trusty girlfriend Jane (played by Aneta Corsaut, who was Andy's girl Helen Crump on The Andy Griffith Show) break their curfews(!) and head off into the night to find the Blob and warn the town.

The Blob is a completely enjoyable watch from start to finish, offering the triple pleasures of 1950s morals, gee-whiz acting, and a whole lotta extras running around and screaming. The special effects, though primitive, certainly get the job done, and it is still a treat to watch the Blob ooze its way to its next meal.

You may notice that the theme song is surprisingly bouncy for a horror flick ("Beware of the Blob! It creeps, and leaps, and glides and slides across the floor"). It was written by Hal David's brother, Mack, and a fresh young composer by the name of Burt Bacharach.

Full movie, from a playlist:

Let's Be Careful Out There

'Tis the season for Halloween partying. But remember, a lot of lurking dangers await the unwary.

Have a Happy Halloween!

The Yellow Wallpaper

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is a 6,000-word short story by American writer Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in May 1892 in New England Magazine.

In 1887, Charlotte Perkins Gilman found herself suffering from "a severe and continuous nervous breakdown tending toward melancholia -- and beyond." Upon seeking professional help, she was advised against more than two hours of intellectual stimulation a day, and was ordered to cease writing, drawing, and painting for the remainder of her life. Three months passed in which Gilman strictly observed these commands. But by ignoring her life's work, even for this seemingly brief period of time, she thrust herself so far into depression that complete mental destruction appeared inevitable. Only by finally renouncing the physician's directions did Gilman escape such a fate.

In the aftermath of her brush with insanity, Gilman wrote "The Yellow Wallpaper" as a warning against submitting to subjugation of the mind. As the narrator experiences the same rest cure as Gilman, her mental health declines and she begins to imagine women trapped within the pattern of her bedroom's wallpaper. Her husband's condescending tone coupled with the narrator's own acquiescence to his close-minded views on her illness eventually lead to her psychological ruin.

This terrifying story is also presented by Chatterbox Audio Theater, who describe it as best listened to in a large, dark room on a windy night.

The Real Story of Halloween

Halloween's origins date back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (pronounced sow-in). To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities.

The History Channel has a site describing the ancient origins of Halloween, how it came to America, today's traditions, celebrations around the world, and more.

We Wish You a Scary Christmas

Fully a week and a half to go before Halloween, and what do I see in the department stores? Christmas trees, ornaments, yuletide decorations and the like.

Fine.

About.com has a list of scary yuletide movies that will carry you into the holiday season.

My favorite on the list? Black Christmas from 1974, quite possibly the ORIGINAL slasher movie; directed by Bob Clark, who nine years later would direct what would become an annual Christmas television favorite - A Christmas Story.

Halloween - Addams Style

Here's an episode of The Addams Family that first aired on October 29, 1965.

Gomez and Morticia are outraged when Wednesday comes home from trick-or-treating in tears after a neighbor tells her witches don't really exist.

Top 10 goriest deaths in horror movies

NOLA.com has an article listing the top 10 goriest deaths in horror movies.

DISCLAIMER: DO NOT proceed if you are even slightly faint of heart. The following movie clips are EXTREMELY graphic.

The List: Top 10 goriest horror film deaths.

(Thanks! to book_lady for the tip!)

Bewitched - Trick or Treat

Here's an episode of Bewitched that first aired on October 28, 1965.

When Darrin defies Endora again by insisting Samantha remain at home during Halloween, Endora places a curse on Darrin that slowly begins transforming him into a werewolf.

Struwwelpeter

Merry Stories and Funny Pictures

(Fearful Stories & Vile Pictures To Instruct Good Little Folks)

Der Struwwelpeter (1845) is a popular German children's book by Heinrich Hoffmann which has been translated into English. It comprises ten illustrated and rhymed stories, mostly about children. Each has a clear moral that demonstrates the disastrous consequences of misbehavior in an exaggerated way. The title of the first story provides the title of the whole book. Literally translated, Struwwel-Peter means Shaggy-Peter.

Project Gutenberg has published an online eBook of Struwwelpeter with the author's original artwork.

In 1999 Feral House published a 15-story version of the book with illustrations by Sarita Vendetta. The prominent notice on the back cover, warning that this one-hundred-and-fifty-year-old children's book as presently conceived is not for children, is truly on the mark; Vendetta's sensual, erotic, deeply disturbing art is nightmarish.

Stories in the original version (with a couple of Vendetta illustrations from the Feral House version):

"Struwwelpeter" (Shaggy Peter) describes a boy who does not groom himself properly and is consequently unpopular.

In "Die Geschichte vom bösen Friederich" (The Story of Cruel Frederick), a violent boy terrorizes animals and people. Eventually he is bitten by a dog, who goes on to eat the boy's sausages while he is bedridden.

In "Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" (The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches), a girl plays with matches and burns to death.

In "Die Geschichte von den schwarzen Buben" (The Story of the Inky Boys), Nikolas (that is, Saint Nicholas) catches three boys teasing a dark-skinned boy. To teach them a lesson, he dips the three boys in black ink, to make them even darker-skinned than the boy they'd teased.

"Die Geschichte von dem wilden Jäger" (The Story of the Wild Huntsman) is the only story not primarily focused on children. In it, a rabbit steals a hunter's rifle and eyeglasses and begins to hunt the hunter. In the ensuing chaos the rabbit's child is burned by hot coffee.

In "Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher" (The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb), a mother warns her son not to suck his thumbs. However, when she goes out of the house he resumes his thumb sucking, until a roving tailor appears and cuts off his thumbs with giant scissors.

"Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar" (The Story of Kaspar who did not have any Soup) begins as Kaspar, a healthy, strong boy, proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup. Over the next five days he wastes away and dies.

In "Die Geschichte vom Zappel-Philipp" (The Story of Fidgety Philip), a boy who won't sit still at dinner accidentally knocks all of the food onto the floor, to his parents' great displeasure.

"Die Geschichte von Hans Guck-in-die-Luft" (The Story of Hans Look-in-the-Air) concerns a boy who habitually fails to watch where he's walking. One day he walks into a river; he is soon rescued, but his portfolio drifts away.

In "Die Geschichte vom fliegenden Robert" (The Story of Flying Robert), a boy goes outside during a storm. The wind catches his umbrella and sends him to places unknown, and presumably to his doom.

This Week in Horror: October 19 - 25

October 19
1990 – Night of the Living Dead (1990) released theatrically
2004 – Zombie Planet released theatrically

October 20
1889 – Bela Lugosi born (d. 1956)
1942 – Night Monster released theatrically

October 21
1988 – Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers released theatrically
2003 – Castlevania: Lament of Innocence released on the PlayStation 2 in North America
2005 – Doom released theatrically

October 22
1982 – Halloween III: Season of the Witch released theatrically
1988 – Monsters premieres on television
2004 – The Grudge released theatrically

October 23
1942 – The Mummy's Tomb released theatrically
1959 – Sam Raimi (creator of the Evil Dead series of films) born
1987 – Prince of Darkness released theatrically
1998 – Brimstone premieres on television
2001 – Thir13en Ghosts released theatrically

October 24
1962 – Eyes Without a Face released theatrically in the United States

October 25
1978 – Halloween released theatrically
1993 – Vincent Price (actor in many horror films) dies (b. 1911)
2000 – Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem released on the Nintendo GameCube in Japan


Source: wikipedia Portal:Horror/This day in horror archive

Please leave a comment with any additions/corrections. Thanks.

Halloween Costumes

Still haven't chosen your costume for Halloween?

Here's Adam Sandler from Saturday Night Live in the 90's, with ideas for low cost Halloween costumes.

John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning... The Man and His Movies

Filmmaker John Carpenter helped redefine the American horror film in 1978 with Halloween, a low-budget thriller which became a major box office success. Since then, Carpenter has devoted his career to bringing a fresh perspective to genre filmmaking, striving to maintain the freedom of an independent while working within the studio system. (Carpenter not only writes and directs his own projects, but often also serves as producer and composer as well.)

John Carpenter: Fear Is Just the Beginning...The Man and His Movies is a documentary about this two-fisted maverick auteur, which offers a look at the making of such favorites as Escape From New York, The Thing, The Fog, and many more. The documentary includes interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kurt Russell, Adrienne Barbeau, Debra Hill, and other friends and colleagues.

Friday Night Frights: They Live (1988)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is They Live, directed by John Carpenter and starring former pro wrestler Roddy Piper.

Nada (Piper), a down-on-his-luck construction worker, discovers a pair of special sunglasses. Wearing them, he is able to see the world as it really is: people being bombarded by media and government with messages like "Stay Asleep", "No Imagination", "Submit to Authority". Even scarier is that he is able to see that some usually normal-looking people are in fact ugly aliens in charge of the massive campaign to keep humans subdued.

The Jupiter 2 Will Lift Off 11 Years Ago Today

In the television show Lost in Space, the spaceship Jupiter 2 lifted off on October 16, 1997. To us kids in the 60's, when this show aired, that was so far out in the future that it was believable.

There were two pilot episodes for this liftoff. The original pilot episode (No Place To Hide), which never aired, did not feature either the robot or Dr. Smith (who was added later by 20th Century Fox as an antagonist), and the ship was named the Gemini 12. Much of the original footage was re-used in the first four televised episodes.
Watch No Place To Hide.


The first televised episode (The Reluctant Stowaway) aired on September 15, 1965. This pilot included Robot B9 and an evil Dr. Zachary Smith.
Watch The Reluctant Stowaway.

Wednesday 13 - I Walked With a Zombie

Slipknot - Wait and Bleed

The animated video for the song.

He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)

The Alice Cooper music video from 1986 for Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI.

Columbus Day

The world known to me (or more appropriately, the parts of the world that have visited this blog) is quite a bit bigger than the world known to Columbus.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by.

The Birds: The Birds Amass, The Children Run

I still get an uneasy feeling whenever I see a flock of birds massing together, because of this scene in the 1963 movie The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.


Cause here's what can happen.

Scaredy Cat (1948)

Here's a Saturday morning cartoon with some comical horror.

Scaredy Cat is a 1948 Merrie Melodies cartoon, directed by Chuck Jones and produced and released by Warner Bros. Pictures. It's the first film in which Sylvester received his now-official name.

In Scaredy Cat, Porky and Sylvester spend the night in an old dark house, whose horrors only Sylvester sees. His repeated attempts to save Porky from the ghoulish doings of the killer mice infesting the place (one wearing an executioner's hood and carrying an axe) only make the skeptical Porky all the more convinced of Sylvester's cowardice.

This is the uncut/unedited version.

50 Dark Movies, Hidden in a Painting

Here's a challenge for all horror movie fans.

M&M'S Dark Chocolate presents an interactive game:
50 Dark Movies, Hidden in a Painting.

How many can you find?

Friday Night Frights: Near Dark (1987)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

A young man reluctantly joins a travelling "family" of evil vampires, when the girl he'd tried to seduce is part of that group.

You know Adran Pasdar from Heroes?
Here he is in 1987, in Near Dark.

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills

Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills is a list of the top 100 thrilling movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 12, 2001 during a CBS special hosted by Harrison Ford, who starred in four of the films on the list, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Blade Runner and The Fugitive.

Alfred Hitchcock dominates the list with nine entries, including the number one film and three of the top seven. Steven Spielberg directed six films, including two in the top 10, while Stanley Kubrick has five to his credit.

IMDb Best/Worst Horror Titles

Need a suggestion for something to watch?

Internet Movie Database users vote for the all-time top fifty horror movies. Also lists the ten worst films.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

Since it's October, it's time for the yearly showing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. While not exactly horror per se, it is Halloween themed, and what's more - at 1:32 into the tale Lucy approaches Linus clutching a butcher knife in her fist.

X Files "Home" Episode (1996)

The remains of an infant suffering from an uncharted amount of birth disabilities are uncovered in a field in rural Home, Pennsylvania. The only suspicious residents are three brothers who have lived on their family farm for twenty-some years. They live there alone. Or do they?

Home aired on October 11, 1996 as Season 4 Episode 2 of the X Files.

The episode was banned from Fox after its first airing due to its sensitive and somewhat taboo subject matter. It is also the only episode to receive a TV-MA rating in America.

Todou.com offers this episode in 2 parts.

Here's part 1.



Here's part 2.

House (2008)

The only way out... is in.

House opens in theaters November 7. It's based on the book by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker.

In rural Alabama, two couples find themselves in a fight for survival. Running from a maniac (The Tin Man) bent on killing them, they flee deep into the woods and seek refuge in a house. They soon realize the killer has purposely lured them to this house and that they are now trapped. As they huddle around an old fireplace, a tin can falls through the chimney. Scrawled on its side is a message from the killer, establishing his House Rules. The rules call for their deaths unless they kill at least one of the four. They have less than 12 hours to find a way to survive. At sunrise the game is over and everyone dies if the killer's demands aren't met. What they quickly learn is that the only way out... is in. But going further into this house--where unknown challenges await them--is equally deadly.

Here's the trailer.

The Happening

The Happening, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, comes out on DVD tomorrow.

Here's a red band trailer for the movie's theatrical release. The movie received bad reviews, but the trailer looks great. And it does have Zooey Deschanel.

Man From the South

Most people are probably familiar with some of the children's books by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, etc.).

He also wrote some great stories for grown-ups, 25 of which are included in The Best of Roald Dahl. This collection brings together Dahl's finest work, illustrating his genius for the horrific and grotesque.

One of my favorite stories in the collection is Man From the South.

This story was filmed twice as both 1960 and 1985 episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and also adapted into Quentin Tarantino's segment of the 1995 film Four Rooms. This bizarre, oft-anthologized suspense classic concerns a man residing in Jamaica who wagers with visitors in an attempt to claim the fingers from their hands.

The 1960 Hitchcock version stars Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre. Peter Lorre makes a bet with Steve McQueen that McQueen can't light his cigarette lighter ten times in a row. If McQueen does, he wins Lorre's new car. If he doesn't, Lorre gets to chop off McQeen's pinky.

A film adaptation of the story first aired on August 7, 1955 as an episode of Cameo Theatre.

It was later redone in 1979 with José Ferrer as an episode of the syndicated anthology Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected.

Midnight Meat Train

Thanks to FEARnet, Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train is now showing on their Video On Demand, and will be premiering online on their site on October 30.

The film (which stars Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones, Leslie Bibb, and Roger Bart) follows a photographer as he develops a strange obsession with stalking a brutal killer, through the New York Subway System where he hacks up his victims one by one.

Here's the trailer.

Here's a link to a sneak preview of the first three minutes of the movie, with an introduction by Clive Barker.

Capricorn One

O. J. Simpson was found guilty late Friday on all 12 counts stemming from a confrontation in a hotel room last year, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

He had played roles in many films, including the movie Capricorn One.

Thanks to repeated showings on cable television and home video, this speculative thriller has built quite a loyal following since its release in 1978. The provocative "what if?" scenario still packs a punch, even if it is not always believable. James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson star as three astronauts who agree to spare the government embarrassment by faking their historic landing on Mars after their spacecraft is determined to be unsafe for blastoff. When a scheming mission controller (Hal Holbrook) plots to kill the astronauts in a staged capsule fire, the trio embarks on a dangerous mission to expose the truth. Elliott Gould costars as the journalist determined to crack the conspiracy, and director Peter Hyams turns up the tension with an exciting chase sequence involving Telly Savalas as an eccentric barnstormer who comes to Gould's aid.

Variety reported in an article last June that a remake of this movie is in the works.

Here's the trailer from the original 1978 production.

Zombie Haiku *and* a CONTEST

A haiku is simply a poem that follows a couple of simple rules. It has to be three lines, and those lines have to be 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables.

For a great book of haiku about - yes, zombies - I highly recommend Zombie Haiku, by Ryan Mecum.

As the publisher says: "Perfect for zombiephiles, video game addicts, grindhouse nostalgists, and horror movie fanatics, Zombie Haiku is the touching story of a zombie's gradual decay told through the intimate poetry of haiku. From infection to demise, readers will accompany the narrator on a zen journey through deserted streets and barracaded doors for every eye-popping, gut-wrenching, flesh-eating moment right up until the inevitable bullet to the brain. Plus the book is illustrated with over 50 photos from the zombie's eye and designed with extra blood, guts and pus!"

Some examples:

Biting into heads
is much harder than it looks.
The skull is feisty.

and

Nothing hurts me now.
Normally the screwdriver
wouldn't have gone there.

and

You are so lucky
that I cannot remember
how to use doorknobs.

This book is hilarious.

CONTEST:
In the comments for this post, feel free to share your own zombie haiku. Enter as often as you wish. We'll vote later on the best, and it will be posted on this blog underneath my profile for all to see.

Friday Night Frights: The Car (1977)

Welcome to the first episode of Friday Night Frights.

Fasten your seatbelts for the terrifying thrill ride that has become a cult classic - The Car! The peaceful tranquility of a small Western town is disturbed when a murderous car wreaks havoc by viciously mowing down innocent victims. New sheriff Wade Parent (James Brolin) may be the only one who can stop this menace in its tracks until he realizes that the driver of this indestructible vehicle is far more dangerous than any man - it is driven by pure evil.

The October Country

Today being the first of October, it seems fitting to mention a book that I always enjoy revisiting this time of year.

The October Country, by Ray Bradbury, is a classic collection of short stories to put you in the proper frame of mind as Halloween approaches (also see The Halloween Tree post).

As described on the authors website, THE OCTOBER COUNTRY is many places: a picturesque Mexican village where death is a tourist attraction; a city beneath the city where drowned lovers are silently reunited; a carnival midway where a tiny man's most cherished fantasy can be fulfilled night after night. THE OCTOBER COUNTRY'S inhabitants live, dream, work, die--and sometimes live again--discovering, often too late, the high price of citizenship. Here a glass jar can hold memories and nightmares; a woman's newborn child can plot murder; and a man's skeleton can war against him. Here there is no escaping the dark stranger who lives upstairs...or the reaper who wields the world. Each of these stories is a wonder, imagined by an acclaimed tale-teller writing from a place shadows. But there is astonishing beauty in these shadows, born from a prose that enchants and enthralls. Ray Bradbury's THE OCTOBER COUNTRY is a land of metaphors that can chill like a long-after-midnight wind...as they lift the reader high above a sleeping Earth on the strange wings of Uncle Einar.