Sunday, October 19, 2008

Halloween is almost here...

This is the beginning of my favorite season. From September to about New Years, for me, is the absolute best time of the year. Honestly-- I feel more excited and invigorated about things, and certainly feel more creative in the Fall. Something about the heat of the summer just saps all of my creative juices.

Anyhow-- as I did with Christmas last year, I'll be posting a few topics about this month's holiday-- Halloween. I love Halloween. The costumes, the candy-- and the TV specials! This time of year there are always some really good kids shows (Garfield's Halloween, The Great Pumpkin, etc.) and there are also some awesome all-day marathons of creepy TV shows. One in particular is "Tales from the Darkside." This show was on in the mid to late 1980's, and was somewhat overshadowed by shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "Tales from the Crypt"-- but it's still a really good show.

So, I caught a few of the episodes that they've started to air, and one thing came rushing back to me-- the opening credit sequence is creepy as hell. First, it was the theme song that got me. Then the seemingly innocuous visuals-- a river, a farm, a covered bridge. Combine those with the devilish voice-over, and that just sends it over the top for me. It's terrific.

Like any horror series, the episodes themselves are hit and miss, but one thing I will say is that they aren't afraid to have ambiguous, and even some downright unhappy endings. It's not available on DVD yet, but If you get a chance, tune into SciFi this month to check this show out out. And I've posted the aforementioned intro to the show below-- see it for yourself. 

Hope to post again soon-- Until then.......

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