The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 29

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

Playing tricks on treaters

I can't be the only person to have disguised themselves as a scarecrow, sat immobile next to the door and waited to scare trick or treating children. Now that I've brought it up, you kinda want to do it too. Be honest. Halloween night is all about the fun you can have. Here are a few cool traditions I celebrate that you might enjoy as well.

As an enormous horror film fan, I'll take any chance I can to expose more folks to the flicks that I love. Luckily, I own an LCD projector. I hang a white bed sheet in my bay window and project films onto it (from the inside). The effect looks really cool and I give any kid who can guess the film double candy. That's the difficult part though, my film selection can't be gory or contain nudity, which in the horror genre ties my hands to mostly black and white features for the 60's on back. Though last year I did show Tremors, which some ghoulish visitor recognized.

Another fun trick to play on treators uses a fog machine to great effect. Take one of your jack o'lanterns, one with a menacing face, and carve an addition hole in the back of it. This hole is to accommodate the fog machine's nozzle. You shoot it as the kids approach for excellent scary effect! One issue may be that this can blow out the candle inside. To combat that use a glow stick instead. Green is especially creepy.

My last tradition is designed to treat the parents in the neighborhood. It's only fair to help them enjoy the evening too. To that end, I hollow out a pumpkin but don't carve a face on it. Instead, I install a small tap in it and fill it with pumpkin beer. Traditionally I fill it with my own homemade pumpkin brew but any you can purchase should have the same effect. It's an excellent treat to offer and most folks are appreciative.

Whatever you particular special Halloween traditions are, celebrate them with gusto!

The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 28

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

Carving Turnips

In keeping with earlier Halloween tradition, as detailed here in our previous day's post, I'm going to hollow out and carve a turnip. If, like me, you've never even seen a turnip before, they're located in the produce section of your grocery store and resemble a fist sized radish, though they're purple and light brown colored. You want a larger rounded one to make for easier carving.

The first thing to do is use a knife to cut the bottom so that it's flat and can sit upright. The cut a flat "lid" off of the top. You'll notice that a turnip is not like a pumpkin inside, in fact it looks more like an onion. For that reason you'll want to carefully use a pairing knife to hollow it out instead of a spoon. Once you've done that, you want to carve a simple traditional pumpkin face onto it. Nothing to complicated since the turnip doesn't have as hardy a surface as a pumpkin and because it's a much smaller canvas.

Place a tea light inside and display your new Jack 'o Lantern with the others. Be prepared to answer questions about as folks might never have seen this specific Halloween tradition before!

The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 27

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

The Legend of Stingy Jack

The roots of our modern day tradition of carving Jack 'o Lanterns are buried in the soil of Ireland with the folk tale of Stingy Jack. There is a horror flick staring Kane Hodder and Tiffany Shepis coming out bearing that name this weekend. Rather than discuss that, I'm going to instead recount the folk tale for you here, as I remember it. It's not overly long (I'm transcribing it from memory here) and is perfect to perform on Halloween night. Share it with your friends and family.

The Legend of Stingy Jack
Stingy Jack was a wicked and deceitful man, who lived in a small town in Ireland several hundred years ago. He loved playing spiteful tricks on innocent folks. He loved drinking himself stupid even more than playing his tricks. Jack never worked a day in his foul life. He filled his belly with food and ale through theft and by manipulating innocent folks.

On a Halloween night much like this one, the townsfolk took to the public house as a means to steady themselves against the cold. As was common, Jack was also there and he was deep into his cup. The Devil, envious of the tales' of Jack's silver tongue and evil ways, joined him at the tavern that night intending to punish the foolish man. Ever the quick thinking, Jack asked if he could drink some ale before departing, offering to buy the second and third rounds if the Devil bought the first.

The Devil was impressed by Jack's suggestion and his calm demeanor facing death. He transformed himself into a coin with which to pay the bartender for two tankards of ale. No sooner had the Devil become a sixpence then did Jack snatch up the coin and place it into his pocket, next to a silver cross he had been carrying. The Devil could not change shape thus trapped and Jack refused to let him go until the Devil agreed not to take his soul for ten years. Begrudgingly the devil relented and was freed, promising not to return for ten years.

Now your or I might use that decade to turn from our wicked ways, hoping that we've time to save our souls from hell. Oh but not old Jack. He continued his wicked ways until one night, as he was walking drunkenly down a country road, he came across the devil himself coming to collect what was due him. Appearing to accept his fate, Jack asked the Devil just one favor before accompanying him to the underworld: "May I have an apple for me rumbling belly? The journey to hell is likely long on an empty stomach". Seeing no reason to deny the request, the Devil foolishly climbed a nearby apple tree to pick one. As he climbed, Jack sprung into action, placing crosses around the base of the tree, thus trapping the furious Devil once again.
This time, Jack made the Devil agree to never take his soul into hell. And having no recourse, the Devil agreed and was set free.

Now life is not long for someone who lives the hard way as Jack did. After some time, he died. His soul approached the gates of Heaven but he was turned away due to his wicked and sinful ways. Rebuffed and downtrodden, Jack approached the Devil to ask if he might be allowed a place in Hell. The Devil, smiling with gleeful malice, proclaimed that he must fulfill his promise to never take Jack's soul into Hell. "But where will I go?!" asked Jack. To make an example of him and to help him find his way back to Earth in the dark, the Devil tossed Jack a single ember straight from the fires of Hell. Jack place this ember into a hollowed out turnip and was doomed to wander the earth until the end of time, never finding rest, with only his Jack o'Lantern to light his way!

The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 22

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

Pumpkin Carving

If you haven't already, your prep for this activity is to read day 19's entry on picking you pumpkins.

Once you have the perfect pumpkins, you'll also need some tools. If you'd prefer to carve the classic way, with simpler shapes, a large kitchen knife is all you may need for the face itself. If you're planning to do a more intricate design then I suggest an inexpensive carving kit which includes a very useful saw. But before we get there, we'll have to hollow that baby out first.

For the hole in the top of you pumpkin, you want to give yourself enough room to work, so plan on a generous circumference. Make sure that you make the cut for the top at a good angle inward, not just up and down, so that when you put the top piece back it rests in place instead of falling through. You're going to want a wide spoon and a bowl for scooping out the guts. The bowl is to separate out the pumpkin seeds, the spoon to assist you is cleaning all the pulp off the inside walls of the pumpkin. You want to be thorough here, don't leave any loose pulp as it could be a fire hazard once it dries out. At the same time, don't scrape away so much that you walls are very thin, it can cause your jack 'o lantern to rot prematurely.

When it comes to the design itself, you've got loads of options. There are complex designs you can print out and trace onto you pumpkin, stencils you can buy or you can freehand it. I prefer to freehand draw whatever spooky face comes to me with a pencil and then carve it out: sort of like Michelangelo letting the marble block tell him what shape is hidden underneath but far less noble and immortal. Once you're finished, pop in a candle, put the top back on and viola!

Don't forget to roast the pumpkin seeds, these delicious and loaded with vitamins. Place them on a baking sheet, sprinkle salt to preference and roast them for 30 minutes at 300 degrees (obviously once you've already cleaned and dried them). They're good for as long as it takes you to enjoy them. Even if you're skeptical, give this a try, I've surprised more than one person which how delicious see are.

Let me know how you fare, I love seeing great Jack 'o Lanterns!

The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 19

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

Pumpkin Patch Hunting

Perhaps you could consider this part one of a two part piece, the second being centered on carving Jack 'o Lanterns. But before you can stab the hell out of the defenseless cousin of kumquats, you need to first select the perfect one (or more depending on your preference). Certainly you can find a plethora of them at your local super market or even artistically craft frightening faces into special foam pumpkins available at stores like AC Moore. For this we're going more rustic. We're going to pick the pumpkins out ourselves. This isn't so you can live out your Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin fetish (Serious, you need help). It's because all the cool kids are doing it.

So you'll have to fire up your good old web browser. Oh look! You're already here. Google maps should easily be able to direct you to the geographically closest pumpkin patch or pumpkin farmer. For my part, we're lucky in that ours is just down the road and always grows excellent pumpkins. Depending on where you live, you might be able to pick your own pumpkins from the field or simply from where they've been placed on a wagon.



Now with many places like this, there's some gamesmanship involved here. What I mean is that you can purchase a certain number of pumpkins or you can pay one price and get the "all you can carry" deal. I draw specific emphasis to this because, while getting a great deal is important, you never want to over load on pumpkins and kill your back. Two quick tips can maximize your load and save you from a date with our pal Tylenol:

1) Bring someone else to stack the pumpkins into your waiting bear grip.
2) Stretch first and NEVER lean further back to help you hold more weight.

Doing the second one is more idiotic than a cheerleader taking a sexy shower in a summer camp slasher movie. Any it's waaaaaaay less arousing, ya big stud.



When you're selecting pumpkins be sure to check for thick stems, though never carry them around by said stems as they will likely break right off. Check for firmness as well, you don't want a pumpkin that will rot before Halloween (Samhain doesn't look kindly on that). It's also important to choose a few varying sizes which can make for a good variety in styling for your starch filled defenders from spirits.

We'll get into carving soon, likely this weekend. Stay Tuned.

The 31 Days of Halloween: Day 5

Halloween is the best time of the year. It's a wonderfully indulgent time, where your inner ghoul is given societal license to be put on display. To celebrate it to it's wicked fullest, the Midnight Cheese will be posting every day in October with excellent ways to enjoy the season. Whether it's horror films, video games, books or activities, check back every day for some new Halloween fun.

Sleepy Hollow

Reach back deep into your memory. Do you recall The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr.Toad? If at least as old as I am, you'll recall this famous Disney cartoon, made in 1949, which showed every year on one of the local TV stations. Perhaps these may jog your memory:




I don't know for certain when the Headless Horseman became enmeshed with Halloween, but if I had to wager a guess, it is very likely that The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is at the center of it.

It was a yearly treat for me and shaped my mind's image the Headless Horseman, the town of Sleepy Hollow and all that's involved in this classic folk tale. After reading the book in grade school, I still had the images instilled from this cartoon hardwired into my brain. It wasn't until 1999 that the wild vision of Tim Burton rewired everything about the way I envisioned Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Burton started by making some pretty radical changes to the mythos. Ichabod Crane transformed from a timid school teacher to a squeamish forensic science wielding investigator from New York City, though he still held on to the cowardly, sheepish traits established in the folk tale and portrayed in the '49 cartoon. He confirms on screen that the Horseman is in fact a vengeful ghost, where as it was heavily implied originally that he was a costumed local bully, in competition for the hand of a wealthy land baron's daughter. And Burton also gave Crane a compelling back story, shown in dream sequence flashback, which I won't spoil for you here.

As you could have expected, Sleepy Hollow's setting is heavily Gothic, as is usual with Tim Burton films. It even toes the line with some early, steampunk-esk futurism, mostly with regards to Ichabod Crane's pseudo-forensics. Everything is dark and dreary in this town without hope. The atmosphere is so realized that it can almost be viewed as a character in itself.

The last link that makes Sleepy Hollow so successful is it's ridiculously star studded cast. Just check this out: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Christopher Walken, Christopher Lee, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gough(Alfred!) and even Casper Van Dien (who clearly doesn't want to live forever)! In particular, Walken stands out as the Hessian mercenary turned headless ghost of vengeance.

If you want to watch the very best version of the classic folk tale come alive, check out Sleepy Hollow. It totally couldn't hurt to check out The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad as well, for old times' sake.

Halloween Season is Almost Upon us.

Halloween has been my favorite holiday and season for as long as I can remember. I'm sure most of you dear readers are of a similar persuasion, after all it's the time of year where our kind of movies shine. Everything ghoulish and monstrous is in the spotlight, at least for a week. When I was a kid that week seemed like an entire month but now that I'm older and working, it whips on by like a Jason Voorhees machete and is clean through the other side before I get to enjoy the kill the season.

And so it's with the spirit of Halloween looming that I'd like to spend a few minutes recounting some of my favorite traditions.

Pumpkin Carving

Warding off wayward spirits is all well and good, but what if you want to do it with some style and you're hungry? Jack 'o lanterns are a tradition which originated in the British Isles, where they carved turnips and other similar sized vegetables, in which they placed a burning ember. When these folk settled in America, they adapted this ritual to the indigenous pumpkin.

Pumpkin carving has become far more intricate over the last decade but, for my part, the act is a deeply personal one. I do a quick, rough sketch of a frightening face and then carve by hand. This produces varying levels of quality, but I think it's more the character of the pumpkin asserting itself to protect my house from the evils of the night.

And of course, there are many things to make from the sacrificial pumpkin's hallowed innards: baked pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin beer. Don't let it go to waste.

Treating the Trickers

Sure, some of them don't care, so long as they get free candy, but I enjoy adding a little something extra, of the non-razor blade variety. When I was just a child there was an old gentleman on my block who spent the year making wooden toys for all of the children; horses, cars, soldiers and the like. I'm not so handy. However I do love my horror flicks. So I project horror films into my front bay window. As you can imagine my choices are limited to older movies, so that parents don't call the cops on me for exposing little Susie to Saw.

Therein lies the fun: any trick or treated who correctly identifies the movie gets extra candy. Last year, none of them recognized Vincent Price in The House on Haunted Hill but a bunch of them got the second feature Tremors.

The Exhumed Films 24-Hour Horrorthon

Now entering it's fifth year, the Horrorthon is the ultimate showcase of classics, trailers, sequels and monsters. It's an endurance test, a tradition and an unparalleled experience all rolled into one. I don't believe that I could adequately explain what's going on in my head at 4am, having been watching films already for sixteen hours, and have something like Boarding House unspool before me. Perhaps it's something between sorrow and joy, closer to elation but mixed with confusion.

Taking place the weekend of Halloween, the Exhumed Films Horrorthon has become a must attend event for horror fans from many states, which quickly sells out months ahead of time. I snagged my tickets in July.

Starting on October 1st and running right up until the best day of the year, Halloween, The Midnight Cheese will post suggested films, videos, books, games and activities every day to help you enjoy your season.