Halloween in Newburyport, MA

Halloween 2007

I consider myself the unofficial Prince of Halloween. It has always been my favorite day of the year, and the months leading up to it are just as magical for me. Oddly enough, my house is completely dark every October 31st. No candy, no kids, no nothing. Why? I'll tell you ...

I spend every Halloween up in Newburyport, Massachusetts, helping to put on a Halloween Trick-or-Treat spectacular for the neighborhood kids. We pull in people from all over the city, and sometimes farther away.


Each year, we have a theme. One year, we dressed as pirates, and the King and Queen of Halloween, the hosts for this event, erected a pirate ship in their driveway. One year, we reenacted the War of the Worlds, including aliens, terrified citizens, and riot police (all actors, of course). Last year, we turned Marlboro Street in Newburyport into the land of OZ (Judy Garland, not HBO). And this year? This year, we conjured up some magic with the world of Harry Potter. (Above: Folks enjoying the floating candles; note the flying car stuck in the tree.)



It really is something to see, but don't look at the props, or the costumes, or the candy, look at the faces of the kids as they marvel at their favorite characters, no matter what the genre. Look at the faces of the adults as they reflect on their own past Halloweens. And look at our faces, because we are happy just to be able to bring smiles to all those other faces.

A thank you needs to go out to the neighborhood of Marlboro Street, Newburyport. The residents have been patient and understanding as hordes of children have knocked on their doors, on the way to our door. (This year, we estimate that 800 trick-or-treaters, and maybe an equal number of parents, came to see the Harry Potter event). And those same neighbors have helped us as we have put the finishing touches on the show. And a thank you needs to go out to the King and Queen of Halloween. It is their selflessness that has made so many people happy.

Happy Halloween to one and all!


(Above: A young Draco Malfoy takes direction from a roof-bound Lord Voldemort.)

Poll #3: What is your favorite movie monster?

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween. Our movie fan poll shows that we seem to like classic movie monsters better. "Old school!"

30 Days of Night

30 Days of Night

This movie is what is right about Hollywood. It is a miracle, actually, that it was made. Not because of anything that happened, or because of any hardships during shooting; of those I know nothing. It is a miracle because it goes against everything that Hollywood has done recently, save for the Harry Potter movies. More of that later. First, 30 Days of Night...

This is a very scary vampire movie, one that dares to re-imagine our vision of the vampire. I will give some credit to the original creator, Steve Niles, the writer of the graphic novel, 30 Days of Night; he hatched the idea. The filmmakers, however, made the idea work.

Set in the most northern American city, a place named Barrow, Alaska, 30 Days of Night tells the story of an isolated town besieged by a pack of vampires who want everything the little town has to offer: blood and darkness. Barrow has the distinction of having 30 days of darkness every winter, due to its position on the globe. For vampires, this is, of course, heaven. For the residents of Barrow, Alaska, this is hell.

The vampires are seemingly unstoppable killing machines, and only a few survivors hold up in out-of-the-way places, hoping to ride out the remainder of the 30 days until the sun returns. The atmosphere is incredibly creepy and filled with feelings of foreboding doom. The scares are real and powerful, and most of the imagery is very disturbing. The action is hard-hitting. And the acting is excellent.

The vampires: The vampires are fresh and re-imagined. They are savage predators who show many attributes of birds, including their soul-rending screeches. They seem too savage to even have reason, but they are calculating and tricky, and they use many tactics to hunt down their prey. They even speak their own language, which seems to be some ancient mixing of Russian and German, and this adds to their mystique. Personally, I hate movies and TV shows that involve vampires being killed like some many cheap zombies. Vampires should be a deadly menace that protagonists would be lucky to escape from, never mind defeat. Although many vampires get taken down and some even chopped up in this movie, it is clear that there is only two ways for them to actually be destroyed. And those ways are 1000111000111000 00111011011100110 1001111101001001010101010110110 1011010100101010011110 10101011010110000 10110. And that's how you do it. Anyway, moving on.

As mentioned earlier, Hollywood did everything right, thereby beating the odds. Well, they did everything right by doing a couple of things wrong. Mainly, they did not follow the graphic novel. This worked well since I believe that the graphic novel, while nicely ... painted ... was not of the best quality. Ghost House Pictures went in their own direction, and they picked the right direction, seemingly. The characters were better in the movie. They were a lot more full and full of life, which made you worry about them more. The vampires were not part of some huge underground movement. Their backgrounds were left to the imagination, which is the best way to handle that sort of thing. And no one else knew of their existence, which made the story less silly than the graphic novel. Not to toss any disparaging comments against such a popular piece of work; like I said, it was painted well. In an abstract sort of way.

Bring the kids? Absolutely not. The scares are huge and there are many disturbing parts. Many. Heck, a guy gets his head chopped off onscreen, and I am still questioning whether or not it was real. (If that actor is reading this, send us a post to let us know you are alright.)

Date movie? I'm going to say no. Unless you know your date likes scary, gruesome movies.

I give 30 Days of Night ten out of ten headstones. Go see this movie right now.

Poll #2: What is your favorite movie genre?

We're ending our second poll early. What is your favorite movie genre? Our movie fan poll shows that the western has beat out the other choices. Yee-haw!