Tag Archives: Halloween

It’s Sammy Terry time

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Two weeks from tonight is Halloween. It’s a night for tricks and treats, as they said on the old “Peanuts” special, and it’s Sammy Terry’s night.

With just two weeks to go, I was afraid time would get away from me and I wouldn’t write about the Indianapolis TV horror movie host before it was too late. So here are my Sammy memories, a little early.

I’ve talked to Sammy in phone interviews a few times and met him once. It was the mid-1980s and I did a story about Sammy for the newspaper. I spoke with Bob Carter, Sammy’s mild-mannered, music-store-owning alter ego, over the phone in advance of an appearance at Muncie Mall and then met him when he was putting on his makeup at the mall before going on stage.

An earlier interview with Sammy remains one of my most nightmarish newspaper experiences. I wasn’t working full-time at the paper yet so I went to the office to make the long-distance call — remember those? — and took along a tape recorder and suction-cup-type recording device to attach to the phone.

I had used it before but this time something — the way I connected it to the phone, the florescent lights — fouled up the recording. I didn’t know until after I ended the conversation, of course, and was panicked when I couldn’t hear anything but a low hum on the tape when I tried to listen to it.

I wondered for a moment about calling Sammy back, but I decided not to. Instead, I sat down and furiously scribbled notes of everything I could remember from the interview. The resulting article was pretty lackluster and had virtually no quotes.

The later interview, before his Muncie appearance, went much more smoothly. Nothing notable, really, but Carter — who spoke in normal tones but whose voice was instantly recognizable as the TV ghoul who had presented classic monster movies and scared a couple of generations of  Central Indiana kids to death — was friendly and modest.

By the 1980s, Carter had a lot of great stories. He claimed to have invented the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan “finger lickin’ good” during a live commercial, and who’s to say he did not? He talked about how the company that donated the casket from which he rose at the start of each show IN NO WAY wanted to be identified or credited because of potential complaints from the families of customers.

Carter was a pro long before this point, having done the show on WTTV Channel 4 since the early 1960s. He was gracious to a young journalist who was also a fan.

When my friends Jim and Derek and I went to meet him at Muncie Mall, he let us come into a back room while he applied his makeup and even posed for a picture right before going on stage at center court, where he delighted a lot of parents and kids — and probably scared a few too.

These days, Carter’s son is appearing as Sammy Terry. The younger version was in Muncie back in September and is probably making a few bucks — and making a lot of people smile.

More power to him. And more power to the original.

Pleasant nightmares, Sammy.

My worst Halloween memory

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More than 40 years later, I remember the trauma if not the details: When we were elementary school kids at Cowan in the 1960s, we were allowed to wear our Halloween costume to school for that most wonderful of kid holidays.

Most of my memories of Halloween are happy ones: Trick-or-treating with my cousin Mary and friends in her neighborhood, showing off our costumes and collecting great treats.

One year  at Cowan, we got to put on a Halloween costume parade for the entire school.

What a treat … or so it seemed at first.

The teachers lined us all up, in our costumes, and led us through the school. Since all 12 grades were in two big buildings, we got to show off for everybody, even kids as old as high schoolers.

The damn, damn high schoolers.

I don’t remember what my costume was this particular year. But it was  a typical 1960s-era costume like those made by Ben Cooper or Collegeville: A hard plastic mask, secured to my head with an elastic band, and a cheap plastic tunic. If it was an Aquaman or Spock or any number of other similar costumes, the tunic, as you can see from the photos here, was anything but subtle. Instead of being an accurate recreation of the character’s costume from comic books or TV, it was emblazoned with the character’s name in big, dorky letters.

I loved it.

Well, the mask left something to be desired, but I ran into the same problems with every Halloween mask. I was a kid who had worn glasses since the middle of first grade, and masks didn’t work out very well. The masks got warm and my glasses fogged up and I tended to walk into things.

But that year, the parade was going pretty well. I could still see through my glasses as well as the narrow eye slits of whatever the heck costume I was wearing.

I could see well enough, in fact, to notice — too late to do anything about it — one of the high schoolers reach out and pull my mask off my face as I walked past his classroom desk.

He pulled the mask out far enough, of course, that the crappy elastic band broke and my mask came off.

I’m pretty sure I completed the rest of the Halloween parade with my now-useless mask in my hand. I say I’m pretty sure that was the case because I don’t really remember it. The final part of the parade was a blur of tears and frustration.

There’s no final twist, ala Rod Serling, to the story. It didn’t turn out that the offending high schooler was my big brother or anything. I never knew his name. I can still kind of see his laughing face as he pulled my mask off.

I wish I could say that when I became a teenager I found the now-grownup miscreant and soaped his windows. That didn’t happen, though.

If anybody reading this was a high-schooler at Cowan in the 1960s and remembers ripping the mask off a little dork with glasses, I have just just two things to say to you:

Do you remember what my costume was? Because I can’t for the life of me.

And what nursing home do you live in now? Because I just might come by and put a kink in your IV drip.

iPhoneography: Latest Halloween pics

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You know the drill by now. I check out Halloween stores for masks, costumes and spooky decorations. I take pictures with my iPhone. I post them here.

We’re still about three weeks out from Halloween, but I’ve explored most of the Halloween stores in these parts.

Anybody else remember those Don Post Studios ads in Famous Monsters and other old monster magazines? The masks were head and shoulders — no pun intended — above the beloved but cheesy Collegeville and Ben Cooper costumes most kids wore.

Here’s a Don Post vampire mask:

Each year some of the most popular masks are those depicting political figures. There are a couple of really good ones among these, but what’s the deal with Hilary Clinton near the upper right corner? Her face is so red it looks like she’s going to explode.

Personally, I think the Bill Clinton mask is great. And look at the nose on Nixon, down on the bottom row. Nice.

Costumes for kids are fascinating to me, although I think many of them are too gruesome and otherwise “edgy” for most kids. Not to mention for their parents.

Here’s one for the sports enthusiast: The zombie referee.

There are so many inappropriate costumes out there for young girls. This one isn’t scandalous but sends a strange, mixed message with its name alone.

‘Nuff said. That’s all ’til next time.

iPhoneography: More Halloween pics

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It’s that time again: Time to look at some interesting, odd and creepy Halloween costumes and items of decor.

Let’s get started!

We’re gonna start small this time and go big.

I don’t know about you, but I have sticky eyeballs when I wake up many mornings. But if I want a bag of 30 of them, I know where to go: Target.

There’s something about a bloody handprint that’s downright creepy. But bloody, kid-sized handprints on a window. Yeggh.

How about a costume that takes an ordinary item and makes it outsized? You can keep your banana costumes. For my money, you can’t top a costume that makes people want to throw sharp objects at you.

Everybody remembers that kid from school with a really big head. I think I know what happened to him. At any rate, I found his oversized skull.

How about a big spider? If you saw this ottoman-sized arachnid crawling across the floor toward you, you’d want a comically large-sized newspaper or magazine handy.

Last but not least, the ultimate Halloween version of a lawn inflatable. I don’t have any inflatables, but I love seeing them on lawns at Halloween and Christmas. I have a neighbor who even has a Thanksgiving inflatable.

This pirate ship, manned by skeletons, is the size of a mini-van.

That’s all for now. Next time, some cool and off-the-wall costumes for kids.

iPhoneography Part … uh … more Halloween photos

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It has been too long since the last installment of iPhone pictures of fun, cool and cheesy Halloween costumes, masks and decor available in your finer retail establishments. So long, in fact, that I’ve lost track of how many installments we’ve had.

So let’s get to it!

First, with apologies to IT guys and girls everywhere, there’s the computer nerd costume. The dorky glasses and pocket protector, sure, but the teeth? I’ve never seen an IT person with those teeth. I think they’re hillbilly costume teeth that got included in this package by accident.

Speaking of odd costume choices, what is it about this trench coat that makes it a “nightmare trench coat?” Beats me.

And who knew they had carvable artificial pumpkins? They’re kind of an interesting variation on the traditional pumpkin, without all the guts and seeds. But the one that I checked out was hard as a rock. I foresee even more pumpkin-carving-related trips to the emergency room with this baby. Funkins indeed.

I think these skeleton candleholders are actually pretty darn cool.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but this is a freaky little doll, only four or five inches tall. You squeeze its lower midsection and it shrieks and its eyes light up. I’m tellin’ ya, it’s freaky.

Of course, my eyes light up if you squeeze my lower midsection. I might even shriek.

The last two photos for this time around are of those wall decorations that look like a three-dimensional face (and hand, in this case) pushing out of the wall. Kinda cool, huh?

But … the manufacturer ruins everything by hiring a bad actor for the packaging. Look at this guy. Do you believe he’s frightened by that face pushing out of the wall behind him? Or does that expression say something else, like “Wow, I shouldn’t have had that burrito.”

More next time!

‘Shocking’ developments in horror movies chronicled

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If I live to be a hundred, I don’t think I’ll forget the anticipation I felt waiting to see the 1973 thriller “The Exorcist.”

The movie, which had opened just after Christmas in big cities, had made its way to Muncie movie theaters by early 1974 and my friends and I at Cowan High School were eager to see it.

Eager? We were positively nuts about seeing the movie.

I was a horror movie fan from childhood, having grown up on classic Universal horror films and fun-but-sometimes-camp 1960s Vincent Price/Roger Corman flicks.

But “The Exorcist” was something else entirely. A big-studio movie, it was being promoted through a high-profile TV and newspaper ad campaign and the kind of word of mouth that money couldn’t buy.

Newspaper and magazine articles recounted the audience reaction to the film, about a pre-teen girl apparently possessed by the devil. People who saw the movie were fainting and wretching in theaters when confronted by scenes of the girl — played by newcomer Linda Blair — vomiting green bile and backhanding priests. Not to mention that crucifix scene.

My friends and I talked and joked about the movie incessantly. When we finally went to see it, some of the joking stopped. As we waited in the crowded theater for the movie to begin, I could hear a very anxious woman behind me, expressing concern that the movie might be too much for her. I sat forward in my seat, worried that she might throw up on me.

“The Exorcist” was in many ways typical of the new wave of more realistic, more controversial horror movies that were released in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, a period documented in Jason Zinoman’s new book, “Shock Value.”

Zinoman covers a lot of ground and a lot of personalities in his book. The big, well-known movies and names are here, as well as the players who had great influence on the new wave of horror films but who were little-known outside Hollywood circles.

One of them is Dan O’Bannon, who, while a student at USC, made a funny science fiction movie called “Dark Star” along with a friend and fellow student, John Carpenter. The ultra-low-budget movie, about the growing madness among members of the crew of a deep-space mission to destroy unstable planets, is odd and funny and made the best of its shoestring budget. The movie’s alien is a spray-painted beach ball with feet. Seriously.

Carpenter, as some of you might know, went on four years later to direct “Halloween,” the 1978 classic that changed horror movies and influenced generations of filmmakers.

O’Bannon co-wrote another classic, “Alien,” but found his career eclipsed by Carpenter. Plagued by medical problems and a bad reputation in moviemaking circles, O’Bannon died in 2009; his memorial service was attended by relatively few of his contemporaries. Zinoman’s book portrays him as a pivotal but tragic figure in modern-day movies.

“Shock Value” touches on many of the best and most notorious movies and filmmakers of the period, from “Night of the Living Dead” and its director, George Romero — I’ll tell you about my interview with Romero in another blog entry — as well as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and its director, Tobe Hooper. Like O’Bannon, Hooper was responsible for one of the most influential movies ever made. And as was the case with O’Bannon, Hooper found himself struggling to equal his early successes.

I was a movie fan and, later, a movie reviewer during much of the period documented in the book and even interviewed some of the leading characters from Zinoman’s story, including Romero and Carpenter. But “Shock Value” told me things I didn’t know, including the shady reputation of the people who financed “Chainsaw Massacre” and some of Carpenter’s inspirations for “Halloween.” If you’ve ever seen the 1961 ghost story “The Innocents,” for example, you’ll appreciate when Zinoman quotes Carpenter about the effectiveness of placing macabre characters in the far background of a shot.

In these days of the Internet and instant updates on movies while they’re still in production, it’s refreshing to find a scholarly but accessible look back at some classic scary movies and the people who made them. “Shock Value” is both enjoyable and informative.

iPhoneography: Halloween at the dollar store

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It’s a very special installment of iPhone photos of Halloween stuff. This time: Halloween stuff at the dollar store!

Dollar stores are an increasingly successful part of the country’s retail industry. Customers have even forsaken discount stores like Walmart to patronize dollar stores.

Of course, dollar stores have their limitations, especially when it comes to Halloween merchandise. You won’t find a large selection of masks and costumes there. You will find some basic masks, a good variety of creepy decor and bags of sugary treats.

Here’s a quick look at the best of the dollar store’s eerie merchandise.

These skeletons wearing shrouds are actually pretty cool. They’re small, of course, but detailed and effective.

And here’s the Carrot Top version:

Dollar stores might not have elaborate costumes, but they’ve got a heck of a variety of cloth to compliment a costume.

There’s creepy cloth:

Not sure exactly what makes it creepy.

And bloody cloth, which is self-explanatory and just as creepy. Maybe creepier.

My favorite part of this is imagining the offshore factory where this is made. “Yeah, Marge, they switched me from the creepy cloth to the bloody cloth production line today.”

Here’s the 787th invention that I wish I had come up with. I hope the person who invented the squashed witch is getting some royalties.

And thank goodness for warnings:

“Oh my gosh, I was about to give this blow-up plastic ghost to Timmy to use in the pool as a floatation device. Good thing I saw this warning.”

And, last but not least, the ever-popular graveyard rat.

Now with extra red eyes!

More to come.

iPhoneography: Halloween stuff part three

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I’ve neglected the posting of iPhone photos of masks, decor and the proverbial etcetera about my favorite holiday for too long. Time to remedy that oversight.

The National Retail Federation, that pro-shopping, pro-spending outfit that forecasts consumer trends, hasn’t yet predicted how much we’ll spend on Halloween this year. Last year, the NRF forecast Americans would spend $6 billion on Halloween costumes, candy and decorations. I’m not sure that projection worked out, considering the state of the economy. We’ll see what they say when they come up with this year’s number.

As Halloween has morphed from a holiday for kids that adults tolerated a generation ago to a full-blown excuse to party and begin eating snack-size Snickers in September, canny retailers have found bigger, better and bloodier Halloween goodies to sell us.

“Bigger” especially applies to the trend we’ve seen in the past few years of life-size ghouls and ghosts for Halloween decor.

While I’m not a huge fan of the “Scream” movie franchise — I thought the first film was pretty good though — I have to say I’d be impressed if somebody put this life-size Ghostface figure on their porch.

 

Much more timeless is a good old human skull replica. Here’s a shelf full at Target.

I thought this mini skeleton at Target was pretty cool. It’s appropriately spooky and atmospheric.

To round out this edition, how about this: A bag of mice. Who doesn’t need a bag of mice? Although if we brought these into the house, my cat would go nuts.

More next time!

iPhoneography: Halloween stuff part one

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I love Halloween. And I love Halloween stores.

It’s a little more than a week into September, but yes, the first Halloween stores are open and Halloween stuff is popping up around town.

Expect to read a lot more about Halloween in this blog between now and the night itself, but here are a few iPhone shots I took tonight.

What says Halloween more than some bloody, severed fingers? Actually, I’m not that crazy about the dismembered body parts element to Halloween decorating. But here’s an acknowledgement of that interest.

Now this is more like it: Your good old fashioned spooky ghost type dude, hanging in mid-air. When you show up at somebody’s house in September and they have one of these babies up, you know they’re serious Halloween people.

One of my favorite things about Halloween is the creative costumes. Good homemade ones are the best, but sometimes professional costume makers come up with some funny ideas. Of course, I’m not sure most of us need help with an oversized belly costume, but in case you do, they have you covered.

Now this is a creepy mask. If I walked into someone in a dark room wearing a ventriloquist’s dummy mask, I would leave one of those Wile E. Coyote-style hole in the nearest door.

More soon!