Tis’ the season of oddly carved pumpkins, jumbo bags of snack-sized candy and unoriginal costumes — it’s Halloween time. We all know those people that are a bit too excited when they see the signs to pop-up Halloween stores, and we all know the non-festive people that turn off their porch lights on the night of Halloween. Personally, I’m neither of these people. I like to consider myself caught in the middle of the Halloween web. However, instead of the pumpkin carving and costume shopping, my favorite thing about Halloween is the throwback movies shown on television.
While we all still enjoy the wonders of “Hocus Pocus” and “Beetlejuice,” I can’t help but think about the children of today and feel sorry for them. Us ‘90s babies were certainly spoiled when it came to the plethora of feel-good Halloween movies released in our youth.
Where else can we go to a place called “Halloweentown” and be greeted by witches, warlocks, trolls and every other spooky creature living in harmony? Could there ever be a grandma cooler than Aggie Cromwell? I know I’m not the only one who can recite the “bay tiki mah, bay tiki fear” spell, and I know I’m not the only one who remembers the ghost that instantly became slim after sitting in a sauna. There’s so much road rage on the streets, but there is no driver as crazy as the spastic taxi-driving skeleton, Benny. It’s a shame mortals can only visit “Halloweentown” for one day out of the year, and it’s a shame that it only comes on television once a year as well.
Where else can we be best friends with a Little Vampire? As children, we couldn’t help but adore the late-night play dates between a human boy and his blood-sucking friend, and let’s not forget about the flying cows. Because of this movie, I expect nothing less than loving, supernatural families and vampire hunters if I ever move to Scotland. “The Little Vampire” truly redefined the phrase “blood brothers.”
Where else can we work hand-in-hand with a friendly ghost named Casper to defeat evil? As a little girl, I remember running around the house with a red blanket wrapped around me pretending to be the girl-witch Wendy. Forget humans, friendly ghosts obviously make better friends.
Now, kids won’t be able to understand the excitement people like me feel when there is a phantom on the loose at the Megaplex, you won’t be able to understand how terrifying the movie “Don’t Look Under The Bed” was for an eight-year-old, and you won’t be able to understand how wonderful it would be to personally know the Addams family.
If you did watch these flicks as a kid, then you understand why it might be strange for your mother to go out because she could be on a date with a vampire, and you understand the problems of having a mummy such as in “Under Wraps.”
These movies may be a bit corny now that we’re all older, but when it’s this time of the year, I can’t help but become lost in nostalgic Halloween memories.
