Halloween is coming!
I have to say that...Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. For one it does not involve extended family, there is no guilt driven present mania, you get to scare people and be scared, you get to eat little itty bitty candy bars that the the trick or treaters didn't get, and you can have an excuse to watch campy horror films!
Growing up as a kid I would watch this local show called Chiller Theater with Chilly Billy Cardille. Oh how I loved that show. It was on real late after the last news and it was literally the last show of the evening. It was a challenge to first of all...be allowed to stay up that late and secondly...to actually be able to have the stamina to stay up through not one but two horror movies.
Chilly Billy was such a celebrity. He started off doing the show for fun and it just grew in popularity. Watching some of the older shows before my time is a hoot. Back then they didn't have so much censoring and there was a lot of risky humor that might have slipped by you if you weren't paying attention.
One such uncensored moment is when Chilly Billy made a joke about Liberty Avenue. Anyone who knows Pittsburgh knows that this was the red light district. Another such politically incorrect moment happened when Jerry Lewis did a spot on the show which featured Stephen the Castle Prankster, one of the characters on Chiller Theater. Stephen is a little person and Jerry Lewis picked him up and said something like, "I wish to thank the academy for this award." I dare say that this type of off the cuff humor would not fly today.
I was thinking about Chiller Theater one morning as I woke up with the theme song music cavorting in my brain. What memories this brought back for me...sleepovers with real buttered popcorn and watching classics such as Night of the Living Dead. Did you know that the original Night of the Living Dead was shot in Pittsburgh, and my beloved Chilly Billy had a role in it!
Here is a link to Chiller Theater so you too can become enchanted by the likes of Chilly Billy, Terminal Stare, and Stephen the Castle Prankster.
Did you have such a local horror show growing up?
Oh and last but not least...
Give me your top 5 list of Horror movies. I want to see as many as I can before Halloween. Only thing is...I am absolutely not fond of slasher/gore movies. I tend to like the classics like Rosemary's Baby, The Shining, American Werewolf in London and the like. But I am open to new movies.
So what are your favorite horror movies of all time? Do tell all!
21 comments:
Oooh great question!
1. The Exorcist
2. Misery
3. It
4. Silence of the Lambs
5. Rocky Horror Picture Show (Ok,not exactly a horror movie except for some people)
There are three kinds of women:
the pretty ones
the ugly ones
and the blondes...
(trad.by lapa)
Most memorable to me was The Exorcist. I was nineteen when it came out. A friend dragged me to it, I wasn't into it.
When I got home that night I was astonished to find myself - well, feeling basically afraid of the dark! The kind of creepy, spooky feelings I'd had in elementary school sometimes, like all kids do, but that I hadn't had since I was maybe eleven! I had no idea until that movie that it was even possible for me to have that kind of feeling any more.
ummm...ooookayyyy. not gonna even try to interpret that one. but hey thanks for stopping by!
I'm not a horror movie fan at all, but I do like Rosemary's Baby and The Shining. But I liked those two books even better. I read The Shining on an all-night train ride from DC to New Orleans - a dark train at 2 in the morning is a great place to read a scary book.
We had Jeepers Creepers on Saturday nights.Same with the last show of the evening thing.
My favorite horror flix,(okay,this was the 60's)
1)The crawling eye
2)"It"..The terror from beyond space
3)Creature from the black lagoon
I will have a think on that one!!
Hmm lets see.
In no particular order:
Shivers (an early David Cronenberg flick)
Psycho
Dog Soldiers
The Exocist
Final Destination (Is this horror?)
I love The scream trilogy too.
Chilly Billy! I grew up about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh and I remember that show. And also that I had a very hard time staying up to watch it.
Thanks for the memory - I also love Halloween. It is a "guilt-free" holiday because I am not expected to travel back to western PA to visit family when I don't have the energy to do so. I'm not expected to do anything if I don't want to (just turn off the porch light), but it is a lot of fun when we dress up to scare the kids.
I adore Horror!
In no particular order:
1. Dawn of the Dead (remake)
2. Blade
3. Seven
4. Ghost Ship
5. Slither (which is pretty funny too)
last scarry movie i saw was Carrie ...
when it first came out ..
i decided then that being that scared was not for moi .... lol
I don't watch horror movies.
Favorite movie? Maybe the next one I watch. Romantic comedies are my favorites for the most part. Movies like Mystic Pizza. Just about anything with Julia Roberts in it.
I liked Quiggley Down Under because it had a real hero in it. Parts of it did drag on too long though.
"For one it does not involve extended family"
Making it the number one holiday of all time!!!
Some fave horror films:
Exorcist
Evil Dead
Shaun of the Dead
Psycho
An American Haunting
How the hell can you pick just five??
When my ex met me, he was dating the sister of Stephen King's wife. He chose me. I bet he has always regretted it! lol
I'm a horror movie junkie! Some of my faves are The Exorcist, The Grudge ( I know, I know, nobody else seems to find this one scary but I did), the first Friday The 13th movie, I know there are MANY better ones but I just can't think of them right now. Oh yeah, the original Omen. That kid was creepy!
Not all that big on scary movies, but I do have some faves. OK, my five would include:
1. Aliens
2. Rosemary's Baby
3. The Village of the Damned
4. Strawdogs
5. The Wicker Man
They're not all supernatural but will scare the pants off you, nevertheless
The Exorcist
House of 1000 corpses
The devils rejects (sequel to the above)
The exorcism of Emily Rose
and
Seven
Oh' whaaat fuuun:>>
1) Salem's Lot
2) Amytyville
3) Old Dracula films
4) Children of the Corn ( I could be wrong but I remember the title this way)
5) Omen
I luv' watching horror films as a kid..I don't anymore...kinda' embarrassed to have my kids and husband find out I can't sleep with the lights out when I do..
Thanks for visiting my bloggy home and for the sweet comments:>
I don't watch much horror at all, in fact, never anymore. All that devil crap is just boring for me. But from what I have seen....
1. Hellraiser
2. The Omen
3. Psycho
4. The Birds
5. Nightmare on Elm Street
I don't watch horror movies, but I'll take your word for it they are "good"...LOL
Linda D. in Seattle
This is a good one - not into Halloween but who cares, it is fun. S x [will write properly soon - strange week we've had here].
Pumpkin Carving:
Use the little blue knife to carve your pumpkin, then press done ...it's fun!
Pumpkin Carving
Post a Comment