HALLOWEEN- I LOVE THIS SHIT

It goes without saying that we Irish like it when we actually get to legitimately lay claim to an international export.  It is therefore with no degree of modesty that certain Halloween-loving Irishmen proudly claim that Halloween is ours!

The original festival itself was celebrated in Scotland and Wales as well as Ireland, so not necessarily originating in Ireland but it’s global popularisation is down to the Irish diaspora.  It was Irish immigrants who brought the custom to the United States and once the Americans got their hands on it…well, to say commercialisation would be an understatement.

It saddens me that our neighbours in England haven’t gotten to enjoy the ghoulish, fun rituals of Halloween as much but certainly American homogenisation through pop culture seems to be sorting that out.  It wouldn’t surprise if, in some years, the British can’t remember a time they didn’t celebrate Halloween.
And knowing that the form of this festival which we celebrate worldwide today came from this country just seems so appropriate to me.  As I associate the holiday with the Irish landscape- both rural and urban.  When I think of Halloween, I think of that artificial haze created by wayward teens throwing bangers(what Americans call firecrackers) for days on end in the build-up to the night of the 31^st.  As much as this anti-social behaviour is dangerous and I assure you, thoroughly illegal, it certainly helps the atmosphere.

As a child, out trick-or-treating, the smoke from those quarter sticks of dynamite would permeate the night so extensively, that every street in our town had a sort of…well…fog. Which, obviously, on Halloween night is just fucking awesome!

            Plus, the Irish just know how to celebrate Halloween.  My mother used to get what she called ‘Halloween Grub’- oddly chosen items of food which the Irish generally wouldn’t eat at any other time of year.  These ranged from the obvious- such as Barmbrack (a traditional Irish cake served at Halloween, which would have a ring or, rather unhygeinicly, a coin placed somewhere in it for the kids to find.  Ummm…yeah!) to the bizarre- such as coconut milk and monkey nuts.  Yeah, that’s right.  I said monkey nuts.

Monkey nuts: As far as we can tell
just regular peanuts

For me, the flavours of these foods go hand-in-hand with the smell of rubbery monster masks getting steamed up on the inside by my breath.  Purely innocent, I assure you.  No S&M jokes, please.

Then, I hit my teens and dress-up became a thing of the past but something new existed- horror movies!
As a child, even the notion of a horror movie frightened me.  I most certainly was not a child desensitised to screen violence or scares.  This is an element of my youth I now value tremendously as it never really left me.  For, as jaded and well-versed a horror fan as I now am, a genuinely scary and well crafted piece of horror cinema can absolutely work on me.  I’m an easy mark where that’s concerned- quite easily made jump.

People who brag about watching a horror flick and not jumping clearly have missed the point.  That’s like sitting on a rollercoaster and trying not to have your stomach swayed or jolted in any way.  Why get on the fucking ride, if you’re gonna be like that? I watch horror moves because I want to be scared.

And as my teens went on, I would reserve some extra special spooky treats for myself, to watch throughout the evening of October 31^st.  But in later years, I've developed a different attitude to my Halloween viewing and this is due, in no small part, to my enjoyment of internet movie critic James Rolfe.

Every October since 2007, Rolfe has released ‘Monster Madness’, a month-long series of horror movie reviews, that start on October 1^st and end on Halloween.  Through Monster Madness, Rolfe made an excellent point.  Why limit ourselves to one night?  One of the joys of Halloween is the shift in the seasons- the brown leaves and cooler weather following on from the heat of the summer.  And indeed, he’s now started to open Monster Madness with the greeting ‘Happy October’.  View the Monster Madness 2013 Promo here.

And so, here we find ourselves in the midst of October, the halfway point really.  And yes, I’m in full Halloween spirit, treating the entire month as my own private horror movie festival.

Two nights ago, I watched Drag Me To Hell and tonight I’m taking in The Devil Rides Out(alternately titled The Devil's Bride- nowhere near as good a title), a Hammer classic which does the rare thing of using the early 20^th Century as it’s setting rather than the usual Victorian era used by films of it’s ilk.  Plus, Christopher Lee's a goodie!
Haven’t seen it in years and since I last saw it, it’s screen writer Richard Matheson has died.  So I might just have a beer tonight with the movie, to toast the man.

Having started this blog last October, as I was in a similar mood, I sort of abandoned it after a month or so, through pure lazyness.  Well, I’m back for the time being.  Inspired by my favourite time of year.  Not the night…but the Month of Halloween.