Bunnicula

I read at least one Bunnicula book as a kid, notably Howliday Inn.

I don't think I've ever seen this TV special however, which popped up as a random suggestion for me on YouTube. It's a pretty fun piece of nostalgia, especially because the TV commercials are included. (Minor spoilers below)

I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. At 5:34, 2 kids find themselves in the path of a pumpkin avalanche. One kid says, "They're coming this way!" and his brother responds, "Don't announce it -- RUN!" 

Later, at 6:45, as the siblings are fighting over who gets to be in charge of Bunnicula:

Kid 1: "You can keep smelly old Harold [who is the family dog] in your room!"

Harold (aside): "At least I don't wear the same socks for three days in a row." 

 

 

Have fun with this one!

Tales From the Darkside - Trick or Treat

For some people, it's watching It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. For others, it's the Halloween film series, or A Nightmare Before Christmas. Every Halloween and horror enthusiast has their own favorite must-watch content that they simply have to see every October. For me, it's the pilot episode of Tales From the Darkside, a horror anthology series that aired in the US in the 1980s.

There are lots of great episodes of this show, but none can compare to this one, the pilot called Trick or Treat. It aired on 29 October 1983, about year before the series was actually picked up by CBS. From the Talesfromthedarkside wiki page:  

Gideon Hackles is an elderly miser who keeps the residents of his rural town mired in debt. As part of an annual Halloween "tradition", Gideon invites local trick-or-treaters to explore his house to search for their parents' hidden IOUs. The children who find the papers will have their parents' debts cancelled.

 Although it is filmed primarily indoors, the episode evokes vivid setting: a haunted rural countryside of barren fields and run-down old barns (things I saw a lot as a kid who grew up in New England) populated with poor farmers who are down on their luck. The haunt props in Gideon Hackles' home are clearly his own ingenious inventions, and some of his creations are truly creepy. Dude knows how to scare the crap out of kids. #goals 

Between the general spooky, claustrophobic mood of this film, and the cool haunted house contraptions, this short film was instrumental in solidifying my love of Halloween and home haunts.

I won't give away too much, but while there is that level of campy-ness commonly found in TV horror from the early 80s, there's also some great costume design and cinematography crammed into this 20+ minute feature.

Some fun facts: It was co-written by George Romero; it stars Barnard Hughes (who you might recognize as Grandpa from movie The Lost Boys); it includes an appearance by Max Wright (the dad from ALF); there is a rumor that the pirate laugh was provided by Tim Curry, although thus far I can't find any evidence to confirm.

The Internet Archive has the whole episode to watch below --

*** This version of the episode unfortunately does not have the original score. My guess is that this video was sourced from the DVD release of Tales From the Darkside, which changed some of the original scores used in the show. It's still a great episode and worth watching, but it's kinda like those editions of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark that replaced the iconic artwork by Stephen Gammell with illustrations by Brett Helquist - just ain't the same.

You Can't Do That on Halloween

I was feeling a little down last night and decided to comfort myself by watching Halloween stuff on Youtube. I searched for "Halloween special" just to see what might be out there and unexpectedly found this - a HALLOWEEN EPISODE of one of my all-time favorites TV shows ever: You Can't Do That on Television, a sketch comedy show for kids/teens. There's so much of it that they could never get away with now for a kid's show, it's really got some pretty dark humor in it that I didn't fully realize when I was younger.

I didn't have cable growing up, so the only time I got to watch this show was when I visited my dad & grandma, if it happened to be on while I was visiting. I was pretty obsessed with it in the late 80s/early 90s and watched all the reruns on during that time. My sense of humor was heavily influenced by YCDToT. 

For a long time I couldn't find video of it online anywhere and it doesn't appear to be available on DVD -- so when I found this clip, which lead to others, I fucking FREAKED OUT. It made my night to find this and honestly it's just as funny as it ever was. So glad I found this, it's now got a prominent place on my Favorite Halloween Specials list.

Forgotten Halloween TV specials: The Teller and the Tale

 Growing up in New England in the 80s, my brothers and I had a number of favorite Halloween TV specials recorded on VHS that we watched over and over. Some of them are well known (obvious ones like Garfield's Halloween Adventure), but one I've been finding almost impossible to track down was a program from 1985 hosted by Sally Struthers called "The Teller and the Tale" (spoilers at that link, FYI), an anthology of ghost stories performed by famous storytellers, including the amazing Jackie Torrence. 

As far as I know, it only aired once, but we were lucky enough to record it on VHS. We watched it so many times, during Halloween season and throughout the year, that the video quality deteriorated rather badly and portions of it were ruined. I think it might still exist at my parent's house. 

I have searched in vain for the program in its entirety and have only found the clips featuring Jackie Torrence and Vincent Price thus far. 

I did find audio versions of two stories that are the same performers, but slightly different performances. I can't find any video at all of the Sally Struthers segments, nor the ones with paranormal investigator Hans Holzer.

Here are the stories in the order of how they would have appeared in this special - 

The Golden Arm

Wily and the Hairy Man

Old Man Daniker

Tillie

The Raven

If anyone out there has any idea where to find this entire special, please let me know!

The Teller and the Tale on IMDB

The Teller and the Tale on TCM