Filexd under:
News/Articles,
TV/Movies — Tags:
blood,
Cabin,
genre,
horror,
Joss Whedon,
monsters,
movies,
review,
skeletons,
skull,
vampires,
witches,
woods,
zombies — jane @ 12:22 pm
Horror movies are just not that great anymore. This is my opinion, so don’t attack me for it. It seems like every time I go to see a horror movie I feel like I’ve seen it before. Every possible storyline has been done in every possible way. It’s sad because I just love a good horror movie. For some reason they all start out well and then end with a whimper. Last week Scary Hubby and I went to see the much anticipated Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon. Being lovers of all things Whedon we were expecting (hoping for) the best. What we got was something completely different. In short, it was amazing! Somehow Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard were able to turn the horror genre upside-down and take it in a direction it has never gone before. He did what many of us horror fans thought impossible and completely reinvented it. One problem though. Cabin in the Woods got the last word in on horror movies. There can be no sequel. He somehow was able to end every single horror movie storyline and leave no room for more. It will have to be a pretty brilliant script to truly revive/recreate this genre after this movie finishes it’s long run. Go see it! You won’t be disappointed.
Filexd under:
Art,
Arts/Crafts,
Collectibles,
Games,
Halloween Decor,
Misc. — Tags:
devil,
fortune,
fortune teller,
history,
medium,
mystic,
ouija board,
paranormal,
satan,
seance,
spirit board,
spirits,
supernatural,
talking board,
witchcraft,
witches — jane @ 4:54 pm
Found this link about the Ouija Board through the Fright Catalog website and just knew I had to share it with you guys. I love Ouija Boards. Not because I believe in it, but because of the artwork that you can find on them. Especially the older ones. Go ahead and read this. It’s interesting reading and gives you a little background on it’s history. While you’re at it check out the Fright Catalog website. If you have never visited them before you’re in for a treat. They have great Halloween props.
Filexd under:
Books,
Fairy Tales,
News/Articles,
Office — Tags:
black,
calendar,
costume,
Halloween,
horoscope,
horror,
monsters,
ogre,
review,
skull,
vampires,
witches,
zombies — jane @ 12:28 pm
I’ve never been much of a believer in fortune telling, horoscopes etc., but I do find it fun. In college I became obsessed with tarot cards and learning how to read them. Strangely it was not because I wanted to really tell people their fortunes. I just wanted to know how to do it and what the cards supposedly meant. Now I look at it as a fun parlor trick that I pull out for our Halloween parties. I have a fantastic outfit that I wear and everyone seems to love it. I, of course, go way overboard and predict all sorts of weird things. What’s funny is when one thing I predicted actually happens. I just came back from a little vacation to visit Scary Hubby’s family in Philly and as usual we went to lots of bookstores. You know I have to check out the competition. Anyway, we ended up in Barnes and Noble and as I was looking through the bargain books I found this little book called Horrorscopes: A Little Book of Misfortunes. I didn’t have time to look at it, but it had a skull on the cover so I went ahead and bought it thinking it would give me something to read on the plane. This little book is just so fun. It has a twisted horoscope for every day of the year. The book is not for any particular year, so it even has Feb. 29th. The horoscopes can range anywhere from predicting a zombie apocalypse to preparing for impending horrors like your transformation into an ogre. It also lists dark days, unlucky numbers, evil omens and gruesome gift ideas. Such a riot. I highly recommend this book if you have a dark sense of humor or if you just need to discover the horrible fate that awaits you.
Filexd under:
Accessories,
Decor,
Halloween Decor,
Holidays — Tags:
black,
blood,
candle,
Cats,
coffin,
costume,
Halloween,
monsters,
movies,
skeletons,
skull,
spiders,
webs,
witches — jane @ 10:40 pm
Listen, I know it’s February, but if you’re anything like me Halloween is a year round holiday. What most people will only put out for Halloween, we have as our regular decor. I have found over the years that February is one of the best months for picking up scary stuff for my house. No one, except a few of us smart people, is thinking about Halloween this time of year. Everything that was left over from last year has been marked down to practically nothing. Most people would assume it’s just junk left, but I don’t find that to be true. A lot of times I see something I love in the fall, but decide to wait because it’s too pricey. Once Halloween is over the stores do a quick clearance and then the stuff disappears to make room for Christmas. After that’s over they do the quick clearance again. Nothing gets put up for January, so they haul out what’s left from Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and slash the prices. By then no one is giving any thought to Halloween, so it keeps getting marked down until it’s gone. That’s when I swoop in for the kill. Most of the time that item I was coveting is now half the price or even less. The one thing about this, though, is that this mostly happens online. A few stores will put their clearance stuff in some hidden corner of the store. Most of the time, though, it’s only available on their sites because alot of the bigger stores have to send their stuff back to warehouses. Do a search on Google for Halloween Clearance and you’ll be surprised by the amount of listings. Anything from Target to BuyCostumes.com to the higher end things at Grandin Road.
Filexd under:
News/Articles,
TV/Movies — Tags:
awards,
Halloween,
horror,
monsters,
movies,
oscars,
review,
vampires,
video,
werewolf,
witches,
zombies — jane @ 12:48 pm
I finally got around to watching the rest of the Oscars. I was out that night and only caught the big awards at the end. I had heard that there was finally a tribute to horror movies and I was anxious to see it. Now that I have seen it I have some complaints. First off why were Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart presenting this? I mean, really, are they today’s only answer to modern horror movies? I liked the movies, but they are pretty tame in the horror department. Why not have the queen of scream, Jamie Leigh Curtis or Mr. Nightmare himself Robert Englund? Heck, why not Bruce Campbell? I know they wanted to pull in the viewers by getting the Twilight kids, but use them for something else. There were much better choices for this presentation. My other big beef with this was the opening statement that the Oscars had not honored a horror movie since The Exorcist, 37 years ago. Really? What about the numerous awards that have been given out since to horror movies for visual effects, sound, makeup, costumes etc. Do these not count? Tell that to the winners. So, if these don’t count, what about all of the awards given to Silence of the Lambs? Best actor, actress, picture, director, screenplay were all awarded to that which is much more than what was awarded to The Exorcist. They only received awards for sound and screenplay. I guess you could argue that Silence of the Lambs was not a full on horror film, but the Academy included it in the montage, so that argument goes out the window. Putting all of that aside, I was thrilled to see the Academy giving horror movies their due. You can’t deny that the general public loves horror movies and it was about time that they paid homage to that.
Now I don’t really like to sew, but this little Witch Boot Pincushion just might help me enjoy it more. I need something to help me enjoy it since I’m always having to fix some piece of clothing or another. I constantly put mending off until someone in my family finally starts yelling loud enough. Maybe they could fix their own clothes. Yeah! That might be asking a little too much from this lazy crowd I call a family. It doesn’t say what it’s made of, but it looks like the boot part is some kind of metal and it’s a good size at 11″ tall. Maybe if it’s heavy enough I can use it as a weapon against my family. Of course I would just use it to threaten, but they don’t know that. If it’s that time of the month anything could happen! As they know from past experience Scary Jane can go ape sh*t at the drop of a pin. However bad, pun was intended.
Every once in a while I throw a big Halloween Party. I love adapting normal recipes into scary ones. This recipe for Witches Fingers was adapted from a Danish Christmas cookie recipe that my Mom always made. Everyone is always creeped out by these cookies!
Ingredients:
2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter softened
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 c. whole blanched almonds (skin removed)
red food coloring, preferably paste/gel
Preheat oven to 325° F. Combine dry ingredients. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla, beat in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes or until firm. Optional: If you want to paint the nails, which I never do anymore, this is the time to do that. Use some red food coloring that’s been diluted with water and brush on with a clean small paint brush. Working with one-quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remaining dough refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoons full of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press an almond firmly into one end for nail. Squeeze in center to create a knuckle shape and use a sharp knife to make shallow cuts in several places to form knuckle. Place cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Let cool for a few minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough. Optional: Dip ends of fingers in red food coloring. Makes about 5 dozen.
* Not an actual picture of my cookies. I didn’t have one. This was taken from another Witches Fingers cookie recipe, but they look pretty much the same.
You’ve seen The Wizard of Oz right? You know the lovely woman that Dorothy’s house landed on? I believe they refered to her as the Wicked Witch of the East. How she got that nickname we’ll never know. All the munchkins come out and sing “Ding Dong! The witch is dead”. How sad. She was just a witch going about her business when some obnoxious teenager dropped a house on her and now everyone is celebrating. Anyway, I’ve often wondered about her ruby shoes. Yes, they were very sparkly, but rather plain. If she was supposed to be so scary, why weren’t her shoes more creepy? Let’s face it, shoes make a statement. They finish off an outfit and these just didn’t do it. Now these Witchy Shoes would have looked great and then I would understand why everyone wanted them so badly. I know I do, though I can’t decide whether I like the black or the red. For 25.99 who cares, I’ll buy both and wear them with those great stockings she had on.
Follow Jane on Twitter
Follow Jane on Facebook
Horror movies are just not that great anymore. This is my opinion, so don’t attack me for it. It seems like every time I go to see a horror movie I feel like I’ve seen it before. Every possible storyline has been done in every possible way. It’s sad because I just love a good horror movie. For some reason they all start out well and then end with a whimper. Last week Scary Hubby and I went to see the much anticipated Cabin in the Woods by Joss Whedon. Being lovers of all things Whedon we were expecting (hoping for) the best. What we got was something completely different. In short, it was amazing! Somehow Joss Whedon and director Drew Goddard were able to turn the horror genre upside-down and take it in a direction it has never gone before. He did what many of us horror fans thought impossible and completely reinvented it. One problem though. Cabin in the Woods got the last word in on horror movies. There can be no sequel. He somehow was able to end every single horror movie storyline and leave no room for more. It will have to be a pretty brilliant script to truly revive/recreate this genre after this movie finishes it’s long run. Go see it! You won’t be disappointed.
As promised a week ago here is the list of the Scariest Movies to watch on Halloween according to the Scary Jane readers. I was bombarded with emails on everyone’s choices, so thank you. Apparently you guys are really passionate about this. Overall I’ve seen and love the majority of these, but I am interested in the one or two of them I haven’t seen. I feel like quite a few were left off, but that’s just my opinion. If you don’t agree with these you have only yourself to blame because you didn’t send in your vote. So, here are the top ten Scariest Movies and the top ten Scariest Family movies that got the most votes in no particular order: