Macabre Movies of the Week! (#6)
If you’ll permit me to swipe text from Wikipedia, ABC Weekend Specials was a “weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997, which featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated.”
I noticed that several episodes had a spooky slant, so for this edition of Macabre Movies of the Week, all three videos were originally eps of that show!
First up is Bunnicula, the Vampire Rabbit. While this originally aired in 1982, it looks like this particular broadcast — which includes the original commercials — aired in October of ‘83.
And then we have The Red Room Riddle, a ghost story about kids trapped in a haunted mansion. This broadcast is from 1984, and it’s another one with all of the original ads still intact.
Last but not least, Monster in My Pocket: The Big Scream, which aired very close to Halloween back in 1992. It’s kind of an origin story. If you grew up collecting the figures, this is a real treat!
Enjoy! If you’d like to check out the previous Macabre Movies of the Week, they’re over here.
Chilling Challenge! (#6)
For this week’s Chilling Challenge, all ya gotta do is RECOMMEND SOMETHING.
Obviously, I mean something with a tie to the Halloween season. (Even if it’s a very small tie.)
Could be a movie, a TV show, a book, a video game, a type of candy, whatever!
I’ll start. Stephen King’s The Mist. Meaning the book. Or novella. Story. Whatever you call it.
It’s actually the only Stephen King book I’ve read. I picked it up at an airport after seeing the movie, and devoured the whole thing on one single flight.
As much as I adore the film, I like the book even more. There are some big differences, including a wildly different ending. (I don’t want to spoil things, but I strongly prefer the book’s ending!)
Your turn! Think about something you love, and leave a comment pitching it to everyone else!
(To view last week’s Chilling Challenge, click here.)
Frightening Free-For-All Thread! (#5)
Okay, now we’re getting to that point in the season where time seems to move at double-speed. I don’t know, is it just me?
So let’s all look at this week as a little “reset button.” Think about how you want to spend your free time in October, and start making some plans!
This is your Frightening Free-For-All Thread. Talk about whatever ya want, all week long. Dino Drac After Dark has also been updated with new editions of the Sinister Survey, Macabre Movies of the Week and Chilling Challenge. Have fun!
Sinister Survey! (#5)
For this week’s Sinister Survey, let’s talk about the scariest places we’ve ever been.
These could be places that were actually literally scary, or just places that freaked you out as a kid despite their relative normalcy.
One of mine would have to be Grandma’s basement.
I spent a lot of time in my grandparents’ basement as a kid, since I had no interest in sitting in the dining room as my parents loudly gabbed with them about things I couldn’t have cared less about. Besides, the TV was in the basement!
But man, that place was always one wrong shadow away from pure hell. This was an old Brooklyn house, full of creaks on its best day, but when you added the water heater and all of those weird pipes, it was an unending concert of creepy noises.
The basement had terrible lighting, and was full of decades-old tchotchkes that grew frightening with age. (Like Grandma’s old dolls — the ones that automatically shut their eyes when you held them horizontally. Eek!)
It wouldn’t have been so bad if the basement didn’t come with its own share of ghost stories. My father and uncles had a few, including one where the spirit of the house’s former owner kept pointing to a particular spot in the wall, ultimately revealing a hidden stash of liquor and tobacco. (An admission from the afterlife that he never quit drinking or smoking, like he’d told everyone.)
It was all bullshit, I’m sure, but I absolutely believed it, and assumed that this ghost could pop up whenever I was down there. Since I’d never get to see those Three’s Company reruns upstairs, it seemed like a fair enough trade.
Your turn! Talk about places that have frightened YOU, in the comments!
If you missed the previous Sinister Survey, it’s over here.
