Sinister Survey! (#3)
Last week’s Sinister Survey was a banger. If you missed it, go read about everyone’s out-of-the-ordinary Halloween traditions.
This week, let’s talk about the LOCAL LEGENDS that freaked you out as a kid.
Every town has a few, right? Were there any stories floating around about nearby haunted places, or ghosts, or cryptids, or spooky cults?
What was the story and how did it affect you?
For me, it’s gotta be the whole satanists-in-the-woods thing. I was a little kid in the ‘80s, when “satanic panic” was out of control. Back then, we had a LOT of wooded areas. Our woods were at that point still large enough to get lost in, and there were constant rumors about satanic cults doing bad things within them. Some areas were strictly off limits to us, because even our parents bought the stories.
Those rumors didn’t stop us from playing in the woods, of course. We did! All the time! But there was always a nagging sense that you were just one step away from doom. It was part of the fun, in its way. Anything we found in there — an animal skull, a spare tire, a box of discarded Playboys — was chalked up to black-robed satanists.
Your turn! In the comments, share memories of local legends that freaked you out as a kid.
Macabre Movies of the Week! (#3)
For this edition of Macabre Movies of the Week, I decided to stick with my own uploads — partially because I trust myself to use decent YouTube thumbnails! Yeah, that’s a particular hangup of mine.
All three videos have appeared somewhere on Dino Drac before, but chances are, you kind of glossed over them while checking Instagram or whatever. Give ‘em a shot! This is all great stuff, I swear.
First up, here’s an immense playlist containing over 100 spooky TV commercials from the ‘80s and ‘90s. I created this playlist last year and it really got around! There’s a little bit of everything in here, from toys to food to movies and beyond.
Next we have a full episode of Friday the 13th: The Series, complete with its original TV commercials from 1988! This is the episode we did a podcast about back in June. It’s about a mother who must murder innocent people to satisfy the curse that keeps her baby alive. I love this episode, and it’s what made me give the series at large another look.
Finally, here’s The Wickedest Witch, a 1989 made-for-TV special that aired exactly once and was never released on video, let alone on DVD or streaming platforms. Rue McClanahan plays the titular witch, who rules over a horde of goblin puppets. (This was during Rue’s Golden Girls heyday, and yeah, there’s a bit of Blanche in her performance!)
Enjoy. If you’d like to see the previous Macabre Movies of the Week, click here.
Chilling Challenge! (#3)
Last week’s Chilling Challenge took a while to heat up, but in the end, a whole bunch of you took the plunge. I asked you to try a candy you’d never eaten before, and report back with your thoughts. Here are the results, if you missed ‘em!
This week, I challenge you to watch the THIRD film in any horror movie franchise. (Or any franchise that has some arguable tie to the Halloween season.)
It can be a “#3” you’ve seen a billion times, or one you’ve never watched before. I’ll leave that part up to you!
There are a lot of options. Everything from Elm Street to Friday the 13th to Halloween to Poltergeist has a “#3” to offer, and the well runs way deeper than that.
If you haven’t seen many horror movies and worry that jumping into a third installment will just leave you confused… trust me, it rarely will.
Pick a movie, watch a movie, and report back with what you thought about it. If it’s something new-to-you, review it. If it’s something you’ve seen plenty of times before, maybe you’ll catch something new?
(You can also leave comments suggesting cool “#3s” for anyone who isn’t sure what to go with!)
Frightening Free-For-All Thread! (#2)
Gotta thank everybody for being a part of the Countdown’s first week. I was especially happy to see so many new faces pop up on After Dark! (Remember, this place exists for you!)
I just updated Dino Drac After Dark with the full run of posts for this week. This one is your Frightening Free-For-All Thread, where you can talk about anything — whether it’s Halloween-related or not! Chat about candy, movies, store runs, whatever! (You can find last week’s thread over here.)
Ideally, After Dark will give you a few little “extras” to see and do all throughout the Halloween season. Though it gets more attention on weekends, all four of last week’s posts were seeing action all week long. Drop by any/all of them whenever you need to kill a few mins!
Chat away in this thread, and then check out this week’s Sinister Survey, Macabre Movies of Week and Chilling Challenge. Above all, have fun!
