Halloween 2014

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. For once in my life, I actually have plans tonight, so you’ll forgive me if this post has six more typos than usual. I hope you’ve enjoyed Dinosaur Dracula’s 2014 Halloween Countdown! To tell you the truth, I’m not at all ready for it to end. Even with over 40 revi

Thanks largely to the media blitz surrounding its 30th anniversary, Ghostbusters seems hotter than ever. You know how I’m always saying that every Halloween season has “one thing” that ultimately sets it apart from every other Halloween season? In 2014, it’s gotta be Ghostbusters.

I’ve been waiting a looooong time to do this post. Inhumanoids was one of the best toy lines of any decade, and if you’ve been with me for a while, you’ve read that sentiment more than a dozen times. Today, it’s finally time to show you why. (Or you could just look at that photo.

Happy Saturday! With less than a week left before Halloween, I hope you’re taking advantage of the weekend by cramming in as many SPOOKY THINGS as possible. Don’t dawdle. You’re gonna miss it when its gone. Might I suggest tracking down a box of Post’s new Candy Corn Pebble

They’re not McBoo pails, but they’re the spiritual successors! Now at McDonald’s, each Happy Meal comes with one of two trick-or-treat pails based on The Book of Life, which isn’t exactly a “Halloween” movie, but remains perfectly on-point because its promotional imagery deals

Uh oh! It’s the return of Dinosaur Dracula’s… SCARY MARY HOTLINE. If you don’t know what this is about, I’d suggest reading this article from last year. Or, if you don’t feel like clicking around, I’ll just repeat myself! Back when pay-per-minute telephone hotlines were a hug

Welcome to Classic Creepy Commercials, Volume 7! (It was either this or another edition of Five Spooky Action Figures. The folks on Twitter voted for more commercials. If you would’ve preferred to read about plastic Draculas, blame them. #notmyfault) Larry P. generously provided the firs

TELL ME. When you went trick-or-treating, what did you use to hold the candy? A McBoo pail? A pillowcase? A Radio Flyer wagon? Most often, I’m guessing you used a plastic bag made specifically for that purpose. The “trick-or-treat sack” has historically been just as integral a part

Who wants to win a set of Dinosaur Dracula trading cards? Yes, Dinosaur Dracula trading cards! After teasing them for over a year, it’s finally time to give them away! Between now and Halloween, there will be at least fifteen winners of the full 30-card set! The cards feature gorgeous ar

Madd Matt is back, and he has a new doll! Actually, the doll isn’t new. It’s from 1988. Many of you should recognize this animated vampire figure, which for a time seemed as common a Halloween decoration as fake webs and plastic spider rings. Part of a larger line of battery-operated

Welcome back to Deadsites, where I study defunct websites and revisit the internet’s barely recognizable past! I wanted something Halloweeny for this edition, of course. How about Froot Loops? From 2000, it’s Kellogg’s SPOOKY TOWN — a site-within-a-site that was only accessible

Remember last month, when I went into tremendously long detail about some total stranger’s ancient Halloween photo? Let’s do that again! This photo was another eBay find. I don’t know who that house belongs to, nor even what part of the country it’s from. I suppose some of you ar

We spent the weekend at the headquarters of Freddy In Space, taking years off of our lives with a mix of pizza, pumpkin beer and Crayola crayons. I suspect I’ll be fully recovered by Christmas. The best thing about John’s house (aside from Mothman the cat) is his absolute swarm of hor

“Gak,” originally a nickname for the slime used on Double Dare, first hit the retail market in the early ‘90s. From then on, the sludgy plaything slid in and out of production, always returning with new colors and weirder upgrades. But over the last few years, Nickelodeon’s legion

This is going to be one of the shorter Halloween Countdown entries, but make no mistake, today’s subject means as much to me as anything else I’ve covered. From 1988, it’s the famous/infamous Chamber of Horrors cassette, which I’m sure will be immediately recognizable to a fair chu

It’s time for Volume 6 of Classic Creepy Commercials, and wowza, what a great batch this is! Just a perfect mix of Halloween nostalgia and absurd spookiness, along with at least one instance of Troll dolls shooting missiles at each other. Maybe two. I’m giving you six ads this ti

So as a matter of full disclosure, I know that only 2% of you are at all interested in reading about a Kid Cuisine microwave dinner — even if is Halloween themed. Still, I do the Halloween Countdown as much for me as for you, and I cannot tell a lie: I’m super excited about this.<

October is here, and you know what that means. MOOD TABLE TIME. This is a yearly tradition that many of you are aware of, but for the few that aren’t, I’ll explain. I’ve been running the Halloween Countdown since 2003. The only Countdown that I fouled up was in 2007, owing to real l

I woke up at 4AM. By 5, me and Jay from The Sexy Armpit were on the road. Exhausted and delirious, we drove in darkness, finally reaching our destination around 90 minutes later. This was a big day! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Yes, THE GHOSTBUSTERS DONUTS HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED AT KRIS

Okay, it’s Saturday night and none of you are here, but I’m already panicking about how close we are Halloween. A scant 48000 hours away! I don’t want to miss the chance to get even one more horrifying thing posted before the big day, so here I am. I’m so lonely. Here’s another

For their next seasonal offering, Nabisco is going there. Hey, everything else has a “pumpkin spice” edition, so why not Oreo cookies? In tonight’s video, I review and eat several Pumpkin Spice Oreos. It’s exactly as exciting as it sounds. I wasn’t kidding in the vid — this

Back in 1991, Doritos and Pepsi teamed to give away cash prizes in a special Halloween promotion. It was called Monster Match For Monster Money, and for a short time, it was the best thing on the planet. On specially marked packages of Doritos and Pepsi, we got game pieces that could’

Before I get to today’s delicious news, I’m happy to announce that Dino Drac’s Halloween Funpacks have finally been unveiled! October’s Funpack has a whole lotta Freddy Krueger, a new Ugly Mini Poster, a new specimen, an adorable Mordle, and more! Thanks to all subscribers, new an

New from Charms, get a load of these Candy Corn Blow Pops! Please don’t continue reading until you’ve gotten a sufficient load of these Candy Corn Blow Pops. I’m no big fan of candy corn, but time has dulled burning hatred into a more casual apathy. “Oh, it’s candy corn. Not

You should steal that image and put it on a t-shirt. Then, when you’re out in public, pretend that walking really hurts. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for us to talk about MONSTER BALLS. I’d wanted to write about these for over ten years, but the eBay prices were always too dissua