2017’s Best Halloween Junk Food, Part 3!
This will likely be the final edition of 2017’s Best Halloween Junk Food, but that ain’t for lack of deserving snacks. This season may have been short on HUGE things, but the sheer volume of “pretty good” things was astounding.
Here are my five latest finds:
The Spider Donut!
Found at: Dunkin’ Donuts
Dunkin’ Donuts hit it out of the park this year, offering so many Halloween donuts that I’m struggling to even remember them all.
Their opus achievement, though, is the Spider Donut. Combining a donut with a Munchkin, Dunkin’ Donuts has created something that — depending on how blue you work — looks either like a spider riding a pool tube or a crowning baboon. It’s possibly the single greatest thing about the 2017 Halloween season.
Keep in mind, not every Dunkin’ Donuts carries the Spider Donut, and even the stores that do might not make them properly. Some forgo the Munchkin altogether, while even more neglect to add legs. I’ve seen at least a dozen Spider Donuts in person, and only rarely have they looked the way they’re supposed to.
GRADE: A+. This is Halloween. Read More…
1980s Candy in Killer Klowns!
If you’ve never seen Killer Klowns from Outer Space, fix that! The 1988 film is exactly as weird as the title suggests, but it’s also just a good little movie.
Those who have seen it may remember a minor scene wherein the Killer Klowns invaded a pharmacy. That’s why I’m here tonight…
This was shot in a legitimate pharmacy somewhere in California. I don’t doubt that the crew made some modifications, but even the most talented set dressers couldn’t “fake” a mom-and-pop pharmacy so perfectly. It had to be a real one.
The scene establishes the Klowns as aloof menaces, but it subtly offers something more: A rare glimpse of a genuine candy aisle from a late ‘80s drugstore!
Many of those candies are now out of production, and even the ones that are still around have had major package redesigns. Since there’s so little footage of 1980s candy aisles, this scene is secretly super important.
Below are five of my favorite fallen candies spotted in Killer Klowns from Outer Space: Read More…
Dino Drac’s Halloween Funpack!
With only two weeks left until Halloween, you’re (hopefully) trying to cram in as much spooky fun as possible. We’re now at the point where if you blink one too many times, October will be over!
LIMITED TIME! LIMITED QUANTITY! UNITED STATES ONLY!
But have no fear! With Dino Drac’s October Funpack, you’re guaranteed at least one solid night of macabre wonder, where you can lay on the couch and have a party-for-one. Consider this month’s Funpack Halloween in a box!
If you don’t know the drill, I run a monthly subscription box service. For as long as you stay subscribed, you’ll keep receiving new boxes of mostly-old collectibles and assorted fun stuff! The boxes are $25 a month (including shipping), and you can cancel at any time without penalty.
This month’s Funpack is super important for the site, as it helps offset the increased costs that go along with my increased productivity. So, on top of getting a neat box of retro-and-new nonsense, you’re helping to ensure that Dino Drac can continue doing what it does! Read More…
Spooky Cereals from Beyond the Grave!
I try to work one “retro cereal box” article into every Halloween Countdown, mainly for the excuse to spend more money on old cereal boxes. Help.
Ghostbusters II Cereal! (1989)
In one form or another, Ghostbusters Cereal remained on shelves from 1985 through 1991. It was a wildly impressive run for a tie-in cereal, since those usually last less than six months.
How did Ralston do it? Constant refreshes! For starters, after the cartoon series premiered in 1986, Ralston changed the title from Ghostbusters Cereal to The Real Ghostbusters Cereal. (Remember, by 1986, kids were way more into Cartoon Egon than Skin & Bones Egon.)
Years later, when Ghostbusters II was just about to hit theaters, Ralston capitalized on the hype with another name change, this time to Ghostbusters II Cereal.
(I’m crediting Ralston, but it was more likely Columbia’s idea, since Ghostbusters II was made with a younger audience in mind. You’ve heard of cradle-to-grave advertising? This was cereal-to-cinema.)
And that wasn’t even the last rebrand! Read More…