Classic Creepy Commercials, Volume 16!
The return of the Halloween Countdown means that I get to dust off one of my favorite recurring Dino Drac features: Classic Creepy Commercials!
Since I’ve now covered well over 100 spooky commercials, the pickings are slim and I’ll need to get creative. So like, my apologies to those offended by me pitching a sneaker commercial as “creepy” just because it makes liberal use of fake fog.
Tales from the Darkside WPIX Promo! (1986)
By now you must realize that I will never shut up about Tales from the Darkside, my favorite horror anthology series.
I’ve mostly given up on trying to turn TFTD virgins into fans, since the show will never hit as hard if you didn’t grow up on it. For maximum effect, you need those childhood memories of lying awake past your bedtime and enduring that creepy theme as a sort of wicked lullaby.
This promo is extra special to me, since I used to watch Tales from the Darkside on WPIX in that exact 11PM time slot. (Maybe not in 1986, but certainly a few years later.) Read More…
Madd Matt returns with more Halloween garbage.
I wasn’t expecting to finish this tonight, but thank God I did, because the idea of having to sell a Madd Matt video early in the morning was making me sick.
In MM’s second video for the 2017 Halloween season, he’s reviewing another bag of random Halloween junk. Seems like that’s all he ever does anymore.
It’s an insane mix of vintage items and cool new stuff. I think there may even be a brief cameo by Little Debbie’s Pumpkin Delights. Down below are some teasers:
Enjoy.
I’ve taken two showers and my eyes are still black.
I suffer for you, always.
’80s and ’90s Halloween Photo Album!
We remember yesteryear’s Halloweens in dribs and drabs, and then we fill in the blanks with rosy idealizations. Generalities become specificities, and the line between “kinda happened” and “really happened” is blurry AF.
It’s that way with all matters of nostalgia, so when I find something that “archives” the past in a raw and unfiltered way, it can be pretty mind-blowing. (Consider the difference between watching a Toys “R” Us commercial from 1988 and watching actual footage shot in a 1988 Toys “R” Us store.)
That’s why this article is so important to me:
See if you can spot Pikachu!
Longtime readers know about my strange habit of buying old candid photos from eBay. Well, one seller had a metric ton of Halloween-themed photos, and she graciously permitted me to use them here.
Some of them are from the very early ‘80s. Others are from the late ‘90s. They were taken by families from all across the country. Nearly all of them were shot on October 31st.
The devil is in the details. It’s cool to look at old costumes and remember what was popular, but if you really study these, you’ll be reminded of sooo many Halloween “intricacies” that are rarely mentioned today… even by people like me.
I’m going to present them without much comment, since they speak for themselves. Enjoy them and absorb them, because I promise that there isn’t much else that could capture the essence of old Halloweens better than this photoset: Read More…
Frosted Chocolate Fudge Halloween Pop-Tarts!
So let’s talk about Pop-Tarts. Let’s talk about Pop-Tarts for the whole day.
New for the 2017 Halloween season, get a load of Frosted Chocolate Fudge Printed Fun Pop-Tarts!
We get new fall-themed Pop-Tart flavors pretty regularly, but this is the first time in a long time that Kellogg’s went all-in on a proper spooky theme. Just look at that box! They even used the first typeface that comes up when you search for Halloween fonts.
These join the preexisting Pumpkin Pie and Caramel Apple flavors, meaning that there are currently THREE options for people who only bother with Pop-Tarts when there are bats and goblins involved. Read More…