"White masked killer that thrills Yearley"

A historical summary of the most popular classic horror sagas of All Time! ‘Halloween”

By Tim Glanville

Halloween is a time for Dressing up in costumes, parties, group gatherings, pumpkin jack o lanterns and the traditional Horror movie marathon. Year after year it becomes a tradition and annual thing for many people to do on Halloween, watching Horror Movies. From Classics such as Phantom of the Opera, The wolfman, Dracula, Frankenstein, psycho and The Exorcise. They become a key aspect to the Holiday and meaning of Halloween. Today it’s a Tradition just beginning, with a new generation of Movie goers who see the classics that are frightening today as they were years ago.

One of the most popular horror classics of all time “Halloween” is surveyed to be the most watched horror movie series on Halloween. Beginning with the Release of the first Film in 1978 on Halloween of that year. Directed By Horror/ Sci Fi Producer John Carpenter, “Halloween” became an instant horror classic going on to gross the most money of any independent film ever. Staring Actress Jamie Lee Curtis and Veteran movie actor Donald Pleasance, the film had nothing but sure success for Horror. It lead to an Era of Slasher films that Rose in the 80’s. this Horror Genre was not seen since “Psycho”, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, and “Black Christmas” all films that came out before “Halloween.” With all the success of the first film it was continued on with the sequel “Halloween 2” in 1981 that Became another Classic in the series. Although the most recognized Horror film of the year was “An American Werewolf in London” that won the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Horror Film and an Academy Award for Makeup, “Halloween 2” still gained a lot of success. Unfortunately John Carpenter went on to do other films such as the thing and the Fog leaving the Michel Myers story abandon for almost 7 years. The series continued on with the release “Halloween 3 Season of the Witch” a year later. The Film became a negative impact on the movie series, having nothing to do with the story Line of the main Character Michael Myers. It brought Dislikes and Hates to Fans of “Halloween” and is not favored as the original movies. During the period of Halloweens absence, other horror films such as “Friday the 13^th”, “creep show” and “A nightmare on Elm Street” were in the spotlight of Horror with their significant success and marks on Horror film. Keeping similar elements of horror they made some of the most well known Horror classics alongside “Halloween.” In 1988 John Carpenters collaborator Mustapha Akkad brought back to life Michael Myers and the series continued on again with the Story of the Psychopathic killer in ”Halloween 4 the Return of Michael Myers.” The film Reunited Actor Donald Pleasance as the only original actor in the movie series. The film went onto gross out 5 million overall at the box office ranking 5^th in the series. The film got moderate critic feed back as there were some dislikes in the 4^th film, but the film kept some original elements seen in the first two films that gained it success. With its mustered success, Akaka quickly worked on the 5^th film “The Revenge of Michael Myers” that released a year later in 1989. The Film

Earned $5, 0093,485 in 1,495 theaters in The United States, but quickly fell from the box office with a mere 11,642,254 becoming one of the least successful “Halloween” films in the series. Most reviews to “Halloween 5” were good and bad, critics believed the rushed script, and irritating characters are the reason. The release of “Halloween 4” on video ran into the release of Halloween 5 in theaters confusing the viewers to understand the storyline of the sequels to the original film. The movie series continued on with “Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers” that released on September 29, 1995. Bringing in $7,308,529 during the opening weekend gross, being the first film in the series to beat “Halloween 2’s” opening weekend gross. The film went on to gross a total of $15,116,634 at the U.S. box office. On February 2 1995 “Halloween’s” long time actor Donald Pleasence Died at the age of 75 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France hospital from complications after heart valve replacement surgery. The film was dedicated to him in honor of his acting career in the “Halloween” Films. His dedication is seen in the end of the film. With the success gained, the return of Jamie Lee Curtis brought “Halloween 7 H20” that came out two years later even more success. The film was indeed another classic becoming the second highest grossing film in the Halloween series, just behind Rob Zombie’s remake of the first film grossing over $21 million at the box office. In 2002 “Halloween 8 Resurrection” came out with extremely poor reception only grossing in $12,292,121. The two original films were remade by horror director Rob Zombie that were slightly successful, but did not surpass the original films. For almost 30 years the “Halloween” saga has changed horror as well as the industry of independent films forever. As for director John Carpenter a small budget film became a success beyond one man’s wildest dreams, unexpectedly connected the world to traditions and rituals of Halloween past and yet changed the holiday to what it is today. Forever people will know one movie when it comes to mind with horror and that’s “Halloween” and the man Michael Meyers.

Costume Chaos

by Caitlyn Madore

Tired of the same traditional costumes used every year? Then, here are some unique and original ideas for you!





Monopoly Man - All you have to do for this easy costume is wear a black suit, top hat, cane, and mustache. An additional option if you really want to get into character is to decorate your hat and clothes with actual pieces from the monopoly game; money, houses, dice, and property cards.

Grape - For this costume you have to dress in all purple. Then blow up purple balloons and either pin or tap them to your clothes. It is that simple!

iPod - Decorate a cardboard box replicating the front of an iPod. Cut out a hole for your head in the middle of the click wheel and holes on either side of the box for your arms. You could even attach an iPod player and speakers to the top or inside of your “iPod” so that you can play music!

Banana Bunch - In order for this costume to be successful, you need to get together a small group of friends (4 -6 people). Each person dresses in all yellow and when you go out trick-or-treating, all you have to do is stay in a bunch.

If none of those ideas appeal to you, here are some other ideas; Mario and Luigi, Pac-man, Barbie and Ken, a Lego brick, the middle finger, a record disk, a Crayola crayon, or your favorite candy bar. Just remember that no matter the idea, as long you get into costume it will be a success.

Sweet Tooth Surprise

by Colleen Britain

When thinking about Halloween, people often think of the candy that is given out. Sometimes getting all the same candy can get a bit boring, so that’s why I tried to make a substitute to Halloween candy. Even though it is an alternative, it still has the classic component to Halloween: the candy. But instead it had the classic combination of salty and sweet. I made chocolate covered pretzels that are covered with bits of candy.

To make them all you have to do is crush up bits of your favorite candy, and melt some chocolate chips in a double boiler. I tried to find candy that has a filling, such as butterfingers, heath bars, and kit-kats. After everything was prepared I dipped the pretzels into the chocolate and then coated them with the bits of candy. Once all the chocolate and candy bits were used up, I put them in my fridge so the chocolate could harden. It was relatively easy, and the product was delicious.

When I brought them into class, they were a big hit. People said that the combination of sweet and salty made them the perfect alternative to eating a candy bar. The only suggestions were to add more candy bits, and maybe only dip half of the pretzel into the chocolate. So if this Halloween you are looking for something to do with all of your extra candy, try out this recipe and share it with your friends and family.