Annual Halloween Bash

Come one, come all to the Monster High Alumni Ball!

This Halloween (that's October 31st) the Mint Cookie will transform magically
into the haunted halls of Monster High! Ghoulia Yelps has organized the current
students and faculty to help host a ball for all the Monster High Alumni!

Punch and snacks will be offered, as well as something a little bit more
substantial. Must have protein to balance all the SUGAR!

When:
Starting around 5pm, head on over to the Mint Cookie in your best Monster High
finery.

What to wear: Trick or treaters are welcome to wear any costume they choose (as
are adults) but the adults are also challenged to try to dress to the theme.
Monster High is where all the classic monsters went to high school, so wear a
famous monster costume such as Dracula, Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde, The Mummy,
Frankenstein (OR the Monster), or any other classic (or classical) monster.
Bonus points for current students of Monster High, of course. Your Hostesses
will be dressed as Ghoulia Yelps (current student) and Medusa (Mother of current
student Deuce Gorgon.) Medusa likes to reminisce about the bad old days when
truly CLASSICAL monsters went to the school, so feel free to delight her with
harpies, kracken, satyrs, cyclopses, and the like.

What to bring: Feel free to bring your own Trick-Or-Treaters and cruise the
neighborhood; my neighbors go all out!
Bring some food for the pot luck, or bring candy for the trick-or-treat bucket
(or both!)
I also encourage additional decorations, in fact you can feel free to bring
those by any time before Halloween for the display.

How late does it go?
As I have cleared the rest of the week off, I'm game to go until past midnight.
However, I will probably give a warning around 9:30pm that all good little
monsters should be home and in bed. Feel free to stick around if you or your
little ones are able to stay up later, though.

What if I don't want to wear a costume?
Those who come to my house on Halloween must either arrive in the costume of
their choice or WEAR the costume of OUR choice. If you don't have a monster
costume, let me know in advance and I'll make sure to set aside some choice
pieces for you.

Will there be dolls there?
My spectacular collection of Barbie Halloween Dolls will be prominently on
display. Monster High Dolls will be used as part of the decorations. It is a
doll friendly house using a doll friendly theme, so YES dolls will be present.
Feel free to bring dolls of your own.
I will also have the Monsters game to play for entertainment, and the Monster
High mini webisodes up on the computer (or maybe the screen!)

Should I RSVP:
I love to know who is coming, but I don't require it for this party. You may
invite friends (or Fiends) to join in on the fun, too.

Scary Movie Favorites?

What's your favorite scary movie? Which Halloween Specials have you enjoyed in the past? What is your favorite halloween or monster-themed funny movie?

Here are some of my favorites to share with you:

These Movies Scared the Pants Off Of Me:
American Werewolf In London: Seriously, this shouldn't have scared me so badly, but I was a kid when it came on cable, and the ADS for this movie scared me stupid. I had nightmares about the best friend who haunted him. (Oddly, the werewolf parts didn't freak me out nearly as much.)
Michael Jackson's Thriller: I was all of eight or nine with this came out, and I had seen the Dancin' Zombie portion of the video at a party. I begged to watch it on MTV at home, and my mother let me. Of course, neither of us were prepared for the opening sequence where he changed into a were-beastie. This freaked me out something awful and I had to go hide in my room. This particular night, they were doing a marathon where they played "Thriller" then "The making of Thriller" and then the video again. Mom made me watch the "making of" video so I would understand how all the special effects worked and therefore not be as scared. This worked, mostly. In fact, to this day I tend toward engineer-brain when faced with Spooky Effects.
Of course, this doesn't always work. The Ring scared me half to death, and I spent a good portion of the film buried in my S.O.'s armpit. Since he's the one who startles more than I do, this was weird for both of us. He kept petting me and saying, "It's just a movie, don't be afraid" and I kept responding, "I KNOW it's a GODDAMNED movie. I KNOW what they're doing! I know what's CGI and what's not! AUGH!!!"
In fact, after that one, I couldn't take a shower by myself... because we were in a hotel room and unfamiliar surroundings. Oddly, after I got out of the shower and he said, "I might as well take one, too", he came and got me saying that I ought to keep him company while he showered. Mwa ha ha! Not just me!!
And then there's Vamp, which is FUNNY to me now, but was just past my boundaries when we watched it on Halloween when I was probably around 12 or so. (Loved the stripper bits, though. Still do.)

These movies crack me up and are fun to watch:
Hocus Pocus. OMG YOU GUYS!!! I love this so much, and it's so FUNNY and silly and great. The three witches are delightful, and of course I want to do the costumes, damn it. The thing has heart, and humor.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Well, duh. I mean, it's hilarious, and ridiculous, and it still chokes me up just a little when Frank dies.
Freddy. I love the Nightmare on Elm Street series, even when they jumped the shark and got really campy and weird. I also loved Freddy's Nightmares, a short-lived TV series reminiscent of "the twilight zone" and the like. Hosted by Freddy himself! I realize that for at least one person reading this, Freddy is your personal boogieman, but I've always loved him in the love-to-hate-your-favorite-villain kind of way.
Young Frankenstein: Dude. Must I say ANYTHING?
Dracula: Dead and loving it: Once again, the parody brush is very wide. If you missed this one, go back and watch it.

These movies are not funny, so much, but are good and scary and fun:
Candyman. OMG do I LOVE Tony Todd. This guy is seriously creepy and yet still sympathetic. This movie is wonderfully creepy and an interesting take on modern urban legends. Gorgeous.
Full Moon Productions: I just love their stuff. I ought to watch more of it, more of the time. There's stuff in their catalog that I haven't even seen yet (OOOO DOLLMASTER!!)
Pitch Black: Forget the sequels, this one is sufficiently awesome all by itself. SF masquerading as horror, or horror masquerading as SF? Which reminds me:
Aliens. Ok, Alien is awesome, and I have things I really like about all of the series, but with Aliens they really knocked it out of the park. Game over, man!
Predator: Best lead-up ever, and all of America was completely confused after the first 20 minutes. We all thought this was a revisit of Commando, but instead it's this SF/Horror/action/thriller/heywhatthehellisgoingon!!!>??? The actual Predator is completely awesome, and frankly he pushed my boundaries pretty hard when I saw the thing the first time. But I was so fascinated that I could not look away or miss any of the action. Predator 2 is every bit as good, btw. Look for surprise cameos (that weren't cameos).

These TV specials are special:
Actually, I'm a fan of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". I got a rock. (I've always kind of wanted to wear Charlie Brown's ghost costume for Halloween. A ghost covered with eyes? How spooky is that!?)
Monsters VS Aliens VS pumpkins: I only caught the end of it but HOLY COW was it awesome! Regaining the original voice talent helped considerably.

You know, I can remember watching and enjoying other Halloween themed specials but nothing else springs to mind.

The Classics:
I am a fan of faithful treatments of the old classic novels. Brahm Stoker's Dracula (Coppola) and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (Brannagh) are amazing and should be trotted out this time of year. (I'm not adverse to the old Universal B&W versions, either.) I also like Bride of Frankenstein.
Wolf: Ok, not really a classic, but it is an excellent modernization of the werewolf myth. And the cast is stellar, and up to the challenges. Om nom nom. (This may be the only time Jack Nicholson manages to approach "Sexy" in my opinion.)
The Fly: I love both the original and the more modern take on this. Mmm. Vincent Price. Mmm. Jeff Goldblum.

So there's my list. What's yours?