Happy Halloween 2026!

 

And that's a mummy wrap on my Countdown to Halloween!

With the big night on a Saturday this year, and everyone likely running around taking care of last-minute things, trick-or-treating, and partying, I figure most people won't be at their devices much tomorrow, so I thought it appropriate to close things out a day early.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who engages with this blog year in and year out! No blog writer wants to write a blog in a vacuum, so I'm very grateful for you readers out there. It makes me so happy to see others enjoy what I enjoy sharing. Thanks once again to Dex for organizing the Countdown again this year, and a hearty welcome back to Nalia Moon! Glad to see you back!

I want to take this opportunity to share with you a last few treats for your bag this year!

Here is this year's ghost cartoon from animator Louie Zong. Zong makes great cartoons all year, but every October, he features two "singing" ghosts in short music videos being adorable!

This year is the 60th anniversary of It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. As a ginormous Peanuts fan, I couldn't let the gang go unnoticed. This clip isn't from the special, but it does feature Snoopy and Woodstock on their own pumpkin patch adventure!

If you saw my welcome message at the beginning of the Countdown, you saw a funny video of Michael Myers providing his own musical score to his scenes in Halloween. This next video shows the making of that video. No AI was used; it was all green screen!

If you encounter a fuddy-duddy saying you're too old to celebrate Halloween, simply be like our dear friend Vincent Price and tell them to--well, be like Vincent!

And with that, I say--HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Walt Disney, "Hell's Bells" (1929)

 

I don't normally dip into the same well twice for material in a Countdown, but this is too good to hold onto until next year.

"Hell's Bells" is a very early cartoon produced by Walt Disney (not the first I've shared this year) and directed by Ub Iwerks depicting Hell and its various demons and monsters--but in a cute way!

I have to say, despite its all ages audience target, this is a pretty creepy cartoon! Spiders, dragons, even an evil cow! If I had seen this as a young child, I might have been scared by it all.

Enjoy! And stay tuned for my Countdown's finale this Friday (yes, I'm closing up shop a day early). 

Thanks!

Tales of Tomorrow, "Frankenstein" Starring Lon Chaney, Jr., ABC-TV, January 18, 1952

 

We're in the final week of Halloween season! Time to step on the gas!

Today I feature an episode of the forgotten TV series Tales of Tomorrow, which aired on ABC in the early 1950s, and consisted mostly of live depictions of classic thriller or science fiction stories. On January 18, 1952, the series featured a short adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, starring Lon Chaney Jr, as the titular monster. Chaney was no stranger to portraying classic monsters, of course, having been Universal's Wolf Man as well as Frarnkenstein's monster in Ghost of Frankenstein and Dracula in Son of Dracula. In this adaptation, the series stays a bit closer to the source material rather than Universal's version for legal reasons.

An interesting thing to note about this production: as it was being produced live on TV, Chaney erroneously thought this was only a dress rehearsal and not the live broadcast, so instead of smashing the sets as he was supposed to do as the monster, he simply picks the set pieces up--and puts them back down, thinking they're still needed for the future. It's only until later in the production that he starts smashing as a good monster should--and presumably after he's been told this is on live TV.

Enjoy below or on YouTube. Thanks!

Nocturna (1979)

 

It's Friday, it's a weekend in October, and that means a movie for the Halloween season.

But how about a groovy one?

Here is Nocturna, from 1979. Dracula (John Carradine) is having a hard go of it, and has to make ends meet my using his castle as a hotel (we've all been there). He is taken care of by his granddaughter Nocturna, who falls in love with a performer staying at the castle. She goes to see him in New York City, where she soon falls in love with the city's disco lifestyle as well.

Did you get all that?

It's love, it's comedy, it's disco, it's Brother Theodore! Shake your groove thing!

Unfortunately, YouTube doesn't allow embedding for this one, so check it out there directly at this link. You can check out the trailer for it below. Have a great weekend!

Halloween Music For Your Playlist

 

With us getting so close to the big night, you may be planning your Halloween party right now. What will you do for music? Here are a few suggestions for your playlist!

OK, maybe not those three. You can just enjoy those here at the blog. :)

Here's two that I want to highlight. Broken Peach is a vocal and rock band from Spain that records great covers of English-langauge rock and pop classics. Every year, they do a cover of a song in full Halloween makeup with choreography that they post on their socials, and they're always phenomenal. Here is this year's video, a mashup of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with a pinch of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me." Amazing! Check out their Web site here!

Finally, Alanis Morissette has released a brand-new version of the Donovan classic "Season of the Witch." It's being used as the theme music for the new horror series Yaga, premiering Friday, October 23rd on AMC+ in the US and on Crave in Canada. It's pretty cool! Check it out!

Thanks!

Laverne & Shirley, "Haunted House," ABC-TV, March 22, 1977

 

Welcome to Week 3 of the Countdown to Halloween. We're waist-deep in spookiness!

Believe it or not, so are the two protagonists of today's feature, Laverne & Shirley! In this episode that aired March 22, 1977 on ABC, the girls are in the market for a new couch for their apartment. They learn that a nearby house is selling its furniture for cheap! The problem is--the house might be haunted.

Don't you hate when that happens?

Enjoy below or on YouTube. And don't fast forward through the theme song; it's one of the greatest in television history.

Thanks!

Halloween On Ice, TNT Cable Network, October 8, 1995

 

Fridays at the Countdown mean long-form programs, and this week, it's the 1995 TV special Halloween On Ice!

In this special that aired on the TNT cable network on October 8, 1995, figure skating superstars Nancy Kerrigan, Todd Eldridge, Scott Hamilton, and more skate in full costume in outrageous Halloween performances. I wouldn't think of figure skating and Halloween going together, but this special is quite convincing! Plus, I've always appreciated figure skating; my mother is a huge fan and watched it frequently during my childhood.

This special must have been a success, as there were several others through the late '90s and even early 2000s.

Enjoy below or directly on YouTube here. Have a great weekend!