Once again, our annual festival of fright rises up from the primordial soup and blesses us with spooky fun and frivolity. For the next 31 days, the blog will feature nothing but the scariest, creepiest, the most Halloweeniest content possible. And you're going to love every minute of it! There will be cartoons, commercials, movies, TV episodes, music, and who knows what else!
Let's not forget that the Countdown doesn't exist in a vacuum. This is only of one of dozens of awesome sites participating in this event. Please visit the main Countdown to Halloween site for all of the wonderful participants, and visit each and every single one!
There's something even extra special at the main Countdown site this year. For the first time ever, there is Countdown to Halloween merchandise! You can buy this amazing Countdown to Halloween t-shirt, designed by Chad Savage, and what a great design it is! 100% of the proceeds will go to the organization Haunters Against Hate, which promotes LGBTQ+ appreciation and support among the Halloween community. Get this awesome shirt today!
I simply must pay respect to the event's coordinators, Michelle aka Naila Moon of Zombie Crossings and Dex of AEIOU And Sometimes Why, for keeping the event alive--or at least undead! The Countdown simply wouldn't exist without them. Thank you very much Michelle and Dex!
And now, without further ado, let the 2022 Countdown to Halloween begin!
Hello everyone! This is your yearly reminder that today is only 100 days until Halloween! Which also means it's only 69 days until the start of the Countdown to Halloween!
As slow as things may be at the blog the rest of the year, October here at Me and You is always bursting with Halloween goodness. And there's already so much amazing stuff to look forward to. Here are several awesome things coming our way this Halloween season!
First up, Twitter cereal news account Cerealously has determined that this year's Monster Cereals will be doing a promotion with art brand KAWS. I hadn't heard of KAWS until my son told me about them, but that isn't even the story. The real story: Fruit Brute is back! It hasn't been available since 2013, but it will make a grand appearance this Halloween season!
A multipack is reportedly already available at Sam's Club wholesale stores, but you can expect this year's Monster Cereals to start shipping everywhere this August.
In other Halloween cereal news, toy expert James Zahn has discovered a Halloween cereal out in the wild right now! It's this year's edition of Halloween Fruity Pebbles. July seems awfully early to make a Halloween cereal available in stores, but if you look for it at your local supermarket, good luck!
Here's a BIG announcement regarding Halloween music. Record label Craft Recordings is releasing the full soundtrack to the legendary TV special It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! The soundtrack was first released in 2018, but it was not well received by fans. That version of the soundtrack was comprised of pieces edited directly from the TV special along with sound effects and not the original master tapes, which had been considered lost to the ages. But the masters have now been found, including alternate takes not used in the special!
Craft will offer the soundtrack in severals formats; digital and streaming, CD, a 45-rpm vinyl record, a 33 and 1/3-rpm orange vinyl record shaped like a pumpkin, and a picture disc vinyl album with a unique splatter design, but that one has already sold out in pre-order.
But that's not all. A "single" from the album has already been made available digitally, an alternate take of "The Great Pumpkin Waltz." Listen below!
The soundtrack will drop on all music retail outlets on Friday, August 26th. For more information, click here, pre-order here, and look below!
And the Halloween hits just keep on comin'! September will ramp up the Halloween festivities with two new films, but featuring familiar faces. Rob Zombie's long-awaited Munsters film will appear on Blu-Ray, DVD, and digital on demand Tuesday, September 27th, with a Netflix debut later in the year (before Halloween I hope!). Here is the latest trailer!
On Friday, September 30th, the witch is back! Witches plural, that is. Hocus Pocus 2 flies into Disney+ with more treacherous trickery than before!
Folks, all of the above takes place before October even starts. And we STILL have more Halloween greatness to cover!
October will see the release of The Spirit Halloween Movie, a movie inspired by the number one Halloween costume and novelty retailer. In the movie, several teenagers enter a Spirit Halloween store on Halloween night as a prank, but the joke is on them. There is a ghost in the store possessing all of the animatronic figures and attacking the teens! If the kids don't escape, they'll become possessed too!
The movie stars Christopher Lloyd and Rachel Leigh Cook. There is no trailer yet, nor is there word on if the movie will be available in theaters or home video/streaming, but this sounds really cool!
Everyone's favorite homicial doll, Chucky, returns to SyFy and USA Network on Wednesday, October 5th! My son and I had a lot of fun with this series last season, and we're looking forward to to see what the little man does next!
Finally, the big one: Halloween Ends.
Yes, the final showdown between Laurie Strode and Michael Myers takes to theaters (and maybe Peacock) Friday, October 14th. I wasn't too thrilled with Halloween Kills last year, but if it's Michael Myers and Jamie Lee Curtis' Laurie Strode in a movie together, I have to see it! It doesn't get more Halloween than that!
Simply judging from this list alone, this upcoming Halloween season looks to be fantastic! But I'm sure there will be plenty more fun surprises we don't see coming. Brace yourself, folks, it's gonna be one spooky hayride.
Here we are--my final post in tribute to the 30th anniversary of Batman Begins!
We'll start off with a short interview Tim Burton did on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno promoting the film. Note how awkward Burton seems to feel during the interview; you can tell it's not his thing!
And today's main feature, a short "making of" film titled "Shadows of the Bat: Dark Side of the Knight." I assume this is a special feature made for a home video release.
And...that's it!
Thank you very much for joining me in this three-week salute to a huge '90s era film! It's hard to believe it's been three decades since its release. I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment below or on any of my articles.
Welcome back! We're in the home stretch of our Batman Returns 30th Anniversary Celebration! Just a couple more posts before we put the bat to bed!
Here we have coverage of the film's opening by a British media outlet. It features the film's premiere with many celebrities in attendance, a look at various merchandise associated with the movie, and lastly a feature on a live action Batman stunt show. It's a fun look at both the movie's release and the state of movie hype 30 years ago.
Enjoy!
P.S. Earlier today, I finally gave the movie a 30th anniversary screening. While I still have some issues, I enjoyed the rewatch more than I expected. It was fun!
My Batman Returns 30th Anniversary salute rolls on with a look at--and more importantly, listen to-- the song from the film's soundtrack, "Face to Face" by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
"Face to Face" has the distinction of being the only non-orchestral music featured in the movie; the rest of the soundtrack consisted solely of Danny Elfman's score. This is quite a departure from the first film in the series, which featured two soundtrack albums--the score by Elfman and a full song soundtrack by Prince. The two subsequent sequels, Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, both featured soundtracks with several tunes from different artists.
Yet Returns has merely this one song from Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song's gothic, slightly eerie sound fits perfectly with the film; in fact, it would fit well with ANY Tim Burton-directed film!
Enjoy! And please note that, despite my original plan to close my celebration of the movie this week, I will be extending it into next week as well! Batman Returns fans rejoice!
Finally, this Sunday, June 19th is the EXACT date of the 30th anniversary! Be sure to watch it in honor of the occasion at some point this weekend, whether on HBO Max or the home video format of your choice.
OK, now here's the song. Have a great weekend! Happy Father's Day!
Welcome to Week 2 of my salute to the 30th anniversary of Batman Returns! I'm getting a later start this week than originally planned, so I think I'm going to expand my celebration of the movie beyond my intended two-week window. That just means more Bat action for everyone!
Today I feature a 20-minute playthrough of the Batman Returns home video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment system (or at least an emulator of it). I didn't have this game nor did I have the Super Nintendo, so I'm afraid I have no experience with this game, but if you do, I'd love to read your comments below.
Here we are at the end of the first week of my celebration of the 30th anniversary of the release of Batman Returns!
I close out the week with interviews of Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Danny DeVito promoting the film. Hear their insight into their motivations and inspirations for their contributions.
I'll have more fun Batman Returns items for you next week. Have a great weekend!
