HORROR DADS GET THEIR SPOOK ON: THE 2012 HALLOWEEN TRIPLE-DIP SHOCKAPALOOZA!

Seems like it's been a long time coming, with lots of viewing prep time, not to mention costume coordinating, candy buying and reveling in (a little bit) cooler seasonal weather, but Halloween is less than a week away. And that means it's time for another summit meeting of the Horror Dads, six pals-- Richard Harland Smith, Paul Gaita, Jeff Allard, Nicholas McCarthy, Greg Ferrara and Yours Frightfully-- charged with bringing up kids in the proper atmosphere of the appreciation of the horror genre. This time we've pooled our thoughts and come up with the Halloween triple feature we'd program if we had a revival cinema at our disposal (or perhaps if we just decided to force a bunch of folks to come and watch three movies in our living rooms). Here's Richard to 'splain it all for you:

"It’s time to get our spook on...  To impose a sense of order on what might have turned into a maelstrom of free association, I further asked that the three features follow these stipulations:

1. Choose a “matinee” geared toward the kids.
2. Follow this with something seasonably appropriate, something classic.
3. End your evening of chills with something pitched at the horror lifers, the true believers. No punches pulled, no quarter given, fangs bared." 

And Richard has, as usual, done a brilliant job of making us look good by editing together an excellent post highlighting those choices, The Horror Dads 2012 Halloween Triple-Dip Shockapalooza, now playing over at TCM's consistently excellent Movie Morlocks blog. Richard's choice of photos to go along with the picks is great too, again as usual-- check out the juxtaposition of images from Greg's picks, Horror of Dracula and Altered States. And the one accompanying his top children's choice,  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (seen above) will sum up the season for you even if you have a legendary aversion to movie scares. All of the Dads suggestions are excellent and likely to send you scrambling to the far reaches of the video store shelves (remember those?) and the back alleys of the Internet to find these titles and watch 'em. Lots of good stuff unearthed from the wide, wonderful world of '70s TV movies this time around too, an arena that Nicholas acutely observes "sit(s) well with fans in my generation, not only since they were, for many of us, our first exposure to non-juvenile horror material, but also because they explore a fascinatingly different set of traditions as opposed to their big screen counterparts."

I'm so glad to have smart, groovy ghoulie pals like the Horror Dads and to be included in their company. Heed their call and check out these triple features for guaranteed Halloween chills!

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