I’ve been going to the NYC Halloween parade for the past 4 years. This is my favorite part of Halloween and I look forward to it every year. Thousands of people dressed up in many different costumes, walking down 6th Ave. In addition to people walking, there are floats with music cranked up to 11, driving down the street. After the parade, the bars are overrun and people still gather in the streets, creating their own mini parade. I took pictures of the ghastly ghouls, sexy women and any other bizarre creature I saw. Enjoy!

Those proton packs are sweet!

This spider was suspended high on a building. Probably 10 ft. in diameter!

Blathering Blatherskite!

Looks like Steve Irwin survived.

There was an awesome Jagermeister float that was rockin’ out all night long.

This clever guy had built a pirate ship around a segway. 

The future vice-president? We will soon find out….

I bet this guy went home happy. Look at that grin!

Nope…nothing ambiguous about it.

Don’t ask me what the hell this thing is. Because I have no idea. I found it through a stock photography website, not on some punk’s myspace. That means a “professional” made it. God only knows what they were thinking when they made it and why it would be on a stock art site. Apparently they took some poor innocent child’s pic and photoshopped some creepy ass clown over her face.  

I’m going to have nightmares just knowing this picture exists.

Halloween is less then a week away and it’s finally time to carve my pumpkin! I usually wait to carve it about a week before Halloween. If it’s carved too early, it’ll dry up. After a carving, a pumpkin can last from a day to a week. You can help keep the pumpkin fresh by soaking it in water and/or coating the inside with vaseline. This takes too much effort, so I just carve it a week before Halloween. For this year’s pumpkin, I decided to carve the Headstone City logo.

I had bought the pumpkin about a month early. I found that the earlier I buy my pumpkin, the better selection I have. Wait until the last minute and you’ll be stuck with the leftover crap. In order to do the Headstone City logo, I knew I needed a nice sized pumpkin.  So I found this 45 lb. bad boy. 

This is by far the largest and greatest pumpkin I have ever carved. Even Charlie Brown would be envious! 

I made a template of the HSC logo and printed it out. I taped it to the pumpkin and began poking holes around the logo. These holes would be my guideline for carving. 

After the template had been traced, I dumped powder on the pumpkin. The powder is used to fill in the holes, so it’s easier to see the guide.

I began cutting around the outline I had made. At this point, the pumpkin looks like a mess. I also got to the point where I just wanted to be finished with it. 

2 gut-wrenching hours later, my HSC pumpkin is complete. I put some candles in it and now this overgrown gourd is ready to be showcased to upcoming trick-or-treaters.

My favorite part of pumpkin carving…….pumpkin seeds. 

Since we’re on the subjects of movies you thought would never be turned into a musical…..check this out. Universal Studios is planning a Creature from the Black Lagoon musical! That’s right. I said it.

The Creature is by far my favorite Universal Monster and one of the all-time greatest monster movies. But a musical? Seriously? This sounds pretty wild, but what’s the deal with the artwork? The creature giving a thumbs-up? And what’s with that cheshire grin he’s got goin’. Is this a full blown comedy or what? Whatever it is, it’s legit. Check out what Universal has to say about it: 

Press Release: 2 June 2008

“Drawn from Universal’s crypt of classic monsters and updated with spectacular Broadway production values and special effects, “Creature from the Black Lagoon—The Musical,” will rise, live, on stage at Universal Studios Hollywood beginning spring, 2009.

With state-of-the-art stagecraft, acrobatic choreography and hilarious, toe-tapping music, the Creature will be brought to life in a story based on the original screenplay, updated to emphasize the element of romance and just a bit of comic relief. Original new music and dazzling production numbers will keep the attraction contemporary and lively.

Audiences will be immersed in the ominous environment of the deepest Amazon, enveloped by the exotic sounds and scents of the jungle. And from the production’s first moments, they’ll be thrust into an unexpectedly outraegeous, strangely romantic, frequently melodic and often hilarious adventure as a monster classic is re-imagined for the 21st Century.

“Creature from the Black Lagoon—The Musical,” will be staged as an attraction within the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Admission will be included in the price of theme park tickets and annual passes.”

I wonder how they’re going to pull off the underwater scenes. Should be pretty interesting. Well, since this is the real deal, I guess I better get my plane tickets and book a hotel because I gotta see this thing. Come on, who doesn’t want to see the Creature “toe-tapping” across the stage? Besides, if it sucks, I can always shoot on over to ‘Islands of Adventure’ and go on the Spider-Man 3-D ride for the 100th time!

So I went to see The Toxic Avenger musical tonight. Hilarious! A must see! It’s currently playing at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ. If you’re from around the area, I highly recommend seeing it – even if you’re not into low-budget cult horror films from the 80’s. Unless you’re some disgruntled old lady who is opposed to younger generations, like the crone that sat in front of me. She didn’t even applaud, not even once! Old hag.

Anyway, The musical had more plot and dialogue than the actual movie, but still just as gut busting! The set design was basic which consisted of multiple toxic waste canisters stacked upon one another (see photo). The center canisters basically rotated in order to create different set designs. The cast included 2 females and 3 males in which they each played multiple characters. They all had great energy and obviously had a lot of fun doing the show. Fantastic writing, wonderful music and clever costumes helped make this an all around outrageously fun musical. The inside jokes about New Jersey were a nice tip of the hat to the audience. Loved the NJ Devils‘ wardrobe too.

I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to photograph the show, but I was planning on turning the flash off. I hoped I could get lucky and get some decent shots.  So, I snuck my camera into the theater and only got off one photo, before getting yelled at. I had to put my camera away, after that. Come on, they were threatening castration! Are we gonna split hairs here? So, I was only able to get shots before going in to the theater.

If you’ve been fortunate enough to see The Evil Dead musical, then you have to make your way to NJ to check out The Toxic Avenger musical. They are only running until Nov. 2. So hurry. I have no idea if they’ll add more shows or not. If you can’t make it to the show you can either live vicariously through me and/or visit their site at The Toxic Avenger Musical.

Can a mutant superhero find true love? Only in New Jersey. 

*Update: The show will be headed to NYC after the New Brunswick dates end.

The wait is over!! Headstone City has added 3 new horror t-shirt designs. We wanted to get the new designs out to you a lot sooner, but we ran into a few zombies along the way that impeded our campaign. In fact one of the shirts had debuted at the “Fangoria’s Weekend Of Horrors” convention in Secaucus NJ, way back in June. Because of a few delays we had to wait longer than anticipated. But what better time to release some new horror shirts then October? None! In fact we’re so excited about the greatest month of the year we’re slashing the price on one of our new designs. That’s right, “Oculus Ciliaris” t-shirt will be on sale for dirt cheap, until Halloween. So hurry and snatch one these bad boys at a kick-ass price!

Oculus Ciliaris (n): Humanoid creatures from the deepest regions of space. They are indigenous to the planet “Zonule of Zinn”. This world is located somewhere in the “Eyes Galaxies”, about 52 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The Oculus Ciliaris species are very interesting creatures and are similar to humans with one noticeable exception – a giant eyeball perched on their neck.

Cigarette Jones (n): Jack “Cigarette” Jones was an American gangster in NY City during the early 1920’s. He was known around town as “Cigarette” since he smoked 3 packs a day. At a very young age, Jones controlled his own criminal crew. Based in Manhattan, the crew only lasted from 1921-1925. In 1925, Jones was arrested and indicted for operating an illegal alcohol still and sentenced to 15 years. After serving 2 years, Jones and 2 inmates managed to escape the prison. While stealing guns and killing 5 prison guards, the trio made it past the inner guard towers. They eventually made it to the prison gate, but by that time, every available guard had them cornered. The bloodbath only lasted 15 minutes before all 3 inmates were killed. “Cigarette” Jones had been shot 18 times and was pronounced dead at the age of 28.

TV Casualty (n): An unknown evil force, which appears at random on television screens, causing insanity to those who witness it. This entity manifests itself as a human skull for reasons unknown. Once declared unsafe to themselves and the public, the victims(s) are put into psychiatric hospitals.  For some reason, patients begin drawing the “TV Casualty” image on anything they can. Many paint the image, others engrave it into walls and some have even carved into their own flesh.

I Brake For Zombies – Sticker: Let the world know that you are an advocate for zombies. When the dead take over the planet, they will pardon you because of your good willed nature toward their cannibalistic tendencies. Show your zombie pride and befriend the ranks of the undead. 

Since our inception into t-shirt printing, we have received many requests for stickers. So when we set out to make a sticker, we wanted something striking and something you haven’t seen before. Actually, our lead designer thought of the idea while driving in his car. He thought, “We need a sticker design that really shows who you are, what you’re about. Simplistic, yet thought-provoking. Sparse, yet eye-catching. Mysterious, yet comically-advancing.” You get the point. So order a sticker and slap it on your car before the zombies turn our planet into a world-wide-war-zone. *BONUS: Buy 2 or more t-shirts and get 1 or more stickers FREE!

All images/designs copyright (property) of Headstone City, LLC, 2006-09

Released during the summer of 2006, most assumed Monster House was “just another animated flick”. Fortunately, they were wrong. Monster House is an intelligent little film with a great script, clever humor and likeable characters. The film is extremely well written with fantastic visuals. The writers have taken a basic premise and created a loveable world around it. Directed by Gil Kenan, Monster House is about a living house with an evil disposition that torments the neighborhood kids. A kid who lives across the street and his friends are the only ones who can stop it. After his parents go out of town, DJ and his friend Chowder, recruit Jenny and attempt to unmask the truth behind the monstrous nature of the house. The kids try to tell the police and adults about the house, but who’s going to believe a group of kids? No one. With one day remaining before Halloween, the pre-teens decide to fight back and end the Monster House’s torments. 

The film is full of sharp-witted scenes. Early in the film, DJ and Chowder stay up all night spying on the house from DJ’s room. They never leave his room, not even to pee. They’ve been urinating in empty soda bottles throughout the duration of the stakeout. The next day Jenny is introduced and the two friends create a small rivalry to win over the pretty girl. This tension creates hilarious instances not to be missed. Each character brings something needed to the table. DJ is the leader and has the courage to do anything that is needed. Chowder is the over-weight, clumsy, comical side kick. Rounding out the trio is Jenny, who’s intelligence keeps the other two in check.

Throughout the film, secondary characters are introduced. Although they have minimal screen time each character is essential to the film. For these roles, the filmmakers were able to get some good voice work from established actors. Steve Buscemi plays the creepy old homeowner. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kevin James, Jason Lee and Jon Heder also lend their talents. Even Kathleen Turner has a small role. But her overweight animated character is a far cry from her hotter than hot Jessica Rabbit! One of the characters plays an old 8-bit style arcade game. It’s called “Thou Art Dead” and you can actually play it on the Monster House website. The scene during the movie is hilarious and the game is great!

Monster House is beautifully animated with vibrant colors and wonderful camera angles. The characters are animated by use of motion capture, similar to The Polar Express. But the humans are purposely cartoony looking, staying away from that creepy realness other films have attempted to overcome. The actual “Monster House” character is a frighteningly awesome design that has human-like qualities. The final climatic scene should not be missed.

I think we can all relate to a movie like this. As a kid there was always a creepy house on your block. I remember when I was a kid, my neighbors house looked like it was owned by the Manson family. The landscaping hadn’t been touched in ages. It also brings you back to your childhood, when you had zero priorities and no car insurance payments. Ah, those were the days. Anyway, this is a perfect Halloween movie for kids and adults. It’s also a good movie to own. It doesn’t get stale or boring on repeat viewings. Instead of watching Halloween 5 for the umpteenth time, get yourself a copy of Monster House, you won’t regret it.

4.5 Headstones out of 5