What Halloween Means To Me Day 9: Maynard Morrissey

 

 Today the countdown is going international as we join Maynard Morrissey in Austria...NOT AUSTRALIA! Maynard is one of the most active and tireless reviewers on the scene.  He writes the excellent blog Maynard Morrissey’s Horror Movie Diary (HERE).  I’m a long time reader of his, and over the summer he proved to have impeccable taste when he chose Son of Celluloid as July’s Horror Blog of the Month.  As much as I like Maynard, though, I’m not gonna lie…his countdown entry makes me sad.  Ont thing I’ve learned through putting this event together that I didn’t know previously is that Halloween is largely an American thing.  Apparently in Austria, it’s a minor holiday.  No big deal.  I can’t imagine that.  It’s a longstanding thing in Christmas programming to portray “A Year/Town/World Without Christmas” as the worst thing that could possibly happen.  To me, Halloween not being the main holiday of the year is unthinkable. I will say, however, that him sending the pictures under the file name "crapoween" made me laugh pretty hard. Thank Cthulhu there are enough horror flicks that exude Halloween spirit to keep it alive worldwide.  Maynard, I do hope you get to come experience Halloween in the US one of these days.  Swing by Atlanta and I’ll personally show you what Halloween is all about. 

"My blog buddy Nathan said to me that he is "very interested in finding out what Halloween is like in Austria" - and I have to disappoint him, because there is basically NO REAL HALLOWEEN in Austria, at least not the traditional Halloween. We have the carnival-like "FASCHING" in February and the "PERCHTEN PROCESSIONS" in December - that's it.

 

Um... ok, I admit that's not quite right. There IS some kinda Halloween, a variation of that awesome holiday that has become increasingly popular here in Europe since the early 90s, even here in Austria - but it's not the Halloween you know. It's wrong. It's fake. It's a purely commercial holiday. It's stores full of plastic pumpkins and tacky horror-merchandise. It's badly decorated pubs doing "Halloween parties" where hardly anyone appears as dressed. It's unsuccessful trick-or-treating because adults aren't interested in giving sweets to "roaming kids".

 It's crap.

So, what does Halloween mean to me? Well... not much. For me, Halloween is John Carpenter. It’s Michael Myers. It’s Night Of The Demons. It’s Trick R Treat. It’s countless other movies where I get to see people dressing up and partying the shit out of themselves.

One day soon, I'll have enough money to spend a looong holiday in the States, and then I will finally experience the real Halloween - but until then, I fetch out my cheap but gorgeous little pottery-pumpkin, put a candle into it, and place it onto my doorstep. Oh, and I buy some sweets because there's always two or three trick-or-treaters who try to score some candy, and I want them to succeed."

18 days ‘til Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.  18 days ‘til Halloween, Silver Shamrock.