Halloween Season

I love Halloween. I love it as much as I hate the other holidays, which are really just around the corner. I love it because there are so few expectations.
"What are you doing for Halloween JoBeth?"
"Me and Johnny are dressing up as snake people and going to Billy Bob's Rib Hut for couples costume mud wrestling night, then we're gonna sneak off to the woods and smother each other in Crisco and roll in the grass until dawn!"
"Awesome!"

Let's visit a similar conversation about, oh, say, Thanksgiving.
"So, Bobby Sue, what are you doing for Thanksgiving?"
"Oh, I've been so busy lately, I'm just going to sit at home and read a book and enjoy the day off in front of the fire."
"Oh, no! You can't be alone on Thanksgiving, you simply must come to my cousin Stew's house. He'll have a great spread and later we'll all stand by the piano and sing Kingston Trio songs!"

We seem to allow Halloween to be open to interpretation. Whatever floats your boat, sicko... let your freak flag fly! My personal favorite thing about the whole season of Halloween is the the ubiquitous fright fests on the various basic cable channels. As I write, I am watching the very first Friday the 13th in all its horrifying B movie glory. The only thing scary about this movie are the performances by the actors. How many of you know that Kevin Bacon was in this movie? Well, now like, 5 of you do because I just told you.

But it does set the cannon and the tone for all the movies. Oddly, there are 12. One must assume a 13th is in the works, right? Believe it or not, there is a common narrative thread that was most fully sussed out the final (so far) movie. I won't get into it here, but you'll have to trust me. It's not all gore and sex. Although it is a lot gore and sex.

Then on Wednesday, the DVR is set to record part 1 of 2 of the inside story behind "A Nightmare on Elm Street." It's 2 hours and it's only part 1! That makes part 1 of the special 37 minutes longer than the actual movie upon which it is based. It's kind of like M*A*S*H* which was infinitely longer than the Korean war wherein it is set. I can't even imagine all the inside information I will learn in part 2.

Freddy Krueger, too has a pretty impressive back story. And the thing most people fail to realize is that the adults whose children are being terrorized by this guy aren't so sweet and innocent themselves. These aren't morality plays as such, but there is more to them than meets they eye.

But back to Halloween. Not the holiday, the movie! Jamie Lee Curtis at the peak of her adolescent boyhood, trying so hard to play the part of a girl stalked and terrorized by her older brother who is, according to his therapist and handler, played ably by a clearly and constantly drunk Donald Pleasance, pure evil.

Who can't identify with being bothered by your older brother or sister? These are archetypes, people! This isn't just mindless slashing. Well, o.k., it's also mindless slashing, but that has never been the draw for me.

Real life serial killers fascinate me as well. I read about them all the time. I am not allured by them, nor do I consider them idols, but I admit to being fascinated by the psychosis behind them and the differences between them. Who knows why we like what we do?

But, back to Halloween, the holiday, a celebration of the darker side of life where we allow even the children to fantasize themselves as princesses or ghouls, accountants or axe murderers. It is the typification of how I think we should live. Shine the light on the dark bits and they are not so scary. Hide them in the dark and they loom large in their invisibility like an elephant in the fridge.

This Halloween, take advantage. Let it all hang out and indulge in your darker sides, within reason of course. Purge your inner demons and laugh at them a little. It'll do you some good!