Halloween and bad behavior seem to go hand in hand. It's the season to be a little naughty, and what would a Halloween party be without the booze.
I have a couple of go to's that are easy, fast (well... some of them), and delicious. I try to rate how strong each drink can be as well as difficulty. All of these drinks or easy but some are more time consuming than others, which can be annoying when you want to get back to the party. But if you're looking to impress your friends, here's some drinks you should consider making.
Liquid Hot Tamales
Sweet spicy and full of cinnamon
Drink Strength: 3 / 5
Drink Difficulty: 1 / 5
Ingredients
2 parts FireBall Whiskey
3 Parts Dr. Pepper
A splash or two of Amaretto
Ice
Hot Tamales Candy(optional)
Red sugar (optional)
This drink actually tastes just like the candy. And it only takes a second to make. Pour in the 2 parts over ice in a lowball glass with ice.
Or if you really want to get facny. Have them chilled and poured into a martini glass wwith a few hot tamales dropped in the bottom, more for look than taste.
If you want to get really, really, fancy you can put some red or orange sugar around the rim.
Bloody Brain/Alien Brain Shot
A very sweet shot, take the whole thing, don't sip it.
Drink Strength: 2 / 5
Drink Difficulty : 4 / 5
Ingredients
1 part Lime Juice
1 part Vodka
Splash of Irish Cream
3 - 4 drops of Grenadine
This one can be annoying because you have to be careful with the grenadine and Irish Cream if you want the right effect. Mix the lime and vodka juice and put it in a clear shot glass. Add it the Irish Cream slowly with a spoon or a straw. Idealy you want it to sit at the top and not mix with the drink. It should curdle and look like a tiny little brain. Then drop a few droplets of grenadine over on the top of it to give it that bloody look. You can add different color things to give it different looks Some add Blue Curacao to or Medori to give it that alien look.
Gently adding the Irish Cream so it doesn't mix is the worst part. You have to do it slowly and if lots of people want shots then this can become a whole ordeal.
Being a good host sucks sometimes....
Bubbly Witch's Brew
I had to steal this picture. Didn't have time to make this one
Drink Strength: 2/5 to 3/5 depending on how much alchohol you add
Drink Difficulty: 5/5
Ingredients
1 package lime jello
2 cups boiling water
3 cups chilled juice (Pineapple, or light colored cocktail juice)
1.5 cups of peeled grapes
1 bottle of champagne
2 cups vodka or rum or both
2 shots of 151 or another overproof rum.
Dry Ice
This is an old classic. Basically green jungle juice and some dry ice. Nothing too special. Personally I like to add peeled grapes because they really seem like eyeballs. First do the Jello in a bowl. Boil the water and add the mix. After that's done you can add the juice, grapes and your choice of liquor. The Jello will give it the green color you want. It also makes it thicker in consistency so it bubbles up more. Not to long before the party pour in the whole bottle of champagne. Then as people begin to arrive break off bits of the dry ice and stick them into the bowl. For best results with the dry ice the drink shouldn't be ice cold. It will mist quicker if the stuff is only cool or even room temperature. And don't stick in too large a piece as it can actually freeze your drink instead of misting.
If you run into trouble with the mist I always advise adding some more liquor from off the shelf. The warmth of if should cause the dry ice to mist again.
This one take some time so be sure to start preparing it a good hour or so before people start coming over.
The Devil's Backbone
Root Beer with a nice smokey oak flavor. A you'll have to practice to get the right levels
Drink Strength 3.5/5
Drink Difficulty 1/5
Ingredients
Ice
4 parts root beer
1 part 151 overproof Rum
151 is some strong shit. So strong I thought it only worked in really large drinks because it's has such a strong bite. However I've found that root beer is so sugary and has such a strong taste that it can actually allow the flavor of the 151 but it masks the bite of it. A fact that makes this drink really really dangerous. It's pretty easy to have a few pretty quickly, and that can get you mighty drunk very fast. So take it easy with these.
With that being said please drink responsibly and I hope all of you have a safe and fun Halloween!!!
No I'm not done talking about it. Because I love this season! I think that a powerful movie opening can really set your film up for greatness. However tons of people do lists of greatest movie openings. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the Lion King, and the Godfather being some of my favorites.
However since it's the season of the witch, I thought it would be more fun to look specifically at horror movies. However, I found that tons of websites have done that already as well. So instead of focusing on the amazing intro sequence to Jaws or Scream or The Ring. I want to focus on intro's so good they actually trump the rest of the film. I'm talking about Horror movie intros that are so well done, the movie basically blows its load right at the start of the film.
Darkness Falls
Easily the weakest film on this list. Darkness Falls was a horror movie that was basically about a demented tooth fairy.
No, Not this one.
It sounds silly but it does a good job of playing on childhood fears. Basically this ghost/demon/creature comes into your room on the night you lose your last baby tooth. This creature hates the light so it waits in the darkest corner of your room. If you're asleep she won't bother you. But if you're awakened by her raspy breathing, then you'd better hide under the covers and shut your eye's tight. Because if you look at her, even for a second, she kills you on the spot. Even if you're fast enough to turn on the lights before she reaches you you're still screwed. You see, she never forgets and will wait for you in the dark until she has the opportunity to kill you again.
The movie starts off with a creepy backstory about this woman who loved to act as the tooth fairy and give children money for their baby teeth.
She was horribly burned and was basically allergic to the light. So, she stayed cloaked and wore a porcelain Mask so no one would ever look upon her horribly scarred face.
Aside from the fact that no kid would ever hang around an old lady with that fucking creepy ass mask on, it's a cool intro story. After you find out how she was tragically killed you understand why she haunts this town. The story begins with our hero loosing his last tooth. After a retelling of the story he goes to bed and is visited by the ghost. I don't want to spoil the whole sequence but we get to see how deadly and powerful this spirit is. And how pissed she gets when anyone looks at her. It's creepy, scary and fun all at once. I remember this intro really stood out to me as fantastic.
Unfortunately, the rest of the film is a paint by numbers horror movie full of cliches and stupid fucking characters. It does nothing new or special and it quickly destroys all of that goodwill created by the intro to the movie.
Honestly if this was a short film and only 15 minutes long, I'd say "Look out for this director" or "what an amazing short film, I can't wait to see what they do next." But nope, they follow up a truly creepy opening with a lackluster film that leaves you bored around the halfway mark.
It should have ended after this amazing shot. They boy hides himself in the bathroom with the light on. The thing breaks open the door and shrieks in pain as the light hits it. As the camera pans back from him hiding in the tub you see the creature right above the doorway. Just waiting there, hoping that the kid is foolish enough to get close enough to the bathroom door so it can grab him and drag him off screaming into the darkness. Friday the 13th Remake
I have my issues with the Friday the 13th remake but it has it's moments. I wasn't really a fan of the way that the kills were pretty boring. And interesting kills are pretty vital to a slasher film. Also the way the white characters kinda just abandon both token minority characters at the same time without a thought. Maybe they were trying to say something profound about race relations but it really seemed like they just straight up ditched them and didn't really seem to give a shit afterward and it's never addressed again in the movie.
But the intro to the film was fantastic. So most people don't know, Jason didn't get his signature look till about the 3rd movie. The first movie didn't have Jason at all. The second movie he was wearing a potato sack on his head. Seriously a fucking potato sack.
The third movie he finally gets his Hockey Mask and Jason's iconic look is complete. The intro to this movie basically runs through the first two movies to get to the third. It starts with Jason's mother having already done her massacre a long time ago. One by one he takes out both kids who are having sex, and others doing drugs. But it's the way he kills that's so effective. he does it quickly and mercilessly. You barely see him it's almost like the forest itself is killing the kids.
The kills are so brutal and so quick its just an awesome scene. Also, he doesn't just come through and stab everyone, which is what he does the rest of the film. The variety of kills and just the pure energy of the scene make it seem like it was filmed by someone other that the guy who did the rest of the movie.
Evil Dead Remake
I love the original series. And I thought the remake was really well done. I loved the horrific practical effects that they used. The only thing negative I can really say about the film is the absence of Bruce Campbell.
Groovy
But while the movie was really well done. That intro was everything I loved about the original movies. It starts off with what looks like it's going to be a nasty human sacrifice with this poor girl crying and begging for her life. I don't want to spoil what happens next but it is disgusting, bloody, awesome, even funny, and it totally sets you up for what sort of film you're watching. I highly recommend you check it out.
28 Weeks Later
I actually liked 28 weeks later quite a bit. It wasn't amazing like 28 days later, but 28 weeks later does provide us with one of the best openings to any horror film. In this sequel we start off after the plague is in full effect and people are hiding in their homes, hoping none of the infected find them. Remember these aren't zombies, these are fully mobile, fast moving, infected. Teeth gnashing and nails scratching. You don't want to fuck with these guys.
You notice the little bit of normalcy these people having making dinner, living in a house with all the windows and cracks blocked off so their's no chance of one of the monsters seeing them. You also hear the fear when they think they hear a person outside.
What's crazy is how in just a few minutes you feel that these people are totally secure in their home and that they are safe. All it takes is for one person to look out through a tiny crack and get spotted. A whole horde of them break the house into splinters and send everyone running for their life. It's such a tense and terrifying sequence that it's impossible to watch without your heartrate being jacked up by the end of it. You can feel the terror, and it's bad enough that you can understand how it could make a man abandon his family as pure panic take over his system.
It's just a great sequence to see, and the music is perfect. It's so unnerving every time I watch I can feel my heart rate rising. While I don't think the rest of the movie is bad, but this is easily the most memorable part of the whole film.
Halloween!!! It's absolutely my second favorite holiday of the year. I'm kind of a horror movie junkie and this holiday is just so much fun! I was
thinking about writing something other that the standard top scary movie thing,
and I decided on my favorite horror themes.
Let’s face it, like many genres, the music can make or break
a movie. The music, or lack thereof, sets the mood and can be the scariest part
of the entire experience. Music in movies should the invisible hand guiding the
suspense or tension for what’s happening on screen. It shouldn’t be overbearing
otherwise it can make the film seem cheesy. So here are my favorite horror film
scores and themes of all time.
Halloween
The Michael Myers theme is as much a staple of the season as
the Halloween movie is a staple of the season. Halloween the movie isn’t only
the quintessential slasher film, it’s theme music stands as a standard.I love light notes that seem to be cursed
with the foreboding heavy notes on the piano. It always reminded me of how much
of an unstoppable force Michael Myers can be.
The slasher who gave birth to all other shashers
You may be faster, you may out
run him but he always catches up. His slower more oppressive force overpowers
you. It’s such an influential theme that I’ve heard people claim that all other
horror themes are variations of this tune. Now Holloween is not the first slasher film. It's predated by both Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Black Christmas. But this was the film that introduced most people to the modern day slasher. In more ways that one, John
Carpenter’s Halloween is a staple and the pinnacle of the horror Genre.
Child’s Play 1 and 2
Anyone can tell you that I’m a huge fan of the Chucky
character. The Chucky movies do as many slashers do, getting sillier and more
for laughs as the sequels begin to stack up. However, while the original had
it’s moments of dark humor, it had a very creepy tone to it.
The theme reflects
that perfectly. It’s sad chorus of children singing is just eerie and somewhat
depressing. The only time the theme played in the movie was during the credits.
It’s was such a dark ending to what was creepy yet really fun movie.
Child’s Play 2 however took it’s campy elements and put them
over the top. The theme is very clown or circus like. Yet there is something
there that makes it seem off. The reason is, this is a very unhappy song, played by
comical instruments. Just imagine this same tune played with a violin or piano.
The music is sad, but because it’s played with light and happy instruments with
the toots of horns, it sounds like your at some depraved carnival. That was
really perfect for this movie. Chucky is a cute little children’s doll, yet he
curses, murders, and commits all kinds of acts of wanton violence.
While the
first movie wanted the whole thing to be creepy, Child’s Play 2 wants it all to
be fun.
Poltergeist
Wanna hear something unsettling. Skip to 3:05.
Why is it that a chorus of children singing can be so scary?
If
you’re a child of 90’s or 80’s like me, this movie was probably the first scary
movie you ever saw as a child. The movie is a masterpiece directed by Tobe Hooper....
but as most
people know it was really directed by Steven Spielberg,.
Before the jump scares of modern horror movies, (not that I mind
jump scares, I think the things that first few Blume House pictures did are amazing)
horror flicks had characters and story.
Most haunting of all is the way it ends. The
laughing is so incredibly unnerving; it feels like you’ve been listening to a
chorus of ghosts this whole time.
The Grudge
When the Grudge first came out it was the first film to really
freak me out in a long time. I remember watching it at home alone....
That was a mistake.
I love the presence that’s present in the theme for this
film. The light notes almost dancing around the darker evil. Similar to the way
Kayako torments her victims before killing them.
The theme is exactly what it
should be, haunting and eerie. These ghosts could just take you out right away, but they don't. Instead they choose to follow and torture you as you freak out when you see them. They're a black mark of death, following wherever you go.
The way the tune loops just reminds me of how these spirits, though hateful are themselves forced to relive their deaths and their last moments of despair. And they share that despair with anyone who crosses their paths.
The song is sort of a warning. Because once you're marked you're basically fucked. Seriously, one of the things we learned from the movie is that once these things decide to haunt you there is NOTHING you can do. You are forever cursed and whenever they decide to put you our of your misery they will come. So the song in a way is a warning before you enter the house. A warning to people that this house is forsaken and
you should stay away unless you wish to invoke the wrath of ....
Okay that’s enough of that!!! Scroll Down, this is freaking me out!!!
Okay safe... Next up is....
Insidious
I’ve mentioned before that this is one of the creepiest
themes ever. I’ve never been as unnerved as I am when I hear the way they
torture violins to get that screeching sound. Skip ahead to about 2:28 in the theme to hear what I'm talking about.
Of all the themes on this list, I’d
guess that if I were locked inside of a pitch black room and I had to listen to
this on repeat then I would go insane the quickest.
Either that or I’d will myself to die
from fear. I love that this actually sounds otherworldly It’s a perfect
description of the nether. A place absent of hope and filled with despair. The theme perfectly creates the sounds you'd expect to hear from a place like hell or any sort of purgatory.
It's frightening and it honestly creeps me out just to hear it. It's almost as if the walls and the air are wailing directly at you. As if you don't belong here. As if it knows that you're one of the living, walking amongst the dead.
Nightmare on Elm Street
This movie has certainly earned its name as a horror staple.
Freddy Kruger is one of the all time sickest villains with his signature claws
and the premise of a monster that literally haunts your dreams making him
inescapable.
But his horror theme is brilliant. It’s almost like you’re
dreaming when you listen to it. The notes playing seem to go in in one
direction then they nonsensically change. It’s sort of an ambiance more than
anything. And it perfectly sets up the world that Freddy lives it.
Actually if
you want a freaky haunted house, this is exactly the music you want playing
over the speakers. The sense of unease and the way that it’s impossible to tell
where the song is going is perfect.
One of the best horror movie themes ever!
The Ring--- Samara's Song
Very short but very cool. While the tune comes up throughout the film you actually hear very little of this song actually sung in the
movie. But when you do it’s absolutely perfect. It is a compilation of all the
things that went into the other songs on this list. It’s soft and haunting.
Samara eerily sings the words that are deceptively sinister. What’s works so
well is this song can be completely innocent and unassuming without the use of
heavier notes. It doesn't need to have a dark undertone to be creepy. The song itself and it's lyrics do that for it.
Maybe none of this wouldn't have happened if they put her on the track team
The sound of the lone girl singing is representative of the
story and the way that Samara was outcast and left alone to die.
It’s a horrifying
reveal at the end when you find out what happened to her and that makes her
song all the creepier. But it's only deceptively innocent. There's something malicious right under the surface which can't be seen until you look closer. Much like the characters in the film find out about Samara. She seems to be an innocent victim but there's actually something very evil inside.
The brilliance of this song is that it totally could be a
really nursery rhyme like Ring Around The Rosy. But listening to the last words
of the song “.... and then we all die...”
Don't Look!! Too late.... my bad.
It’s just perfectly done.
2001: A Space Odyssey
For my money this is probably the most unnerving and just plain creepy theme music I've ever heard. If fear of the unknown had a sound, this would be it. The mysterious Monolith. What does it mean? why it is here? what can it do? These are the questions this thing asks us. Every time this thing appears in the movie you hear this sound. It's truly unnerving, horrific at points, creepy, but most of all ... it's alien.
It's the unknown. This sound is the sound of approaching something that's completely uncharged ground. A place that human's have never gone and possibly a place that humans never should go.
It's not the psycho theme with the knife coming down. It's not the jaws theme of the looming shark in the distance. This is more or less just a theme that embodies fear. That's the best way I can describe it.
These Honorable Mentions are also great horror themes. They aren't necessarily worse that the ones listed above I just had less to say about them. =\
Jaws
Probably the ultimate theme of looming danger, that's silently stalking you.
Psycho
And the shower stabbing music. Much like the Insidious music this is the embodiment of the sound of sheer terror.
The Fog
The Exorcist
Bram Stoker's Dracula
And in my humble opinion the greatest music video ever
made....
