That's right. I said it. Though I love the concept of Halloween and dressing up is fun and all...as a costumer it feels like amateur night to me. Halloween is to costumer designers as St. Patty's Day is to alcoholics. All of my usual vintage clothing haunts are just filthy with college kids looking for 'hippie' costumes. The makeup stores are cluttered with girls buying giant hooker fake eyelashes and black lipstick. Yet come next week, these folks will just wad up their "gothic kitty cat" costume and throw it in the closet. Like a bad Catholic, they dabble in horror only once a year on this 'high holiday' of scariness. At Wildclaw, everyday is Halloween and since you are reading this blog so religiously, we assume the same is true for you.
So how do you keep Halloween and make it unholy all year round? Let us know!
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4 comments:
I still love Halloween, if only because for those 31 days in October, the rest of the world seems to "get" what the rest of us feverish fiends are into the 11 months of the year. Cable channels trot out classic horror flicks, "legit" newspapers like the New York Times take time out of their busy schedules to discuss the merits and demerits of frightastic good times, and long lost flicks suddenly find themselves released to the public via shiny silver discs.
I don't mind the seasonal aspect - after all, most folks couldn't handle keeping this level of enthusiasm for the dark and dreary up all year 'round. Only the strongest - such as those who support and populate WildClaw's stages and audiences - are up to the task. Thank the powers above and below that Chicago is one of those pockets in the universe with enough blood-loving, fear-swallowing freaks to keep the gory goodness alive and well in their hearts regardless of what the calendar says...
For those about to shock, we salute you.
AC
As an artist, I've always enjoyed illustrating "the fantastique", the darker, more lurid side of life. I'm attracted to the mystery, the shock value and the beauty of envisioning events and emotions outside of everyday life. So with WildClaw, I get to indulge that joy all year long by creating graphics designed to evoke the emotions you will fell when you come see our plays. He he.
I defend great horror movies as intellectual works of art any chance I get. I never let a good debate go to waste. Someone makes a sly dig at a great horror film: "It's campy, it's silly, it's etc." I speak up and get them to think about why they think that or why they may be dismissing it unjustly. I'm known especially to do this with The Ring, The Exorcist, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and RoboCop (not horror, but still unnecessarily slighted in terms of its quality).
People want to deny horror's power to examine the human psyche and our deepest fears. It;s an artform to be respected. I keep Halloween going all year round by prompting folks to THINK about Horror and engage in it, no matter the month.
I can completely understand your annoyance with the whole "horror posers" element of Halloween. Nothing frustrates me more than cute costumes, school boards banning "anything scary", and people who see it as nothing more than an excuse to put on an over-sized hat and act like an idiot in public. But, despite all this, there are still plenty of redeeming points. Lots of people do get it, like Aaron said, plenty of horrific stimulus to be found, abundant haunted houses, and all sorts of events you don't get most of the year.
As for keeping it all year long. Well, being a horror writer, I write and promote as many gruesome disturbing tales as possible! I particularly like giving my non-horror friends stories and telling them they're not creepy at all, just read it. Support the off season horror stuff as much as I can, and take every opportunity to dress up as a corpse as possible!
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