Friday, July 3, 2009

Day Late--haunted video review Thursday



Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America
Hosted by Daniel Roebuck and Bob Burns with Chuck Williams

I never saw this video when it came out the first time in 1997. I don't really know if it was either on television or in the theater although I suspect it was a television special. I still don't know who Chuck Williams is but I did recognize Bob Burns as the gorilla in the old Saturday morning show "Ghost Busters" and not the photon plasma packs one. What I do know is that it is a fun and informative romp through the Halloween season with interviews with such greats as Robert Englund (Freddy Kreuger), Alice Cooper (one of my favorites), Tom Savini (pioneer of makeup artistry) and a host of others recollecting their Halloween memories from their childhood. It starts out as a creature feature type setup in which Dr. Shocker, Igor and the gorilla host a pseudo horror show before the main event begins (which is corny but fun). Interspersed are tours of haunted attractions from around the country, some I have seen and some totally new to me, but all intriguing. This 2 disk set contains the main movie and a bonus features disk (to which I truthfully haven't gotten through yet, mainly because they just kind of sit around and talk about the first movie, the only thing I remember is that they all gained a little weight over 10 years).

Overall the movie is fun, a welcome diversion. There's no how-to's but there's a bunch of inspiration from other haunts and attractions featured and just good fun seeing your favorite murderers, sadists and demons in jeans and tee shirts talking about how they went trick or treating as a kid. Except for Alice Cooper, he was in full leather and makeup, which is fine with me because I wouldn't expect any less from him. It's a fun video, I'd recommend it if nothing else for the haunted houses that are featured.

2 comments:

ShellHawk said...

Sounds like fun! I'll have to find that one!

Thanks!

Chris 'Frog Queen' Davis said...

Thanks for reviewing this DVD. I really liked it. I have a friend that was the camera guy (a friend of Chuck, who by the way, I had no idea who he was either...much to the horror of said friend)on the second filming....just in case he reads this blog, I want to let him know I remember. :)

Anyway - It is good to see some of the haunts across the country (I wish they would have shown more.) I like the filiming inside the Magic Castle - someplace I am dying to see. There are some intersting things on the second disk...watch if you get a chance.

You did a great job telling it like it is on this one.

Cheers!