Welcome to Introductory Horror

It's officially Spooky Season!

This year I didn't see too many fall decorations in August. Most popped up in early to mid-September like they are supposed to. 

I am starting to see a few Christmas things...but let's ignore that holiday for now.

It's time for all things crisp, cool, and creepy. As many of you know, I am a horror writer and poet (as a hobby, not as a primary income). I am still working on that book of horror limericks, but that's a long ways away from hitting book store shelves. 

You guys might be surprised to learn that I wasn't always a huge horror fan. In fact, I was a bit horror movie shy as a kid. What I loved was the fall and Halloween aesthetic. I preferred spooky and creepy to scary and horrific.

I did not do well in the haunted house "mazes" Buschgardens and Kings Dominion had (and I still don't really like them now - talk about a sensory nightmare). 

But I loved child friendly Halloween themed events. I also loved shows like "Haunted History" and "Ghost Hunters". They had some spooky elements, but weren't really horror. 

My introduction to horror happened gradually with a few "oh I should not be watching this" moments sprinkled in. For example, when I was a young AJ, I loved spiders. I had tons of books on spiders and loved seeing them at the zoo or in nature (at a distance). That love ended when my dad let me watch Arachnophobia (1990) on TV with him when I was four. I wanted little to do with spiders after watching that movie. 

Now I can handle spiders just fine, unless they are on my physical person or show up on my bed.

Most horror that I can't consume is excessively violent and gory. I was recently asked what I thought was the scariest movie. I said it really depends on the person. I don't find movies like The Exorcist (1973) or The Fog (1980) scary, but I was absolutely freaked out by The Collector (2009) and I still haven't been able to finish it. 

If you'd like to introduce your young ones to the horror genre, I'd like to recommend a few movies, shows, books, and even a video game for you to consider. As always, parents and guardians should enjoy these recommendations with their kids.  

1. "So Weird" - I'm so glad Disney+ finally add this 1999-2000s show on it's streaming platform. While my parents had "The X-Files", I had "So Weird". It's about a girl interested in the paranormal while on the road traveling with her mom's band. Each episode is a different creature of the week with an overarching story line that sadly never gets resolved (some say Disney just wouldn't go where the creators wanted to take the show). It's definitely a precursor to "Supernatural". I'm currently rewatching it this spooky season. 

2. In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories - This one is definitely good for younger kids (recommended for Graders 1-3). The stories are based on old folk tales that were collected and retold by Alvin Schwartz with illustrations by Dirk Zimmer. It's a much less traumatizing book than Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. My grandmother and I would read In a Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories together. 

3. Boney-Legs - Speaking of spooky books my grandmother would share with me, Boney-Legs by Joanna Cole was my first time reading a "dark" fairy tale. Though the witch is never officially named, she lives in a house built on chicken feet and threatens to eat a young girl named Sasha. So I'm fairly confident that the witch is the Russian witch Baba Yaga. I'm not sure if this book is still in print, but it is a great read for little ones who are ready for a mild fright.

4. Disney Channel Original Halloween Movies - There are far too many Disney Channel original movies to recommend that are good introductory horror for kids. My personal favorites were Don't Look Under the Bed (yes, I know it traumatized a bunch of kids and that's why Disney Channel pulled it, but hey, it's on Disney+ now), Phantom of the Megaplex, Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire, and of course Halloweentown and Halloweentown 2: Kalabar's Revenge. All can be found on Disney+.

5. Tower of Terror (1997) - speaking of Disney TV movies (though this one wasn't a Disney Channel original), Tower of Terror premiered the same year I went to Disney World with my family. While I didn't enjoy the ride, I did enjoy the TV movie. I'm not sure if it's on Disney+, but YouTube sometimes has the full movie floating around (it's okay in quality). It stars Steve Guttenberg and young  Kirsten Dunst.

6. Hocus Pocus (1993) - I'd be remiss not to include the amazing Halloween classic Hocus Pocus. This movie has become synonymous with the spooky season and even takes place in Salem Massachusetts. I've been to a few of the filming locations. There are real stakes in this movie, but the witches are funny instead of terrifying. 

7. The Witches - speaking of witches Roald Dahl's classic tale is terrifying to kids. I remember my mom putting the cassette in for a road trip and my sibling and I asked her to turn it off after about 10 minutes. However, I do think it's a good book for kids looking for something scary, but not too scary.

8. The Goosebumps Series - R. L. Stein was a major part of my childhood. I read the books and watched the TV series. Some of the stories were silly and other were down right terrifying. My family's favorite was "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes" which we had on cassette for long car rides. To this day, none of us like gnomes. 

9. "Are You Afraid of the Dark" - this 1990s TV series was, in my opinion, better than Goosebumps. The stories were "told" by "kids" around a campfire at night. They always introduced the story with a theme and by throwing "magic powder" on the fire to make it pop. The stories almost always had a happy ending (unlike Goosebumps which could see a kid stuck as a rabbit for eternity or eaten by their neighbors). 

10. Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman (2000) - I love this movie. It just oozes fall vibes. Alvin and his brother are in a school play about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when Alvin gets banned from anything spooky due to nightmares...and blowing up the school auditorium with slime. His brother Theodor takes his place as the lead villain and possibly gets bitten by a werewolf while walking home after practice. There are plenty of classic literary and movie monster references that horror fans will catch (including an Elvira parody). There are fun songs to dance to in between the spooky scenes.

11. Disney's The Haunted Mansion (the ride) - Yes, I'm going to recommend The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland and Disney World. It was my first experience with the spooky side of life. My parent's loved reminding me that the very first time I rode the ride, I was perfectly fine until we reached the hitchhiking ghosts. I screamed my head off seeing a "ghost" sit next to me (I was also about one and a half). This experience may not be attainable for everyone, but if you do find yourself at either of the parks with a little kid, know that it's not too spooky. (Okay, yes, the ghost bride also really scared me as a kid, but that wasn’t until I got a little older).

12. Scooby Doo and the Witches Ghost (1999) - Year after year, my family returns to this Scooby Doo movie. There's a witch, who is also a ghost. It takes place in New England (spooky central in the United States for witches). Plus it the first appearance of the Hex Girls. Is it the best Scooby Doo animated movie, not really. That honor will probably always go to Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. However, it's not as intense as Zombie Island. I'd recommend this along with the regular Scooby Doo series, Scooby Doo meets the Boo Brothers (1987), and Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) as a good introduction to classic horror monsters.

13. Luigi's Mansion series- I did say there would be a video game on here. While there are many spooky games and non-horror games with spooky moments (I'm looking at you Donkey Kong Country with the piano level). Luigi's Mansion is great to play with kids around. It's extremely silly. Instead of fighting ghosts you get to vacuum them up. It's probably the best intro to horror video game I know. It's certainly better than having your kid play Doom which one of my parent's thought was perfectly fine for a nine year old to play.

So that's 13 spooky bits of media to introduce your kids to. As I don't have kids, this list is based off my childhood experiences and what I know from my friends and family with kids. I would have loved to have included Coraline (the movie and book), but I've been told that it's very scary for little ones ( at least according to my young cousin - I saw the movie and read the book when I was already in my 20s). 

What are some spooky stories that you introduced the children in your life too? What's one you grew up with that I didn't mention here? I know there are a lot more kids horror stories out there, but this list is fairly accurate to my childhood. 

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Now to go see why my cat has the zoomies. 

Welcome to the Odyssey

I know this is a few months after the fact, but I saw the "Odyssey" a couple of weeks ago. I chose to wait a while to see it in Imax at the Air and Space Smithsonian near Dulles. I liked seeing "big" movies on the Smithsonian Imax and I felt that that's how I should see Christopher Nolan's take on the story.

It was a vibe. 

I originally hadn't planned to see the movie. Yeah, I'd heard the discourse and saw tons of YouTube videos anticipating how "good" or "bad" the movie was going to be. I was indifferent. I'd read the epic in middle and high school (both as a reading assignment and for my own curiosity because I'm a nerd). I thought it was fine. I preferred the Wishbone episode "Homer, Sweet Homer" - which is indeed how I first learned about the story. 

There are parts of the "Odyssey" I really like. The action oriented parts of the story like the scene in the cave with the cyclops or when the ship must sail between Scylla and Charybdis. I was probably most familiar with the slaughter of the suitors, but I hated the part where the slave girls were hanged for "entertaining the suitors". I also didn't like that all of Odyssey's men died. I felt that was unfair because all they wanted to do was go home after ten years at war.

My opinions on the epic began to change when I started watching the YouTube channel Overly Sarcastic Productions. The hosts, Red and Blue, would do summaries of different famous literary works, history, and tropes. Their summary of the "Odyssey" came out about 11 years ago (has it really been that long?) and clearly Red really liked Odysseus. Her enthusiasm for the story and hero softened me on the epic and I wondered if part of the reason I hadn't enjoyed reading it originally was because of the translations I had.

Then, about a year and a half ago, I heard a song on one of my Broadway music channels. Athena was singing with several other gods and goddess to free Odysseus from Calypso. At first, I had mixed feelings on there even being a musical about the "Odyssey".

But the music was so catchy and good.

It turned out that this had been one guy's passion project that he had shared on TikTok. Through his social media, he was able to do auditions, make a recording, and eventually put together a semi-animated production (these were fan animations based on the songs and singers' looks). 

I fell completely in love with Epic the Musical. I listened to it on repeat while moving into my house. I kept hearing the songs in the back of my mind while watching the Christopher Nolan version. 

Is it a perfect adaptation of the epic? No, but it carries the spirit of the story as I understood from Red's summary. Finally, I began to understand why people loved this story and tell it over and over again.

I've seen other adaptations of the "Odyssey". Some are more fantastical, some goofy (like the episode of Arthur where D.W. is Odysseus), and some that I only realized were adaptations long after I'd seen them ("Oh Brother Where Art Thou"). 

I think Epic the Musical is my favorite (after the Wishbone episode of course). It takes a man who didn't lose a single soldier under his command during a ten year war and slowly breaks him down to the point where he doesn't recognize himself anymore. This version also is so loyal to his wife that he risks the wrath of a goddess when he spurs her advances. It even includes the scene where, as a final test, Penelope asks Odysseus to move their wedding bed and he tells her he can't because it's carved from the tree growing in their room.

I was disappointed that Nolan's version skipped this scene, but at least his included Argos. 

Of course I cried when Argos died. I always cry when animals die, but Argos really was the bestest boy. 

Like I said earlier, the Christopher Nolan film was a vibe. I really liked the music and the scene with Circe is some of the best body horror I've seen in a while. I was on the edge of my seat during the transformation. I liked the references to other myths like Actaeon and I liked his take on the gods. I understand that some people didn't like that the gods were more metaphorical than physical beings. I felt it was a unique take, even with witches, magic, cyclops, and giants being explicitly shown. 

Overall, I'd say Nolan's "Odyssey" is a good movie. I wouldn't want to see it in 4D or whatever special edition people were raving about, but seeing it in Imax was a treat. I've been listening to the soundtrack quite a bit. Agamemnon was a presence, even when presented as just a man. 

I don't think I need to see it again. 

The movie is flawed and carries a much more modern message about PTSD and our understanding of how empires fall. That's not a bad thing, but it's not Homer's Odyssey. But neither is Epic the Musical or Wishbone's version (which fits ten years of story into less than 30 minutes) Homer's Odyssey.

I've written about this in other posts, but stories are alive. They change with time. Before Disney made "Snow White", the Grimm brothers were editing collected versions from German story tellers, and before them the story was passed orally and branched out into different stories. Many of us are know the story with dwarves, but others grew up with versions that had thieves help the princess instead. Before Homer put the Odyssey to paper, it was sung. It was passed from generation to generation orally. Now we are passing the story through translations and new media that Homer couldn't have even imagined in his time. 

Like many old stories that are still being retold, people take what is most meaningful to them and hone in on that part. Some people might love it and others clutch their pearls and sneer that it's nothing like the original story.

I am still fairly indifferent to it. While I really liked watching it in Imax, I don't think I'd enjoy it as much at home on my TV. Part of my good experience was watching it with other people in the theater. The woman next to me was very excited to see it and I enjoyed listening to her react at different parts. 

You know, I don't think I actually had a thesis for this post. I just had feelings, feelings I wanted to sort out. I didn't want to get into the controversies or do a deep dive analysis. I kind of wanted to meditate on it. 

And that's okay.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week.