Welcome back as we finish up our Top 10 Halloween TV specials list. If you missed 10-6 you can catch those right here! Now, on with the show!
5. Goosebumps: “Night of the Living Dummy”
Goosebumps, the
television adaptation of the immensely popular book series authored by R.L.
Stein., aired as part of the FOX Kids lineup from 1995-1998. Though it was the
lesser of the two popular horror anthologies during the 90’s the series still
managed to not only scare but genuinely entertain it’s audience. I would almost
go so far as to say J.K. Rowling owes a thank you to R.L. Stine (what is it
with authors and using their first two initials?) who was the first author to
have a rabid adolescent fan base for a book series with somewhat adult themes. The
television series regularly delivered faithful and effective adaptations of the
books, adding in the mood and atmosphere that only music and lighting can
bring. If you’ve been keeping up with the 30 Days of Halloween series this
month you’ll know that I have a bit of a problem with evil dolls coming to life.
That said, I guess it’s no surprise that the most memorable episode for me was
”Night of the Living Dummy” in which a young girl receives a ventriloquist dummy
just before some weird things begin happening around her house. Usually the
book surpasses the movie…or show in this case because your imagination turns
whatever you are reading into your own interpretation of how things would look,
we generally don’t like other people’s vision if we’ve already created our own.
This episode was an exception. While I’ve never been able to put exact words to
what made the TV show version of Slappy (the ventriloquist dummy) much more
creepy than the version I had in my head but I’m fairly certain it lies in the
eyes…something about those dead doll eyes completely disturbs me.
4. Are You Afraid of the Dark: “The Tale of the Twisted
Claw”
Staying with the horror anthology series’s geared toward
children Premiering in 1992 as one of the flagship shows of Nickelodeon’s
Saturday night show block, SNICK, Are You
Afraid of the Dark is yet another one of those earlier influences that
contributed to my love of the horror genre. The setup was that a group of kids
calling themselves “The Midnight Society” would meet around a campfire once a
week to tell a scary story, often times adaptations from established and well
known horror short stories and urban legends. Looking back now the show was
surprisingly effective at delivering scares considering that it was geared
toward pre-teens, the only real evidence of which can be found in each episodes
happy ending. The intro for this show is probably #2 on my list of creepiest
show intro’s, bested only by Tales from
the Crypt. You can see for yourself in the video below, it’s a montage of
super creepy imagery complete with an empty playground at night, a harlequin
clown in an attic and a rather disturbing clip of children laughing. If I’m
going to pick a favorite episode it’s got to be ”The Tale of the Twisted Claw”,
a take on the classic tale “The Monkey’s Paw” the basic storyline is that someone
finds a claw/hand/paw, in this case a group of kids Trick or Treating. The claw
starts with all digits outstretched and can grant the holder three wishes, with
each wish a finger retracts. The twist, of course, is that the wishes come true
in unintended and horrifying ways. Kind of like a live action explanation of
the old phrase “Be Careful What You Wish For”
3. Tales from the Crypt
Another horror anthology series, this time one that’s
targeted directly at an adult audience. Rather than rehashing my article from
yesterday I’ll just point you to my full write up here and include the series intro below which,
really, should be all you need to know.
4. It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Halloween doesn’t have to be all about being scared, the
Peanuts gallery proves this with their seasonal classic It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Maintaining the fun an
innocence of the cartoon and comic strip, the Great Pumpkin follows Charlie
Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang on Halloween night as they go trick or
treating and search for the mythical Great Pumpkin. I don’t want to step all
over Rocky’s write up which will be live tomorrow on the site, so I’ll just say
that, especially for family fun, Halloween is never complete until you have
watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie
Brown.
