There was criticism and hesitation stirring while  railers and photos leaking out through social media, however you need to forget all that and remember the story—not the time. It makes sense to start this movie in the seventies. It was a wild and fun time and a great setting for a little humor.  Growing up in the seventies was a blast; crazy clothes, wild music, peace freaks. Who was the real freak in that decade? Probably not a vampire.

The undead had to adjust to society over time. Look at Interview with the Vampire. Louis had adjusted to his lonely, heart wrenching life over hundreds of years of change. Barnabas endures the same challenges. The story is solid and the effects are fantastic. I even got over the fact that a refined Barnabas never would have had his nails that long. Ewwww  This was purely for effect and you will understand why later.

The odd combination of talent from Michelle Pfeiffer to Helena Bonham Carter is the perfect combination of dysfunctional. The star power that Tim Burton draws is an asset to this film. Let’s not forget the special appearance of  Alice Cooper who rocks the Collins mansion with “No More Mr. Nice Guy”.  The soundtrack will put you in a groove or have you stamping your feet in the isle, which makes this a fun movie.

(Spoiler Alert)

I did have  high expectations for a grand entrance of the Collins family of the original Dark Shadows series. They must have had to cut the film. The entrance took place in seconds and there was nothing especially grand about it. Jonathan Frid must have been very frail. His co-stars led him into the scene arm-in-arm. You will remember that he passed a short time later.

There are a few  silly parts that are easily overlooked due to Depp’s steller performance. He has expressed his love of the original series and that he would portray the dark vampire in respectful way. He did just that is his own way. Overall, Johnny Depp is fantastic Barnabas Collins of the new era–that makes seeing the movie worth it. I left the theatre smiling.

I hope that the new Dark Shadows inspires a resurrection in interest for the original series. I think it will.

Favorite Line:

Carolyn Stoddard: Are you stoned or something?
Barnabas Collins: They tried stoning me, my dear. It did not work.

Zombie Disposal Unit

The National Haunted House and Hearse Convention was held in Oaks, PA this year. Anyone with a dark side will feel like they have one foot in the grave for the day hanging with spirited folks and creeping along all the frightful festivities for the dead and undead.

Have you ever seen a caravan of hearses? Each vintage hearse slowly rolled onto the display floor. Some came complete with casket. Walk through the expo doors and you will feel like you’ve died and gone to Halloween Heaven.

Having zombie troubles? The zombie disposal unit was ready and waiting to handle any mass attacks. However, you were not safe from the troubled spirits that roamed the isles. When you see a psycho form the local mental hospital, make a run for it!

Want to learn how to Halloween like no-bodies business? Classes were available to help you out. From tombstone carving to state of the art animatronics, there was something for every Halloween enthusiast young and old all under one roof.

Don’t miss this huge convention held each year at halfway to Halloween.

Enjoy the photos!

Check out real ghost investigators from the Hudson Valley on Paranormal Valley for inspiration.

We will choose a first, second and third place winner. Each winner will have an opportunity to record their story at BigGuy Media Studios located in the Hudson Valley. Your ghost stories will be posted on the Hudson Valley Halloween Magazine website.

Here are the rules:

• There are no style restrictions

• Your story must be written in English

• No more than 1,000 words

• Email your story to: ddavies@hudsonvalleyhalloweenmagazine.com

• Entries will be accepted between June 1, 2012 and September 1, 2012

We’re dusting off the old classics for all ages in a time when what was old inevitably becomes new again. These are our top movie picks for a haunted Halloween season. Classic Horror makes a great backdrop for any Halloween party no matter what the theme.  From the super scary to the B-rated hokey cult films,  you will find something on this list that is just destined to become a classic Halloween  tradition for you and your family.

Of course, I have more than one favorite horror flick that will not be missed during dark, spooky nights as I celebrate the 31 days of Halloween. It would be sacrilege not to watch  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Headless Horseman is an icon throughout the haunted Hudson Valley. However, my Halloween just would not be complete without a viewing of  The House on Haunted Hill (watch the full movie online) starring Vincent Price. I always get chills up my spine as I stare into the darkness of my TV screen impatiently waiting for for the intro to the movie. I jump as I am loudly greeted with sounds of  rattling chains and the moaning of restless spirits followed by the shrill screams of their tortured victims.  It’s a dark night and all the unsuspecting guests arrive  at their haunted soiree in black funeral cars pulling up to a haunted estate that just screams murder and mayhem. Can they survive the night? The House on Haunted Hill is a  classic that certainly should not be missed. However, my new favorite Halloween movie is Trick r’ Treat starring Anna Pacquin of True Blood fame.  It is kind of like Pulp Fiction for Halloween fanatics. You should check it out it you haven’t.

I asked my Haunted Hudson Valley community what some of their favorites are and HOLY HORRORS  did I get one of the greatest lists ever! I know I can count on my HHV peeps to pull though for us. They are a dedicated group of all things haunted and Halloween.  So, KUDOS to them!

Halloween Movies for the Big Kids

* Please consider the audience when choosing films. Not all are child-friendly. 

1. John Carpenter’s Halloween
   
2. Lady in White
3. Evil Dead
4. Evil Dead II
5. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton)
6. Trick R’ Treat
7. The Thing
8. 28 Days Later
9. Silent Hill
10. Quarantine
11. Blair Witch Project
12. Pet Semetery
13. Silence of the Lambs
14. Sev7en
15. The Exorcist
16. Poltergeist
17. Rosemary’s Baby
18. The Omen
19. Van Helsing
20. Psycho
21. CreepShow
22. Insidious
23. Young Frankenstein
24. House on Haunted Hill (1959)
25. The Haunting
26. The Exorcism of Emily Rose
27. Nightmare on Elmstreet
28. Wrong Turn
29. Jeepers Creepers
30. The Hills Have Eyes
31. Shaun of the Dead
32. Dead Silence
33. The Uninvited
34. Cat People
35. The Changling
36. The Hearse
37. Ghost Story
38. The Fog
39. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark
40. When a Stranger Calls
41. Black Christmas
42. The Shining
43. The Skeleton Key
44. Freaks
45. The Wickerman
46. Amityville Horror
47. From Hell
48. The Others
49. Interview with a Vampire
50. Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Child Friendly Halloween Movies

1. Corpse Bride 
   
2. Bedknobs and Broomsticks
3. Casper
4. Monsters Inc.
5. The Monster Squad
6. Addams Family
7. Hocus Pocus
8. Halloweentown
9. Nightmare Before Christmas
10. Something Wicked This Way Comes
11. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
12. When Good Ghouls Go Bad
13. Gremlins
14. Monster House
15. The Halloween Tree

Teddy Harrison III

Outside the venue, darkly clad figures take long drags on their cigarettes. Approaching the entrance, you see a mat in front of the door: “Tall, Dark and Handsome Vampires Welcome.” Once inside, this Kingston club seems more like what you might see in Manhattan; the room is narrow, deep and dark. Everyone is dressed in black. Some are dressed in regular clothing, others are dressed to the hilt with crazy hair and makeup. But all in black, or maybe blood red. You can’t really hear the buzzing conversation at the bar or the ice rattling in glasses, because Nick Cave is screeching over the sound system, “Release The Bats!” The dance floor is full of freaks, and a woman on the small stage doing tricks with a hula hoop.

This is the annual Vampyre Ball, also known as La Danse de Mort. Host DJ Occulere is sitting in a corner with a black Cleopatra bob, wearing black wings. She’s intently focused, spinning tunes– Bauhaus, Swans, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails, Sisters of Mercy, Xymox, Nitzer Ebb, Skinny Puppy, Enigma– the darkest, sexiest, most gothic and industrial of tunes. Just right for a dark night of blood sucking frenzy.

DJ Occulere, who DJed her first gig in the ’80s, has been working in music ever since in different capacities– Spinning, music store management, PR for musicians, and writing hundreds of CD reviews and feature articles about the music scene. She DJed her first Halloween party in 2004, then named it The Vampyre Ball for a few gigs at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, then later at Rive Gauche in Kingston. Finally, the Ball was moved to The Basement Venue in Kingston. It is always held in early November, as to not conflict with the myriad Halloween parties in the area.

Note: Venue has changed:  Rondout Music Lounge, 21 Broadway, on The Strand and admission is $5

“This will be our third year at The Basement, and I’m happy to host it there once again,” says Occulere. “The staff and the owner, Rob Stango, are simply the best. They are very accommodating and helpful, and the club has the perfect vibe for this sort of thing.

” But why vampires? “It’s just fun to get dressed up in an alter ego and express your dark side, your goth side,” says Occulere. “It’s really just a Halloween party, but it’s a very dark one. You won’t be seeing any people in clown suits, unless they’re Satanic clowns. Black attire is mandatory. Lots of goths and freaks, but really it’s all just for fun.

” Last year, Hudson Valley’s renowned drag queen, Isis Vermouth, put on an impromptu performance, lip synching to “I Will Always Love You” with an evil baby doll and an axe. It was definitely not a Whitney Houston moment. “It’s a sinister goth party with the most amazing dark industrial music,” says Vermouth, “the only party where drinking blood is normal and being a freak is celebrated. My feet hurt after attending this party, and I hope it continues for years because none of us seem to be aging. I think everyone should come get bitten– by the dancing bug that is.

” Princess Aksinya has attended every Vampyre Ball over the years. “What’s a Hudson Valley Boabhan Sith (Scottish for Vampyre Faery) to do North of Ybor (Florida city celebrated by the “dark culture”)? No fear, Vampyre Ball is here! In an area devoid of a goth scene, we ARE the goth scene! And The Basement is the perfect venue to host such a demographic. With it’s red and black interior, underground club feel– from the confines of space to the raised stage and black light bathroom foyer– one would swear they are in the East Village. Get lost in total expressive vampyric indulgence for real!”

“Like a good, old-fashioned, ’80s underground goth club, the Vampyre Ball unfolds like a dark flower in the night,” says Reverend and Shaman High Priest Richard J. Treitner, who has also attended the event every year. “For that one night a year, the ‘dead’ and “undead” come out, finally having a place to play. The beautiful children of the moon tribes gather for great music and dance in celebration of all things lovely and nocturnal.”

“The Vampyre Ball is an event that I look forward to every year,” says regular attendee Teddy Harrison III. “Not only is it an additional Halloween, but a truly remarkable event of its own. It’s so much fun to see the lengths that people go to for a night of darkness. I can’t wait for the next one!”

You won’t have to wait much longer. The Seventh Annual Vampyre Ball will be held Saturday, November 5, from “9PM unto death” (which is really somewhere around 2 or 3AM). The Basement is located at Rondout Music Lounge, 21 Broadway, on The Strand and admission is $5 for 21+ and $7 for 18+. For more information call (845) 340-0220 or email factory22@gmail.com. And remember, black attire is mandatory! This event is sponsored by Chronogram magazine and The Costume Shop at Columbia.

French Church and Burying Ground

New Paltz, NY – Every town has its share of dark history, but most seem like fairy tales in comparison to the mysterious stories and accounts that have been passed down over hundreds of years that highlight the haunting and at times horrific history that overshadows the oldest inhabited street in the United States. Huguenot Street appears to be a quaint and cheerful by day, but when the sun goes down the atmosphere is chilling. Huguenot Street has a dark side. Tales of murder and mayhem haunt this historical haven. From tales of axe yielding ghosts to one of the most grisly murders of the 18th century this quaint street nestled in New Paltz is a treasure trove of legends and twisted tales.

Picture yourself living in the 1800s. You are isolated – no one around for miles, It’s going to be a long cold winter. You huddle together with your family in a small stone cottage heated only by the roaring fire in the hearth. Sounds echo through the night. Your mind starts to wonder. Wait…what’s that rumbling outside the door? Is it the werewolves that roam the banks of the Wallkill River? While the superstitious may have believed in these mystical creatures, there was more to fear than these figments of an overactive imagination. While some feared night creatures, one awaits the arrival of his passage to the other side.

The Death Coach

This ghostly tale of Huguenot Street is one of unearthly travel. On a dark night an old woman sits vigil at her husband’s side waiting for the town doctor. As he lay dying in his bed, the woman’s sickly husband impatiently asks his concerned wife ,“Is it here yet? …Is it here yet?” Finally there is a sound of the clip clop of horse’s hooves outside. The woman feels a sense of relief in the hopes that her husband’s pain will be eased.

The woman looks out the window and to her amazement she sees a black coach with no windows, no horses, and no rider. She overcomes her fear and then realizes what her husband was asking. He was awaiting the arrival of his “death coach”. She went to her husband squeezed his hand and at that moment he was gone. She then watched his spirit move toward the door. The woman ran to the window to watch her husband board the carriage. He turned to his beloved wife, waived goodbye and  boarded the carriage. The death coach clip-clopped down the road to continue its final journey.

While this story is indeed bittersweet, Huguenot Street has seen darker days. Let’s just say that if you thought Lizzy Borden had an axe to grind, it was the weapon of choice in this sinister town.

If you live in the Hudson Valley, you have probably heard the tale of the man with the long dark coat who carries an axe and also has a large black dog who is often seen in the Abraham Hasbrouck house looming over sleeping victims. While there have been many reported sightings of this man, there has never been any trace of evidence that his presence exists, however the following story of this axe man is clearly not one of fiction.

About forty years ago a  SUNY New Paltz student was arrested for breaking into an apple orchard.  The action was deemed as a harmless offense and he was released. The young man then returned to campus and was found trying to strangle a female student. Her screaming was alarming and his act of violence was interrupted. He escaped the campus and ran into the barn of a man named Mr. Grimm. Mr. Grimm came to assist in the assailant’s capture, but the assailant lunged at Mr. Grimm with an axe and hacked him to death.

The assailant was admitted to the Asylum for the Criminally Insane, which was also known as Mattawan State Hospital and after being bounced around hospitals, this son of an international diplomat was finally deported.

A sad, but true story about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This was a tragic incident that made the news, but some stories are meant to be kept a secret; like hiding a body in a basement.

Bones in the Basement

Basements are generally a harmless place in today’s world; however historically they were known as slave quarters. You may have heard of the famous slavery abolitionist Sojourner Truth who at times led a life of servitude in and around New Paltz and Ulster County. Knowing that now, what would you think if someone told  a story about a bones in your basement? Hudson Valley author and Woodstock historian Alf Evers would have such a story to share.

Alf lived in the Abraham Hasbrouck house with his mother and father. He was the son of a Clairvoyant mother who was insistent that there was the body of a child buried in the basement of their home. After much prodding, Alf and his father started digging and made a gruesome discovery. They actually found bones of a child in the basement. They unearthed their findings and lay them out on a table. The doctor declared the remains as that of a child. The child’s identity would never be known because the odd thing is that after the remains were placed on the table they disintegrated shortly after. Where these the remains of an illegitimate slave child? We will never know. It will forever be a mystery. Speaking of mysteries ,  this next  story of an unexplained murder put New Paltz on the map!

Horrid Murder and Suicide

“Horrid Murder and Suicide”, that’s what the news sheets said. This story made history and if you query the Library of Congress and search for New Paltz this is the one of the first stories that you will find.

Maria Terwilliger Deyo lived on Springtown Road in New Paltz in 1801. She was an upstanding and religious woman who cared for her husband and family and on this particular morning she snapped. She sent her husband and one son out to the corn field and she tended to the remaining children; a son, daughter and an 9 month-old infant. She sent one son outside to play warning him not to go far as she would be calling him soon. Maria combed her daughter’s hair and then led her to a darkened room and slit her throat from side to side with a razor as she begged her mother not to hurt her. Maria then called her son in and when he realized what was happening he ran. Maria caught him outside and finished him off with the razor. She returned to the house took and took the life of her infant daughter and then killed herself.

Maria’s husband returned home to witness this bloody nightmare that would make national news. The community was in shock.  We will never know what possessed Maria to wipe out her entire family. Maybe it was the hardship of living in small home with a large family. Maria will take that secret with her to the grave.

Have you heard enough stories of murder and mayhem? Do you think that Huguenot Street is haunted?  It wouldn’t surprise me if spirits of the past linger on this historic Hudson Valley street.

It’s Your Turn to Relive the Past

I have not shared all the legendary history of Huguenot Street. You can experience these and more mysterious tales each year when Huguenot Street turns dark in the month of October. Test your senses as you immerse yourself in the dark side of Haunted Huguenot Street. The air is crisp and the brilliant colored leaves crunch and swish beneath your feet as you wonder from house to house following an endless path of luminaries that cast false shadows into the night. Your guide will lead you to the location of the next twisted tale where ghosts of the past relive their tales of despair.

How to Visit

Of course you can visit Historic Huguenot Street anytime of the year, but if you want to hear about the dark side, visit  Haunted Huguenot Street in October.

Photo Credit: Donna Davies

There are so many great businesses in the HudsonValley that are more than willing to accommodate your specialty needs for your Halloween bash. I am a real dessert person, so my focus is always on the sweets and treats more than the food. It always warms my cold heart to walk into a local business and ask if they can cater my food needs just to see the clerk’s face light up at the challenge of finally doing something fun and spooky. I alway tend to stick with the Gothic vampire theme. It all started with the idea of having a Vampire Wine tasting. I just stuck with it because it works for me. Every year I pick up new things to add to my bag of tricks.

The Culinary Institute of America made a fabulous red velvet cake for me that was to die for. It was very Gothic and everyone could wait to cut it. As much as I wanted to dive into it with a fork. I just loved my cake table too much, so they had to wait until I was ready to stake it for serving. I always have a Vampire Wine table. The blood of the vine is a great wine, but now there is a plethora of alcohol to choose from from black vodka to Casper’s Wine. You owe it to your self to visit the local liquor store and check out the creativity of the marketing behind the product.

Barking Dog chocolates has the best selection of dark goodies. My person favorite is chocolate dipped Oreos. I needed a little twist for mine and Heather put royal icing ghosts on them. They were to cute to eat, but that never stops me. The Summerlin Bakery in Wappingers Falls created an entire desssert table for me last year with black and orange cookies and haunted house cake and too many cupcakes to match.

When dealing with Halloween party food, don’t stress out. If you can’t make it yourself, visit your local deli or bakery and ask them to do it for you. You can even send a recipe out with you invitations and tell you guests that it’s potluck this year. All you need is a little inspiration. Here are some links to help you choose you theme and photos that will bring out your inner ghoul.

Get some inspiration from the Hostess with the Mostess

Credit: Hostess with the Mostess

Hostess with the Mostess has one of the most creative celebration sites on the web. These Halloween buffets are fangtastic. I know you will love to sink your teeth into some of these great food and decorating ideas.

Hands-down, these are my favorites for and there are not many. Usually there are four that I search high and low for.

• Better Homes and Gardens Halloween
• Martha Stewart Halloween
• Taste of Home Halloween
• Phyllis Hoffman Halloween

I am desperately trying to get my hands on a Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate Halloween magazine for 2011. She has the most fun and unique Halloween celebration ideas  I am not big on the kiddy stuff, since I generally have adult soirees.  Martha never disappoints.  The class homemade costumes for 2011 were spooktacularand very easy to make. I am a huge Universal Monster buff and I just love these costumes.  Taste of Home always has the best recipes and Better Homes & Gardens has some great decorating ideas. I just love the stairway garland made out of doilies and coffee filters. It’s very vintage and great for a spooky Victorian home.

Alas, my Halloween is so busy that I can only dream of making at least one devilish dessert that will delight the dead as they rise from their graves on All Hallows’ Eve. At least I can dream. That said, you had better grab your favorite Halloween Magazine when you see them because they are flying off the shelves. Wow all the little ghouls with your Halloween creativity, but don’t give away your secrets. They are safe with me!