Halloween Has Ended…But It’s Not Over

Like my okay on Halloween Ends? I don’t care what they say, I know they will make more. When there is money to be made there will always be another sequel or remake.

But enough of that. Here ends another Horrorfest: 31 reviews of films and/or TV episodes that are mysteries, horror, film-noir, suspense, monster movies, thrillers, psycho killers, ghosts, vampires, zombies, mummies, etc.

I only started doing this because I already would watch something for Halloween every day in October (and annoy my friends by doing so); and it was a real easy leap to blog about it. I know some people don’t think I should as it has “nothing” to do with Jane Austen. That may be true, but I do know one character who would enjoy Halloween and Horror films.

I also did my third annual Celebrate Halloween with Northanger Abbey. And added something new, reading a chapter of Northanger Abbey every day, it’s a perfect countdown to Halloween as it has 31 chapters

And of course our Annual items

  • A movie or TV episode from every decade from the 1930s-2020s
  • Jane Austen with Pup Fiction (1997)
  • Alfred Hitchcock with Marnie (1964)
  • Animated Film/TV Episode with Over the Garden Wall (2014) & Coco (2017)
  • Disney with Coco (2017)
  • Stephen King with Firestarter (2022)
  • Tim Burton with Beetlejuice (1988)
  • Vincent Price with The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

This year I reviewed the following:

The Thin Man (1934)

After the Thin Man (1936)

Another Thin Man (1939)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)

Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)

Lady in the Lake (1946)

The Thing From Another World (1951)

Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

“It’s A Good Life from The Twilight Zone (1961)

Marnie (1964)

Love at First Bite (1979)

Halloween II (1981)

Beetlejuice (1988)

Frankenstein (1994)

Leprechaun 2 (1994)

Batman Forever (1995)

“X Marks the Murder:Part I” from Diagnosis Murder (1996)

“X Marks the Murder: Part II” from Diagnosis Murder (1996)

“Pup Fiction” from Wishbone (1997)

The Mummy (1999)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

“Hard Times at the Huskin’ Bee” from Over the Garden Wall (2014)

Train to Busan (2016)

Coco (2017)

Psych the Movie (2017)

Concealer (2019)

Flower of Evil (2020)

Psych 2: Lassie Come Home (2020)

Psych 3: This is Gus (2021)

Firestarter (2022)

Ghosts, Ghouls, and Gothic Fiction

So here ends another Horrorfest: 31 reviews of films and/or TV episodes that are mysteries, horror, film-noir, suspense, monster movies, thrillers, etc.

It amazes me that have been doing this ten years already.

Wow!

I only started doing this because I already would watch something for Halloween every day in October (and annoy my friends by doing so); and it was a real easy leap to blog about it. I know some people don’t think I should as it has “nothing” to do with Jane Austen. That may be true, but I do know one character who would enjoy Halloween and Horror films.

Every year I start off with a little planning: first film, last film, etc.- And everything else is just whatever I happened to watch.

I also did my second annual Celebrate Halloween with Northanger Abbey.

And of course our Annual films:

  • A movie or TV episode from every decade from the 1930s-2020s
  • Jane Austen with Northanger Abbey (1987)
  • Alfred Hitchcock with Vertigo (1958)
  • Animated Film with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
  • Disney with The Cat From Outer Space (1978) and Mom’s Got a Date With a Vampire (2000)
  • Stephen King with The Shining (1980)
  • Tim Burton with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
  • Vincent Price with “Ship of Ghouls” from The Love Boat (1978)

This year I reviewed the following:

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Ramrod (1947)

Vertigo (1958)

Munster Masquerade from The Munsters (1966)

The Cat From Outer Space (1978)

Ship of Ghouls from The Love Boat (1978)

The Shining (1980)

Labyrinth (1986)

The Monster Squad (1987)

Northanger Abbey (1987)

The Stepfather (1987)

Heathers (1988)

Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

Murder in High C” from Murder She Wrote (1995)

True Crime (1996)

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)

Mom’s Got a Date With a Vampire (2000)

Death on the Nile (2004)

Twilight (2008)

Turn of the Screw (2009)

Twilight Saga, New Moon (2009)

Twilight Saga, Eclipse (2010)

Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part I (2011)

Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part II (2012)

Mysteries & Meddling Kids: Austin & Ally (2015)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016)

The Moonstone (2016)

Kong, Skull Island (2017)

The Open House (2018)

Godzilla King of the Monsters (2019)

Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

By the way if you love ghosts, ghouls, and gothic fiction you should definitely get this shirt that MadsenCreations and I created.

Horrorfest II: Return of the Terror and Woe

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So last year I experimented at attempted to do 31 posts on horrifying films and TV episodes everyday in October, Horrorfest. I had so much fun doing it and it really got me into the Halloween spirit that I decided to bring back this year. Hopefully I can think of another 31 films. So here’s to 31 days of terror, woe, suspense, thrills, monsters, ghouls, and ghosts!

Happy Horror Days!

Grimwood Ghouls’ Gym Teacher: Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)

Maybe I shouldn’t have taken this job as a gym teacher.

I love this film so much! I remember that I used to watch this all the time as a kid on TV when Fall would come around. I still do as I love it, and my nieces and nephew are always bugging me to watch it with them. We are all big Scooby fans.

Cartoon Network on Sarurdays used to be the greatest. They would to show Boomerang, and have Scooby-Doo marathons. And every Saturday night they used to do a double film feature. During October they used to do a Creature Double Feature and would show Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, Scooby-Doo and Zombie Island, Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders, and Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. My sister and I used to watch these all the time. My all time favorite  was always Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School. I loved that they refrenced old monster movies, and I remember wanting to be Sibella because I though she was the prettiest of all the “ghouls”.

So the story starts out with Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy all going to Grimwood School for Girls to be P.E. teachers. Every year the girls compete against the Calloway military school at a volleyball game and lose; so this year Ms. Grimwood decides to hire someone to coach them. Fred, Daphne, and Velma aren’t there with them for some reason.

So when the guys get there, they discover that the school is for GHOULS not GIRLS! They being Shaggy and Scooby, are totally terrified and want to leave, but Scappy convices them to stay and hang out.

So the ghouls are Sibella, Dracula’s daughter,

It’s fangtastic to meet you

Winne the Wolfman’s daughter,

Hellooooooooo!

Elsa Frankenteen, Frankenteen (Frankenstein)’s daughter (her name also alludes to Elsa Lanchester who was in the Bride of Frankenstein),

Hello der

Tanis daughter of the Mummy,

And Phanty (Phantasma) the Phantom’s daughter. I think they are alluding to the Phantom of the Opera because she plays the organ, but they actually make her a ghost in this.

There is also a dragon named Matches and they also allude to The Adam’s Family by having a mobile hand crawling around.

So anyways; Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy start preparing the girls for the tournament. All are eager to win, espechially Tanis who wants to put the trophy in her mumuy case, and Winnie who wants to teach the Calloway Cadets a lesson.

I love the cheesy, punny lines in this film. “It’s Batastic”, “This helps me unwind”, and “it’s a real Howl”.

Couldn't resist

Couldn’t resist

Meanwhile the Cadets are also preparing for the tournament. In fact Tug, the leader of the group, has created a remote control volleyball so that they are sure to win.

There’s no way we’ll lose

However, everything that Tug creates ends up blowing up. Usually hurting him or the captain of the Academy.

The next day, they have the tournament where the boys try out their secret weapon.

As cheaters always get what’s coming to them, the boys lose due to their attempt. The remote control they have ends up getting swallowed by Scooby-Doo, and his hiccuping with it helps the girls win.

The next day the school is all in a flutter as they are having an open house. All the monster dads are going to come which starts freaking Scooby and Shaggy out as they realize they will have The Mummy, Wolfman, Dracula, Phantom, and Frankenteen all under one roof.

They have a fun time, but then all the monsters let Shaggy and Scooby know that if anything happens to their daughter and her friends; their lives are OVER!

Unbeknowest to them all, evil lurks in the area. Revolta, the evil swamp witch wants to kidnap the girls and turn them into her evil slaves.

She uses her evil spider bats to spin webs around Shaggy’s head, convincing him to take the ghouls out on a jog through the swamp. The girls love it, but pretty soon the Spider Bats have captured all the girls, and Revolta spirits them away to her lair.

The Calloway boys see what’s happening, but don’t do anything. They are supposed to be going on a hike through the swamp as well are trying to just get back home.

It’s up to Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy, and Matches to save the day. In Revolta’s lair they have to defeat evil mirror monsters and giant swamp creatures to try and save the girls.

In the end they are captured and Scooby-Doo is turned into a frog. Revolta hooks all the ghouls up to her machines to make them her evil minions, but before she can finish Scooby is able to jump around and cut off the tubes, having all the girls turn back to normal. They then use Revolta’s wand to get rid of her and the Calloway boys come back and save the day using a helicopter they created.

At the end, the ghouls and cadets have a big party and dance the night away. The monsters also come and join in.

Scooby and Shaggy are feeling really confident with themselves, when Ms. Grimwood introduces the newest recruits. One of which is The Creature from the Black Lagoon’s daughter,

And what appears to be The Great Gila Monster’s or Godzilla’s daughter.

This is too much for Shaggy and Scooby as they cannot handle any more ghouls and monsters. They quickly grab Scrappy and jet outta there. It ends with them waving good-bye to everyone, and heading out on the road to a new place.

Good-bye!

 

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To start Horrorfest from the beginning, go to I Don’t Belong In the World

To go to the previous post, go to The Only Thing That Matters is the Ending

halloween bannerTo purchase a copy of this film,  click on the image below: