ideas, games, activities and recipes

The Halloween night of October 31st is becoming more entertaining than scarring in these modern times. Many people, mainly mostly youngsters, used to be frightened as the Halloween Night approached, and the celebration has been captured in many Halloween movies. Halloween movies have always been very spooky and frightening; however, many of the newer movies focus on a lighter, less frightening theme. Many Halloween movies are now very entertaining and hilarious, and many others blend a mixture of hilarious fun with some spice of spooky plots. We will discuss some funny Halloween films you and your family will find very interesting and entertaining on your Halloween night in the house:

Beetle juice

Beetle Juice

This film is played out by Michael Keaton and he both frightens and makes you laugh out at the same time. He acts very naughty at the home of the O’Hara family and playfully spoils things around the home. The movie gets spooky sometimes, but overall it is very entertaining and interesting.

Zombieland

Zombieland

This is a movie that you would find both enlightening also a little contradicting. Yes, it sheds light on the vampire ways of life of the dead, also seems to discredit some concepts in earlier core vampire movies. It is a movie that children and parents would want to watch together, and while it plays a little on romance, it also gets frightening with the walking dead on the rampage.

Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the dead

This Halloween movie postulates that zombies and vampires feed on the human brain, and the best way not to be a victim is not to have a brain. It is a very funny and romantic film, and while many people would laugh at the trend of the storyline and how it is developed, many would shriek in horror at some acts that could really terrify.

Haunted Honeymoon

Haunted honeymoon

Have you ever imagined getting lost in a haunted house before? This movie will give you a feel of what it is to be left in a haunted house where werewolves and vampires have a field day. The movie is also laced with satire and humor with the feature of top comedians doing their act in this Halloween movie production. It is a must watch, but if you are a teenager, make sure to have an adult by you and be ready to laugh as you might be to shed a tear.

Scary Movie

Scary movie

This is a film for Halloween, and it seems to induce laughter rather than to frighten. The Scary Movie is packed with a lot of gimmicks that would make you mock vampires and zombies and their goblin folks. This movie features a lot of scenes and shoddy special effects to make you laugh uncontrollably in your seats, and be sure to take a leak before watching it because you might not want to risk missing anything in the movie.

These Halloween movies, among many others, are very good to watch on Halloween nights with your family and friends. You will find them very entertaining and hilarious; but then, also be ready to see some spooky action that will remind you that you are watching something related to the Halloween phenomenon.

Halloween is a time for frightening scenes and costumes, scary stories, and, of course, scary films. Scary films are a fixture of this time of year and there are many horror films that have become classics over the years. These include films such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Nightmare on Elm Street. However, while these films are great for those adults and older teens who want to be scared out of their wits, they are not appropriate for younger children. Instead, kids need Halloween films that are not so scary and fortunately there are plenty of those.

Beetlejuice movie

For the pre-teens and teens there are some films that are ideal for Halloween. Tim Burton is the genius behind a number of these. There is his famous 1980s film Beetlejuice, which is one of his best films. Beetlejuice is the creepy dead guy who has to be stopped before he gets let out of the world of the dead. Another of Tim Burton’s wonderful films is the Nightmare Before Christmas, which, despite its title, is a wonderful Halloween film. Yet another Burton film is the Corpse Bride, in which a shy young man accidentally marries a dead woman. Aside from the genius of Tim Burton, there are the ever popular Harry Potter films, which are ideal for the Halloween season even if people watch them the year through. Another 1980s classic that is set at the time of Halloween is E.T. This cute little alien warmed the hearts of millions as he formed a bond with the boy Elliott.

Now, the above films are great for older kids who are not yet ready for the slasher and horror films that adults like to watch, but what about the young kids? Tim Burton films, Harry Potter, and even E.T. may be too scary for children who are very young. For these kids there is a wonderful collection of films that are suitable and that are totally fun. Disney along with Pixar created the fabulous film Monsters, Inc. This is a monster film that makes all monsters lovable – well almost all of them. Another fantastic Disney film that is perfect for Halloween is called Halloweentown and tells the story of three kids going to Halloweentown with their grandmother in order to learn witchcraft and beat the bad guy.

Scooby Doo movie

Finally, there is a round of fabulous films for really young children, although people of all ages truly love them. First of all, where would Halloween be without Charlie Brown and friends? It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a must to watch every year. There is also the wonderful Winnie the Pooh Heffalump Halloween, which features all the fun loving Winnie the Pooh characters that have been adored for generations. Then there are the films which are based on past television series, including good old Scooby Doo. Scooby and his gang of friends were always solving mysteries and catching nasty villains that liked to dress up as scary creatures. The film lives up to the show’s reputation. Another classic is the Addams Family, with a creepy yet eccentric family that is sure to liven up any Halloween.

There are plenty of fabulous Halloween films out there that are ideal for young children and older kids, kids who are too old for Winnie the Pooh, but too young for the adult films. Many of these films are classics that have stood the test of time. That means that they will be the perfect non-frightening films that will be sure to entertain your kids this coming Halloween. A night of trick-or-treating followed by some good Halloween films is the ideal way to spend the haunting season so choose your films today and have the best Halloween ever.

Dracula. That name instils fear in all of us, but to know that this character, this frightening creature of the night, is actually based in part on a real person who was incredibly cruel may be even more frightening. First, let’s take a look at vampires. It is true that our modern day concept of the vampire is based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stoker created for us a creature that we associate with the well-dressed and powerful man who is also a creature of death. However, vampires themselves were featured in stories for centuries before Dracula was created and Transylvania is often associated with them. Some believe that Transylvania is located on one of the strongest magnetic fields, which may lend its power to vampires, and crossroads are said to be associated with the vampire, but what about Dracula himself? Where did he come from?

Vlad Dracula

It appears that Dracula is a combination of the Southern Slavic folklore that gave rise to the legends of vampires and Vlad Dracula, otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler. Vampires were well known and during the late 17th through the 18th centuries a vampire epidemic was spreading across Europe. This means that people believed in them so much and there were so many stories of the undead and vampire attacks on travellers, that the authors and playwrights of the time decided to take full advantage of these tales to create their own stories. Stoker was one of these and was riding on the wave of vampire popularity. However, Stoker went even further. He took the general concept of the vampire and coupled it with a real person, someone who was known for his immense cruelty.

Vlad Dracula was the ruler of the province of Wallachia, which lies just south of Transylvania, from 1456-1462. He had a reputation of cruelty that went far beyond that of most men. He tortured and maimed his enemies and those within his kingdom who broke his laws and he was most famous for punishing people by sentencing them to death by impalement. This cruel form of death left the person slowly dying for hours or even days and through his nasty methods he created a kingdom in which there was no crime. Those who were used as an example of what would happen to law-breakers were enough to dissuade others from going down the same path.

Stoker did most of his research for his book in the library in London, England. It was here that he poured over texts about the provinces in Romania. He also had a friend who was a Hungarian professor and whether through conversations with him or his on research, Stoker eventually came across the name of Vlad Dracula. Obviously, since he used the name for his own character, he must have been at least somewhat inspired by Vlad, although there are many who believe that not to be the case. Regardless, even if Vlad became an inspiration for him, Stoker did not actually know very much about Vlad, nor had he ever actually travelled to Romania. Just the reputation of this man alone was enough to inspire a character.

Despite the fact that Dracula was inspired at least in part by a man whose cruelty was infamous and even horrifying, sickening even the stoutest of hearts in his day, Dracula was also based on the vampire legends of the time. Between the two what we have today is a character, a creature that is frightening and seems to have come from our worst nightmares. Maybe Vlad’s reputation as an impaler is the basis for the need to drive a stake through he heart of Dracula in order to kill him, but whatever the role it is frightening that such a man ever lived. Thank goodness Dracula himself is only a character in a book.