Yes, my Halloween-loving readers, the one-day fright-fest known as Halloween is upon us! From what I understand from my history class days, Halloween comes from an ancient Pagan tradition in which my stupid neighbors gave me Mounds and Almond Joy bars as a kid. Mounds and Almond Joy! No peanut butter cups or Butterfingers?! Insanity.

Anyway, one of my favorite movies is John Carpenter's seminal 1978 masterpiece Halloween, which was the highest grossing independent movie ever until the Turtles showed up.

The opening credits of Halloween remain the best of any horror movie: a dark, slow zoom into a glowing pumpkin, as Carpenter's light, tingling synthetic score evokes a flickering candle endangered by ominous chords trying snuffing it out.  Simply put, a masterful score.

But before we forget, Halloween also spawned what I believe to be one of the best remakes ever, Rob Zombie's thrilling 2007 Version.  A fierce filmmaker, Zombie explored the origins of killer Michael Meyers, devoting half the film to his initial murders and time spent in an insane asylum.  Deftly, the most compelling and frightening elements of the film are not the murders, but the horrific depictions of suburban familial discord which precede them.  Also, the film had one of the best horror movie endings ever.

And, on that note, have a happy Halloween, everyone!

Hit web series The Gloomers is planning a big special episode (special in the literal sense--we're not talking Blossom here) for Halloween!  And it's gonna be chock full o' good/bad-ness!

Invading your Internet on October 27th, the episode is rumored to cameo Evil Dead 2 co-writer (and all-around nice guy) Scott Spiegel appearing as himself in this cartoon. Ironically, The Gloomers family scares the hell out of Spiegel, playing himself in the episode.  Spiegel, for those unaddicted to top-tier cult horror, is the stuff of legend,  credited with discovering Quentin Tarantino, and also a lifelong best friend, frequent collaborator, and former roommate director Sam Raimi of Spider-Man fame (though we at the blog are more inclined towards Raimi's greatest cultural contribution Xena).

So check out The Gloomers now and get set for the spookiest genre Halloween animated special of the year!