One more day till Halloween.

I think I get more excited than the kids (although they are crawling up the wall) now Halloween is on  our doorstep.  The living room resembles a joke shop during the spooky period and I can't walk for carved pumpkins everywhere.  I'm the only one to yet find my 'uniform' (I posted about by trouble finding a mask) whereas the rest of the family's was sorted out last week.  I do have my eye on a pair of overalls mind:  I found some  'Michael Myers-esque' ones in my local hardware store (P Walsh and Son) which I'm going to try and pick up in the late afternoon, should they have them in stock.  Failing that, it's a trip out to Wickes a few miles out in South Manchester.  If I adhere exactly to the required clothing I should also try and pick up some 'US Military Jungle Boots'...I don't suppose I can pick those up in the village missing, as we are, a Army and Navy shop.

The overalls (looking on P Walsh's website) suggest they only stock Navy blue: I require them in, erm, 'horror flick green' for them to be authentic.  I could attempt to dye them, but is it possible to dye navy blue to green?  Perhaps I should bleach them first then apply the green dye?  Might I then end up with a Haight Ashbury tie-dye effect?  Hardly frightening enough to scare off local trick or treaters is it?

Following the tenets of this particular costume design (sadly sans offical mask...I'll be part Jason Voorhees) I also have to 'weather' the overalls, so they look used and 'murderised'.  I'll wash them a few times, pokes a few holes in them, add a dash of fake blood and scrub them up with sandpaper...all this will be done this evening...I think I'm getting a little too involved here.

For the main part however, I look forward to the feast and drink and party before settling down to a cinematic spookypiece...it's a toss up between Don't Look now; the Exorcist; the Shining; Carnival of souls (which is quite 'shiversome') and the original Halloween (which might win out).  

Failing that, Halloween II is on BBC2 later in the evening.  Whilst not quite in the same league as the first one, it still boasts Dean Cundey's wonderful cinematography and John Carpenters electronic primal score (essentially the same soundtrack at the first movie but created with synthesizers).  

Here's to the onset of Winter...