Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 I’m going to start this review by saying, I think this may actually be my personal favorite episode of the Stories franchise so far. And believe me when I tell you, when I saw what the episode was about, I went into it with extremely low expectations.  Last season had a few episodes based more or less on technology-based horrors, and these episodes really weren’t my favorite. The concept got tired after the first few instances of “a video plays and people die”, and it just added to the overall atmosphere of “AHS for a teen audience”. So, when I saw the episode was all about a doorbell camera, I was skeptical. Just about the only thing that made me want to watch this episode was Gabourey Sidibe’s involvement. And I guess I ought to thank her, because this was a great ride! Aura opens up with a commercial for a security camera system/app named, you guessed it, Aura. I have to say, whoever wrote this portion really nailed that feeling of an overacted security system commercial. ...

 In addition to “Code Orange” alerts mentioned in my previous post, there is another spooky summer tradition that started for me last year:  The premiere of the ever-interesting ride that is American Horror Stories , the sorta-spinoff anthology series to my favorite TV show, American Horror Story.  I started reviewing Stories here last year, and if you read those reviews, you probably recall my mixed feelings on the episodes. In hindsight there was really only one episode that truly stood out to me and made the series worth the price of admission, and I actually did briefly contemplate not watching this season after 90% of the last one failed to deliver, but a) I’m probably more likely to saw an arm off my body than I am to ever truly quit anything AHS-related (unless they keep up the alien BS) and b) as soon as I found out Denis O’Hare would be involved, I immediately changed my tune. My only career goal that doesn’t involve the Halloween industry in some way is “Denis O...

 'Tis the season, no matter what summer people will try to tell you, for "Code Orange"s. If you're not familiar with the term, this is how people within the Halloween community alert one another to stores stocking new spooky goods.  Obviously, aside from the fact that I loathe summer, this is probably my second-favorite time of year, only second to the actual fall months. I love to see new things appear on store shelves and online, and to see the new creations artists come up with during this time.  But, there is one particular Code Orange that I always get a kick out of for entirely different reasons: Oriental Trading's 'Religious Halloween' section .  Now, I'm not trying to be disrespectful to anyone of the Christian faith, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't find these items very bizarre, and I truly enjoy laughing at them every year. It's hard to explain, maybe it's because of the kind of people I know in the area I grew up in, but ...

 I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to how people act on social media.  But my biggest is probably the people that seek out accounts dedicated to fall and Halloween, and then basically try to police them about what month it is. I honestly hate living in such a calendar-driven society. The fact that people think they should or shouldn't act a certain way because of a square drawn onto a piece of paper is ludicrous to me. What you can do on most "holidays", you can do on literally any other day of the year. And if you happen to love and look forward to one of those holidays, why shouldn't you be able to keep that alive even when the calendar has moved onto its next meaningless little box?  I was thinking about it this morning, and Halloween is actually the only holiday where people would look at you funny if you did its main celebratory pastime, trick-or-treating, any other time of the year. Every other holiday could literally be celebrated whenever. Big family di...