Katie Pumpkinhead’s Pumpkin Patch

 This past Tuesday, I went to see what is being referred to as "the biggest flop in horror history" (which I'm sure is an exaggeration, but I digress), The Bride!  I've  been looking forward to this movie since the moment I learned of its existence. I can't remember when, exactly, I saw the trailer for it, but my immediate thought was that it aesthetically looked like some kind of love child of the taken-from-us-too-soon TV series Penny Dreadful, and American Horror Story: Hotel. These two series are quite possibly my two most favorite things that I've ever watched, so I was sold, immediately.  I also knew that The Bride! was destined to be a heavily divisive film. The bold, experimental nature of it that was evident from those early trailers and teasers told me in no uncertain terms that this was going to be the type of movie where those that got it were going to love it, and those that didn't were going to speak of it as if it were a pile of dog excremen...

 I recently saw possibly the most hyped up horror of the 2025 season, Weapons.  There have not been many movies I've been excited to see in 2025. The only horror movies I've seen in theaters this year have been Companion, Heart Eyes, and The Monkey. Other than that, nothing has really interested me enough to spend money on seeing it in theaters. (I do need to watch Sinners; scheduling conflicts kept arising when it came to seeing that one on the big screen.) But I absolutely loved the initial marketing for  Weapons, making it look like footage from a real unsolved case, and it   has easily been one of my most anticipated movies of the year. But, sadly, I actually didn't like it.  This is not meant to be a "hot take" post in any way. I'm not here to rain on anyone's parade that did enjoy it, I just have a lot of thoughts about it that I want to unpack for myself, and maybe for anyone else who feels similarly. If you loved the movie, I'm honestly very ha...

In my personal opinion, 2024 was a great year for horror movies. I came away from it with so many new favorites, literally a handful of new movies sitting right among some of my almost-lifelong favorites. It was exciting, inspiring, and on some level, healing. I don't know if there will ever be another year like that for me again. I haven't been nearly as excited for much of anything in 2025...the main movie I'm looking forward to seeing is Wicked: For Good and that's not until Thanksgiving-time. And if the rest of the year drags on anything like January has, we may never get there. There are a couple of things in the coming weeks that I'm interested in. Of course my Valentine's-Day-loving self will be seeing Heart Eyes, and if you know me at all, you probably know how much I love Longlegs,  so The Monkey is obviously a priority. Still, though, it doesn't seem like much compared to last year.  But, given that I'm always in need of a spooky escape, I deci...

 I may be a little late to the party on this, but I recently watched I Saw The TV Glow. I am absolutely obsessed with the dreamcore aesthetic, liminal spaces, and lost episode creepypastas. This movie honestly sounded like the perfect thing for me to watch.  However, despite its glowing (no pun intended) reviews within the community, I personally did not find I Saw The TV Glow to necessarily be a  horror movie. It had some creepy imagery, and the atmosphere was a bit unsettling, but overall I found it to be more of a...psychological thriller, I guess? Maybe even coming-of-age drama?  It was not at all what I was expecting and I'm unsure how it's been billed exclusively as horror all this time, especially given how much the horror community likes to cry "That's not scary!"  However, just because I did not personally think it fit into the horror genre, I still found I Saw The TV Glow to be an interesting movie with some pretty incredible symbolism and messages, wh...

 When I was about two years old, my favorite movie was Beetlejuice.  It was on HBO a lot at the time, and I was absolutely obsessed with watching it. I didn't understand the plot as a toddler, obviously, but something about the characters and setting, particularly the underworld scenes, pulled me in. I was entranced by it, and would have the type of tantrum usually reserved for when little ones don't get the toy or snack they wanted if something or someone pulled me away from it. I have a very distinct memory of once having to leave to go to my aunt's house in the middle of it, and having a total meltdown. Luckily, my aunt lived maybe a five minute car ride from my childhood home, so she put it on for me once we got there. I suppose Beetlejuice was my very first comfort movie. My love for the movie remained as I got older. In my late teens, I became very much a "Burtonphile", as many referred to the Tim Burton fandom back then, devouring everything Tim Burton touc...

 Like many others in the spooky community this year, I decided to make Lisa Frankenstein a part of my Valloween celebration.  The name of this movie alone caught my eye, as a child of the Lisa Frank renaissance of the 90s. I will never forget the excitement of buying more stationary than I could ever possibly use in a lifetime, for the brightly colored animals depicted on it. I was obsessed. I actually had an entire binder full of Lisa Frank folders that I refused to actually use. Honestly, it was probably the most bizarre, yet least expensive, hobby I ever had. So yes, the name of the movie alone gave me all the nostalgic pangs, even though I knew it wasn't going to be about bright fuchsia kittens and dogs the color of the blinding sun on an August afternoon.  I waffled back and forth about whether or not I wanted to see this movie, though. Oddly enough, considering my love for Valentine's Day, romance in general tends to make me tune out of a story. And, in this post- T...

 I decided today to watch and discuss a Halloween-themed movie that seems to have been long forgotten. It turned twenty this year, and I don’t think I’ve heard anyone mention it in almost that many years.  On October 20th, 2001, a movie called When Good Ghouls Go Bad premiered on what was known back then as the Fox Family channel, now FreeForm. I had been anticipating the movie’s premiere since the channel had first started advertising it. I wasn’t quite into horror yet, though I would be very soon, and I was still put-out that I wasn’t able to watch the Halloweentown movies (the second of which also premiered in 2001) since the Disney Channel was still a premium subscription channel at the time. I was so excited to finally be able to welcome a new, lighthearted Halloween movie into my life, as there really weren’t very many at the time besides the obvious Hocus Pocus.  When Good Ghouls Go Bad follows the story of Danny Walker, a young teen who’s just moved back to what i...

 I know that most of my posts here have been on the melancholy side lately. The first two months after Halloween are always the most difficult for me, as post-Halloween depression combines with basically being force-fed Christmas and then treated like there’s something wrong with me when I regurgitate it. (My attitude toward Christmas is at its absolute worst this year...I think the pandemic stress on top of it is just too much.) So, I decided I wanted to do a more upbeat post, and thought, what better way to get my mind on something else, than to do a movie review? And, because I was wanting to do something more upbeat, why not choose a movie that’s meant to be fun? So, today, we’re going to be talking about a movie I don’t see mentioned around the Halloween community much (or really at all):  Fun Size. I didn’t pay much attention to this movie when it was first released. It came out in 2012, when Victoria Justice was at the height of her popularity thanks to Nickelodeon, and...

 Is there anything truly like the feeling of it finally being October, officially? My whole life, I have spent the other eleven months of the year longing for and trying to recapture the feeling that October brings. One way I’ve always done this, is by watching Halloween themed movies and TV shows. Over the years, I’ve added several “go-tos” to my watch list. It’s hard to explain what makes something a Halloween go-to for me...The only thing I can really say for sure is that it’s just a feeling that a particular piece of media gives me; an atmosphere it creates. Sometime last year, after Halloween had already passed, I stumbled upon an Instagram account called  Witching Season Films . I was immediately impressed with the content I found there, particularly a series of photos posted with the hashtag #31ShotsOfHalloween. Upon further observation, I found that this was a yearly photo challenge that any Halloween lover could participate in, and these pictures seemed to fit my pers...