Ultimate Halloween Night Marathon

I spent two months preparing my Halloween marathons for optimum fun. My intention was for the "Samhain Feast" at the end of the month to compile literally the best 7 films I'll watch all season. But for me to complete that task without error, I would have had to travel through time and sift out the hidden gems. Sometimes the greatest films are the ones you expect to be terrible, the ones you only barely convinced yourself to watch....

So after watching 42 films and countless TV episodes... here is, time travel allowed, the absolute perfect Halloween marathon I should have had this year.

6pm: Scream 4

7.55: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

9.50: Fear Itself "New Year's Day"

10.35: Wilderness Survival for Girls

12.00: Trick 'r Treat

1.30: The Walking Dead "Vatos"

2.20: The House of the Devil

3.50: Atrocious

5.15: The Cabin in the Woods

6.45: American Horror Story "Halloween, Part Two"

Perfect Halloween Theme Marathons!

If you know me, you know I love to program TV. If you're a crazy fan like me, you can see all 750 hours of October programming here at 31 Days of Halloween. But the best of the best are the 10 days preceding Halloween, when I break out theme marathons for all the essential Halloween fixins of terror.

The theme starts off at 4am with a day-long marathon of the finest TV: two excellent films and two five hour marathons, one of chilling real life documentaries and the other of dazzling drama TV shows. At 6pm the main course is served, ten hours of the absolute mightiest, greatest, most perfect 5 films the theme has to offer:

6pm: an all-time classic
8: a modern classic
10: a fan-favorite
12: a found footage classic
2: an underrated gem (also found footage save in cases where there simply aren't a lot of found footage options to choose from)

In general, movies are only shown once over the course of the month, but the finest films are shown twice (at relatively opposite ends of the month). The sole exception is Trick 'r Treat which is, being the ultimate Halloween film, shown several times. Then on Samhain itself a bunch of in-theaters and recently released films are debuted. Halloween programming ends at sunrise on November 1st, because sunrise is what drives the demons back into the netherworld for another year.


Movies are coded in RED.
Documentary programs & series are coded in GREEN.
Fictional (drama, comedy) television series are coded in BLUE.

Alien Night 

(Saturday, October 20th 2012)

4am: Fire in the Sky

6: Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files

7: Alien Files [Canada]

8: Ancient Aliens

9: Ancient Aliens

10: Sightings

10.30: Sightings

11: Fourth Kind

1: Falling Skies

2: Falling Skies

3: The X-Files

4: The X-Files

5: The X-Files

6: Alien

8: Monsters (2010)

10: Altered

12: Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County

2: The Wicksborro Incident

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Possession Night

(Sunday, October 21st 2012)

4am: The Exorcism of Emily Rose

6: Exorcism: Driving Out the Devil

7: Is it Real? s1e9 "Exorcism" 

8: A Haunting s1e8 "The Diabolical"

9: A Haunting s3e24 "The Possessed"

10: A Haunting s4e9 "Ghost Hunter"

11: Fallen

1: Apparitions

2: Apparitions 

3: Apparitions

4: The Secret Circle s1e4 "Heather"

5: The Secret Circle s1e5 "Slither"

6: The Exorcist

8: Requiem

10: Exorcismus

12: [REC] 2

2: The Last Exorcism

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Witch Night

(Monday, October 22nd 2012)

4am: Hocus Pocus

6: Witchcraft: Myths & Legends [National Geographic]

7: Salem Witch Trials [History Channel]

8: Witchcraft: The Magick Rituals of the Coven

9: Secret Circles Hidden Prayers

10: Curse of the Blair Witch

11: Witches of Eastwick

1: Charmed

2: Charmed

3: The Secret Circle

4: The Secret Circle

5: Eastwick (2009)

6: The Wicker Man

8: The Craft

10: Suspiria

12: The Blair Witch Project

2: Paranormal Activity 3

---------------

Campfire Night (Anthology Night)

(Tuesday, October 23rd 2012)

4am: Nightmares

6: Urban Legends

6.30: Urban Legends

7: Urban Legends

7.30: Urban Legends

8: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

9: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

10: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction

11: From a Whisper to a Scream (The Offspring)

1: Tales from the Crypt

1.30: Tales from the Crypt

2: Tales from the Crypt

2.30: Tales from the Crypt

3: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

3.30: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

4: Goosebumps

4.30: RL Stine's The Haunting Hour

5: Masters of Horror

6: Masters of Horror

6: Tales from the Crypt

8: Trick 'r Treat

10: Campfire Tales

12: V/H/S

2: Snoop Dogg's Hood of Horror

--------------------------

Vampire Night

(Wednesday, October 24th 2012)

4am: Fright Night

6: Lost Tapes s2e1 "Vampire"

6.30: Lost Tapes s3e3 "Strigoi Vampire"

7: Diary of a Vampire: The Legacy of Bram Stoker

8: Vampire Secrets

9: Real Vampires... Exposed!

10: MonsterQuest s2e10 "Vampires in America"

11: The Lost Boys

1: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

2: The Vampire Diaries

3: True Blood

4: True Blood

5: True Blood

6: Bram Stoker's Dracula

8: Let the Right One In

10: Interview With the Vampire

12: Vampires (2010)

2: 50 Days of Night

-----------------------------

Creature Night

(Thursday, October 25th 2012)

4am: Jeepers Creepers

6: Destination Truth

7: Animal X

7.30: Animal X

8: Sasquatch: When Legend Meets Science

9: MonsterQuest

10: MonsterQuest

11: Feast

2: Grimm

3: Grimm

4: Lost Tapes

4.30: Lost Tapes

5: Lost Tapes

5.30: Lost Tapes

6: Carnosaur

8: The Descent

10: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

12: Trollhunter

2: Cloverfield

------------------------

Killer Night

(Friday, October 26th 2012)

4am: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer

6: The First 48

7: Snapped

8: Snapped

9: American Justice

10: American Justice

11: Wilderness Survival for Girls

1: Pretty Little Liars

2: Dexter

3: Dexter

4: Dexter

5: Dexter

6: Scream

8: American Psycho

10: Penny Dreadful

12: Alone With Her

2: Man Bites Dog

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Ghost Night

(Saturday, October 27th 2012)

4am: Atrocious

6: Most Haunted

7:  Most Haunted

8: A Haunting

9: A Haunting

10: A Haunting

11: Insidious

1: Being Human

2: American Horror Story

3: American Horror Story

4: American Horror Story

5: Real Scary Stories

5.30: Real Scary Stories

6: Poltergeist

8: Session 9

10: From Within

12: Paranormal Activity

2: Lake Mungo

----------------

Zombie Night

(Sunday, October 28th 2012)

4am: Wicked Little Things

6: The Unexplained: Zombies

7: History's Mysteries: Zombies

8: Lost Tapes s3e1 "Zombies"

8.30: Zombies: A Living History

10: Beyond Bizarre

11: Deadgirl

1: The Walking Dead

2: The Walking Dead

3: The Walking Dead

4: The Walking Dead

5: Fear Itself s1e6 "New Years Day"

6: Dawn of the Dead

8: 28 Days Later

10: Perkins' 14

12: [REC]

2: Diary of the Dead

----------------------------

Night of the Full Moon (Wolf Night)

(Monday, October 29th 2012)

4am: Blood and Chocolate

6: Freak Encounters s1e2 "Werewolf"

6.30: Lost Tapes s2e4 "Werewolf"

7: The Real Wolfman

8: MonsterQuest s1e14 "American Werewolf"

9: Werewolves: The Dark Survivors

11: Big Bad Wolf

1: Being Human

2: Teen Wolf

3: Teen Wolf

4: Teen Wolf

5: Teen Wolf 

6: The Howling

8: Ginger Snaps

10: Dog Soldiers

12: Eyes in the Dark

2: Wild Country

----------------------

Devil's Night

(Tuesday, October 30th 2012)

4am: The Gate

6: Gates of Hell [History Channel]

7.30: Lost Tapes s1e14 "Hellhound"

8: Lost Tapes s2e10 "Dover Demon"

8.30: Lost Tapes s2e7 "Jersey Devil"

9: Devil Worship: The Rise of Satanism

10: A Haunting s2e4 "Where Demons Dwell"

11: Devil

1: Reaper

2: Reaper

3: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

3.30: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

4: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

4.30: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

5: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

5.30: Todd McFarlane's Spawn

6: Jacob's Ladder

8: The House of the Devil

10: Night of the Demons (2009)

12: Paranormal Activity 2

2: The Devil Inside

----------------

All Hallow's Eve

(Wednesday, October 31st 2012)

4am: Trick 'r Treat

6: Halloween (1978)

8: [REC] 3 Genesis

10: The Hole

12: Fun Size 

2pm: Kill List

4: House at the End of the Street (2012)

6: Trick 'r Treat

8: Chernobyl Diaries

10: The Cabin in the Woods

12: Paranormal Activity 4

2: Trick 'r Treat

4: Intruders

6: Trick 'r Treat

21st Century Horse (a.k. a. The ChronoHorse)

(If you're here expecting a review of the phenomenal Neil Young & Crazy Horse concert I attended two nights ago, this is not that. It took me about 6 months to rein in my thoughts regarding the last concert I blogged about, expect a similar wait for this one.)

Some will tell you that Neil doesn't cater to the audience at all with the setlists he plays, but that's a misnomer. Neil dedicates a very crucial portion of his sets to the folks in the audience who are only familiar with 5 or less of his 40+ classic albums. In the 70s when he only had a dozen albums, Neil would throw in recent tracks along with the just-released or soon-to-be-released tracks that would define the tour. But somewhere along the line, Neil's never-ending procession of classic songs overtook the scales and there wasn't really room for recent releases anymore. While it's not uncommon for wildcards to appear from any facet of Neil's career, in general even new albums that are very well received lose their slots quickly. You were unlikely to hear any Sleeps With Angels tracks on the Broken Arrow tour, and you won't be hearing any Le Noise songs on the Psychedelic Pill tour.

And hey, the system works. The setlist is cut between brand new material which is destined to please the hardcore fans, and 20 to 40-year-old classics that are destined to please pretty much everybody.

But as a hardcore Neil fan, and I mean a hard. core. Neil fan, Neil's catalog is ever so much more to me than just the new album and the vast array of fan-favorites. As a diehard, I'd be floored by hearing Roger and Out or Goin' Home as much as any dewy-eyed new fan swoons for Heart of Gold or Old Man.

So sometimes I like to fantasize that each of Neil's distinct periods was its own independent band. Each band's discography extends only from one tent pole to the next, and as a result you get to have immaculate, gorgeous setlists of all the best cuts from that period of Neil's brilliant career. Oh and every band is an incarnation of Crazy Horse, my favorite of Neil's myriad forms.

(a space represents a set break, as in an encore)


21st Century Horse  
(Silver & Gold through Americana)
Approximate Time: early summer, 2012
Ideal Venue: Chevrolet Amphitheater in Pittsburgh (now defunct).
Perfect Opening Act: Taylor Swift
-------

1. High Flyin' Bird
2. Shock & Awe
3. Carmichael
4. Hitchhiker
5. Tom Dula
6. Bandit
7. Clementine
8. Goin' Home
9. Razor Love
10. Be The Rain
11. Walk With Me 

12. The Restless Consumer
13. No Hidden Path

14. Travel On


^ This set would be a ferocious storm of guitar jams. To hear one set with both Goin' Home and No Hidden Path would be beyond dreamy, add in the underrated 5-star tracks off of Living With War and it's off the charts. The crisp groove of High Flyin' Bird and the wayward spunk of Travel On provide undivided perfection re: an opening and closing track, while the powerfully anthemic chorus and  inevitable feedback mayhem that Crazy Horse would lend to Walk With Me makes it a delicious set-closer.

Possibly for nostalgic reasons, this music feels perfect to me for that great early summer atmosphere, where as the sun sets the air gets just the slightest chill running through it, but it's still warm enough to leave your jacket at home. An open air venue would be obligatory, and the powerhouse sounds of Taylor Swift could be a warm-up beyond compare.




Mindless Drifting
(1990s; Ragged Glory through Broken Arrow)
Approximate Time: mid-winter, 1997
Ideal Venue: The Jungle in Pittsburgh (now defunct)
Perfect Opening Act: The Breeders
------

1. Fuckin' Up
2. Peace and Love 
3. Slip Away 
4. Sleeps With Angels 
5. Scattered
6. Scenery 
7. Loose Change
8. Music Arcade
9. Driveby
10. Prime of Life
11. Big Time 
12. Blue Eden 
13. Change Your Mind  / Dead Man (extended outro)

14. Love and Only Love 


^ This setlist would be the premium, unequaled master of sonic lucidity, just pure on brain-drifting softly down the cosmic river. I didn't focus much on (the obviously brilliant) Ragged Glory because it's very well represented in Neil's real life live sets and because I wanted to maintain the crystalline ethereal mood cultivated by the trio of mid-90s electric records.

This concert would be best suited to the dead of winter, because what it is, is an utter wave of pleasurable, oozing, reverberating audio constantly washing over you for 3 hours. This isn't a summer-fun kind of sound, it's a bundle up under your winter jacket and let your mind fly away from this harsh climate kind of sound. The most amazing venue would be this short-lived venue I saw Jonny Lang at in the mid-00s. The place felt like a big abandoned warehouse, the only place we had to see was atop a myriad of pool tables all across the venue (why, I have no idea). The music just vibrated and echoed and filled out this big wide expanse and it would be the perfect medium for Neil to channel in.

...Haven't done one for the 1980s yet. The 60s and 70s would feel kind of redundant given the focus they already get but I may get around to doing them someday as well. 'Till then, happy horsing!