Hitchcock Halloween Blogathon

Just came across this blogathon that is taking place this Halloween. My new friend Lara Gabrielle who does the blog Backlots is hosting this spectacular event. She describes it here in her own words:

Mark your calendars folks, Backlots is going to be hosting another blogathon!

To complement the Dueling Divas blogathon that I host every December, this year I am beginning a new tradition. Avoid those birds and be watch your back in the shower folks, because Hitchcock Halloween is coming to Backlots! On October 31, submit your review or analysis of a spooky Hitchcock film to celebrate the arrival of the holiday.

I did something similar to this last year, but instead of collaborating with my fellow bloggers, I simply did it myself. This year I thought it would be fun if we all participated!

Here are some guidelines:

• You can write about Hitchcock–his career, his life, etc.–profile one of his films, talk about his TV show, whatever you feel moved to do. Don’t feel like you have to be confined to movies for this one, because Hitchcock was a personality above all, and he deserves to be honored with a holistic approach.
• Though I expect that most of the entries will end up being about Hitchcock’s horror films anyway, feel free to write about something likeNorth by Northwest if that’s your favorite Hitchcock movie and that’s what you want to contribute. Heck, write about Mr. and Mrs. Smith if you want! Again, holistic approach.
• During Dueling Divas, I really love when people write freely about whatever they feel the topic means to them. However, try not to stray too far. In the past I’ve felt like perhaps I gave a little too much free rein, and people got a bit tangential. Write about what you want, but don’t forget that this is about Hitchcock!

Sounds awesome doesn't it? I chose Mr. and Mrs. Smith

A Childhood Halloween Tradition

This would be my cousin screaming her head off during our Halloween
movie marathons from my childhood...

During this month I have been watching a lot of horror movies...classic and modern. This being the month which has Halloween in it, makes it the perfect occassion. I remember back to my days as a young teen around 13 or 14 where we had this annual tradition every Halloween of watching scary movies. My mom is a die hard horror movie fan. Loves them like crazy. And my cousin who is 4 years older than me, she loves them too. Problem was, she scared real easy. As it happens she lived on the same street as me and my family. And every Halloween back then HBO or Cinemax would have a horror-thon of scary movies all night long. We had those channels but my cousin did not. So every Halloween she would spend the night with us to watch as many horror movies as she could. Which at the time would consist of the Halloween, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street movies and so forth. Every now and then we would throw in a classic like Psycho or The Exorcist. We did this for like 3 or 4 years. It was great when Halloween fell on the weekend as we stayed up all night long. I remember Carmen, my cousin, always screaming and pulling on my arm. I thought she was going to pull it out  of my socket. She would scream and call out my mom's name. Sometimes cover her eyes when it got too much for her to handle. It was a wild time. And then after we watched the last movie, I had to walk my cousin home as she was afraid that she might get attacked by Jason or Freddy. Now mind you, she was 18 or 19 at the time. But I didn't mind. I fondly look back at those times as great memories. My sisters did not join in because they were much younger than me at the time and wasn't ready for horror movies. But me, my mom and my cousin had some great Halloweens watching movies and staying up late.

Here's To A Bewitching Halloween For Everyone...

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha and Agnes Moorehead as her mother Endora, from the classic TV series Bewitched.

Happy Halloween from Clara Bow

Happy Halloween from Janet Leigh

Here's a photo to put you in the mood for Halloween..

All Good Things In October

I kick off October on All Good Things with a different approach for my classic movie goddess of the month. I will focus on the lovely women who made films for the Hammer Films studio. I will choose one actress a week and post reviews of the films I have seen of her and photos. I just finished reading the book called Hammer Glamour and it was all about the women of Hammer films, and it featured over 50 actresses. So this will be a long running series every October. I know my friend Matthew Coniam over at Carfax Abbey will be intrigued by this idea as he has a terrific blog that you must check out. Anyway, the actresses will be random so I don't know what four will be done first. Also I will list my Top 10 Favorite Hitchcock films. My guest blogger will be my friend KC. And I hope to post a review of a classic horror film each day. So I will be quite busy blogging next month. Hope you can check it out.