THE FALL SERIES: Vera Miles

Vera doing a little advertising

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.

Classic Horror Films: Day 13 (PSYCHO - 1960)

One of Hitch's best films he ever made. Anthony Perkins is perfect as Norman Bates, a young man who runs The Bates Motel, who has a serious mother fixation. Along comes Janet Leigh, a young woman on the run from the cops for stealing money from her job. And the rest is cinema magic. Psycho set the standard for all the slasher flicks that would follow, but it's still the best one. It works as a thriller and a character piece. You really get to know Norman Bates and Perkins does a helluva job. Janet Leigh is pretty good too. A must see.

Norman Bates: A boy's best friend is his mother. 

 
Norman under some duress


Marion does have a money fixation doesn't she?


Norman and Marion having a little chat


Decisions, decisions....