Original illustration of Nora from Halloween Resurrection
This is another piece that I drew to someone else’s specifications (though they didn’t know it until they got it for Christmas). Long ago I thought I would hate to be an artist for hire and avoided all requests for drawing, but I find drawing something out of my norm to be very invigorating. Granted, my most recent experiences did not involve negotiated changes to the art. This is something I saw in my Father’s industry that steered me away from an art career of any kind.
Anyway, the picture is of Tyra Banks’ character Nora in Halloween Resurrection (wiki) enjoying a latte while her coworker is murdered on a screen just outside her eye-line. I had to composite a few different angles from the movie as the two images do not appear quite like I needed them to in the movie as I’ve seen it.
It may be far from a holiday, especially for kids who would rather have another month of summer, but ‘back to school’ is a seasonal marker for many people, including those that work in the academic industries as I do. I’ve probably already intimated that summer can be a little tiring here in Florida. To me, the start of fall classes means fall is here even if the weather won’t change for months.
Real Genius (1985) – The movie for all those brilliant maladjusted youngins who enter college in their mid teens and find out that the world only wants to use their genius for profit, pollution, and evil. I may not be one of them, but I have loved this movie for ever.
Grease (1978) and Grease II (1982) – “The Board of Education took away my parole. We’re gonna go back, back, back to school again.” They both may encapsulate an entire year, but the back-to-school moment is so so extra.
It Was a Short Summer Charlie Brown (1969) – until this year (2023) we were missing a Charlie Brown special for this holiday. This one may reminisce about the whole of the summer, but it is firmly placed during the first week of school.
Of course, if you live within the world of college and university campuses, then rush week comes quickly on the heels of the start of the year. Not being devotees to Greek calendars, we have a selection of rush/hell week movies to fill out the watching.
The Initiation (1984) – young pledges locked up in a mall with a slasher.
Killer Party (1986) – we watched this for April fools earlier in the year thinking the party was more spring themed. It does sorta begin with a music video for a song called April fool. Though there are plenty of pranks, this is all hell week.
Initiation of Sarah (1978) – this is also going on the ultimate witch list I am curating.
Sorority Babes and the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988) – sorority pledges stay overnight in a bowling alley and unleash an evil imp.
If you are feeling like celebrating through movies like I do, check out the other Holidays in the Movies posts.
We don’t celebrate Christmas in July because we have an all encompassing love of Christmas and we just have to have it more than once a year. Our mini holiday is more because we need a little imagined cooler weather; would never turn down the opportunity for another present and some some mulled cider; and could use a reminder that the yuletide feeling of love and hope for humanity doesn’t need to only happen once a year. However, while we spend weeks immersing ourselves in media for Christmas, Christmas in July gets a couple days at most. We make a selection of absolute favorites, White Christmas, and select a smattering of other features. This year that list includes:
Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979) – I have probably talked about Rankin and Bass before. Theirs are the holiday specials of my childhood, along with Charlie Brown. And, the title says it: Christmas in July.
Silent Night Bloody Night (1972) – I now believe that all mansions were once used as asylums or clinics of some kind.
White Christmas (1954) – This may be my favorite Christmas movie of all time, so of course, we watch it in July.
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) – Yes, Charlie Brown again.
I play the same record on every patriotic holiday: Timbuk 3’s Edge of Allegiance, because it starts with National Holiday. If we entertain guests, then perhaps I’ll bust out the Sousa, but Sousa takes a level of picnic commitment that is hard to rustle up in the heat of a Florida summer. Of course, like with many other holidays at my house, we get in the mood and stay in the mood with some carefully chosen movies.
Halloween and Christmas are extensive enough to warrant their own zines, but you can check out my previous posts on Thanksgiving,New Year, and Easter if you want more of this holiday moodiness, or check out all the other Holidays in the Movies posts.
4th of July
Music Man (1962): honestly, before checking the date on this, I had forgotten their was a 2003 version. I think I’m going to forget it again, because I love the 1963 film so much, no interlopers could infiltrate this relationship.
This is America Charlie Brown (1988-89): have I said this before: Charlie Brown means the holidays, any holiday, every holiday.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997): This even has a parade it is so 4th of July. There are flags and pageants and fishermen and floats and everything patriotic.
Silver Bullet (1985): Yes, it is a werewolf movie; yes, it happens on the 4th of July.
Martha’s Summer Favorites (2006): Martha Stewart specials on DVD are featured in our house every Halloween season, they help us prep for Thanksgiving and celebrate for Christmas. So, of course, they’re going to help us prep for the 4th of July too. This set could be watched at the start of summer except for an extended sequence on celebrating America, so here it is.
Summer tends to feel terribly devoid of holidays, but there are some important dates to celebrate. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year. Like sun lovers who celebrate the winter solstice as a lengthening of days from then on out, I welcome the summer solstice as a herald of shorter days to come. The sun in Florida is blinding and relentless, so the thought of it receding just a bit is a comfort by this time of year. At the same time the hottest and brightest days of summer are still to come. These are the movies we are watching to get in the mood and learn to love summer again:
Race for Your Life Charlie Brown (1977) – I’ve said it before, Charlie Brown is every holiday
Summer School (1987) – for everyone who no longer has summer breaks with no commitment, the feeling of being cooped up in class when you want to be out on vacation is real and familiar
Lost Boys (1987) – except for the fashion, this feels as though it is as hot and blinding as summers where we are
The Burbs (1989) – there is nothing that says summer so much as sitting around the house and indulging in conspiracy theories and paranoia
Sleepaway Camp (1983) – camp isn’t a break from school, its just more of the cliques, awkwardness, and bullying of school without the distraction of class work
Friday the 13th part VII: the new blood (1988) – as described by Richard, “Carrie vs. Jason,” but really, any Friday the 13th movie is appropriate as summer celebration watching
Hausu (1977) – A summer trip to the country complete with watermelon
Hiruko the Goblin (1991) – incredibly strange Japanese horror film with great summer vibes and plenty of school drama
One Crazy Summer (1986) – a silly slapstick comedy with some clever jokes, but not one we watch every year
Summer of Fear (1978) – also known as Stranger in Our House, this TV movie is full of witches and occult intrigue
Cheerleader Camp (1988) – more proof that all summer camps set in the woods are plagued by knife wielding killers
This past year has felt frustratingly un-productive, but I did finish a thing. Though I have been dragging my feet on taking pictures and getting it listed in my Etsy shop, I am happy to say that I completed the ‘Un-Authorized Recipes of Doomed Moviethon’ zine!
So, if you ever wanted to follow along with Richard Schmidt’s excellent book, eating and drinking what he did (because I fed him), then here are the recipes you need to recreate those insane moments. I also slipped in some movie inspired comic strips.
We are a movie watching household, so there is never anything quite so satisfying as being able to gear-up for and celebrate a holiday with some evening viewing. This is the second in a series where I pull out the movies we watch for those holidays that aren’t Halloween and Christmas. The first were Thanksgiving and New Year if you are in to this holiday thing.
Easter
The Being (1983): monsters, murder, green slime, and nuclear waste, what more can one ask for on Easter?
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974): Charlie Brown = holidays, again and again and again.
The First Easter Rabbit (1976): I love Rankin and Bass productions. I love the animation and I love the clay-mation. Most of the specials I have collected are Christmas, of course, but Rankin and Bass hit all the holidays, or almost all.
Easter Parade (1948): I grew up with musicals, so of course they are prime for inclusion in holiday themed viewing.
Chocolat (2000): I think this movie gets over looked a bunch, and I over looked it too, even though the entire film is building towards Easter.
Critters 2-the main course (1988): there are eggs and there is an Easter egg hunt, so of course.
Keeping track of the year by celebrating holidays and the passing of time with curated movies, music, and seasonal food is taking deep root in the Schmidt house. We may have never celebrated Valentines in the traditional ways – and are more inclined to hide inside then venture out to a restaurant withe the rest of the world – but we are building a tradition that makes the holiday a two to three day event.
Be My Valentine Charlie Brown (1975): I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Charlie Brown brings every holiday.
There’s No Time for love Charlie Brown (1973): if you didn’t get enough Charlie Brown – this special isn’t specifically about the Valentines holiday, but it is set three months till the end of the school year – around the same time.
We may be reeling from our Christmas watching and happy to finally be free to watch anything we want, but there are movies and specials that make the New Year at our house. Just like Thanksgiving, the pickings may be slimmer for this holiday, but it is more than enough to put us in the mood.
New Year
Terror Train (1980): I was never part of the fraternity and sorority scene in college so the idea of renting a train for a New Year’s party is both plausible and completely unbelievable to me. Hi David Copperfield!
New Year’s Evil (1980): A punk rock Pinky Tuscadero (wiki) terrorized during her TV special by a killer-stalker. The New Year’s countdown happens three times in this movie! What can be more celebratory?
Bloody New Year (1987): This is all kinds of holiday – kids running from thugs get caught in a time travel loop where a whole New Year’s eve party vanished decades ago? Still dressed up for Christmas because it is British.
Get Crazy (1983): Planning for a new year’s party by way of a massive concert overshadows the threat that a much loved theater will be bought out by sleep, punk developers. Hilarious hi-jinks included.
The Fifth Cord (1971): One of the finest examples of the giallo genre with an excellent cast, a great director, and a super cool soundtrack by the great Ennio Morricone. The entire opening sequence and a pivotal part of the plot both take place at a New Year’s Eve Party.
Martha’s New Year’s Celebration (2005): from the Martha’s Holidays collection again. We usually just curl up on the sofa and watch movies for New Year, but we can dream of throwing a fancy party.
Celebrating holidays in my house means media saturation. That is, leading up to Halloween we watch all the Halloween movies, and leading up to Christmas, we watch all the Christmas movies, specials, and television shows. But Halloween and Christmas aren’t the only holidays around which you can structure your movie viewing.
Garfield’s Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982): immensely enjoyable take on the legend of the Chicken Ranch. If Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds aren’t enough to sell it to you, then the in depth study in eighties lingerie should do it.
Madman (1982): horror film taking place in a strange alternate reality where kids are sent off to a woodland camp for Thanksgiving break.
Turkey Hollow (2015): broken family forcing themselves on a grudgingly hospitable distant relative? check. Sibling discord healed by adventure and danger? check. Monsters in the woods? check. Turkeys? check check check check check.
Charlie Brown Mayflower Voyagers (1988): part of the ‘This is America, Charlie Brown” series, but tacked on to the ‘Peanuts Holiday Collection’ without any other episodes.
Martha Stewart’s Classic Thanksgiving (2005): from the Martha’s Holidays collection, because it is necessary to have a couple of hours worth of instruction on making that turkey.
I heard from my informants that social media has thing thing: 10 movies to know you, and I was inspired. These are the 10 movies, and then 10 books that have shaped me (in no significant order).
I am not alone in being absolutely delighted that a line of merchandise from Hocus Pocus (1993) is available at my local Halloween store. And, I’m sure I am not alone in being disappointed that the merch makers have neglected to make the movie replica I would most like to have: the Black Flame Candle. I was disappointed enough to make one for myself.
I gathered together as many screenshots as I could find from the movie that showed the artwork on the candle. After some unsuccessful searching on the internets for block prints that look like they inspired the original, I decided to wing it.
Step One
Protect your surface and gather all your materials: large flameless candle, permanent markers, carving tool, and reference photo.
As in, all the best of what that I spend time with every October.
What Media
Rocky Horror Picture Show is always on the list. When I was a kid in Dallas, TX, Rocky Horror would start running on broadcast television all through October. My mom loved the movie, so, of course, I loved it too.
I said list. Every year Richard of Doomedmoviethon.com and I have a list of movies and specials that we have to watch throughout October. I could’ve sworn I have blogged about this list before, but it doesn’t look like I have. I will correct that. For now, just know that Halloween isn’t Halloween without having seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show and also, Martha Stewart’s Halloween special and Slumber Party Massacre.
We also have a special USB drive mix of music for the car. Henry Hall is starting to feature more and more prominently, and it wouldn’t be complete with a few versions of “Mr. Ghost is Going to Town.”
What Food
Pumpkin seeds – not that I ever stop eating these all year, but the ones we made ourselves after carving pumpkins have a special kind of flavor. I love the way they sing. It might be one of my favorite sounds.
Pumpkin bread – I found an awesome recipe for pumkin bread done in a slow cooker. It is cakey, like a breakfast loaf, and it is lovely!
Pumpkin and turkey chilli – if ya’ll haven’t tried pumpkin based chilli, you should give it a go!
