Halloween.....

If anyone ever asks me what the scariest movie is that I’ve seen, it would have to be John Carpenter’s Halloween, without a doubt. I remember when it first came out, my kids aged 8 and 11 at the time, begged me to take them. I had no idea just what I was in store for, thinking it was a kid’s movie. I was a stressed-out working mom then and didn’t take time to do any research, shame on me. I worked a job with split days off, so on one of the off days, I took the kids, along with a girlfriend of my daughter’s, and went to see this movie.

It was early evening, not yet dark when we went in. Typical small town fall day. We lived on a tree lined street and the colorful leaves carpeted the ground and scampered across the roadways in the brisk fall winds. Much like the setting in the movie, I might add. The theater was a small one with only a handful of people there on this week-night. The kids excitedly sat themselves in the first row and I positioned myself half way back in the middle. I had hurriedly gotten dressed to take them, choosing to put a wig on rather than fool with my hair. That was the thing back then; wigs were popular.

The movie started and it wasn’t but a few minutes into it that I was wondering if this was really a kid’s movie. A few minutes more answered my question. In a matter of minutes my kids, along with my daughter’s friend, were leaping over seats in a mad attempt to reach me, eyes wide with fear. They resembled a herd of buffalo coming right at me. I was attacked on both sides by kids, the youngest one in my lap with arms hugging me. My wig went askew on my head and it didn’t fall off and land under the seats only because I had a firm hold on it. My kids were terrified and so was I but I had to be the STRONG ONE. I couldn’t show my fear and kept saying, “its just a movie”, but I was nearly hyperventilating. The bad guy just WOULD NOT DIE. And that haunting MUSIC...omg, brings chills to your whole body cause you just KNOW somebody's gonna get it. I never wanted a movie to end so much in my entire life. At the end, my youngest had to ask….’where did he go’….when the body, ONCE AGAIN had disappeared. To avoid nightmares later I said, oh the ambulance guys already picked him up, hoping to appease his curiosity. But, of course, the question was in MY mind too.

When the movie let out, OF COURSE, it was dark and basically deserted outside in the parking lot. I mustered up my courage, straightened my wig, hiked up my bra straps and ventured out, looking like I’d just fought the Boer War. I could barely walk because my kids were glued to my sides. They kept saying everything I was thinking and trying to talk myself out of….like, what if he’s under the car, what if he’s IN the car. What if he waits until we get in and then gets on the roof and rides HOME with us. Its bad enough to THINK this stuff but when its said OUT LOUD, well, it just makes it all the more intense. If someone would have said BOO about then, I KNOW I would have just peed.

I have watched the movie several times in the safety of my home, doors tripled locked, which of course would never keep HIM out. It still scares me at my age, which proves that for everyone, no matter what your age, there really IS a boogeyman. (just like the good doctor says in the movie) I don’t think a scarier movie can ever be made than the original, first release of Halloween. Now, I won’t talk about it anymore.

Tomorrow is November first and when most people should be thinking of Thanksgiving, what did I see being set up on the shelves of the drugstore tonight? You guessed it……Christmas stuff. This is just plain ridiculous. Its just shy of being TWO months away…….give me a break! And WHY was I in the store tonight after work, you ask…..well, to get Halloween candy of course. Procrastination is my middle name.