News

Fantastic Vintage Costumes of Halloween Past

Published

10 years ago

October 8, 2014

One of the absolute best parts of Halloween is dressing in a costume. No matter what age you are, there is something that’s just fun about picking a Halloween costume. You get to go out into the world as your chosen character, and experience all Halloween has to offer dressed up like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama or sexy Freddy Kruger (despite the obvious, and weird problems raised with that costume). Seeing what your friends or co-workers have come up with can be especially fascinating as you get a bit of a glimpse into where their fan flag flies: “Oh wow Jim, I never knew you were that into Twilight…”

However, we do have to acknowledge the fact that, at some point, we have lost our way when it comes to Halloween costumes. Perhaps it was when we stopped putting the time in to making most of our costumes and just buying pre-made kits from shops.

Lets take a look at some amazing, and in some cases really unsettling, vintage costumes from the first half of the 20th century:

That kid in the front is much much creepier than anything you will see on Halloween this year. Plus, that is an awesome scarecrow mask (in the back) that would not only be easy to make, but would stand out at any costume party today.

These “little Hallowe’en people” are essentially only wearing layers (which, if you are anywhere in the north, you know all about when it comes to costumes) and plain, expressionless masks. There is no better mask to elicit shivers than one that bears no expression or distinguishing mark, and is a mask meant to hide your face, rather than change it. It should be a goal for each and every one of us to have a child (be they your children, your nephews, your cousins) look this unsettling on Halloween. Or, even better, get a flock of children to do it:

Children are much creepier in flocks, but it can work for adults too:

First thing is first: these are clearly not the scariest vintage costumes, but that aside, there is something just so perfect about a group of people going together with what is essentially the same idea, and instead of it being awkward (“what do you mean there is another Crow here? No one ever goes as the Crow!”), when a group goes with a simple costume, it becomes quite impressive, a bit unsettling, and just plain awesome (aside from having to breath in these bags):

No list would be complete without a few vintage costumes of creepy clowns:

Perhaps the perfect blend of everyone’s Crow costume, a droog from A Clockwork Orange, and a clown you would not want to meet…anywhere…whereas the more common clown costume of the early part of the 20th century harkens back to a more traditional “Punch and Judy” appearance:

These classic clowns are not quite as creepy as say, Pennywise, but rest assured, you can definitely make them creepy:

Then there are those vintage costumes which just defy categorization:

Terrifying early Michelin Men? Aliens?

It feels safe to assume that you are making the same expression at these…um…duck costumes (?) as the young man standing in the back. I am assuming this is some kind of vocal group, as it would explain the duck conductor…

Still creepy though.

Yep. This costume existed.

There you have it, a brief look at some of the fantastic vintage costumes that have all but disappeared today. Perhaps if you are still wondering what to do for your own costume this year, you could take inspiration from some of these vintage ideas and go simple, handmade and completely unique to you.

Or just get a skeleton kit and hope that Bill does not wear one too.

Happy Halloween!

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Movies

‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

Published

16 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

^{High Desert Hell}

^{The Gemini Project}

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Movies

‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

Published

18 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

^{Happy Sad Confused}

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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News

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

Published

20 hours ago

April 26, 2024

Timothy Rawles

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.