Hamster Halloween

Happy Halloween! This is Murray, my new hamster...we got him on September 18th, and I've taken some pretty cute pictures of him with my Halloween decorations. : )

Review: Carrie the Musical at City Stage Co.

My husband and I went to Wilmington, NC to celebrate our third anniversary last week, and the highlight of our trip was seeing City Stage Co.'s production of Carrie the Musical (directed by Nick Gray).  I was pretty sure I'd like it since I'm a fan of the Stephen King novel and movie about a telekinetic teenager and the worst prom ever, but the musical was even better than I expected.  I loved every minute, from the first note to the tragic finale, which managed to break my heart even though I knew it was coming.  The casting was perfect, and every actor did an amazing job.  I loved the songs and got chills every time the cast sang together.  Hannah Elizabeth Smith shone as Carrie White, and the moment that Carrie stops being afraid of her mother was simply incredible and put such a smile on my face.  Katherine Vernon was terrifying as out-of-her-mind Jesus freak Margaret White.  I've always thought that Margaret was much scarier than any horror movie monster or killer, and I'm sure that anyone who has read my plays wouldn't be surprised to learn that the super religious scare the shit out me. ; )  Hannah Laham and Annie Tracy Marsh were wonderful as lone survivor Sue Snell and class bitch Chris Hargensen, and I could listen to those two sing all day.  I was also impressed by Chandler Davis as gym teacher Lynn Gardner, Patrick Basquill as Chris' partner-in-crime Billy Nolan, and Brad Mercier as nice guy Tommy Ross, and Mercier's Tommy was so likable that I was hoping the character would have a different fate in the musical than he did in the book and movie.

I'm so happy that I got to see City Stage Co's production of Carrie the Musical, and I feel bad for anyone who doesn't get to see it.  I can't recommend it enough, can't stop thinking about it, and wish I could see it again. : )

My rating: 10/10

Here's all the info if you want to experience this phenomenal musical for yourself:

http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2014/10/carrie-musical.html

Murray contemplating whether this Carrie action figure is something he can eat

Guest blogger Patricia Lane: Crow's Asylum

Patricia Lane, who has guest blogged for me before, runs a Halloween attraction some of you might be interested in.  If you live in or near Benton, Arkansas, check it out! : )

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Hello, friends.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. And no, I’m not talking about Christmas.

It’s almost Halloween! My favorite time of the year. And what makes it even better? Haunted Houses and dressing up and candy. Did I mention haunted houses?

Now I used to go through the generic haunted houses and I just couldn’t get scared in them. Most were really corny and the good ones took hours (and big bucks) to get in to. So about three years ago, a fellow paranormal investigator and close friend of mine offered my husband and I to be in a haunted house. We figured Sure, why not? We didn’t have anything better to do. We didn’t get trick-or-treaters and we both loved to dress up, but with no kids knocking on our door and the fact we weren’t special enough to get invited to costume parties, we jumped on the chance.

 That first year we were just a hodge podge of scares and we were very small, we only had six actors, and we nicknamed it The Maze of Terror. (Yeah, I know. Very original)

Over the next year, the creator, my husband and I came up with idea for a theme and a name. As the main scare was a demon possessed scarecrow named Crow, we eventually came up with the name of Crow’s Asylum. We made it better, despite it being in a garage. The second year, we were even bigger with more actors.

  

Crow’s Asylum gets bigger every year it seems and we work on ideas and concepts all year round. The haunt’s backstory, Crow took over an insane asylum and released the patients to run amuck, was created earlier this year by myself and the creator. We like to joke that he is the CEO and my husband and I are the vice presidents. Each year, we take one of the patients and feature them as our central theme. This year, it is Stitches, a psychotic serial killer clown. And we are having so much fun with it. And I cannot wait for the finished haunt and showtime.

This will be the last year at our current location as we will be moving to Spook City in downtown Benton, Arkansas next year.

 So if you’re in the area come check us out

 We open on Halloween night from 7 until the monsters are full and can eat no more

Crow’s Asylum Haunt

5526 Palisades Dr

Benton, Arkansas 72019

Check us out on Facebook and online

https://www.facebook.com/CrowsMonsterAsylum

http://crowsasylumhaunt.wix.com/crowsasylumhaunt

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Night Frights

Since I'm obsessed with Halloween, I searched the Directv guide for Halloween shows and recorded a bunch of them.  I found one on the Travel Channel called Halloween Night Frights, which is about Halloween-themed roller coasters and theme park attractions and originally aired in 2013.  Since watching this show is the closest I'm going to get to going on a roller coaster (I've been talked into it a few times, and it's always turned out to be a bad idea...people with vertigo should never ride roller coasters), I decided to write about it for the blog.

-Verbolten (Busch Gardens in Williamsburg,Virginia): This roller coaster has 16-foot drop and a "monster jolt when you least expect it."  Verbolten is surrounded by woods and takes passengers through a dark tunnel with flashing lights and images.

http://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-williamsburg/attractions/rides/verbolten/

-Scarywood  (Silverwood Theme Park in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho): Every October, Silverwood Theme Park turns into Scarywood and is "overrun with 185 menacing ghouls."  A train called the Zombiewood Express takes up to 270 passengers to a "zombie-killing battlefield," which looks like a lot of fun...I would definitely go if it weren't in Idaho.

http://www.scarywoodhaunt.com/

-Phantom Fright Nights (Kennywood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania): Zombies walk around the park, and The Phantom's Revenge, a 16-story high roller coaster, travels more than 80 mph and is especially scary at night when riders can't see what's around each turn.

http://phantomfrightnights.com/

-Morey's Fears (Morey's Piers in Wildwood, New Jersey): More than 100 zombies prowl the pier, and the Ghost Ship attraction allows guests to be frightened by actors in a claustrophobic maze.  The Sea Serpent is a 935-foot roller coaster whose "specialty is torturing seasick riders through two cobra-roll inversions" before taking them backwards.  

http://www.moreyspiers.com/

-The Legend and Raven (Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana): Holiday World celebrates Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, and Halloween.  The most popular Halloween attraction is The Legend roller coaster, which is named for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and goes through four dark tunnels and has a spiral drop.  The Raven makes riders feel like they're flying and also goes through four tunnels, which is especially disorienting at night.

http://www.holidayworld.com/

-The Haunted Graveyard (Lake Compounce in Bristol, Connecticut):  The Haunted Graveyard features 24 terrifying scenes and more than 200 actors whose "sole mission is to make you pee yourself." (I think I'll skip this one...I have no desire to pee myself anywhere, let alone in public.)

http://www.hauntedgraveyard.com/

-Mamba (Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri): Mamba is a mile-long roller coaster whose peak is 200 feet high (just thinking about that makes me nauseous), and as if that weren't scary enough, a creepy monster might be sitting behind you on the ride.

https://www.worldsoffun.com/things-to-do/halloween-haunt

-LeVampire (La Ronde in Montreal, Canada): LeVampire is an inverted roller coaster that "spirals ninety feet in three seconds."  The track is above your head, and there's nothing under your feet, so I don't really know why anyone would ride this. ; )

http://www.laronde.com/larondeen/

-Nights of Horror (Luna Park in Brooklyn, New York): The Cyclone roller coaster was built in 1927 and takes riders through "five turns, nine hills, and seven heart-stopping plunges."

http://lunaparknyc.com/

-Howl-O-Scream (Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida): More than 800 scary characters roam the park, and the Alone House is a haunted house that you have to go into by yourself and face off against a "machete-wielding madman" before going through thirteen terrifying rooms. (No, thanks.)

http://seaworldparks.com/en/howloscream-tampa/

Movie Spotlight: Dead Silence

Dead Silence is a 2007 movie starring Ryan Kwanten, Amber Valletta, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Bob Gunton, Laura Regan, and Judith Roberts.  The movie begins with newlywed Jamie Ashen (Ryan Kwanten) receiving a ventriloquist's dummy from an anonymous source.  Jamie leaves to pick up dinner, and when he returns, he finds his wife (Laura Regan) dead--murdered by Billy the evil dummy.  (You left your wife alone with a creepy ventriloquist's dummy?  Don't you know you're in a horror movie?!) Detective Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg), the cop in charge of the case, thinks that Jamie is responsible for Lisa's death and is determined to prove it. (It should be noted that Detective Lipton is a straight-up weirdo who takes his electric razor everywhere and shaves at really inappropriate times.)  Jamie returns to his hometown to bury Lisa and find out the truth about Billy the dummy.

The movie was directed by James Wan, who also directed The Conjuring and Insidious, and while Dead Silence was not nearly as well-done or as scary as those movies, it was better than I expected a movie featuring ventriloquist dummies to be.  All of the actors were very good, and the filmmakers managed to avoid making the dummies look cheesy while they were threatening or murdering people (which probably isn't easy to do).

My rating: 6.5/10

My thoughts on the upcoming Ghostbusters movie

Paul Feig recently announced his plans to make a new Ghostbusters movie starring hilarious women, and as a woman who writes comedy, of course I love the idea.  I seem to be in the minority though, and seeing all of the online comments from people claiming that this movie will ruin the franchise (as well as their childhoods) just makes me roll my eyes.  If you don't like it, don't watch it...the existence of this movie isn't going to take away from the greatness of the original Ghostbusters movies.  Those movies will still be the same movies; they're not going to change at all.  I don't like The Omen remake (The Omen II, III, and IV aren't great either), but that doesn't change my feelings about the original at all, and The Omen is still my favorite horror movie.  And to the guy who said that there's no such thing as hilarious women: you're obnoxious, sexist, and need to watch more comedy.  I can think of a bunch of hilarious women: Sarah Silverman, Tina Fey, Maria Bamford, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Schumer, Kaitlin Olsen, Kristen Wiig, Wanda Sykes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (do I need to keep going?).

I'm excited about this movie-I've seen a lot of things that Paul Feig has been involved with (Bridesmaid, The Heat, Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Arrested Development, etc.) and I've enjoyed all of them, so I don't understand why so many people are just assuming the movie is going to be awful (though it's rare to see people actually saying something nice on the internet, so maybe I shouldn't be surprised).  Also, screenwriter Katie Dippold has written for Parks and Recreation, one of the best shows on TV the past few years, and that gives me high hopes for the movie.  Some people are saying that if you're a true fan of Ghostbusters, you can't support the reboot, but that's bullshit.  If you're a fan of Ghostbusters, why wouldn't you want to see more of it...or at least give it a chance instead of bitching about it and saying it will fail the second it's announced?  I'll probably see this movie opening weekend, and maybe I'll even wear my homemade Ghostbusters costume...because despite how most of the whiners on the internet feel, women can be Ghostbusters.

Mark your calendars for AtomaCon!

AtomaCon (All Types of Media Arts Convention) is a fairly new convention, and it takes place November 14th-16th at the Charleston Plaza Hotel  (4770 Goer Drive) in North Charleston, SC.  Last year I didn't find out about Atomacon until two days before it began, so I only went the last day and attended the Ghost Hunting Tech panel (http://paranormalcrystal.blogspot.com/2013/11/so-you-want-to-be-ghost-hunter.html).  This year I'm prepared...I bought my three-day pass back in December and am planning on attending a bunch of panels and writing about them for the blog.  I'm especially excited about the Ghostbusters 30th Anniversary Meetup...I'm dressing up as a Ghostbuster for Halloween, so this will give me another excuse to wear my costume! If you're a fan of Star Wars, Dr. Who, Sherlock, The Walking Dead, Godzilla, Lost, or Star Trek, or if you'd like to learn more about ghost hunting, Charleston's haunted history, cosplay, building props, designing video games, or searching for Bigfoot, there's something at AtomaCon for you!  Check out the AtomaCon website for more information:

http://www.atomacon.org/

Carrie the Musical

My husband and I are taking a trip to Wilmington, NC for our anniversary in a few weeks, and we're going to see Carrie the musical while we're there!  Carrie the musical is based on the Stephen King novel about a telekinetic teenager, and it's being performed by City Stage Co. October 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 24th, 25th, 26th, and 31st and November 1st and 2nd.  If you live in or near Wilmington, and this sounds like something you'd like to see, email your name, phone number, date you'd like to attend, number of tickets, and which seats you'd like (you can find the seating chart here: http://www.citystageco.com/come-see-show/) to CityStageCoReservations@gmail.com or call 910-342-0272 to make your reservation.  Tickets cost $20-$25 or $18 for students, teachers, and military, and the theatre is located at 21 N. Front St. #501. I love musicals, and I also love Stephen King, so I'm really excited to see Carrie the musical. : )

http://www.citystageco.com/city-stage-co-shows/carrie-2014/

Halloween Display 2014

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I usually start decorating in early September.  Here are some pictures of this year's Halloween display. : )

The Paranormal Works of Stephen King

Since it's finally October, I thought I'd do a blog post about the world's most popular horror author: Stephen King.  I've read almost everything he's written, and many of his novels have a paranormal/ supernatural element, so I've compiled a list of his paranormal works and included a link to each novel's Amazon listing.

1. Carrie (1974)



2. Salem's Lot (1975)



3. The Shining (1977)



4. The Dead Zone (1979)



5. Firestarter (1980)



6. Christine (1983)



7. Pet Sematary (1983)



8. Cycle of the Werewolf (1983)



9. It (1986)



10. The Tommyknockers (1987)



11. The Green Mile (1996)



12. Storm of the Century (1999)



13. Dreamcatcher (2001)



14. From a Buick 8 (2002)



15. Under the Dome (2009)



16. Doctor Sleep (2013)