On wednesday evening I decided to enjoy Halloween all the way... even my fingernails were celebrating! I had fun doing some nail art which I admit I copied from one of the patterns designed by the amazing GHETTO NAILZ girls. Ghetto Nailz is, I think, the first nail art salon in Madrid, which means it's also the first one in Spain. The trend is still far from arriving to Paris (seriously what's up with this city lately?! When did it become yawnfest central and the most old-fashioned fashion capital?) so I had to experiment and do the nail art myself. Actually I'm really happy with the results, although you can clearly see I'm right-handed when you look at the nails I had to do with my left hand:
I mean those darned Dracula fangs? Couldn't bite a neck if their life depended on it. However, despite still having to practice a bit with my left hand, I'm really happy with my newly-found talent and I'm even willing to start manicuring my Parisian friends who are craving nail art and can't get it done in the city's salons (seriously get in touch!).
How was your Halloween? I wanna hear all about it! I confess I still haven't taken down my decorations and my flat is filled with pumpkins and cotton cobwebs... and I absolutely refuse to change my manicure!
Because Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without a touch of silver screen, because movies are as important to October 31 as candy, and just in case you're tired of watching Saw and The Exorcist over and over again and are in need of a little film inspiration, I have put together a list of some of my favourite Halloween titles.
Not all of the movies I have chosen are scary. I do like to be scared as much as anyone else (although if I have to sleep alone afterwards I might spend the night hidden under the duvet terrified that Jack the Ripper/ Norman Bates/ Linda Blair/ the Monster Under The Bed is coming to get me) but I think there's more to Halloween than just the scary part: it's about celebrating the obscure, the mysterious, the supernatural. It's about black magic and embracing our dark side. Each in its own way, all these movies convey that. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the wickedest celebration of the year!
10. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Classic horror at its best! Monsters! Crazy scientists! Electricity machines! Boris Karloff! And of course the unforgettable Elsa Lanchester dressed as the terrifying bride of Frankenstein... But the reason I love this movie is because of the way James Whale directed it: it's simple, tender and compassionate without being sentimental, and it has flashes of humour and a couple of welcome touches of Hollywood kitsch (that gothic castle in the Scottish moors of Culver City, Ca?). In a way it set the standards for later horror movies, but it is also quite unique in the way it approaches the relationship between monsters and humans. A true must-see.
9. The Omen (1976)
Okay, this movie is kind of average really. But it features a mature Gregory Peck, and that's good enough for me. The story is pretty standard as well: loving couple has a son who turns out to be an evil child and the Devil's messenger or something, and kills everything and everyone in gruesome ways. On its strong points, the ending is not as deceiving as it usually is in this kind of movies, and it's fun for a rainy afternoon in. Oh, and, you know. Gregory Peck.
8. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1958)
Nothing beats a good alien movie with retro-designed flying saucers and that howling music they make. The thing that sets apart The Day The Earth Stood Still is the fact that aliens are the good ones in this film, coming to Earth to try and explain to humans that all violence must cease and that Cold War and The Bomb are bound to destroy the Universe. But... will humans listen to their message?
7.Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
For me, this is the number one Halloween comedy. A film in which two old witches bake cakes, kill lonely men and store all the corpses about their house; a film in which a scar-covered Raymond Massey psychologically tortures an Igor-looking Peter Lorre; a film about madness, death and poison... which turns out to be a rom com. Only Frank Capra (and Cary Grant at his best).
6. Carrie (1976)
A bit of genuine fear is always good in Halloween, so what better than Carrie? This movie is unsettling (what's with all the nudity at the beginning?) and terrifying, especially if you're watching it for the first time. Me and eight of my girl cousins watched it together years ago and I can still remember the moment in which we all yelled in utter horror. I think we scared the neighbours, and just that made it worthwile. Also, Sissy Spacek's eyes when all that blood is running through her face... always gives me the willies.
5. The Village of the Damned (1960)
A group of blond children (supposedly the kids of aliens although I secretly suspect they're just nazis) read into the minds of adults and control their actions, causing them to self-harm. This iconic movie is actually quite well built and it's got George Sanders in it for once not playing the villain. Also, who can resist evil aryan kids talking with a British accent?
4. The Blob (1958)
Pure B-series drive-in material! Who could turn it down? For once, it's not about monsters, Frankensteins, aliens, Godzillas or creatures of the Black Lagoon attacking people; here it's all about a sort of giant jelly which looks like it might be cherry-flavored although I think it's actually the blood which gives it its distinctive red color. It eats teenage boys and their full-skirted, buxom girlfriends in their cars and in high-schools and in ice-cream parlors. Luckily there is Steve McQueen to save us all.
3. King Kong (1933)
For those of you craving a monster classic, here's King Kong, the movie that has everything: the Empire State building, stop-motion dinosaurs, a screaming Fay Wray and a deliciously 1930's story. It never ceases to amaze me how it stays fresh, entertaining and surprising after almost a century. If you haven't watched it yet, you should definitely put it in your Halloween to-do list.
2. Ed Wood (1994)
Before he married Helena Bonham-Carter and started making stupid films about monkeys and chocolate factories, Tim Burton was a great director. No, seriously, this is one of my all-time favourites and I guess it could be defined as a meta-Halloween movie: it's more than a Halloween movie, it's a movie about all Halloween movies. Johnny Depp is Ed Wood, a director so bad he was genius (you should also watch some of his work, it's a lark). He's friends with a decadent Bela Lugosi and has a girlfriend played by Sarah Jessica Parker (who's just as unbearable as good old Carrie B). Burton tells his story with understanding and tenderness towards Ed, his freak friends and their failures. Fabulous in every sense.
1. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Meet Gary Oldman, aka the hottest Count Dracula that's ever been. I have always been a fan of the original 1931 version of Dracula, but you just gotta love Coppola's version as well (and hey, any movie starring Winona has to be cool, no?): all the symbolist inspiration and the winks to Cocteau and to the Bela Lugosi movies just make it great. The costumes, sets and special effects (no weird computer things which would have spoiled the whole mood) are all fantastic; Anthony Hopkins is extra as Van Helsing... all this combined with the fact that Keanu Reeves is at his most boring (are there really times when he's more boring than others?) and that Gary Oldman as Dracula is basically sex on legs, will make you want to turn into a vampire asap.
As a kid growing up in a Jesuit school in provincial Spain, Halloween was a sort of taboo. One just "didn't do" Halloween; it was a pagan, weird celebration. In love with Tim Burton films and horror films in general, I used to be so jealous on 31 October, thinking how Americans were probably having lots of fun, sweeties, pumpkins and all the rest, while I was just sitting down celebrating... nothing. If only I would have known then and there that it was to become such a popular holiday some years later! Alas, now I'm too old to go around the neighbourhood asking for sweets, but I do love being able to celebrate Halloween at last. And I have realized I'm not the only one. However, I admit I haven't completely made up my mind yet about my costume (I have to get dressed during the next hour and I'm still lazying and blogging!) I have decided against any really modern or original costumes; I just feel like putting on lots of the old corpse-y makeup, a creepy wig and some vampire-like rags.
Still a big fan of Tim Burton (of his old films anyway, I find his latest movies incredibly dreary, except for the fact that Johnny Depp is still in them, but that's another story), my first choice was 1950's TV presenter Maila Nurmi, better known as Vampira, played by Lisa Marie in Burton's film Ed Wood. The costume is simple, feminine and very effective.
Thinking of another one of my Burton favourites, Winona Ryder's character in Beetlejuice is another great option: more black clothes, a huge hat covered in black lace and a slightly sick look: that's me all over! Although maybe people won't even notice I'm in disguise...
I have always thought Salem's witches are a good costume idea, and a really scary one: those puritan XVIIth century black dresses are quite something, and the thought that I might have had to wear that kind of fashion had I been born at that time absolutely terrifies me!
For a truly original yet recognizable option, I totally recommend to get dressed as Frankenstein's bride. Finding a wig like Elsa Lanchester's might be a bit of a challenge, but if you can manage that I can guarantee you'll be the star of any Halloween party (shame I haven't thought of it earlier).
But some of the most classic outfits are actually really cool. Morticia Addams is iconic, glamourous and scary in equal parts.
And who could forget Christina Ricci as Wednesday Addams? Wasn't she the coolest kid ever?
I think this year's number one costume is Corpse Bride, I seriously have seen more corpse brides than ever. It can be a really cool outfit, but it has to be really well done.
If you are one of those girls who want to feel always pretty and chic (or if you can't be bothered to work the post-mortem look), you can always get inspired by ever-so-glamourous Veronica Lake in her role in I Married a Witch. In any case, the most important thing in Halloween is, of course, the athmosphere!
Now I have to go get dressed and light the pumpkins. Happy Halloween!
.JPG)
.JPG)
