Happy Halloween!

 This month’s reading/watching log is going to be super late. Over half the entries aren’t filled in yet, and I got through a lot this month due to some health issues that took a while to recuperate from.

To compensate, here’s a Halloween post based around that seminal cult classic of the season, the one all nineties kids grew up with: Hocus Pocus.

Specifically, three things you may not have known about it. (And if you did, be polite and don't say anything).

Meta: Contrasting/Comparing Three Halloween Films

I realize Halloween was a few weeks ago now, but it was as good a reason as any to watch three of my favourite spooky movies and contrast/compare them. Because why not?

It's actually rather fascinating to see how scary movies for young audiences have deeply rooted similarities in their structure, characterization and moral framework. The earliest, Hocus Pocus, came out in 1994, followed by Monster House in 2004 and Coraline in 2009, giving us a trio of horror stories aimed at children in which young protagonists battle malevolent forces that are rooted in folklore and legend (urban or otherwise): one in live-action, one in CG animation, and one in stop-motion animation.

Although Coraline is not strictly speaking a Halloween movie (it's the only one of the three not set on October 31st) all of them feature young people on the verge of adolescence in considerable danger from the supernatural.