Happy Halloween~

Being at the Riverside Arts Market and Vagabond’s Halloween event where everyone (and even their pets) were in costume, was so much fun! I’m so grateful to everyone who came out to support the events. I hope that everyone had as good of a time as I did and, I hope to be back for some of these festivities next year, depending on what the convention schedule looks like.

I feel like all the life changes I’ve experienced in the past few years and COVID have really changed what Halloween looks like for me and the communities where I live. Last year, I took myself to Halloween Horror Nights because I was so stir crazy and needed to do something - anything! - to celebrate the holiday. I went on Halloween-eve and it was a wonderful time.

This year, I missed the event because of Hurricane Ian. I think whining about that doesn’t do any good and diminishes the suffering the people of South Florida are experiencing. So, I’ve chosen to just move on. It’s probably better that way.

One tradition that still lives is watching a spooky movie. Although, for a while, that was taken from me, too. It’s something that I really wanted to get back and my SO has been so supportive of it, even though my SO hates scary movies.

Since starting a new relationship with someone who doesn’t enjoy gore, horror, and scariness, it gave me a lot to think about in regard to scary shows and triggering content in media. I feel like I’m a much more cognizant person of these things thanks to him. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to just watch something fluffy and happy, especially after a stressful day. Besides, I hate jump scares too.

This year, we’re going to watch Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile. It’s the Netflix Ted Bundy movie staring Zac Effron. My SO hasn’t seen it yet and it’s something I’ve been wanting to share for a while. (I really enjoy watching serial killer stuff.) I think it’s pretty “clean” in terms of the gore, violence, and themes but is also fascinating to watch. But, after watching Dahmer on Netflix and finding it riddled with errors about Jeffrey Dahmer’s story and also learning that many of the victims’ families were [rightfully] outraged that they were not even contacted or consulted about the movie, I wanted to dig a little deeper into Ted Bundy’s story to see what was factually correct and what was “Hollywood”.

I came across an article from ENews breaking down the similarities and differences between the two. It’s amazing how little was changed and I was relieved to read that they at least worked with Liz, Ted’s ex-girlfriend on the movie, unlike with Dahmer. I’ve linked the article in case you’re interested in reading it, but don’t want to put spoilers here.

If you’re considering watching one for spooky season, I would definitely recommend Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile over Dahmer. Dahmer, unfortunately, seems to glorify and sexualize Jeffrey Dahmer and, even if his crimes were sexually driven, there was something wrong and disturbing about how excessively long and erotic some of the Dahmer scenes were.

Although, if you’re interested in watching one of my favorites… give Trick ‘R Treat a chance! It doesn’t disappoint.