October 2026 Blog: Time Again to Go - Boo!

Thursday, October 01, 2026

Lowell Perry, Jr.

Halloween is almost here again! Time for apple cider, candy and the sound of decked out trick or treaters making the annual pilgrimage to your front door in search of goodies. Hopefully you will be sharing plenty of treats and not on the receiving end of tricks like getting your windows egged, yard trees TP’d, or your pumpkin kicked in, if you don’t answer your door and dispense the right kind of candy. LOL.

Halloween, or All Hallows' Eve, is defined as the evening before All Saints' Day on November 1st. The name comes from the Old English word "hallows," meaning holy or sanctified, referring to the saints honored on the following day. While it originated as a Christian vigil, it has evolved into a secular holiday with traditions like trick-or-treating and costumes, though many Christian groups still observe its religious roots. But let’s talk about films and why Ohioans seem to be so fascinated with horror films in particular.

Movies and television have always piqued our curiosity about things that go bump in the night. Your hair stands up on your neck in anticipation of Freddy Krueger gutting his next victim and sarcastically remarking, “what a rush!”. Did you know that Wes Craven who created the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, as well as the Scream movies, is from Cleveland? Craven is a featured filmmaker in the new Hollywood on the Cuyahoga (https://www.wrhs.org/do-see/exhibitions/hollywood-on-the-cuyahoga-northeast-ohio-and-the-movies) exhibit at the Western Reserve Historical Society running now through November 6, 2026.

Another Clevelander with a spooky pedigree is Margaret Hamilton, aka the Wicked Witch of the West/Miss Gulch from the Wizard of Oz. You probably had nightmares as a little kid about a green-faced Margaret ominously telling Dorothy, “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!”

NE Ohio annually attracts horror genre filmmakers to this area to shoot projects. A few of the flicks more recently filmed here include, but are not limited to:

If you are a fan of the genre, don’t miss the kickoff of this year’s 48 Hour Film Project: Cleveland Horror & Sci Fi.

Horror is not just the territory of movies. Television plays it part for sure. Clevelanders used to dig Ghoulardi. But growing up in Detroit like I did, we watched the Sir Graves Ghastly. I vividly recall the campy, but lovable vampire with the hilarious laugh, that still brings a smile to my face and a hearty laugh to this day. The actor who portrayed Sir Graves was Lawson J. Deming who was born in, you guessed it, Cleveland. I dare you to watch this clip and not laugh your ass off!

What about the long list of horror films with a distinct Halloween theme? Some of which are so ridiculous that they will have you doubled up on the floor rolling in laughter. Here is a link to an extensive offering of scary movie options if you are in search of something new or simply want to check off how many you will admit to having watched already. I want to hear from you if you have seen most of this list - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_set_around_Halloween

For me, one of the best and scariest of them all, is the original Halloween . The movie that made Jamie Lee Curtis a star, is an Indy film made in 1978, set in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois that chronicles the bloody escapades of the masked knifer, Michael Myers. Our guy Mike is an escaped lunatic who murdered his sister years prior as a kid and returns to reap more havoc on the town’s unsuspecting victims every Halloween. Dude has fallen from windows, been shot, stabbed, and even burned in a basement, and simply will-not-die! The Halloween franchise must be at number 25 by now with no end in sight! And the Cleveland connection? Masked Michael Myers has been portrayed in the most recent films by James Jude Courtney who was raised in Garfield Heights and Bedford.

Give credit where credit is due, Halloween helped popularize the so-called horror subset of movies dubbed slasher films. While early psychological thrillers such as Peeping Tom (1960) and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) helped jumpstart the phenomenon, slasher films peaked between 1978 and 1984 in an era referred to as the "Golden Age" of slasher films. Notable slasher excursions include Black Christmas (1974), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), My Bloody Valentine (1981), Sleepaway Camp (1983), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Child's Play (1988), Candyman (1992), Scream (1996), I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Urban Legend (1998) and Terrifier (2016). Many slasher films released decades ago continue to attract cult followings. The slasher canon can be divided into three eras: the classical (1974–1993), the self-referential (1994–2000) and the neo slasher cycle (2000–2013), according to Wikipedia.

Pretty sure I have seen most of the films on this list, with Child’s Play, starring the killer doll Chuckie, being one of the films I mentioned earlier that are so ridiculous, you’ll be roaring with laughter.

Halloween can be a fun time for young and old alike. Be safe, have fun, and use this as a time to engage with neighbors and spread good cheer. We have lost that sense of community we once had while growing up. Back then we knew the names of most of the people living behind the doors of the homes we visited and gleefully yelled “trick or treat!”

Well, time turn on Michael.

Boo!