Welcome to Milwaukee Record’s 66 Days of Halloween countdown! You can find Part II, which covers Days 23-44, HERE. You can find Part III, which covers days 45-66, HERE.

DAY 22: ONE-THIRD OF THE WAY THERE

Twenty-two days down, 44 to go! Yep, we’re 1/3 of the way through the 66 Days of Halloween countdown! That means it’s time to get serious, people. We’re getting close. And it also means that this is the end of Part I. (Remember, I’m splitting this countdown into three parts, so it’s not super ungainly.) I’ll link to Part II tomorrow; in the meantime, I’ll leave you with the “One Thing Leads To Another” dance scene from The House Of The Devil! Watch out for that vase!

DAY 21: HALLOWEEN LIGHTS

Okay, so I do a little more Halloween decorating than just a Mood Shelf. Here’s my full Halloween lights setup, perfect for spooky nights watching Suspiria (the 1977 original), Suspiria (the fantastic 2018 reimagining), or Frasier (my kid is currently obsessed with Fraiser).

And for eagle-eyed readers, yes, I’ll probably do an entry on that totally sweet MAD Halloween issue soon!

DAY 20: HALLOWEEN SHAQ-A-LICIOUS XL GUMMIES

Where were you on September 9, 2024? You know, the day when the Hershey Company announced an exciting partnership with basketball icon and entrepreneur Shaquille O’Neal to produce Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies? Finally, people across this great nation could enjoy “gummies in vibrant blue and purple packaging, and peach, berry punch, and orange flavors, all delivered in bites of the legendary player’s head.” A day we’ll never forget.

But nuts to the plain old Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies—how about the Halloween Shaq-A-Licious XL Gummies! They’re new this year (I think), and I just picked up a bag from CVS. “Oh, lord,” my 11-year-old child said as I grabbed a bag. SHAQ-OR-TREAT, KID.

DAY 19: HALLOWEEN MOOD SHELF

Covering every inch of your apartment with Halloween junk is great and all, but, well, it’s not for me. I’m just not creative/crafty enough. Instead, I keep most of my decoration energy focused on a single piece of furniture. In the spirit of Dinosaur Dracula’s old Halloween Mood Tables, I present my annual Halloween Mood Shelf!

Speaking of Dinosaur Dracula, a lot of this stuff comes from his monthly Funpacks. I subscribed to those Funpacks a bunch of years ago, but at some point I reached my limit on loose M.U.S.C.L.E. figures and Voltron coloring books. The horror DVDs and the Final Girl: Series 1 Ultimate Box are all mine, though. More on those later in the countdown!

DAY 18: MORE HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST SONGS

Way back on Day 1 I introduced my Halloween playlist, full of moody tunes that aren’t “Werewolves Of London” or “Bad Moon Rising.” Since then several readers and friends had suggested additional songs. Thank you!

The first recommendation comes from reader RR, who hipped me to MC Lars’ 2012 The Edgar Allen Poe EP. I’m all aboard for “Mr. Raven,” which features none other than Rodney Anonymous from The Dead Milkmen! Nerdy rapping and The Dead Milkmen? There’s “in my wheelhouse,” and then there’s “inside the very soul of my wheelhouse.”

My good friend AK has been sending me oodles of songs, too, mostly in the indie/post-punk realm. Perfect! I’ll highlight just one here: Phantogram’s “When I’m Small.” Phantogram is a weird blind spot for me, but I’m digging the hell out of this song. It’s a perfect “Halloween/fall mood” song. Thanks, AK!

DAY 17: THE LORDS OF SALEM (2012)

I’m not a big Rob Zombie fan. The best I can say about his films is that they’re not terrible—they’re distinctly terrible. Like Kevin Smith or M. Night Shyamalan, Zombie possesses a unique awfulness that shows up in his writing, his direction of actors, and his overall sensibility. That’s better than just being anonymously terrible, I suppose.

But there’s one Rob Zombie film that (mostly) rises above the director’s usual brand of lousiness: 2012’s The Lords Of Salem. It’s a moody, measured, and vibe-y supernatural horror flick bereft of wisecracking hillbillies and “Free Bird” montages. It stars Sheri Moon Zombie (who else?) as a Salem radio DJ who falls under the spell of a mysterious noise-rock record. Goats, witches, drugs, hallucinations, The Velvet Underground, and appearances from Dee Wallace and Ken Foree ensue. (About Sheri Moon Zombie: She’s really good here! And even in Rob Zombie films where she isn’t —i.e. everything else—she’s usually only the fourth- or fifth-most objectionable thing about them.)

The Lords Of Salem wasn’t exactly well-received when it was released (it was a few years ahead of the slow-burn “elevated” horror craze), but I’d recommend checking it out if you’re in a Jodorowsky/Kubrick kind of mood.

A note on the “mostly” qualifier above: the movie completely falls apart in the third act. Like, two or three scenes were clearly cut, and/or the production ran out of money. Still, I have a lot of love for this movie. Do something like this again, Rob! (I might have to give his bewildering take on The Munsters another chance this season. STAY TUNED.)

DAY 16: THAT TREE AGAIN

Yep, it’s the same tree from Day 8. I’ll be keeping tabs on it all season long. We’re getting there!

DAY 15: HALLOWEEN DANCE PARTY

Way back in 2012 (!), I wrote an article for A.V. Club Milwaukee called “Shake a tail feather: 6 movies with mysteriously choreographed dance scenes.” Maybe that wasn’t a great headline—what I meant was “6 movies that include a scene where everyone magically knows how to do a weirdly specific dance.” You know, like the prom scene in She’s All That:

Anyway, one of the entries was about a terrific little flick called Strange Behavior. And since Strange Behavior is a horror movie, I’m rerunning the blurb below. God, I love this dance scene so much.

This little-seen Australian slasher flick may not have the cultural cache of your Nightmare On Elm Streets or Slumber Party Massacres, but it does contain one of the finest mysteriously choreographed dance scenes in all of filmdom. (It also stars that dude who played Billy The Kid in Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure.) Set to Lou Christie’s insistent “Lightnin’ Strikes,” the scene begins with some general flailing about but soon turns into a triumphant, New-Wave-y group dance. Hell, even Janet Maslin praised the “punk vitality of [the] obligatory party scene.” It’s clearly the moment that spawned a million cool-kid dance parties.

DAY 14: INFLATABLE MILLER GENUINE DRAFT LIGHT BAT

Milwaukee troubadour Trapper Schoepp has a new album coming out next week. It’s called Osborne. It’s an addiction/recovery album named after a unit in a Minnesota rehab facility—itself named after the one and only Ozzy Osbourne. I’ve dug what I’ve heard of Osborne so far, especially lead single “Loaded.” The video stars Mark Borchardt!

Anyway, I bring Schoepp up because A.) he’s a great musician, B.) he’s a great guy, and C.) a few years ago he gifted me this inflatable Miller Genuine Draft Light bat. It hovers above my office arcade machine, watching over game after frustrating game of Ghosts ‘N Goblins. Thanks, Trapper!

DAY 13: THE BIRDS (IN LAKE PARK)

Time for a confession: I’ve never seen The Birds. I know, I know. I’ve seen and loved plenty of Hitchcock films (I’m partial to North By Northwest), but I’ve never seen The Birds. Huh!

Anyway, I’m saving The Birds for Friday, September 26, when it will screen in Lake Park. You know, by that Summer Stage near the playground and tennis courts. I went to a Hocus Pocus screening at Lake Park during the 2023 Halloween season, and it was great, spooky, and super cold. Here’s hoping The Birds will be great, spooky, and super cold, too. (Slightly warmer weather wouldn’t hurt.) Mark your calendars!

DAY 12: FREDDY PLAYING CARDS

I promise this countdown won’t be too focused on A Nightmare On Elm Street (I love those dopey movies, what can I say?), but these Freddy Krueger playing cards I’ve had sitting on my desk for a million years seem too good to pass up…

…especially the Jokers…

Yep, that’s good ol’ “Tuxedo Freddy” from Nightmare 3: Dream Warriors (a.k.a. the best one). Remember the scene where Kristen apparently travels back to the beginning of the movie, where her mom comes home with a man who’s all like, “Elaine! Where do you keep the bourbon?” But this time Freddy’s that man, and he’s all like, “I said, where’s the fucking bourbon!” R.I.P. Kristen’s mom, who always says “andale” for some reason.