How We Celebrated Hallowe'en AND Classic Movies

It even had a real intermission between the two features!

Due to my struggle to shake this flu bug, we sort of skipped Hallowe’en.  We let my beloved holiday fall to the way side.  We didn’t carve our pumpkins.  We didn’t pull out even one item of my huge, festive décor collection.  We didn’t hand out candy to the local cheap, goony, high school teenagers kids.  We didn’t buy candy.  (Ok, who am I kidding, we all know good and well I bought candy and my husband and I ate it.)

Last night we shut the lights off to our house and went to the movies.  We stopped for a quick fast food dinner before hand and then headed off.  Our movie selection was the double feature of the classics Dracula and Frankenstein.  At least they were Hallowe’en themed.  My husband and I both love Universal Monsters and we both love old movies in general.  Our diiner and movie out cost us $22.50 including a small bag of Hallowe’en candy I smuggled into the theatre in my purse.  That’s less money then the $50 I spent on Hallowe’en candy to hand out at the door last year. 

I had a few deciding factors as to why I didn’t hand out candy at the door.

1.  I was sick.

2.  It costs a lot of money to buy candy and we were just stuck with a big vet bill.

3.  It was raining and cold so I figured we wouldn’t get a lot of little kids, which leads me to my next point…

4.  Last year 75% of our trick o’treaters were high school aged teenagers.  Men reaking of pot towering over me at 7 feet tall and chicks with boobs that are bigger then mine, which are hanging out to the nipples.  If you have money to buy pot, you have money to buy your own candy.  If you are old enough to buy a skanky costume at a sex shop, and have the money to buy a skanky costume at a sex shop, you have money to buy your own candy.  It should be a law, once you hit high school you are not legally allowed to Trick or Treat.  I tried trick o’treating when I was in grade 10 and they slammed the door in our faces.  I don’t want my house egged so I gave the candy to the teenagers.  That’s extortion.  It’s shown teenagers have the largest discretionary incomes; I have to budget candy into our grocery bill.  So get off my F***ing porch and go buy your own candy. 

(I am such a crotchety old woman.)

Next year I hope to resume the candy handing out.  And when I do I will be shutting my lights off at 8pm to prevent the dreaded high school teenagers. 

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BACK TO THE MOVIES!!! 

Cineplex Odeon has this great program if you love classic old films.  Every month they show a classic and charge only $6 for it.  Typically it’s shown on the third Wednesday of the month at 7pm and the Sunday before at 1pm.  Only two viewings a month.  If you love old movies this is a great deal!  To see a beloved classic on the big screen as it was meant to be seen is pretty spectacular, especially if it’s a movie you really love.  Oh and they have all been digitally remastered, so they are the crispest version you have ever seen of your old favourites.

We discovered this classic movie showing two Christmases ago when we went to see “It’s a Wonderful Life”.  I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” every year.  It’s my favourite movie.  My heart swells and I cry like a big baby, it’s a beautiful story and it’s timeless as far as I am concerned.  To see it on the big screen, as it was meant to be seen, as the original viewers saw it decades ago, makes you feel connected to the movie and to your fellow viewers.

Last Christmas we went to see White Christmas.  This is my second favourite movie of all time.  Growing up, every year on Christmas Eve my parents and my sister and I watched this movie after Christmas mass.  I am so nostalgic, I love my traditions and the people I have created them with.  To see White Christmas in a jammed packed theatre with other people who clearly love this movie as much as I do was a unique experience.  For the longest time I thought that my family were the only people I knew who watched White Christmas.  It was our thing.  We were the ones who laughed at Danny Kaye hitting Bing Crosby with the burlesque feather fan.  We were the ones who would tear up when the General walks in to the standing ovation.  We were the ones who got goose bumps when they cheer Merry Christmas and The End appears in the great old scroll at the end.  In my head, I selfishly thought it was only my family who enjoyed it and to watch it on the big screen with hundreds of other people who love the movie as much as we do was exciting, like we were all kindred spirits coming together.  Cheesy, I know, but it’s true.  When you hear the theatre erupt with laughter at something you privately laughed at your whole life, it’s exciting to know they enjoy it too…

This past summer, I also got to see Singing in the Rain which was awesome.  And let me tell you every time we see the classics the theatre is packed!  So if you like to sit on the top row to avoid jerks kicking your seat, plan to get there about an hour early as at half hour before the movie it’s packed already…

If you love old movies check out Cineplex Odeon to see what classics they are planning to show in the near future.  November they are showing Laurence of Arabia and in December they are showing Miracle on 34^th Street.