Halloween Opinion Piece

Joe Campo '17, Commentary Editor

It’s getting spooky in here. Can you feel it? October’s only just begun but we already have killer clowns and overexcited neighbors setting up massacres on their front lawns.

I’m not sure if everyone’s jumping the gun or not but the spirit of Halloween is alive and well. Now I’m not trying to stomp on the mysticism of Halloween, but I for one absolutely detest the holiday. I cannot stand Halloween- I hate it. Halloween, to me, is scary movies, costumes, candy and decorations. I used to really enjoy Halloween, but now it just seems that all these things aren’t what they used to be. Perhaps it’s just disillusioned nostalgia- but for the sake of scrutiny let’s take a look at each of these.

Scary movies- The Exorcist (1973), Jaws (1975), The Thing (1982), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)- undeniably scary movies. The average IMDB rating for these 4 movies is 7.9. Now looking from 2010 onwards we have movies like The Babadook (2014), It Follows (2015), The Conjuring (2013), and Sinister (2012) – all scary movies, sure. But  their average IMDB rating is only 7.0. So what happened to the legacy left by Wes Craven and John Carpenter? New scary movies are still scary but they’re just not as enjoyable because they depend on cheap tactics like “jump scares” to scare audiences- suspense is thrown out the window.  Scary movies are technically scary- but the thriller aspect is gone and replaced with gore and loud noises to illicit more of a shock than a scare.

Costumes are great, but I feel that there’s a distinct lack of creativity. Costumes used to be wild, wacky, original. Now I feel that costumes are decided by the summer blockbuster. This summer saw the premiere of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016)- according to a Party City survey, the most sold costume this year so far is Harley Quinn – a character from the movie. Now there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but you show up to a costume party and see about 30 Harley Quinns you can understand what I’m getting at.

Candy and decorations are really the heart of Halloween. Walking blocks and blocks just to get to the house that had animatronics for decorations and handed out full-sized Snickers bars is a memory of which I am really fond, but why are companies trying to sell decorations so early- shelves of candy and lawn ornaments were stocked before October even started. I understand the capitalist machine must run well oiled but to be bombarded with such festivities so early seems actually kind of insulting and really dislocates me from the Halloween spirit, because it reminds me that it’s all consumerism. Companies capitalizing on product sponges… really depressing. The worst part is that people will buy decorations that early and set them up that early. The second the clock strikes midnight on September 30th, you will find people outside erecting their macabre scenes.

Perhaps it’s just that I’m now realizing the faults in my enthusiasm for Halloween or perhaps these things really did change over the course of however many years. Either way, noticing the blemishes and discoloration on the underside of this holiday beast does no good because at the end of the day it’s either you enjoy the holiday or not. I absolutely hate Halloween, but I’m still going to enjoy every second of it for the break in monotony it gives, if nothing else. Happy Halloween!