[TheSamhainGhoul]

Does anybody agree? Though the seasonal feel of the holiday and the happiness it brings me will NEVER change, I am a bit sad to see how it has been evolving in these past years. When I was a small boy I remember Halloween felt very 'vintage', everywhere in my small town always focused on the classic monsters and Halloween symbols, like pumpkins, witches, ghosts and black cats usually with some gore intertwined which I did not mind as it still felt like the Halloween I grew to know and love. Now a days, everything seems to 'shiny' for my taste, so many princesses and superhero's and no witches or ghouls anymore, and is it just my town or have the Halloween decorations (Unless its from Spirit) become more shiny and cheap looking then the old hard plastic rubbery fake pumpkins we had on the shelves back in the day? I decided to be Micheal Myers from H2 (1981) this year, and when I decided to go to a party, barely one other person was actually something frightening, everyone else being something very shiny and 'cute'. What I also seem to notice is that gore has toppled over the classic symbols of the holiday, instead of classic monsters, pumpkins and witches in my store, its non-Halloween related slashers, clowns and severed heads. While I know everyone has their vision of what Halloween is to them, and many love the gory aspects of it, I do miss the days of the older more dangerous and vintage Halloween.

Halloween as I remember it

Modern Halloween as I see it

What are your opinions? I would love to hear them if you agree or disagree.

 

[nosefuratyou]

If you went to a party as Michael Meyers why would you complain about gore?
Main change that I see is that Trick or Treating itself has pretty much vanished. Limited to an hour or 2 or just a party at the local firehouse or somewhere. Too dangerous for the kids theses days.

 

[byondbzr]

I think all things change, but with Halloween, what is classic will eventually come back around! Don't lose heart! I love vintage items from my childhood!

 

[HalloGeekHalfrican]

I'm not a old as some members (born in '91), but I remember it being more vintage too. My mom had all these costumes and props from her youth in the 50s and 60s, so we used a lot of those. She even handmade some of our costumes. I can see where TheSamhainGhoul is coming from though; I see the "shininess." I keep looking back at some of my favorite kids horror shows, like Goosebumps, and see the actors going into these old stores with rubber masks shaped like witches and ghouls (normal Halloween characters). I wish I had a store like that to go to, not just a "once a year Spirit Halloween" store. Don't get me wrong, I love Spirit, but it's nothing compared to those mom & pop stores of the past. At least they stayed there year round...

For now though, all we can do is enjoy the holiday and hope it returns to its scariness

 

[boo who?]

What saddens me is seeing fewer and fewer house decorations in the neighborhood. Once upon a time, every other house would have a jack-o-lantern, one of those cardboard jointed figures in the window, a paper bag head dummy, white sheet "ghosts" hanging from trees, or some other sort of small decoration. Now, seems it's either all-out displays, which are far and few between, or nothing. And it's not due to cheapness. My neighborhood puts on a very nice light show come Christmas. But this last Halloween, I saw ONE house with two uncarved pumpkins and another with a Halloween hanging flag. Big whoop.

 

[Scatterbrains]

What saddens me is seeing fewer and fewer house decorations in the neighborhood. Once upon a time, every other house would have a jack-o-lantern, one of those cardboard jointed figures in the window, a paper bag head dummy, white sheet "ghosts" hanging from trees, or some other sort of small decoration. Now, seems it's either all-out displays, which are far and few between, or nothing. And it's not due to cheapness. My neighborhood puts on a very nice light show come Christmas. But this last Halloween, I saw ONE house with two uncarved pumpkins and another with a Halloween hanging flag. Big whoop.

It's people like me that ruin Halloween...we build props...don't recall anyone doing that in my youth. We give out full size candy bars....not double bubble or dum dums or tootsie rolls. We go big...no card board pictures or a single jack on the porch. We set the bar high and other's just don't want to compete or worse, their houses get passed as the ToTs head to my house.

 

[RCIAG]

It will always change & the only thing you can do is either quit or keep doing what you're doing whether it's Freddy Kruger, Saw or vintage stuff.

The school next door has a kids Halloween parade & I've been either participating in it or watching it since I went there in the 70s. Since then there has always been the superhero of the day costume (Batman, Spiderman & Superman being "in" since forever), princesses of all sorts not just Disney, vampires of all sorts (usually scary) & by the 90s there were lots of ninjas. In between there's the "in thing" of the day, like Napoleon Dynamite or Ninja Turtles or Harry Potter.

Young kids haven't really changed in their tastes, just their choices of superheroes & princesses have changed. They all still want to get LOTS of candy in some fashion & dress up.

The biggest difference is that now adults participate more often & we all have different tastes. Some like vintage Universal/Hammer horror, some like Saw & Hostel, some prefer the 80s slashers, some prefer glitter. There's a wider range of Halloween because of us grown ups & I like that there's a ton of choices now.

And honestly I'm OK with that.

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

If you went to a party as Michael Meyers why would you complain about gore?
Main change that I see is that Trick or Treating itself has pretty much vanished. Limited to an hour or 2 or just a party at the local firehouse or somewhere. Too dangerous for the kids theses days.

Never said I didn't like some gore, I said I don't like when it topples classic Halloween symbols, and the original Halloween had no blood.

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

It will always change & the only thing you can do is either quit or keep doing what you're doing whether it's Freddy Kruger, Saw or vintage stuff.

The school next door has a kids Halloween parade & I've been either participating in it or watching it since I went there in the 70s. Since then there has always been the superhero of the day costume (Batman, Spiderman & Superman being "in" since forever), princesses of all sorts not just Disney, vampires of all sorts (usually scary) & by the 90s there were lots of ninjas. In between there's the "in thing" of the day, like Napoleon Dynamite or Ninja Turtles or Harry Potter.

Young kids haven't really changed in their tastes, just their choices of superheroes & princesses have changed. They all still want to get LOTS of candy in some fashion & dress up.

The biggest difference is that now adults participate more often & we all have different tastes. Some like vintage Universal/Hammer horror, some like Saw & Hostel, some prefer the 80s slashers, some prefer glitter. There's a wider range of Halloween because of us grown ups & I like that there's a ton of choices now.

And honestly I'm OK with that.

Of course, it really depends and what era and where you grow up, I am actually not that old but my town always celebrated Halloween very classic, and now its really abandoned that tradition except some of the houses still putting up witches and ghosts. And don't get me wrong, there have ALWAYS been superhero's since the 70's-80's but the Vampires and ghouls still came over them, now I rarely see anything very scary except a zombie or two. But things will always change, I must agree with that, however displeasing it is.

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

What saddens me is seeing fewer and fewer house decorations in the neighborhood. Once upon a time, every other house would have a jack-o-lantern, one of those cardboard jointed figures in the window, a paper bag head dummy, white sheet "ghosts" hanging from trees, or some other sort of small decoration. Now, seems it's either all-out displays, which are far and few between, or nothing. And it's not due to cheapness. My neighborhood puts on a very nice light show come Christmas. But this last Halloween, I saw ONE house with two uncarved pumpkins and another with a Halloween hanging flag. Big whoop.

Indeed, some people really just hate Halloween for whatever reason, some just don't see it as a holiday worth spending more then a 100$ worth, luckily in my town people still decorate with vintage style decorations, mainly pin ups, ghosts and jack-o-lanterns, and so do I.

 

[RCIAG]

I think we just have to keep up the good fight, keep putting up stuff whether it's vintage or Walking Dead zombies. Because there will be that one kid that sees your stuff & thinks its cool & will do the same in his or her own way when they're old enough.

 

[creepymagic]

I think sometimes people compare things through the eyes of a child vs the eyes of an adult and nothing can compete with the imagination of a child. I feel the same way about Christmas and Easter, having enjoyed the mystery of those Holidays more through the eyes of a child rather than vicariously through my son.

But I have to disagree to some extent, Halloween has evolved beyond my expectations and in my town more and more people go all out decorating. When I was a kid in the seventies the coolest Halloween prop was 3 plastic skulls that blinked from Kmart. Now you have Halloween shops all over, we have a couple places within an hour or so of my home that sell Halloween all year round. Dozens of haunted houses and plenty of costume parties. Some of the homes in my town put 1313 Mockingbird Lane to shame. I never would have imagined that in the seventies.

This is a Holiday that has been shunned throughout history but marches on, its 3000 years old. About the only thing many religions agree on is that it should be shunned. Most governments does not give you the day off so its not even officially recognized, yet 25% of all candy is sold for Halloween, it is second only to Christmas for money spent (LA Times estimated that Americans will spend 6.9 Billion in 2015). Its a Holiday built on nature, the end of the harvest, and the entrance to winter. It can't be hurt and it can't be stopped. Stories of razors and needles in candy (later proved false) could not stop it, the Roman Empire could not stop it, the potato famine could not stop it, the depression could not stop it. It celebrates dead things, makes celebrities out of killers (Freddie kills, Jason kills, Michael kills, why are they celebrated?), it sends kids out saying basically that you better give them candy or else, it is so politically incorrect that it should have no place in society, but Halloween literally stomps all over every standard ever set by any decent society. You got to love it for that. We live in a society where something like Halloween cannot possibly exist, yet it does. For a brief moment in time we remember our ancestors fear. Summer is over, the harvest is in, will we survive the winter, will we survive Freddie, will we die of starvation, will Jason get us.

Every kid who watches a horror movie on cable in October, or downloads a Halloween song off Itunes, or goes and watches the latest 3D thriller at the theatre, will remember the chills of Halloween and will grow up and continue the work that we do today, just as we continue the work of those before us. We have no choice, its in our nature.

But I do agree that I miss the magic I saw as a kid watching those 3 skulls blink different colors. I knew then when I grew up I wanted to really go all out for Halloween, I know now that you can't do both as no one feels "grown up" decorating for Halloween.

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

My Mother and her Mother were some of the first Trick-or-Treaters to walk the streets of this small town. they both were always "In to" Halloween, dressing up in costumes, usually home made and having the fun that went along with people you know very well not knowing who is in THAT COSTUME!?
Being born in 1949, I grew up seeing classic Horror movies from before 1949 re-cycled (Even though we didn't know it, usually)
Everything was very shiney and new back then,like Nuclear subs! Jet airplanes! Rockets to space, UFOs, WOW!
At least in this part of the USA our population is becoming older and cranky, but then we have all "Been there-Done That" This county has the oldest population of any county in this state of Illinois.
I have never been a fan of gore or realistic serial-killer/entertainment.
I am fairly sure that when fans of gore and the like come through my haunted house , that I entertain them enough that the majority are pleased with the "Show" I provide for them, along with the silly, unpredictable distractions.
But then, I am also a "throw-back" to even older times , maybe the 1870s or earlier. I believe in ghosts/spirits/supernatural because of the numerous experiences myself and many others have had here for many years, beginning around the time my own Father was born (1925)
Some are terrified to even consider such things, I do understand this, and don't mention such subjects if they are found to be unpopular with whoever is looking at me here. I understand them because I don't care for bloody-gore, since one way or another such things will find most of us someday, maybe marking the end of our own lives. I prefer to wait, no need to think about such things yet.(or to see realistic depictions of such things)
A "Perfect Scare" (to me) does have a scream or other noticeable reaction, followed quickly by their laughter='s Success!
(No Phobia-building )

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

This might apply to you?

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

I think sometimes people compare things through the eyes of a child vs the eyes of an adult and nothing can compete with the imagination of a child. I feel the same way about Christmas and Easter, having enjoyed the mystery of those Holidays more through the eyes of a child rather than vicariously through my son.

But I have to disagree to some extent, Halloween has evolved beyond my expectations and in my town more and more people go all out decorating. When I was a kid in the seventies the coolest Halloween prop was 3 plastic skulls that blinked from Kmart. Now you have Halloween shops all over, we have a couple places within an hour or so of my home that sell Halloween all year round. Dozens of haunted houses and plenty of costume parties. Some of the homes in my town put 1313 Mockingbird Lane to shame. I never would have imagined that in the seventies.

This is a Holiday that has been shunned throughout history but marches on, its 3000 years old. About the only thing many religions agree on is that it should be shunned. Most governments does not give you the day off so its not even officially recognized, yet 25% of all candy is sold for Halloween, it is second only to Christmas for money spent (LA Times estimated that Americans will spend 6.9 Billion in 2015). Its a Holiday built on nature, the end of the harvest, and the entrance to winter. It can't be hurt and it can't be stopped. Stories of razors and needles in candy (later proved false) could not stop it, the Roman Empire could not stop it, the potato famine could not stop it, the depression could not stop it. It celebrates dead things, makes celebrities out of killers (Freddie kills, Jason kills, Michael kills, why are they celebrated?), it sends kids out saying basically that you better give them candy or else, it is so politically incorrect that it should have no place in society, but Halloween literally stomps all over every standard ever set by any decent society. You got to love it for that. We live in a society where something like Halloween cannot possibly exist, yet it does. For a brief moment in time we remember our ancestors fear. Summer is over, the harvest is in, will we survive the winter, will we survive Freddie, will we die of starvation, will Jason get us.

Every kid who watches a horror movie on cable in October, or downloads a Halloween song off Itunes, or goes and watches the latest 3D thriller at the theatre, will remember the chills of Halloween and will grow up and continue the work that we do today, just as we continue the work of those before us. We have no choice, its in our nature.

But I do agree that I miss the magic I saw as a kid watching those 3 skulls blink different colors. I knew then when I grew up I wanted to really go all out for Halloween, I know now that you can't do both as no one feels "grown up" decorating for Halloween.

I don't mind some gore, when I was growing up as much as we had the classic monsters and symbols emphasized we still had some gore intertwined in there, usually severed heads and limbs. But now gore has become the symbol for Halloween, only matched by the jack-o-lantern or Snicker bar by the modern audience, which slightly bothers me but if people wish to celebrate Halloween like that they are free too, Halloween is all about freedom and doing whatever you want, so who am I to go saying "You shouldn't celebrate Halloween like that" it would only be hypocritical. But I agree with you, I much prefer using ghosts and ghouls as I actually believe in these kinds of things as well, due to my past experiences and your definition of 'The Perfect Scare' matches what I see as well.

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

This might apply to you?

That is actually quite interesting, but I never said I viewed the modern generation of children as 'misguided' because of how they celebrate Halloween (Its not even their fault.) etc, I simply stated that Halloween has changed from a more grimy and old holiday into a more shiny and commercial holiday, which I still do like, but would prefer what it was before.

 

[Ghost of Spookie]

In many ways I'm OK that it's different. As a kid I did have fun at our little neighborhood parties. I remember bobbing for apples at one. I hated the masks back then. Thin plastic with those elastic cords with the metal pieces that got fed through the cheap plastic and usually either broke or ripped through the plastic mask at some point. The elastic cording also got caught up in your hair. A few years of that and I was begging to use makeup instead. Lots of Ponds Cold Cream at night trying to remove after ToTing. The costumes today can be witches or monsters still and look so much more frightning and realistic that I prefer them now instead.

Lived in a residential area then and now where kids ToT. So no difference there really. Still see parents walking along with their younger kids. Treats are smaller in size now but given all the weight and diabetes issues in young kids, I don't really have a problem with that.

I don't smell candle lit pumpkins much any more if at all some years. Kind of miss that. I do love that people decorate now. Other than pumpkins on the porch and maybe a few construction paper cutouts in windows the people in my neighborhood growing up didn't decorate at all.

Oh and one of those crappy masks, dripping in persperation down your face out in the cold, was a Princess costume. Probably Cinderella. Although compared to the gorgeous costume material and detailing today I probably now would have looked like an ugly step-sister LOL.

 

[TheSamhainGhoul]

In many ways I'm OK that it's different. As a kid I did have fun at our little neighborhood parties. I remember bobbing for apples at one. I hated the masks back then. Thin plastic with those elastic cords with the metal pieces that got fed through the cheap plastic and usually either broke or ripped through the plastic mask at some point. The elastic cording also got caught up in your hair. A few years of that and I was begging to use makeup instead. Lots of Ponds Cold Cream at night trying to remove after ToTing. The costumes today can be witches or monsters still and look so much more frightning and realistic that I prefer them now instead.

Lived in a residential area then and now where kids ToT. So no difference there really. Still see parents walking along with their younger kids. Treats are smaller in size now but given all the weight and diabetes issues in young kids, I don't really have a problem with that.

I don't smell candle lit pumpkins much any more if at all some years. Kind of miss that. I do love that people decorate now. Other than pumpkins on the porch and maybe a few construction paper cutouts in windows the people in my neighborhood growing up didn't decorate at all.

In my town the ToT'ers never used those plastic masks, always Don Post or other company latex/vinyl masks, including myself. But I agree, the treats being smaller, the decorating and the actual ghoul and witch costumes looking better is an upside to the modern Halloween, but sadly barely anyone uses a witch, vampire or ghoul costume these days, or at least something related to horror.

 

[TheHalloweenGuru]

I think it took a less shiny and grim polish to it because vintage Halloween was more "bright orange pumpkins and neon green witches" But today it's way more dark (figurative and literally)

Then:
View attachment 272990 View attachment 272991 View attachment 272992 View attachment 272993
View attachment 272999
Now
View attachment 272994 View attachment 272995 View attachment 272996 View attachment 272997
View attachment 272998

Oh yeah and you're right, Halloween has become 100% more commercialized

 

[Kenneth]

This is a Holiday that has been shunned throughout history but marches on, its 3000 years old. About the only thing many religions agree on is that it should be shunned. Most governments does not give you the day off so its not even officially recognized, yet 25% of all candy is sold for Halloween, it is second only to Christmas for money spent (LA Times estimated that Americans will spend 6.9 Billion in 2015). Its a Holiday built on nature, the end of the harvest, and the entrance to winter. It can't be hurt and it can't be stopped. Stories of razors and needles in candy (later proved false) could not stop it, the Roman Empire could not stop it, the potato famine could not stop it, the depression could not stop it. It celebrates dead things, makes celebrities out of killers (Freddie kills, Jason kills, Michael kills, why are they celebrated?), it sends kids out saying basically that you better give them candy or else, it is so politically incorrect that it should have no place in society, but Halloween literally stomps all over every standard ever set by any decent society. You got to love it for that. We live in a society where something like Halloween cannot possibly exist, yet it does. For a brief moment in time we remember our ancestors fear. Summer is over, the harvest is in, will we survive the winter, will we survive Freddie, will we die of starvation, will Jason get us.

THIS! SO MUCH LOVE FOR WHAT YOU SAID! <333

You just have to look at it like this: in the future all of the kids of today will probably be saying the same thing about Halloween as it currently is.
And that's true for everything...music, pop culture, etc. And pop culture plays a huge part in Halloween, always has since it started becoming popular so one can only expect to see ten thousand Elsa's and Olaf's running around. I don't live in a suburban neighborhood, but if I did get ToT's I would be sure to give the monsters some extra candy. haha