As Halloween falls on a Monday this year, I think it makes sense to call this a long Halloween Weekend.  Much costumed celebrating and ghoulish goings-on will have already begun yesterday and continue through today and Sunday into the official Day of Frights and Jack-O-Lanterns, October 31.

Notes from a Composer has only been around a year and a half, but a few Halloween themes or otherwise shiver inducing articles have been posted already, enough to collect them here as a tricky treat.

The promised third and final part of Newfest’s LGBT movies will be posted soon, and the final installments of the Brazil series are on their way too, but for now let’s shoehorn some seasonal scares:

We’ll start with the one about seeing the modern horror classic movie “Halloween” at the age of 11, me in abject terror, while my father was more afraid of the other patrons in the Upper West Side cinema:

Catching HALLOWEEN around HALLOWEEN 1978 in a seedy New York theater

Next let’s dive into “The Tell-Tale Heart – a musicabre“, one of my chamber musicals, which you can read and listen to in total on its own page on this blog.  My introduction to this tale, the original roommate from hell story, was made through my own personal roommate from hell:

A Halloween Treat: THE TELL-TALE HEART – A MUSICABRE and the roommate from hell who planted its seed

If it’s wickedly warbling witches you prefer to homicidal housemates, then this video of three songs from the musical “Witches” may be your cauldron of tea:

GETTIN’ WITCHY WITH IT

If you prefer your witches and musicals more child friendly – Halloween is first and foremost for the little kids, right? – this witchy First Grade Opera may be your potion of choice:

More fun with FIRST GRADE OPERAS: the King, the Queen and the Wacky Witch

That’s a dress up performance for the kids, alright.  But we all know that Halloween is also a time for adult dress up, and costumed performances of a more carnal, campy nature:

ENNOBLING TITILLATION – Company XIV’s carnal, campy, classy CINDERELLA

Okay, we’ve traveled away from the genuinely scary.  Perhaps it’s time to return to some genuine goose-bumps.  If you have a phobia of spiders, tarantulas in particular, really up close and personal, literally in-your-face! well, then you may not want to click on the next option:

BRAZIL – Amazon Animal Adventures

And finally, for those who get freaked out by dark caves, you might get the willies contemplating losing yourself in here:

BRAZIL – The Caves of PETAR

Happy Halloween!