Monster Candy

Began a shower-filled morning after breakfast by trying something a little different for Halloween. Instead of making cookies this time, I mixed simple uncooked fondant with orange coloring, melted chocolate chips, and made candy. Or tried to. The fondant was really too soft to coat. I either should have put in more powdered sugar, or chilled it before handling. At any rate, I did get everything covered. They just looked messy.

Watched The Monster Squad while I worked. Four misfit boys (and one "cool" older kid) are huge fans of monster movies who study everything about them. They get the chance to put their knowledge to the test when the mother of Sean (Andre Gower) gives him a diary written by none other than Dr. Van Helsing (Jack Gwillim) himself. They corral a kind old German man to translate it. He reveals that there's an amulet that can thrust monsters into Limbo on midnight during the day when good and evil is balanced. Needless to say, filmdom's most famous creatures, including a very scary Dracula (Duncan Regehr), are determined to get their own  hands on the amulet and make sure that the balance tips towards nastiness.

Very 80's kid adventure movie is surprisingly spooky for the time. There's genuinely scary monsters and some frightening images, including Dracula blowing up the kids' tree house and attacking Sean's little sister Phoebe (Ashley Bank). Regehr is one of the best Draculas on film, playing the character for true menace rather than broad caricature. It was a little much for audiences in 1987, but it did better on video and has since become a cult favorite. If you have fond memories of it yourself, or kids the age of the pre-teen Monster Squad members who love horror, you'll want to join the Squad and check it out.

Finished the candy just in time to rush out the work. And...it was exactly the same as yesterday, dead as can be. I did return a few items and rounded up what little trash there was, but I mostly alternated between sweeping and gathering the carts. No problems whatsoever.

Went straight into writing when I got home. The fairies - Joyce (Bullifant), Debralee (Scott), and Jo Ann (Pflug) - lead them through the now-leafless and creepy woods to a twisted tree that manages to look human. Joyce, the head of the fairies, tells them that this is where Gene is imprisoned. Brett feels the black magic so badly, she's doubled over, which means the boys are on their own in figuring out how to free the wizard...

Switched to a Halloween special during dinner. I dubbed Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile off a home-made video I found at a yard sale a few years ago. Ann, Andy, and their puppy Arthur want to bring a glum pumpkin to an equally unhappy little boy whose stern aunt won't let him go trick-or-treating. They first have to figure out how to get the pumpkin to the kid, then remind the aunt that she was once young, too.

Finished the night with a far more horrifying tale, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I go into further details on this melodramatic Tim Burton slasher musical at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)