Our Halloween show was not always so extravagant. It started out very modestly. In fact its growth kind of follows along with the growth of the entire Clinton Hill Halloween Walk event.
I have been pretty much a lifelong fan of classic horror and sci-fi films. 2 of my favorite movies EVER are the original King Kong, and the original War of the Worlds. It doesn’t get much better than those 2. At least, for me it doesn’t. When I was a kid I spent a LOT of time watching Hammer horror movies, Universal classics, Godzilla films and everything else in the genres of horror and sci-fi. I subscribed to Famous Monsters of Filmland, and for a while held a “monster club” in my basement. I also read all the comic books, and had built quite a collection until my 20th birthday, selling them, and moving to NYC in early 1980. It must have been time to move on…..or so I may have felt at the time.
As a child I put a lot of effort into my Halloween costumes. My BIGGEST influences were the Universal monsters. Dracula, The Frankenstein Monster, The Wolfman, The Mummy, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Phantom of the Opera, Quasimodo and many others from many other movies. One year I had my mother sew me a vest and cape to which I added a white shirt, amulet, black pants/shoes, a widow’s peak wig, fangs, a ring and face makeup to become Count Dracula. Another year I wore a Tor Johnson mask, adding fake hands, and tattered old pants, jacket and shirt complete with a “hunchback” to become a pretty frightening hunchback character. One year I made myself up as my favorite monster. The Wolfman. I cut up and styled a couple of my mother’s old wigs and fashioned a hairpiece. Then I added hair to my face with tape. I also used the tape to turn my nose upwards and added fangs. I had also bought a pair of werewolf hands, and some feet to which I added more hair. I had done all this by the time I was 12 or so. I also owned, and built most of the famous Aurora monster model kits. The first model kits produced of many famous monsters. The Universal monsters I mentioned along with others such as King Kong, Godzilla, Bride of Frankenstein, Mr. Hyde, Salem Witch, and The Forgotten Prisoner. The box art on these kits was very cool, and some of these kits fetch a high price on the collectors market today.
So…..I guess it was only natural that as I got older I would eventually hold my own kind of Halloween! It took a while though.
I kind of drifted away from it all in my twenties. Playing in rock bands ( I play drums), girls, drinking etc, etc. It wasn’t until some time in my early thirties (around 1992 I think) that a like minded friend, and I decided to hold a Halloween film marathon. It was actually 2 days of nothing, but Universal monster movies. We kept up this tradition for the next few years watching Hammer horror, Vincent Price and Asian monsters/horror. My interest in Halloween slowly rekindled, and I started greeting the Trick or Treaters. At that time, the Clinton Hill Halloween walk was a much smaller affair. Maybe a couple of hundred people or so. For the first couple of years I covered our front door with a cute Halloween mural. People would ring the bell, and I would wait a few seconds before flinging the door open while screaming like a monster wearing a cool skull mask and a crimson grim reaper robe complete with a hood. It made the kids scream, and even many parents jump! Other years I roamed the neighborhood while someone else handed out candy. One year I was the Japanese superhero Ultraman. I have that costume somewhere on video tape, and will have to transfer it to digital one of these days. Another year I was Daimajin. The giant statue that came to life in three Japanese movies from the 60’s.
It's Daimajin!!
After a couple of years of that I decided I wanted to be Godzilla. I had acquired a 1:1 scale 1962 replica Godzilla head, and hired a Pratt student to make the body. When it was done, and I put it on for the first time it was so cool! I felt invincible and unstoppable. Just like Godzilla. That costume looked great (especially at night) as I rumbled up and down the block. I even hung a tape player inside the suit (around my shoulders) that played Godzilla music, and Godzilla roars. I did the same the next year. Of course the kids loved it as did the adults, and as ALWAYS everyone got candy!
The year after that I decided I wanted Godzilla to fight another monster. So I paired up with our babysitters boyfriend Nick ( a former Pratt student) to make a King Ghidorah suit. I would be King Ghidorah and Nick was to be Godzilla. It took some doing to make though. Ghidorah is a golden three headed, winged, two tailed monster from space that fires lightning from it’s mouths. We made a few styro foam, and cardboard buildings then held a couple of quick battles hitting each other with the buildings. The crowd loved it when one of the monsters would pick up a building and crash it over the other monster’s body. One problem though…the middle neck, and head of Ghidorah would not stay on! A problem that would continually have to be solved. At the same time the Clinton Hill Halloween Walk continued to grow in popularity. Each year a map was handed out that showed the locations of key houses for the walk. The candy bill was climbing higher, and higher every year!
The next year I wanted to try again. This time my friend Greg Follender (a very big Godzilla fan) was to be Godzilla, and I would be King Ghidorah. Once again the middle head of the Ghidorah suit would not stay on. I thought I had solved the problem, but no! The best part of that show was that Greg’s girlfriend Japanese girlfriend was here visiting. She had a great, eye opening experience of Halloween, as it is a holiday not really celebrated in Japan. Of course she also got to see our Japanese monsters. We held several “battles” out in front of the building. It was the last time those suits were used. They were pretty beat up. Especially the Godzilla suit. Although it made one last nonsensical appearance in my short film (Featuring the one and only George Takei!) called Showdown of the Godz. A short film/satire about a guy that is obsessed with Godzilla, and how it affects his marriage, and did I already mention that George Takei (Mr. Sulu) himself is in it??! Star Trek and Godzilla somehow indirectly melded together. As far as I know it has never been done. An unholy union? I guess you can decide.
It was during this time that I was ALSO going through a divorce so most of my energy, was not really directed towards the Halloween show. The next year was very simple. It was me as the Invisible Man, Greg (who wore a cool skull head hands and a shroud), and his Friend Eric, dressed as a boxer. All we did was hand out candy. Nothing much to that one, but you can see the pics of us on the pics page.
Halloween 2005
It was the next year that things picked up speed. A crew of like minded guys was beginning to assemble. I decided to have a “classic” monster battle. Frankenstein vs the Wolfman, and for good measure we threw in a mad scientist. After all it was in the film Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman” that monster first met monster. It’s the one that started that whole ball rolling! For the first time we even had the beginnings of a real set. We used the next door neighbors Brownstone front yard. The set was pretty basic. Some shelves, a couple of machine like things, a big table for the Frankenstein monster, a few lights, some music, and plenty of blood bags.
Frankenstein vs The Wolfman was the first ever monster fight in cinema history. We could only salute such a momentous feat!
The Epic Battle (2006): The Frankenstein monster wearing a surgeon's cap? (we lost the hairpiece) and the Wolfman
2007 saw an even bigger production. That year we were joined by Chuck Reina who was a BIG help in building the set, coming up with lighting, and playing yet another monster. We decided to repeat the past year’s show, but this time with the addition of Count Dracula. There was more music, and sound effects, the set was bigger and better, and we added a surprise ending. Yes…..even more blood bags than last time.
The best and newest twist was we decided to film it, and cut it together for a video representation of the show. You can watch it right here. People that see it can’t believe that it was all done outside…but it was. Right at 244 and 246 Washington ave.
The show basically consisted of a battle between Dracula, and the Frankenstein monster, the monster accidentally driving a stake through Dracula’s heart. The Wolfman shows up jumping on the Dr. severely injuring him, and pulling off his hand. The monster and the Wolfman fight until they had both pulled out each others hearts! Dr. Frankenstein issues one, last short speech, and drops dead. Suddenly a coffin (it was a Halloween decoration) flies open, and a grim reaper brandishing a scythe pops out startling everyone in the audience. Happy Halloween..we all yelled. End of show. You can see the flyer, and a pic of us (at the end of the night covered in fake blood) below.
2007 Halloween Show Flyer by Georgia Troch
The crew from the 2007 Halloween show
For the 2008 show we felt we had to top ourselves. We ran through several ideas finally settling on a never before done combination of genres. We called it Ancient Horrors. A Lara Croft/Indiana Jones type character (named Dr. Virginia Jones) is fleeing from the legendary Golem, who is following her because she had accidentally activated it. Dr. Jones enters by tumbling down a slide into an ancient, Egyptian tomb. A very old Egyptian priest revives as she enters. The priest thinks she is the reincarnation of the princess of the Mummy. He “freezes” her with his ancient magic, and revives the Mummy so Dr. Jones can be re claimed for eternity. The Mummy is about to claim her when the Golem smashes through a wall to save her. The Golem, and the Mummy fight, Dr. Jones shoots the priest several times, the Golem tears out the Mummy’s heart, the Dr. decativates the Golem, and columns fall as she makes her escape while the temple collapses! This was by far our most ambitious show to date. The set was bigger with more detail. There were twin columns on each side of the stage, a large sarcophagus, a slide, and a breakaway wall. One of the favorite effects of the show was the quick fireball flash from the priest’s staff as he froze Dr. Jones. The music, sound effects and lighting were all more sophisticated, and as far as we know the Mummy had never fought the Golem before. All in all a VERY satisfying show and one that we are quite proud of. You can see the artificially “dubbed” film version right here on this site, and the cool flyer for the show below.
2008 Halloween Show flyer by Greg Follender
What’s next? What will happen in 2009? Keep coming back to the site for updates OR better yet…..if you are in the area come to the show on OCT 31 2009. For now here is the flyer for the upcoming 2009 show.
2009 Halloween show poster
Added on 7/5/10
The 2009 show was quite different from our usual approach, but the kids loved it. What kid wouldn’t when Godzilla, his arch nemesis King Ghidorah and King Kong all have a throwdown/smackdown? You can watch it here. The only spoken part was by the narrator/ reporter on the scene. All other audio consisted of monster roars, crashes, explosions and music. For the first time ever the show moved to the back of the property and the actual “stage” was in the garage, but a problem we encountered was that people still had trouble seeing…..something that we will definitely remedy this year. What a festive atmosphere back there! The street was closed to traffic and the next door neighbors band played music in between shows AND there were 6 theater seats set up at the front of the viewing area, that were filled by kids who won the various best costume (judged by the applause of the audience) contests held before each of the 3 shows. The rain held off until right after the last show ended. Perfect timing! Man it was hot as hell inside those monster suits! I played King Ghidorah the three headed monster, (and that old suit was on its last legs), but it made it through. The Godzilla suit was the best one of the show. Kong looked great as he peered around the Empire State Building too.
What’s coming up this year? You will have to wait and see.
Here is what you have been waiting for!
