Kids love Halloween, they love dressing up and playing spooks and who wouldn't want to knock on peoples doors and get free lollies? Uh, it's frickin amazing and just because we never got to do it when we were kids doesn't mean that we shouldn't let them do it now. If you're going to use un-seasonal as your excuse for hating Trick 'r Treaters then boo to you, you're lame! I bet you still eat roasts at Christmas time even when it's hot and do all of the other Pagan based stuff the happens at Yuletide like bringing an evergreen into your home and decorating it to welcome the coming spring....aka your Christmas Tree! That is not very seasonally appropriate is it? But it is fun, so we do it and Halloween shouldn't be any different.
The ladies that were paying out Halloween tonight were also saying how sick it was to send your kids out for candy to strangers houses. Yes, sending your kids out to strangers houses for candy is sick, which is why 99% of the kids participating have an adult with them when they Trick 'r Treat. Safe and wholesome Halloween Trick 'r Treating can be orchestrated and seriously, if you were some Sweeney Todd type trying to lure kids into your home with candy to turn them into pies, you would hardly chose to do that on Halloween when there would be possible witnesses and the most easily traceable crime trail in all history would you? I bet that half of the people that say things like that wouldn't think twice about plopping their poor kids onto some unknown santa's lap at the mall for a happy snap would they? Are those kinds of strangers in red suits that hug unknown children at the mall better than the strangers that give out candy on Halloween? Doubtful, very bloody doubtful, but people only see what they want to see.
We actually have a lot of little Trick 'r Treaters out here in Enfield ever year and it doesn't offend me in the least. They are often quite small and very enthusiastic and the vast majority of them are done and dusted by 7.30pm. They dress up like their lives depend on it, their faces painted and little plastic pumpkin bags in their hands, and they are always super grateful for the lollies that they receive. Some good samaritan mails everyone in our area an orange balloon to hang on their letterbox on the evening of Halloween and if you don't want to participate you just don't hang your balloon and if you run out of candy you just take your balloon down, pretty simple really. It's organised, it's optional and it's safe because all of the children are accompanied by an adult. Where is the harm in that?
Sometimes I think that people just decide that they don't like Halloween because they can't be bothered, which essentially is fine, no-one says that you have to be bothered; but please stop making it out to be such a big horrible ordeal when it really isn't. Halloween to kids means fun, and well, even to some adults too if I'm being really honest about it, so stop being such bloody grumpy goblins, buy a few lollies and join in the fun as well, it's only one night of the year for goodness sake!
Release Date: 2007
Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 116 mins
My favourite of all Tim Burton's offerings, and a spectacular Gothic-horror musical of epic proportions. Adapted from the Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony award winning musical of the same name, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was met with unanimously positive reviews and enjoyed over 30 awards for it's dynamic and dark style.
This Victorian melodrama tells the tale of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), an English barber that returns to London to seek his revenge upon the evil Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). His lust for vengeance turns him quite mad and he ends up becoming a serial killer, systematically slitting the throats of all that come in for a shave with his straight razors. His accomplice, Mrs Lovett (Helena Bonham-Carter) aids him in the disposal of the corpses, by mincing them up, putting them into pies and selling them to the public of London.
This is a masterful tale of macabre and madness, as beautifully haunting as it is terribly disturbing. The cast are absolutely sensational, singing and acting their hearts out. The sets are bleak and morbidly depressing, a perfect setting for such a truly horrible tale, and the music is incredible. I can't say a bad thing about this film, I absolutely loved it, and as long you aren't too squeamish, you will too.
FINAL SAY: Best pies in all of London.
4.5 Chilli Peppers