Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

This was definitely a last minute costume (I painted that rib cage on my dress last night!) but I'm mildly happy with how it came out. I don't think I've ever done a spooky Halloween costume before, I usually go with some kind of pop culture figure (past favorites: Princess Unicorn from The Office and Helena from Orphan Black) but tonight I'm volunteering at my local independent movie theater and the costume theme is characters from horror films.

I have to admit, I haven't seen that many modern horror movies. I've seen a lot of the fun ones, like Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Craft, Beetlejuice, etc. but ACTUAL horror movies like Saw, the Freddy movies, the Jason movies, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, those have all eluded me. So I went with what I know and chose to dress up like Barbara Steele's character from the 1961 Italian horror movie Black Sunday.



Black Sunday is about a witch who is burned at the stake and vows vengeance on the family that killed her. It's low budget but super atmospheric with lots of fog and cobwebs to give it a spooky vibe. It also has this thing (a lot of people HATE this in movies but I personally love it) where it takes place in the middle ages but everyone's hair and makeup is super 60's. It's probably one of the reasons I gravitated towards this movie when I was deciding on a costume :)

It's an Italian production but the movie is dubbed in English, so if you're not a fan of foreign films, don't let that turn you off. It's available to rent on amazon here, and I highly recommend it if you're in the mood for a fun thriller to watch tonight! I also just watched another Barbara Steele horror film (although this one is in Italian with English subtitles) called The Long Hair of Death. I like Black Sunday better but this one is *almost* as good, and it's on Amazon Prime so if you have an account it's free to stream :)



Last but not least, I put together a Halloween video set to Bauhaus' "She's in Parties." I included clips from some of my favorite spooky classic movies like Cat People, The Old Dark House, and The Bride of Frankenstein. If you're a fan of classic movies, I hope you'll love it, and if you're not a fan (yet!) maybe this video will give you a little taste of what classic horror movies are like. If you're interested in checking out any of the films in the video, I have a list of the ones that I included on the youtube video page here.



Since I'm pretty sure a reference is necessary for this costume, here is Barbara Steele in stills from Black Sunday:

posh frock friday

This dress makes me feel like a Rockette! I even picked these shoes because they are the most "tap dance" shoes that I own.

I did tap and ballet from when I was three until I was sixteen, and I really miss it sometimes. I recently bought a ballet workout DVD to do at home but I feel kind of silly doing it in sweatpants or pajamas so now I feel like I also need a leotard, and a skirt, and ballet shoes... Maybe I should just buy a tap dance DVD instead and I can workout in my Rockette outfit! ;)

If you're participating in Posh Frock Friday don't forget to hashtag your outfit on IG with #poshfrockfridays so that everyone can see your pretty outfit!

dress- vintage from whurl | shoes - bait footwear | purple rug - amazon

wishlist wednesday

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it's beginning to look a lot like halloween

I'm in such a Halloween mood this year! I think it's actually going to be tough to let go of it after October 31st -- kind of like how sometimes you have to leave the Christmas tree up until mid-February. I'll still have fake spiders and webbing up around the house through November ;)

If you're a classic movie buff (and especially if you're a classic horror movie buff) there was some exciting news in the film restoration front this past week! My favorite spooky movie, The Old Dark House (1932) is getting a 4K restoration from Universal and the Cohen Media Group. I am SO excited. A lot of Cohen restorations get art house theater releases, too, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it shows up at The Film Forum in the next year or two. If you've never seen the film, don't wait for the restoration (although, watch that too once it's out, obviously!) it's available on DVD in a kind of shoddy public-domain style transfer but it's still SO GOOD and SOOOOO spooky! It's the perfect movie to watch late at night a few days before Halloween :)

dress- asos | boots - bait footwear | cardigan - old navy

pins - my shop (10% off w/code BRILLIANT) | purple rug - amazon