CMU Student's Decorated Balcony
Halloween
is the best holiday of the year because it offers the most diversity in how you
spend it.
You
can be solitary and eat an entire bag of candy by yourself or spend your time
with friends. With COVID-19 promising to make things complicated again, here
are some Halloween do’s and don’ts for this year.
Do: Watch scary movies
Second only to Christmas in terms of watchable holiday movies, Halloween offers the perfect atmosphere for scaring yourself to sleep. Movies used to be a lot scarier before college; now, it’s easier to sleep knowing that if you’re going down, at least you won’t have to worry about your classes anymore. Here’s a few of my favorites:
The
Thing (1982): Among Us is one of the most popular video games on the market
right now. If you like that game, then maybe you’ll like The Thing: it’s just
the right blend of mystery and suspense, mixed with some of the coolest,
goriest practical effects you may find in a movie. It follows a team of people
in Antarctica as they are hunted down by a creature that can impersonate them.
If you’re not a fan of older movies, there was a prequel released in 2011 that
captures a similar vibe.
The
Descent (2005): The title of this movie predicted the course of American
society. Filled with tense moments, this gory thriller follows an all-female
crew of spelunkers as they take a horrifying journey under the Appalachian
Mountains. It’s amazingly claustrophobic and a perfect horror movie.
Tucker
and Dale vs. Evil (2010): Maybe you prefer some comedy in your horror. This
movie is sort of a flip of horror tropes – a bunch of college students are
“hunted down” by Tucker and Dale, two guys that just bought a vacation cabin.
In reality, Tucker and Dale are just clumsy and well-meaning, and the college
kids keep accidentally killing themselves, making the rest of the group think
T&D are out to get them. It reminded me a lot of Zombieland in its tone.
Don’t: Trick or Treat
Even
without COVID, it starts to get pretty weird to trick or treat when you’re in
your 20’s. Luckily I don’t know too many of those people, since I left them
behind in the third grade. Go buy a bag of candy at the store that you won’t
have to share with someone else.
Do: Listen to some of the greatest
hits
I
was reading about some songs online that would go well on a Halloween playlist,
and the whole thing blew my mind. Now, I don’t have the greatest taste in
music. But there was a concerning number of sites that thought the word
“monster” in the title meant the song was good for Halloween.
“The
Monster” by Eminem is not a Halloween song. Neither is “Monster” by Imagine
Dragons. Give me a break.
If you’re looking for something to get in the spooky mood, go listen to a remix of “Monster Mash,” “This is Halloween” or the Ghostbusters theme song. There’s a lot of material out there that’s not just the memetic picks I made.
Don’t: Hold a costume party
Social distancing should mean you won’t hold any large gatherings. Costume parties were already pretty lame anyway, once the novelty wears off and you just want to go home and stop talking to people. May I suggest doing literally anything else?
Do: Embrace the memes
The word “spoopy” is only funny once. But there are some pretty good memes this time of year that don’t involve talking like a first grader. May I suggest a certain dancing skeleton?
Don’t: Visit a haunted house
Not
that there are many to go to anyways. Trust me, this is my favorite part of
Halloween, and Grand Junction has offered some fun ones in the past. That being
said, the only thing scarier than the monsters in a haunted house is dying of
COVID.
This
is the best holiday of the year. Let’s enjoy the scary atmosphere and autumn
leaves, before November hits and we all want to leave the country.