Thriller Halloween Light Show

Photo Credit: Glorify Zombie Shop

Okay, this was so cool - I had to pass it on! Wish I had the monetary resources to do that at my house! Enjoy.

Paranormal Activity & a God-Fearing Woman's View on Halloween

Post-Viewing Update - My Review of Paranormal Activity: Well, I went to see Paranormal Activity. And, being somebody who loves scary movies, I gotta say, for me it was very disappointing on the scary scale. While it did have a slight creep factor to it, unless you are an easily freaked out person, this movie will probably not be at all scary to you. It starts painfully slow and actually, by the time that it even begins to really get creepy and exciting, the movie is over. I was left with that "that's it?" feeling when it was over. Even The Cajun who isn't exactly a big scary movie fan like me, was sorely disappointed in the movie. My rating? One star, only for the slight creep factor. This movie was all pre-release hype, in my opinion, and doesn't hold up to the scare factor. Save your money.

I've gone and glammed up my header for Halloween - hope that doesn't freak anybody out.

I consider myself to be a Christian but I never understood the whole religious fear of Halloween. In fact, I went through a period of time feeling condemned, not by God, but by other Christians for participating, until I realized the ridiculousness in that.  In my mind, it's simply a time for scary fun, haunted houses, cool costumes and trick or treating in the neighborhood. Nobody I know views this as some kind of celebration of evil - and trust me, if God felt it was evil for me to be a part of the fun, He would certainly give me conviction about it, because believe me, He does that regularly in my life. Very regularly.

I just do not find having fun for Halloween to be spiritually harmful at all and frankly find the objection toward it to be, well, silly. Forget about whatever the roots are supposed to be - you can find that in every major holiday we celebrate - nobody cares about all of that, or really even knows about it. It's the preachers and the pastors that create this issue in the Church. Kind of reminds me how the Bible used to be withheld from us for fear we would not be able to understand it. For us regular folks, Halloween is nothing more than just scary fantasy, and fun, and make believe, and masks, and grease paint, and parties, and eating way too many sweets. That is all it is.

One of the best times I have ever had in my life was two years ago at Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream in Tampa.  We were vacationing there and Orlando at the end of October, so we treated ourselves to the VIP Tour Package and oh, my, goodness, I had a blast like I was 16 years old.  The scare zones where costumed zombies jump out at you and make you scream, and the seven haunted houses, which with the VIP Package, you get front of the line no waiting treatment to get into - that was worth every penny - and the rides.  It was just the best time. We even did the Fright Feast Dinner Buffet and show to start the evening off.  What fun we had!

Oh yeah, and October means scary movies. They are all over the television for sure, but there are usually a few that show up at the theaters too. I have always loved scary movies - I don't know why, I just have. Have you heard about the movie Paranomal Activity yet? Maybe not, because it's an ultra low budget horror movie, on limited release only in selected areas of the country.

Reminiscent of how The Blair Witch Project {remember that?} was done, with unknown actors, jump out of your seat scare jolts, hide your eyes moments, and shaky camera shots ... except that apparently where Blair Witch created an entire online presence of a somewhat believeable town in which there really was a Blair Witch legend, though there really wasn't... the clever folks behind the production of Paranormal Activity are hoping once you hear about the movie, you will demand it be shown in your area. Paramount has promised to open the movie in all markets once they hit 1 million demands. (see update)

From what I've read, the story centers around a young couple who move into a starter home and begin to experience some odd noises in the middle of the night.  Determined to capture what the strange noises are, they set up a video camera to catch a glimpse of what really is going on in the dark of night as they sleep. The movie is supposed to cover two weeks of increasingly intense nightly encounters, that culminate in a shocking and frightening climax.

Apparently the movie was so creepy, that 35 people from within the test group who first got to view it, walked out before seeing the entire movie, not because it was a bad movie, but because it literally had scared them too much to stay any longer.

Watch the clip and catch the reactions and expressions of the audience. That in itself is pretty good marketing if you're the kind of person who loves to be scared. Are you ready to be scared? Demand it. And maybe I'll share a few scary stories with you in the coming days before Halloween...

UPDATE:  When I first posted this, demands were at about 400,000. Today I checked and the 1 million demands have been met, so the movie Paranormal Activity will be released nationwide! As of 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 13th, all theaters where it will play should be listed at the site.

Click here for the trailer.