Night 13 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

Welcome to night 13 of the second annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a goodie bag full of frightfully good treats from 12 different shops! Tonight we have our next shop feature and the next movie review off our Halloween Movie List. Follow along for an extra 25 entries in the giveaway. But first lets get to our featured item of the night from Laughing Vixen Lounge.

Skull and Bird Compact  $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.




Featured Shop - Kitsch Bitch Vintage

Kitsch Bitch Vintage is run by Erin from Nowheresville, California. Her shop is filled with lots of vintage goods.

Vintage 1960s chartreuse sweater dress  $58

How did you choose your shop name?
"Kitsch Bitch, well that one sums it all up. ;)"

Vintage Costume Pearl Necklace  $10

Why did you choose to make/sell what you do?
"I've been a vintage lover and crafter for a long time, they just blended together. I love finding unique vintage treasures looking for their special home, along with taking a few and giving them new life."

Vintage Yellow Mug Tree  $20

Erin's shop is full of great vintage clothing and accessories. You're sure to find something that strikes your fancy.

Vintage 70s Purse  $18

Here is a little peek at the Hell In A Handbag Laboratory. Do you see the little Creature From The Black Lagoon on the dryer chair? He is sooo cute I had to get one for myself 8)








You'll have a chance to win a $20 Gift Certificate from Kitsch Bitch Vintage. Enter now on the main giveaway page.

Vintage Bright Pink and Aqua Rhinestone Earrings  $15

Visit Kitsch Bitch Vintage on Etsy and Ebay.

Since it's Halloween I had to asked the shops to share their favorite horror films.
"Another of the horror films I saw pretty young (and probably shouldn't have) that really stuck with me was The Last House on the Left. (Original version, of course.)
That movie still creeps me out. Fairly realistic, still gritty Wes Craven, and you can almost smell the 70s. *shudder* It has served as a cautionary tale, and makes one remember why you shouldn't talk to strangers!"
I agree!!! This is a hard movie to watch but definitely a good cautionary tale.




Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie List.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and fun spooky movies. Each night there will be a movie review of the next movie on our Halloween Movie List. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day you will find the magic phrase you will use to unlock the entry worth 25 entries in the giveaway. You must comment on each post.


Night 13 - The Hitcher

Tagline - The terror starts the moment he stops.

              Never Pick Up A Stranger.

              He came from hell. Don't ask him where he
              wants to go.

              Out on the desert highway, the rule of
              thumb has a different meaning...



Directed by Robert Harmon (They) and released in February 21, 1986 by TriStar Pictures (rated R). A young man, Jim Halsey (C. Thomas Howell), is delivering a car from Chicago to San Diego. Unable to keep his eyes open, he decides to pick up a hitch hiker, John Ryder (Rutger Hauer), standing on the side of the road so he can have someone to talk to. As the passenger door opens Jim utters the infamous line "My mother always told me not to do this". We the viewer know that mom was right but Jim has to learn the hard way.

I used to love Tommy Howell. The I grew up and realized a cute boy does not a good actor make! That aside, this movie is still creepy and fun.

OK...this movie has lots of flaws. Mr. Howell really is not the greatest actor and it does show in this movie. Also, it's quite amazing how the hitcher can always be hiding right where Jim is about to show up. Maybe his character is psychic and they forgot to tell us. It's probably laying on the editing room floor.

The silliness aside, there really are some great scary and creepy elements here. It plays on all of those terrible "what could happen" of traveling, especially on your own. Driving in out of the way places, stopping at gas station and rest areas and crossing paths with lots of strangers. Usually harmless things but we all know the horrible things that do happen to people sometimes and that's what feeds the fear here.

What takes that fear and kicks it into high gear is Mr. Hauer himself. This is the first movie I really noticed Rutger Hauer in and it took a good decade to be able to separate him from this character. He is truly scary as the villain here and it shows just how talented of an actor he can be.

And the scene with Nash at the truck stop is just classic horror film making. Maybe you don't get to see as much as nowadays but it's horrible all the same.


Take a look at the original trailer



Some trivia about the movie
1.The writer of the screenplay, Eric Red, has said the story was inspired by the Doors song "Riders on the Storm".
2. In Rutger Hauer's book "All Those Moments," Hauer discusses how producer Ed Feldman settled on Sam Elliott for the role of John Ryder. Hauer states that "Apparently, Elliott was so scary when he came in to audition that Edward S. Feldman was afraid to go out to his car afterward." Sam Elliott had a scheduling conflict and had to back out the role.
3. Rutger Hauer knocked out one of his teeth with the shotgun he was holding during the windshield scene.
4. C. Thomas Howell admitted that he was actually afraid of Rutger Hauer on and off the set because of the actor's general intensity.
5. Screenwriter Eric Red can be seen in a cameo role toward the end of the film, playing a sheriff's deputy escorting John Ryder to the prison bus for transfer.
6. Rutger Hauer did a lot of the stunt driving throughout the movie which amazed the film crew and even the real stunt drivers.
7. The coach stops at "Roy's Motel and Diner" which is a famous landmark on the old Route 66, now interstate 40. It can be found at Amboy, California in the Mojave desert. It is featured in many films and documentaries.
8. On the jail wall you can read "Mort aux matons!" (probably written by a previous prisoner), translated to "Death to the jail guards!" in French.
9. In early drafts of the script, John Ryder had been described as skeletal in nature and so actors like David Bowie, Sting, Sam Shepard, Harry Dean Stanton, and Terence Stamp were mentioned.
10. For the role of Jim Halsey, the producers mentioned Matthew Modine, Tom Cruise and Emilio Estevez.
11. The original script ran the film equivalent of three hours.
12. Fox was to have distributed the film before TriStar Pictures took over.
13. Moments that ended up not being filmed include: Ryder slaughtering an entire family, an eyeball appearing in a hamburger (this was replaced in a finger in a plate of French fries), a graphic sex scene between 'Gal' Galveston (the girl before Nash) and Jim, and a character being decapitated. The film underwent several rewrites which removed the gorier moments.
14. To avoid an X rating the ending was changed to give Jim justification to doing what he does.
15. While being arrested outside the diner, C. Thomas Howell accidentally kicks one of the deputies in the back of the head while being slammed on the hood of the police car.
16. When Jim enters the abandoned garage, birds fly in front of the camera for dramatic effect. Though the hole in the floor seems to be intentional, the person visible pushing the birds out from said hole was probably not.