Night 26 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

 

Welcome to night 26 of the 3rd annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a $400+ Prize Pack full of frightfully good treats from 24 spooktacular shops! Tonight we have the next movie from the Halloween Movie Marathon. Follow along for an extra 10 entries in the giveaway and play the Guess The Movie game for even more. We also have the next clue in the Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt. Gather clues for daily entries and a surprise at the end of the giveaway. But that's not all! Keep reading to find the next feature on one of our participating shops. Visit us each day during October so you do not miss any of the fun.

Salt And Burn Necklace - Style B  $19.50

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

***When you are done with today's activities make sure to check out our other giveaways running this month. You can get extra entries for this giveaway by entering the others. You'll find them listed on the Rafflecopter on the main Giveaway Post***

ENDS OCTOBER 31st ~ ROCKtoberfest Giveaway Hop Giveaway. This is a music themed giveaway and you can enter to win a Custom Mystery Grab Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. These grab bags are custom made to suit your style and have been very popular prizes! Enter here on the LVL Blog.

ENDS OCTOBER 31st ~ Spooktacular Giveaway Hop Giveaway. This is a book themed giveaway and you can enter to win a Custom Mystery Grab Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. If you win I will create some fun designs just for you. Bags have at least a $50 value and can include bracelets, necklaces, earrings, compact mirrors, purse holders and more. Enter here on the LVL Blog.

Scares That Care
In addition to having lots of fun we want to try and do a little good too Many of our shops have chosen a charity to fund raise for. A certain percentage or dollar amount of each sale made through the participating shops, during the giveaway, will be donated to the charity of their choice. You will find each shops details on the main Giveaway Post and on their shop feature.

Laughing Vixen Lounge will be donating $1 from each item sold during October to Support Supernatural to help A Dog's Life Rescue. The amazing gals at Support Supernatural (as in the TV show) have been fundraising for A Dog's Life Rescue since 2009 and have raised over $100,000 to help animals in need.

Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt - Night 26
Our scavenger hunt will work like the game Clue this year. Every week you will be looking for clues to a different part of the mystery ~ Settings, Suspects, Rooms, Weapons and Escapes. They will be hidden within an item listing inside one of our participating shops. On each daily post you will be given a hint as to where the main clue is hiding. Once you find the clue go to the main Giveaway Post and find that night's entry on the Rafflecopter widget. You must leave the clue through the Rafflecopter! Do not post the clue anywhere on the blog. If you do it will be deleted and will not count. If you have any questions just ask.

Make sure to keep a list of all the clues as you collect them. On the last day of the giveaway you will be able to submit your guess of how the murder happened. Anyone who actually guesses correctly will win a Surprise Goodie Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. These goodie bags are made to suit your taste and usually end up being at least a $50 value! You can start the scavenger hunt game at anytime during the giveaway and go back to find past clues. Clues will stay posted through the entire giveaway.

Night 26
An object lay on the ground.
This week you will be collecting clues to the weapons of the crime.

Tonight's clue is hiding in Custom Sentiments.
Need a little help finding the clue? How a pirate finds his loot.

Featured Shop - Custom Sentiments

Custom Sentiments is run by Joni from Saint Cloud, Minnesota. Her shop is filled with thousands of designs ready to be put on tons of goodies.

Personalized Princess Duvet Cover  $100

How did you choose your shop name?
"My kids definitely inspired me to go the custom and personalized route- always asking for their name on this or that, so I "custom" had to somehow be in my company name since it represented what I did at the time, (custom designs). I chose "sentiments" since I started out doing wall quotes and I had always called them "wall sentiments". I guess the two words together just made the perfect pair."

Personalized Jungle Safari Onesie  $15

Why did you choose to make/sell what you do?
"I have 3 kids- all girls and they love all things girly, pink and monogrammed! They were always asking me to personalize this and that for them- water bottles, lunch boxes, backpacks and of course their lockers at school were the coolest on the "block". It was hard to find personalized childrens items then and once I started personalizing things, it got addicting. Now EVERYTHING in my shop or on my website (thousands of items) are all personalized items so anyone can find the perfect personalized gift for anyone on their list- guys, girls, young or young at heart."

Hope Cuff Bracelet  $16.99

What inspires the designs/creations you make?
"I would have to say my 3 beautiful girls and all that surrounds me. My oldest daughter and I do "walking photography", where we pick a spot, (near or far away) and just walk and take pictures of anything that catches our eye. I then use those photographs to create pallets of color and let the colors and shapes guide me with my designs."

Custom Personalized Beach Towel  $47.50

What new designs/creations would you like to add to your shop in the future?
"I currently have hundreds of designs that are not yet on my websites or in my shop. I am adding new designs and products all the time. Every single week there is something new. I'm still in the process of merging all of my old sites into one big one and doing both wholesale and retail, it is taking some time. Check back often, as there will always be new finds to catch your eye!"

Personalized Monogram Luggage Tag  $10

You'll have a chance to win an infant shirt with your choice of design from Custom Sentiments. Enter now on the main giveaway post.

Design Your Own T-Shirt  $18.99

Visit Custom Sentiments on the Web and Etsy and use coupon code IHEARTCS10 at checkout for 10% off your order. *** Not valid on OtterBox® brand or other device cases, personalized jewelry collection or rush shipping and/or production upgrades***

Since it's Halloween I asked the shops to share their favorite spooky movie.
"Wow, I am going to sound like a big kid here, but to be honest, I love Goosebumps stories. I used to read entire collections in one sitting and now my 10 year old has almost completed reading my mountain of a collection and her grandpa keeps adding to it every time he sees her. I also used to love Tales From The Crypt and Twilight Zone shows. Guess I like the classics best. Best actual Halloween movie ever: The Ring- freaked me out for ever, wait I just got goosebumps"

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie Marathon.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and modern spooky movies. For something a little different this year we have decided to do themed weeks. Week 1 ~ Zombies, Week 2 ~ Werewolves and Vampires, Week 3 ~ Stephen King, Week 4 ~ Classic Double Features and Week 5 ~ Lounge Favorites.

On each daily post there will be a review of the next movie in our movie marathon. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day of the giveaway you will find the Magic Phrase you will use to unlock the entry on the main Giveaway Post worth 10 entries. You must comment on each movie post to qualify.

Guess The Movie Game
This year we decided not to post the movie list in full so we can play a fun game instead. Each daily post will have a clue to the next night's movie. Leave your guess on the Rafflecopter widget, on the main Giveaway Post, for 1 entry in the giveaway. Please do not post guesses anywhere else on the blog or they will be deleted and not count.

**Guesses must be posted the same day as their clue to receive the entry** Rafflecopter runs on Eastern Standard Time. You can only post 1 guess per 24 hour period. So if you miss a day you can not make it up.

Tonight's Clue ~ "If you give this man a ride sweet memory will die. Killer on the road" ~ Jim Morrison.

Week 4 ~ Classic Double Features


Night 26 - The Dead Won't Stay Dead - Carnival of Souls and The Uninvited
 
First Feature ~ Carnival of Souls

Tagline - She Was A Stranger Among The Living.              
              She Escaped Death. Now It Wants Her Back!


Directed by Herk Harvey and released on September 26, 1962 by Herts-Lion International Corp. (Not rated). A woman is the soul survivor of an auto accident. She moves to a new town for a new job but finds herself haunted. Stalked my a chilling man and mysteriously drawn to an old abandoned building on the outskirts of town. She will soon find herself fighting for her sanity and ultimately her life. 

We have come to the end of our Classic Double Feature Week and I saved one of my favorites until the end. I love this movie! I remember seeing an ad for it when it was re-released in 1989, playing at a little theater downtown. Just from the name and poster I wanted to see it. A few years later I finally watched it on TV. For some reason it stayed with me and it is still a big favorite to this day. Last month I had the chance to finally see it on the big screen and it was such a treat.

Originally the movie was premiered in the town it was filmed in, Lawrence, Kansas. It had such a bad reception it was not shown anywhere else in the states until the re-release in 1989. The film has now fallen into the public domain and can be seen on late night TV and DVD releases.

This movie has no budget and not much for acting but somehow it manages to pull of a really good creepy movie. If you need big scares and blood 'n guts to make a horror film then this one probably will not do it for you. But if can appreciate spooky atmosphere, creepy music and, at the heart of it, a pretty good story then you might just like this one. Yes, some of it is silly and laughable (mainly the scenes between Mary and her neighbor) and the makeup is obviously makeup but the underlying story is quite good.

The thing that really works in this movie is the old Saltair building that is featured in it. The abandoned building is a big part of the movie and gives it a lot of it's creepy vibe. I have always found myself completely intrigued with it. Maybe I danced there in a former life. Ha! The scenes towards the end of the movie with Mary walking about it's grounds and the dead dancing in the big ballroom are my favorite parts of the movie. Here is a little bit of Saltair's history.

Originally built in 1983, Saltair was the Coney Island of the West. A popular resort built out over the Great Salt Lake in Utah. People came to float in the heavy salt water lake and dance the night away inside. For a time it was the most popular family destination west of New York.

In 1925 a fire broke out and destroyed the majority of all the buildings. Saltair was rebuilt bigger, better and boasting the biggest dance floor in the world. But the years had changed bringing  automobiles, movie theaters, people moving out of the area and the 1929 stock market crash. Saltair was loosing it's popularity. In 1931 fire struck again causing $100,000 in damage and in 1933 the lake receded leaving the resort far from the water.

Saltair was forced to close with the start of World War II. They reopened after the war but were unable to recapture it's former glory. It officially closed for good in 1958 and sat abandoned until 1970 when an arson fire was set in the middle of the dance floor destroying Saltair.

 

In 1981 a new Saltair was built about a mile from the original site. Within a few months of opening the lake flooded the building and stayed flooded for years. Once the water receded the building was restored only to find that the waters were to continue receding until the resort was again left dry. Since 2005 Saltair has become a concert venue and is still functioning in 2013.

I had the chance to visit this version of Saltair in 1994 and, while nowhere near as amazing looking as either of the other two versions, it was a real treat to get to go there. I do not think you could go into the building at the time but they had one of the old train cars from the original railway that had a gift shop inside. It also smelled really bad around the grounds where the water had been. But to this day it is still a mysterious memory of days gone by to me that I will always find intriguing.


Take a look at the original trailer.



Some trivia about the movie..
1. Star Candace Hilligoss' agent refused to represent her any further after seeing this film.
2. The backdrop is the Saltair Amusement Park outside Salt Lake City. The Saltair that appears in the film actually burned down in the early '70s. In the early '80s another version of Saltair was rebuilt, although it was a much smaller design. Shortly after it was built, the Great Salt Lake rose and flooded it out. In 1993, the building was remodeled and reopened, now it's mainly used as a small venue for musical acts.
3. Director Herk Harvey and writer John Clifford both waived their earnings in order to get the film made under the initially miniscule $17,000 budget.
4. The damage to the bridge in the opening scene of the film cost Herk Harvey $17.
5. The original cut of the film ran 84 minutes but was cut down to 75 minutes by drive-in owners in order to accommodate more showings.
6. This film was shot on location in Salt Lake City, Utah, and in Lawrence, Kansas, with interior shots at the Centron Studios in Lawrence. Centron was an industrial film company, producing industrial and educational films and "social guidance" short subjects in the 1950s into the 1960s. Most of this film's technical staff, including director Herk Harvey and screenwriter John Clifford, were Centron employees.
7. The film resurfaced in 1989 when it was fully restored and given a more proper release in New York.
8. The film was originally released on double-bill with The Devil's Messenger, a TV pilot for a Swedish horror show.
9. In the late 1980s, Candace Hilligoss wrote a treatment for a sequel to 'Carnival of Souls'. She took it to associate Peter Soby Jr. who instead decided to produce a remake of the original film (also called Carnival of Souls). Hilligoss had no part of the production.
10. The bridge used in the opening of the film is called the Kaw Bridge, named after the Kaw River that runs under it. The bridge still stands in Lawrence, Kansas though it has been re-built with concrete since the filming.
11. Director/writer Herk Harvey thought up the idea of the film after driving past the Saltair Amusement Park while traveling through Salt Lake City.
12. Upon release in 1962 the film was a failure in the box office, but its subsequent airings on late night television helped to gain it a strong cult following. Today it is regarded as a landmark in psychological horror.
13. This was the only feature film that director/producer Herk Harvey ever worked on.
14. The film's budget was raised over the course of one weekend. Local businesses in Lawrence, Kansas invested in the film.
12. The shots of the ghouls rising from the Salt Lake were actually filmed in an apartment swimming pool.
13. At the "Carnival of Souls" 1989 reunion, director Herk Harvey wore the ghoul makeup that he wore in the film for interviews.
14. According to director Herk Harvey, one reel of footage for the film was unfortunately ruined during processing. Harvey said it was a long series of shots that was suppose to take place just before Mary sees the "souls" dancing in the ballroom. In the shots the ghouls were supposed to slowly appear from behind the rotting dock pylons out on the salt flats and slowly walk across the prairie to the ballroom, where they would begin to dance. Sadly, the footage was overexposed during the processing and couldn't be included in the film..
15.The Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce charged director Herk Harvey $50 for his one-week shoot at the ruined Saltair Pavilion. 
16. Herk Harvey's crew only consisted of five other people besides himself.
17. Filmed in three weeks.
18. The director, Herk Harvey, plays the creepy man who stalks Mary. My sister gave him the name "bloaty man".


 Second Feature ~ The Uninvited

Tagline - From the Most Popular Mystery Romance since "Rebecca"! 


Directed by Lewis Allen (The Unseen and Appointment with Danger) and released on February 10, 1944 by Paramount Pictures (Not rated). A brother and sister move into an abandoned cliff side manor in England. The house has an incredibly low price tag but also comes with a warning. Strange happenings have been known to occur there and these sibling are about to find out why.

Our second feature also deals with the dead that will not stay dead an an abandoned property. This is very good old mystery movie. Very spooky atmosphere and classic ghost story elements. The main characters will have to put the pieces of the puzzle together to figure out why this ghost haunts the house.

The acting is good, the story is interesting and the mood is spooky. The house and it's sets are beautiful and add to the look and feel of the movie. Stella by Starlight, written for and played in the movie, is a classic song. If you like a well done old ghost story mystery you should certainly give this one a try.

Take a look at the original trailer. 



Some trivia about the movie..
1. Some of the interior sets of Windwood Manor, such as the main staircase and parlor, were re-dressed sets from the 1942 film I Married a Witch.
2. The beautiful song "Stella By Starlight" was written specifically for this movie and is featured several times. In the movie Roderick Fitzgerald "writes" it for Stella Meredith.
3. With Ned Washington's romantic lyrics added to Victor Young's graceful melody, "Stella by Starlight" turned into a major hit song three years after the film's release. Noteworthy recordings arrived in 1947 from Frank Sinatra on Columbia, Dick Haymes on Decca and Dennis Day on RCA Victor. Unfortunately, Mr. Young's score failed to attain an Oscar nomination in the category of Dramatic Score of 1944.
4. One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.
5. "The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on August 28, 1944 with Ray Milland and Ruth Hussey reprising their film roles.
6. There are many instances in this film where the screenplay adaptation lifts dialogue verbatim from the 1942 novel by Dorothy MacArdle on which the movie is based. The most extensive such sequence occurs early in the movie, when Rick visits the tobacconist's shop.
7. There is a line of dialogue, near the end of the film, when Rick assures Lizzie: "We will do nothing tonight that the priest wouldn't approve of." He is referring to Father Anson, who had a major sub plot in the novel (he wanted to perform an exorcism on the house) but whose character and sub-plot were deleted entirely from the filmed version. This one odd line, lifted almost verbatim from the novel, somehow made it into the final cut.
8. Cornelia Otis Skinner has a supporting role in this film, which introduced Gail Russell. Later that year Gail Russell played Miss Skinner in the film of Miss Skinner's memoir, "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay" (1944).
9. Three cast members in studio records/casting call lists did not appear or were not identifiable in the movie. These were (with their character names): Norman Ainsley (Chauffeur), Ottola Nesmith (Mrs. Carlton) and George Kirby (Gas Station Attendant). Ainsley presumably was driving the car which dropped off Commander Beech and Stella after church, and Mr. and Mr. Carlton presumably was in the back seat. But none of these actors are seen. Mr. Carlton, however, does speak before the car drives off.