By Charlie Cole | Broadcast Reporter
Horror movies, haunted houses and scary decorations are all classic Halloween staples. Recently, though, it has been all about cute costumes, aesthetic pumpkin painting and family-friendly outings.
We should be more focused on the tricks and capture the true spirit of Halloween with more scares.
Nowadays, it seems like Halloween is all about treats, and the tricks are few and far between. It’s time to end all of that nonsense. Bring back the real spooky season.
First, there needs to be some changes in how we view the Halloween season. It has become too commercialized and diluted into being a glorified costume party or a pop-culture event. Stores start rolling out cheap, boring costumes months before October, and most of the preparation for the big day is buying a big bag of candy the morning of.
Please, let’s put some more effort into what should be a fun and exciting holiday.
Halloween has almost become more of a night out and an excuse to dress up and post on social media. Instead, it should be an event revolving around the haunted and spooky themes. We should be going to more haunted houses and seeing more horror movies, rather than simply playing dress up at someone’s house.
Next, Halloween media needs to be addressed. It has evolved to become less special and thematic around Halloween, and a big reason for this is the growth of TV streaming services.
When I was a kid, I used to love watching Disney Channel’s special Halloween episodes and Halloween marathons every year in October. Horror or Halloween-themed movies would be on the movie channels for practically the whole month.
Now, you can watch these movies or holiday specials year-round, at any time you want to. It takes away from that Halloween spirit and makes this time of year feel a little less special.
I know that Halloween is a day for the whole family to enjoy. However, it is very possible to do both at the same time. The kids can have their fun going trick-or-treating door to door, but they should also be encouraged to participate in the spooky things.
Kid’s Halloween shows and movies are a great example of this, rather than throwing them in the deep end of horror movies. There are definitely also scaled down versions of activities, like haunted houses, that could work for children and still be fun for everybody else.
In my eyes, Halloween is all about the spooks and the haunts of the season, and I think we have lost the emphasis on what the holiday has traditionally been. It’s time to leave the treats behind and fully embrace the frights that are synonymous with the spooky season.
