Spooky Month can never die!
We're switching gears again, kids. No more auditory evils, no more mixes for costume parties, no more ambient soundtracks. We're delving into Spooky TV shows and specials, the kind of stuff that either gets under your skin or celebrates my favorite of all holidays. Today, we're starting back at the beginning. Let's look at something from my childhood that scared the bejesus out of me - Garfield's Halloween Adventure.
I could see where this would be an innocuous thing. I could see how the execs and artistic talent behind this animated special from 1985 could make the assumption that everything presented here would be just fine and dandy for a children's Halloween special. That lazy, lasagna loving cat goes trick-or-treating with Odie and they have a bit of an adventure, a fright or two, throw in a couple musical numbers and a couple commercial breaks, you got yourself some advertising bucks. What ensued still gives me chills. I remember the white-knuckle terror of watching this as a small child, my brain melting at the twisted visuals that were stealthily presented in this cartoon.
One in a series of holiday specials from Garfield, the 80s and childhood staple, this half-hour cartoon was charming and simple on the surface. Garfield experiences Halloween. Jon gets him to carve a pumpkin. Garfield and Odie look for costumes in the attic, then go trick-or-treating. They see a house in the distance, across a river. Taking a rowboat, they find it's an old house that is home to what is clearly a disturbed old man. He tells a tale of pirates who are due to return from the grave that night to reclaim buried treasure. He steals the pair's boat and the two animals hide in the cupboards from some amazingly terrifying ghosts. That is when my brain promptly melted and oozed out of my ears.
Once I reached adolescence, I found reliving the childhood terrors a bit of a thrill. Surprisingly it still gives me the willies. I have to say, the style of animation and the manner in which it so innocuously creeps into what was expected to be a pleasant animated outing is effectively unnerving. I know I love the macabre and the surreal, but just Googling the images for today's post got my heart to race a bit. Some stereo effects kicked in at the wrong moment in my headphones and my pulse skipped a beat. How can this cartoon have had such an intense effect on me at such a young age? It must have been the shattered premise of peace and safety. I guess it was my first experience of the dangers that can come in seemingly innocent packages.
Good gravy, just one post about Spooky TV and already I need a drink. Tell you what, I'll come up for more modern fare for tomorrow's post and you try exposing your kids to the unexpected terrors of Garfield's Halloween Adventure on Youtube. Scar them like I was, it'll put hair on their chest and a surprise in their diapers. Spooky Month never dies!
We're switching gears again, kids. No more auditory evils, no more mixes for costume parties, no more ambient soundtracks. We're delving into Spooky TV shows and specials, the kind of stuff that either gets under your skin or celebrates my favorite of all holidays. Today, we're starting back at the beginning. Let's look at something from my childhood that scared the bejesus out of me - Garfield's Halloween Adventure.
