The top five short horror stories to read this halloween

No 5: The sound of silence.

A deaf man had been undergoing surgery to restore his hearing. When he awoke after recovering, he was surrounded by family and friends in his hospital room. And he was overjoyed by the fact that he can hear them again. But when they stopped talking, he asked what he was hearing now. A friend said that he was hearing silence. But the man stated that what he was hearing was not silence. Then a loud noise suddenly erupted from another part of the hospital. The man then said that noise is silence. But then his wife said that the noise isn't silence... it's screaming.

No 4: The spare room.

A young woman moves into a house just on the outskirts of town. It was ok apart from the spare room that was in need of redecorating. So she started to redecorate it. And the first thing she does is scrapping of the old wallpaper. But as she does so, she notices names and dates scratched onto the wall underneath. She has no idea what they mean until she looks up one on the internet. She was horrified to discover that the names are that of missing people and that the dates are the days that they had vanished. She rings the police and they inspect the spare room. The woman was just outside when she hears one of the policemen say "Yep... it's defiantly human". She then asks what was human and was told that she is going to be taken to a safe place... For it was not wallpaper that she has scrapping off the walls.

No 3: The keyhole.

A man gets a room at a old hotel. He was given a key and as he was going up to his room, the receptionist asked that is he comes across a room with no number on the door, that he should leave it alone. That man doesn't know what the receptionist is on about but agrees and heads off to his room. But during the night, he keeps hearing strange noises. Thinking that it was the other visitors staying at the hotel, the man goes outside to complain. But as he leaves his room, he notices the room without a number on its door. And that the noises where coming from inside the room itself. So he kneels down and looks through the keyhole. All he sees is a woman with pale skin, long black hair, and was wearing a white nightdress. And that she was making those strange noises. She was standing with her back to the door so the man didn't see her face. But the man must have made a noise for the woman began to turn around. Quickly the man backed away from the door and went back to his room. Where he spent the rest of the night. In the morning the man goes to check out before leaving the hotel. But as he walks past the door without a number, he decides to look through the keyhole again. All he saw this time was red. Red everywhere. The man then goes to reception and tells the receptionist everything. The receptionist is angry that the man did what he was told not to and then tells him everything about that room. The room is haunted by the ghost of a woman who was murdered by her husband years ago. And also her husband had removed her eyes. Leaving only empty, red sockets.

No 2: The Portraits.

A traveller is lost in the wilderness. It is getting dark and he is needing to find shelter for the night. Soon he finds an old abandoned house and decides to spend the night in there. The traveller goes inside and soon finds a old dusty bed. But when he sets up a sleeping bag, he notices that the room is full of portraits. They are of hideous, horrifyingly people who made the traveller nervous. They seem to stare at him as he gets ready for bed and continue to stare at him as he gets into bed and falls asleep. But the traveller has a good nights sleep and wakes up early the next day. He gets up and then notices something. There were no portraits on the walls of the cabin... Only windows.

No 1: The voice.

A girl is in her room when she hears her mother calling for her. She then goes downstairs to see what her mother wants. But as she walks past a wardrobe, a hand reaches out and pulls her in. As she wonders what is going on, she notices that it was her mother who has pulled her inside. And her mother says "Do not make a sound. I've heard it too".

Film Review: Phantom of the Opera

Release date: August 12th 1943.

Story: The Paris opera house is a fun place of music, songs, and entertainment. But deep within the underground tunnels and catacombs that lay just underneath the building... lays a fallen angle. A disfigured person known only as the Phantom haunts the opera house. And has fallen for a talented singer.

My thoughts: This is the second adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera and the first to be made in colour. The characters do great performances and the opera songs are spectacular to watch. But sadly there is no real mystery in this film. You know who the Phantom is, how he got disfigured, and why he is menacing the opera house. In the other adaptations they still keep the mystery on who the Phantom is and the reasonings why he is doing what he does. But apart from that it is a great movie and it is part of the Universal Monsters set.

My score: Three stars.

TV reviews: Banana Man

Release date: 3rd October 1983 - 15th April 1986 (Three series. Forty episodes. Each five minuets long).

Story: Eric Twinge is your average British boy. But when ever trouble comes along to his home town or the world, it is up to Eric to save the day. For when Eric eats a banana, a strange transformation occurs and Eric becomes Banana-man. A superhero with the strength of twenty men and is always ready to combat the forces of evil.

My thoughts: I came across this cartoon after learning that the characters are voiced by the Goodies (Tim Brook Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Bill Oddie). The show is ok. Banana-man himself is like a hybrid of DC comics Shazam (a kid who can transform into a adult superhero) and Popeye (a character who is granted superhuman powers after eating healthy foods). The villains I found to be impressive. They are General Blight (a long nosed mastermind in a military outfit. He is the main villain in the cartoons), The Weatherman (a man who can created storms and other bad weather from his blimp), Doctor Gloom (a mad scientist who has a Peter Lore style voice), The Heavy Mob (a group of criminals led by Eddie the Gent. The worlds most polite criminal), Cream-man (a being that resembles a cream bun), King Zorg and the Nerks (A alien race), Auntie (General Blight's aunt and the worlds most deadliest assassin), The snowman (who is a living snowman created by the Weatherman and then became a villain of his own), and Appleman (a sort of evil clone of Banana-man). Other characters include Eric's cousin Samantha, Police Chief O'Reilly, Banana-man's trusty sidekick Crow, and news reporter Fiona. 

The episodes are five minuets long which I find to be too short. Mostly due to the fact that the stories had some interesting elements to them. In one episode, Banana-man is being interviewed by Fiona on live television, only to change back into Eric. This could have made an interesting episode with Eric going into hiding and the villains teaming up to go after Eric's family (who apart from Samantha, they are never mentioned or shown up). Also there's an episode where Doctor Gloom had created a cloning machine and creates an exact copy of Banana-man. Cow manages to point out the copy by telling it a trick question and then after the real Banana-man defeats it, the episode ends. I thought that Banana-man would have tricked Doctor Gloom into thinking that the real Banana-man had been defeated and then capture him and take him to prison. Most of the humour in the show is mainly puns (mainly from Crow but mostly from the other characters). Like I said before the show is ok and if you want to watch it, then you can find it on Youtube or you can get the complete series on eBay and other shopping websites.

My score: Three stars. 

Film Review: 2012

Release date: November 13th 2009.

Story: A divorced limo driver tries to protect his family from a geological disaster and get them to safety before it is too late.

My thoughts: This film was based on the 2012 phenomenon (which states that on the 21st of December 2012, a new era will begin. With some others thinking that this means the end of the world) that was written on a 5,126 year long Ancient Mesoamerican long count calendar. And we do get to see a lot of major disasters in the film. Including Los Angeles being struck by an mega-earthquake, the super volcano in Yellowstone national park erupting, Las Vegas collapsing into the ground, Hawaii being consumed with molten lava, the Vatican being destroyed, and then mega tsunamis consuming the world. But as you've already know, the world didn't end like in the movie. This was from the same film maker who brought us Independence Day, the 1998 Godzilla, and The day after tomorrow. If you like disaster movies then give this a watch.

My score: Two stars.

The top five games to play on Halloween.

 No 5: Sour Sweet/Candy Roulette.

Things you'll need: You will need a small blank bag, a handful of sweets, three or four sour sweets, and five players.

Rules: The players must sit in a circle. And without them seeing, place a small amount of sweets (plus one sour sweet) in the bag. Then each player must take out a sweet from the bag and eat it. This will continue until one player gets the sour sweet. Then that player leaves the game and (after refilling the bag) the game continues. Then the winner is the one who doesn't get a sour sweet through out the whole game.

No 4: Guest the horror theme tune.

Things you'll need: A CD, tape, or iTunes selection of theme tunes of horror movies an tv shows.

Rules: The players have to guess which horror movie or tv show the tune has come from. With each correct guess, the player gets a point. And the player with the most points wins.

No 3: Jigsaw Skeletons.

Things you'll need: Two skeletons (either made out of cardboard or plastic) and two teams of two players.

Rules: The skeletons are broken up and placed in a bowl. And the players have to put their skeletons together within a time limit. And the winner is the team who has the most assemble skeleton.

No 2: Find the skull.

Things you'll need: A small plastic skull (or anything else that is related to Halloween).

Rules: Someone hides the skull either in the room or the house. And then everyone goes searching for it. The winner is the one who finds it first.

No 1: Bloody Mary.

Things you'll need: A mirror and several candles.

Rules: The player must look into a mirror at midnight. Turn all of the lights off and light the candles. Then they must chant "Bloody Mary" a number of times (it varies from country to country). If you are successful, the image of a ghost girl will appear in the mirror. They say that the ghost will try and attack whoever is looking at them. If this happens, you must turn on the lights immediately. This will make the ghost disappear back to the other world.

These are just some of the things that you can do on Halloween. Apart from Trick or Treating, having costume parties, visiting haunted houses, among other things. But if you do go out on Halloween, make sure that you stay safe, don't go wondering off alone or far from where you live, and only go with people you know.

My top ten favourite cryptids and monsters.

No 10: The Mothman.

A being that is 20% man and 80% moth. It is said that when ever the Mothman appears, trouble and disaster follows. Many eyewitness accounts describe the Mothman as having the body, arms, and legs of a man but with the fur, wings, and head of a moth. With glowing red eyes. There is another version of this cryptid known as the Owlman.

No 9: Black dogs and Demon hounds.

These monsters (made famous by the Sherlock Holmes mystery The hound of the Baskervilles) are known through out north west Europe (including Great Britain and Germany). They are abnormally large dogs with jet black fur, glowing red eyes, and smoke coming out of either the nostrils or the mouth. They are known to chase after sinners and bad people in order to drag them into hell. But if you are not a bad person and just so happen to come across one, you will suffer from bad luck and misfortune.

No 8: Skin-walkers.

These cryptids are from Native American folklore and legends. They are normal people who when wearing the skin of an animal (a jackal in most cases) and chant a spell, will change mentally and sometimes physically into the animal (not to be confused with werewolves). There have been a number of sightings of Skin-walkers from early colonial times to today. From encountered a abnormally shaped wolf with bear like features to seeing a deer walking around on its back legs as if it was human. Skin-walkers can also mimic voices of people. They use this to lure their victims to their deaths.

No 7: The Goatman.

This one from the U.S.A is about a human/goat hybrid. He used to be either a scientist that was experimenting on himself or a murderer who had a curse put on him. But whatever version you heard, the Goatman is something you should never encounter. He is also known to carry an axe and (like Skin-walkers) can mimic other peoples voices.

No 6: Sewer pigs.
Before the urban legend of alligators living in the sewers came along. Pigs and wild boars were the original animals that were thought to live in the sewers. Tells were told of sewer workers being chased or seeing an abnormally large and savage pig wondering around the dark and damp sewer tunnels during the 15th and 16th centuries.

No 5: The Jersey devil.
This one is from New Jersey, U.S.A. It tells about a creature that is said to roam the countryside of the state. Legend says that a woman in post Independence War era had a thirteenth child. She didn't want another kid so she angry stated that "The devil can have it!". When the child was born, it was horrifying to look at. the child then ran up the chimney and escaped into the nearby forest. Where it grew up into a creature that is the stuff of nightmares.

No 4: Vampires.
Vampires were once living people who become demonic creatures after being bitten by another vampire. They have pale skin, arch nostrils, red eyes, and long and sharp teeth. They can be found all over the world and there are a number of ways of killing them or fighting them off. Some of the most famous vampires are Elisabeth Bathory and Count Dracula.

No 3: Mokele Mbembe.
Legend says that there are living dinosaurs living near the Congo river in Africa. Natives talk about a creature that resembles a Brontosaurus or a similar long necked dinosaur that swims in the river and would often attack anything that crosses it's path. Although they might have mistaken an elephant swimming for the creature (as elephants hold their trunks above the water as they swim).

No 2: The Kraken.
This legendry sea monster is a gigantic octopus that can pull ships under the water with his giant tentacles. It mainly swims in the North Atlantic oceans and the Nordic seas. This legends is possibly based around the colossal squid.

No 1: The Wendigo.
This is another creature from Native American folklore. It says that if anyone partakes in evil doings or cannibalism, then they'll transform (sometimes slowly and painfully) into a hideous looking being that resembles a abnormally long and thin shrived up corpse. They can also mimic other people's voices to lure their victims and in some versions of the legend, can cause harsh winter weather where ever they go.

Film Review: Blade

Release date: August 21st 1998.

Story: There is a secret society of vampires that inhabit our world. And like most monsters, they prey on humans. But there is someone who protects the humans from them. A being that has spent years hunting them and slaying them. To them he is known as the Day-walker. But to us... he is known as Blade.

My thoughts: I like this movie a lot (Although my favourite out of this trilogy is the second movie). It blends both horror and action well with a bit of humour thrown in. Blade himself is a cool character. A human/vampire hybrid who helps mankind against vampires and other demonic creatures. Also this movie made the modern superhero movie what it is today (after Tim Burton's Batman proving that superhero movies can be taken seriously). Like I said this is a great movie and I would recommend it.

My score: Four stars.

A Halloween poem.

Witches and Goblins, Ghoulies and Ghosts.

This are the things that scare you the most.

They are all prepared to give you such a big fright.

If you dare go out on Halloween night!

From the wind that whistles and the doors that creek,

To the sudden chills that make you feel weak.

And the moon in the sky which is always bright.

The very things that make a good Halloween night!

The vampires who go out looking for a bite.

The werewolves that howl with all of their might.

And ghosts that fade in and out of sight.

These are what you’ll expect to see on Halloween night!

The bats that fly just over your heads

The monsters that are stirring in their beds

And the pumpkins that glow with their scary light.

The many wonders that are out this Halloween night.

The witches that cackle and the zombies that moan.

And the skeletons that are dancing whilst rattling their bones.

With the mummies that are all wrapped up nice and tight.

Cause they are looking forward to Halloween night!

So wrap up warm and make sure to bring a light.

If you go out trick or treating during the night.

And make sure you are ready for a great big fright,

Because you are going to go out on Halloween night!