I know, it's unbelievable, but Suspiria is the very first Dario Argento movie to grace Brix Picks. Aside from being a horror film buff, I am also crazy, crazy for Argento, so go figure.

Suspiria may be his most well known, and it deserves the attention. The stunning first sequence alone is enough to recommend it, not to mention all the crazy and cool stuff that happens the rest of the movie.

One of the last films shot in beautiful Technicolor, Suspiria doesn't just bleed, it bleeds bright, thick, orange-red. The cinematography is dramatic, edgy, and inventive while the sets and locations are truly stunning.

This is the first of Argento's “Three Sisters” trilogy which was followed by Inferno, which also has an amazing set up and one of my favorite scenes in any of his films (the underwater scene with the dead body), but lacks the follow-through of Suspiria. The trilogy, if you believe the rumors, is supposed to be completed sometime next year. Let's hope the delays on that one don't spell trouble.

Over all, many critics site Suspiria as his best work and feel he never lived up to it, but as a fan who has seen nearly all of his movies, there is always something to cherish in each of them, despite their flaws. But if you want flawless, then this is the one to go with as it is totally deserving of its “Masterpiece” status.

Plus it boasts a soundtrack by Goblin (a previous – and actually the first – Brix Pick for album).

Monster Mash was always the kick-off of the official Halloween party time during my young school days, signifying that the time for learning was over and the time for my favorite day of the year was beginning. Why they thought we could learn anything with the knowledge that costumes – usually a punk for me – and candy, candy candy, waited for us, I'll never know.

Jim and I still play this Bobby “Boris” Pickett and the Cryptkickers hit every year for the ghoulish holiday and even when the mood strikes us at other times in the year. Although that's a little bit like playing the wedding march in preparation for taking a shower–it just doesn't work the same magic.

I am convinced that the multi talented Nick Cave will make it to every category in my list. He's been in album (with Murder Ballads – don't disappoint me and say you still haven't heard it). He's made my movie pick (as a significant cameo in Wings of Desire). And now he's a well deserving, creepy handsome addition to my hunks. The only thing better than his deepset eyes and Australian jowls are his delightfully bloody and disturbingly poetic lyrics. “Oh! God! Please let me die beneath h(is) fists!”

Before there was Lisa Marie, there was Barbara Steele – horror muse extraordinaire. With her jagged high cheek bones, cruel and seductive mouth, jet black midnight hair, and her huge possessed and possessing eyes, she is the stuff of both dreams and nightmares.

Her big break as a cult siren was Mario Bava's classic Black Sunday. After that she starred in Roger Corman's Pit and the Pendulum and his lady prison romp Caged Heat while also gracing David Cronenberg's worthwhile zombie/venereal disease/condo hell movie Shivers (aka They Came From Within) and Federico Fellini's most breathtaking 8 1/2. The ultimate witchy woman, she got the moon in her eye and my heart in her hand.

While not the cheapest little cakes on the planet (one will set you back $7.50), these Black Hound Halloween goodies are gooey and delectable and so worth the splurge.

We tried the Busy Bee Cake which is described as, “Layers of chocolate butter cake, almond butter cake, bittersweet chocolate mousse, and marzipan, all covered in marzipan and orange tinted white ganache and decorated with a chocolate spiderweb and marzipan and chocolate spider.” But even better is the rich chocolate, chocolate mousse.

My friend Brett is offering his services, see below…(please note photo is not his work, just an idea I found for all you ladies)

Hey Everybody,
With Halloween falling on a Tuesday this year, I'm guessing there may very well be some costume parties spanning from tomorrow night through to at least Tuesday.

I've decided to get my airbrush from home this Saturday and experiment with doing some high end costume make-up for my costume this year. If anybody would like to have some make-up done on themselves, I'd be happy to help out. The first few I do, I'll just ask for the cost of the make-up. That's probably about 6 to 13 bucks a color depending on the permanence, body coverage and pigment required. Once I get an idea about how much labor it actually is and get comfortabale doing it, I'll will start charging a moderate fee. Of course, having your face painted like member of Blue Man Group would cost you alot less, than having your entire body painted w/ some intricate multicolor design. I doubt any of you would go for full body make-up anyway w/ the weather being so cold. I mean really, which one of you would wanna walk around naked to begin with. I just through that out there to illustrate that the more complex the job, the less like a favor and the more like commissioned work it would become. If anybody is interested e-mail me about when you want it done and what you want to be, or give me a call.

-brett
brettshagen@yahoo.com

If you've got an appetite for fear and a thirst for horror and for whatever reason you find yourself cruising western Taxachusetts, heading north on Route 5 or 10 (or west on 9, if you're coming from university-saturated Amherst), directly into the heart of rainbow-friendly downtown Northampton (it's bound to happen eventually), you just have to make a left turn right before the gothic town hall-looking structure onto Route 66, drive past the Smith physical plant and athletic fields and glance up to your left. Behold, terror of terrors!

The Northampton State Hospital (formerly known as Northampton Lunatic Hospital) was built way back in the 1850s and has a really interesting history but, like so many of this area's proud mental hospitals, it was closed years ago and the deranged inmates were set free, loosed upon an unsuspecting public.

As scary (and partially inaccurate) as that sounds, the ruins are truly creepy and certainly worth a visit. The property has been slated for redevelopment for years and the buildings are bound to come down eventually so please, embrace your gothy side and make the trip up before it's too late.

But don't repeat the mistake a good friend of mine made when he and 3 pals were arrested for breaking in and now will be cruelly taunted for all eternity by their spouses and girlfriends who have absolutely no tolerance for such stupid, childish antics. Instead of getting cuffed, stuffed, shamed and blamed, do some serious research on the state of today's urban exploration (which I can only imagine isn't quite as low-profile of a crime as it once was with the war on terror raging and any suspicious behavior, as harmless as it may be, drawing the attention of an increasingly vigilant public). Please also read this account of an urban exploration perpetrated in Canada, it's one of my all-time favorites.

Ostensibly a comedy, this bizarre BBC import is unquestionably one of the most creepy and disturbing things you will see on TV. Ever.

The three in the “League of Gentlemen”, creators Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, portray various psychos, lunatics, freaks, jerks, and other grotesques in the sinister country side town of Royston Vasey (fourth creator Jeremy Dyson writes on the show but doesn't act).

Taking their cues from horror films (and in the third and final season, action films), they create jet black dark sketches that will make you laugh, but will also stay with you like a nightmare. This is one show I would never let a child with a vivid imagination watch. Just look at our favorite unsettling characters – Papa Lazarou.

Definitely not a show for everyone, but its unconventional style has earned it a devout legion of fans and cult status.

My friends made this with their fantastic, fancy ice cream maker and we gobbled it up like starving children. Thick and creamy with that pumpkin pie spice, it sat perfectly on the equally delicious home made gingerbread cookies.

For the Pumpkin Ice Cream:
1 can pumpkin pie filling
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups simple syrup (1 part water to 1 part sugar)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (we used nutmeg instead since we had no cloves)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a bowl, mix together all of the ingredients. Pour the mixture into an electric ice-cream maker. Freeze for 20 minutes, or follow the instructions for your ice cream machine.

for the Gingerbread Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling)
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1/2 cup light unsulphured molasses

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients (except the sugar) and set aside. In a large bowl on the medium speed of a mixer, beat the oil and the sugar for 2-3 minutes. add the egg and molasses and beat well. add the dry ingredients and mix throughly. drop rounded teaspoonfulls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving several between for expansion. sprinkle lightly with extra sugar. bake for 12 minutes. cool the cookie, then remove from sheet and cool completely.