Halloween Candy (Paperback)

~ Thomas M. Sipos (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

All [essays] certainly prove Sipos’s extensive knowledge of horror films and the circumstances--artistic, technical, and political--surrounding their production. -- Necropsy, Winter 2002

Chock full of a variety of goodies. Dig in your hand and you're sure to pull out a treat. -- Horror-Wood.com, December 2001

Far superior to some of the would-be horror I have seen Hollywood attempt. A 10: A must read! -- Alternate Realities, Nov/Dec 2001

Fascinating. More than just a book, it is a documentary of the movie making, publishing, audience handling, and communication process. -- Feo Amante's Horror, Thriller, Mystery, and Suspence

Product Description

Halloween Candy is a Jack O'Lantern of a book. An anthology of horror fact and fiction, newly stuffed after a night of trick-or-treating with film critiques, short stories, haunted house reports, punditry, a screenplay, and an interview with Dark Shadows actor Jonathan Frid. Both new items and reprints from: Wicked Mystic, 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories, Horrors! 365 Scary Stories, Midnight Marquee, Horror, Sci-Fi Universe, and Filmfax. Writings dark and serious and whimsical, and all else that is horror.

Also included is the screenplay, Halloween Candy, which was honored with an American Film Institute reading (moderated by Robert Wise -- The Haunting), was thrice-optioned, and nearly directed by Tom Savini. Plus a recounting of "the making of Halloween Candy." Or rather, how the film almost got made ... again and again and again. A behind-the-scenes look into the world of low-budget horror filmmaking.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: 1st Books Library (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759637474
• ISBN-13: 978-0759637474
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,268,016 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Full of goodies, January 28, 2002

By	James Nemeth (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Halloween Candy is like a candy container after an evening of trick-or-treating. It's chock full of a variety of goodies, of varying sizes, shapes, and flavors. You name it, Halloween Candy has it: several short (short!) stories, numerous essays, an interview, a review, and a screenplay.

Treats include: a dead-on assessment of the current, sad state of the Saturn Awards (with disagreement with the author in only one minor respect: he believes them to be of more importance and influence than does this reviewer); an interview with Jonathan "Barnabas Collins" Frid, from 1986--previously published in an abridged version, here in its entirety; an essay which explores the use of actors as villains in horror films ; a comparison/contrast of the TV series The Night Stalker and The X-Files, and the inspiration of the former on the latter; an essay which tries to define that ever-elusive genre called "horror"; and the previously-mentioned screenplay.

Some elaboration: the interview with Frid, although dated, is interesting. Frid has never had much interest in discussing horror movies or vampires, so hearing his remembrances of Dark Shadows and Barnabas are much fun, as is learning how the actor has kept himself busy since the series folded. Also, the essay defining the horror genre, while a bit lengthy, is informative, well presented, and certain to inspire many heartfelt debates.

But the screenplay is the heart of the book. Halloween Candy (screenplay) is an anthology, relating the fates of four children after they get on the bad side of a witch. Optioned several times, and once almost directed by Tom Savini, I'm perplexed by the fact that it still sits unproduced (the screenplay's lengthy history is detailed in the book's introduction). It is very good, and would certainly make a better movie than some of the fare that somehow does make it to the big screen today.

There are two aspects to the book, however, that I feel are small missteps. One, a review with a title of Haunted Houses In California, actually reviews only a handful. Published in 1997, the information is more than likely dated, and the reader would have to either live in California, or have the means to visit, for the information to be of real value. Second, duplication of material, as one of the longer short stories is a novelization of one of the stories contained in the screenplay.

The above two quibbles, however, are decidedly small and in no way take away from the overall enjoyment of the book.

Halloween Candy, with its mixed bag of contents, has something for everyone. Dig in your hand and you're sure to pull out a treat.