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Hallowe'en Week! A time of ancient lullabies, secret cults, magic mushrooms and statement jewelry. This must be the Sunday Scaries!
To die——to really be dead——that must be glorious.
~ Dracula (1931)
Hello again! I have returned from all my many travels, so it’s time for Sunday Scaries: Hallowe’en Week, that most special time of year. Last night I dropped in at Willow’s festive seasonal party, dressed as an emissary from the Circle of the Silver Tentacle. (Our tagline: Let’s Get Kraken!)
To celebrate this quintessential ‘60s/‘70s look, let’s have our first and long-overdue Fashion in Horror segment evoking the devilish folk horror of the period, aptly dubbed titled ‘Turtlenecks and Talismans’ by NPR’s Glen Weldon.
First up we have John Cassavetes, in the kitchen with mother-to-be Mia Farrow in that delightful 1968 domestic comedy Rosemary’s Baby. He’s such a scamp! Cassavetes plays ambitious actor Guy Woodhouse who would do anything and I mean anything to get a part. Here, his sports jacket / turtleneck combo suggests ‘professional yet casual’, ‘youthful yet serious’, ‘artistic yet persuasively heterosexual’. You go, Guy!
Next we have our favourite tremulous queer-coded professional neurotic Roddy McDowall (former boyfriend of Montgomery Clift) in the 1973 haunted mansion shocker The Legend of Hell House. His turtleneck just peeking out from under his jacket, McDowall’s thoroughly modern medium look is augmented with his melancholy aviator glasses and his mop-top haircut, giving the impression of a louche former-twink intellectual who Has Seen Too Much And Has Paid The Price. Will he sacrifice himself to preserve the sanctity of the repressed heterosexual marriage? You might be surprised!
How could we even think of tackling this topic without mentioning our fiendish fashion-forward friend Christopher Lee in 1973’s The Wicker Man. Among the many looks (and lewks!) in this acclaimed folk horror musical, we have this almost audibly loud tweed sport coat and mustard turtleneck, a psychedelic autumnal look perhaps meant to hearken back on the failed harvest that has imperilled the people of Summerisle and their landowner and spiritual leader. Here, Lee’s Lord Summerisle has set aside the trappings of his position for a more practical outfit, well suited to traipsing about the landscape, dabbling in a bit of festive human sacrifice, and then rounding out the day with a bit of springtime singing. Loudly sing cuckoo!
Surprise pod proponent Leonard Nimoy makes good use of his Star Trek pedigree in the superb 1978 sci-fi horror remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers. As author and psychiatrist Dr. David Kibner, Nimoy wears his plaid jacket over a none-too-subtle crimson turtleneck. He radiates calm, thoughtfulness and confidence as the man who watches the chaos and horror erupting all around him and tells everyone to embrace it, to adapt and survive. “The function of life is survival.”
Bradley Whitford is unforgettable in his heel turn as the monstrous Dean Armitage in Jordan Peele’s 2017 classic horror satire Get Out. Trading heavily on his goodhearted liberal vibes from The West Wing and his personal life, Whitford’s evil neurosurgeon in his suede blazer and black turtleneck is warm and friendly, comfy-cosy and entirely trustworthy until he isn’t. After all, he’d vote for Obama for a third term if he could.
We cannot forget the many contributions that the women of horror have made to the Turtlenecks and Talismans canon—too many to count. One in particular stands out for me: the late Sharon Tate in her impressive big-screen debut as the beautiful but dangerous Odile de Caray in the 1966 folk horror thriller Eye of the Devil. Even though she is in it for all of three minutes, Tate makes an indelible impression reminiscent of a young Barbara Steele, and the pendant she wears must weigh about a pound. It’s amazing she can remain upright.
Currently watching: I am all caught up on Celebrity Traitors UK (go Alan!) so I hopped onto the Criterion Channel and finally saw Ishirō Hondo’s underseen 1963 body horror thriller Matango which remains shocking and unsettling to this day. Seven shipwrecked people struggle with a lack of food, a lack of hope and the increasing awareness that something else is on the island with them, and possibly in them. If you’re searching for Halloween costume ideas, look no further!
Cool Story, Bro: Paul Duane reminded us all on Bluesky of Arthur Machen’s highly influential 1904 chiller The White People, about a young girl who becomes enmeshed in a secret world of black magic and mysterious folklore, which is available to read for free on Project Gutenberg.
This Week in Horror: This Reddit post on the world’s oldest lullaby was making the rounds and it seems like an oddly appropriate sign-off.
That’s it for this week! Have a very Happy Hallowe’en and remember: “Even the sun will die someday. But we are divine. We are the gods trapped in cocoons.”
Help me. Help me be human.
~ The Fly (1986)