Alice in Wonderland will inspire many costumes this year for Hallloween. The story of Alice, the little girl who falls through the looking glass and into a fantasy world filled with strange creatures who lead her on all sorts of crazy 
adventures, is one of the most popular tales in history. Author Lewis Carroll , whose real name was Reverend Charles Dodgson, didn’t publish the story until years after it was told. He originally created the story for Alice Liddell, the 10 year old daughter of a friend of his, Henry Liddell, who was the Vice Chancellor of Oxford and the Dean of Christ Church. Carroll originally made up the story in one sitting, on a boat trip where Alice Liddell and her two sisters were bored and restless. He made up the story to amuse them, and eventually wrote it down because Alice kept begging him to write it out for her. The story featured people and places familiar to the two girls but twisted into fantasy representations where both the locations and the people were caricatures of the originals.
Alice’s adventures continue to captivate generation after generation of children because they appeal to children on a very visceral level. Children love adventure, they love to be surprised, and they love to use their 
imaginations. Dodgson’s tale of the magical places that Alice visits, and her interactions with such remarkable characters as the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, and the White Rabbit are all very plausible in a child’s imagination. Giving animals human qualities is also something that comes very naturally to children so they can accept without question the very human personalities of animals like the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, and the Dormouse.
Many different interpretations of the story of Alice in Wonderland have come to life on film and through television through the years. Each different interpretation adds another layer of personality and imagination to the Alice story. But the 2010 film version of Alice in Wonderland by director Tim Burton is one of the most anticipated versions of the Alice story that has ever existed. Fans of Tim Burton’s work on cult classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Sleepy Hollow have been waiting for a long time to see what type of Wonderland Tim Burton would create.
Tim Burton’s Alice story is actually a sequel to the original. A grown up Alice in Victorian England is about to be proposed to by someone she doesn’t want to marry. When she finds out about the impending proposal she runs off, and follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole, which plunges her back into Wonderland. She has no memory of her adventures in Wonderland at first, but comes to remember her friends as she battles to save Wonderland from the evil Red Queen, played by Helena Bonham Carter.
The casting of Tim Burton’s Alice tale is what sets it apart from other interpretations of this beloved fairy tale. Audiences everywhere were thrilled with Burton’s casting of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, and Sir Christopher Lee as the Jabberwock. The landscape of Wonderland created by Tim Burton is also something that fans can’t get enough of. Tim Burton has brought to life a Wonderland as crazy, beautiful and fierce as most people always imagined it to be.
Avatar is expected to inspire Halloween costumes for many people this year. Hollywood hitmaker James Cameron scored another mega movie success with 2009′s Avatar. The film is the second highest grossing film in history, beaten only by Cameron’s previous film Titanic. Originally Avatar was 
supposed to have been released soon after Titanic but the technology that existed at the time wasn’t advanced enough to create the world that James Cameron had in mind as the setting of the film. Filming didn’t begin until 2006, and the film was released in 2009.
The film is set in the future, where humans are mining a precious mineral on a planet called Pandora in the Alpha Centuri system. The native inhabitants of the planet, the Na’vi, don’t like the humans being on their world and actively fight back against the growing mining operations conducted by the RDA corporation. Parker Selfridge, played in the film by veteran character actor Giovanni Ribisi, is the head of RDA and is becoming more and more concerned about the Na’vi’s disruption of their mining operations. He hires some ex-Marines to work as security and body guards at the mining site and during transportation of equipment, the mineral, and personnel to and from the planet. Unfortunately the surface of Pandora is toxic to humans, so humans originally used breathing masks to function. Human scientists began experimenting with genetically engineered bodies that could operate in the Pandora environment and created avatars. Avatars are genetically engineered bodies that are copies of the Na’vi body. Avatars are controlled through the use of computer equipment by humans on ships outside of the Pandora atmosphere. When a doctor working on the avatars is killed his twin brother, paraplegic ex – Marine Jake Sully is tapped to take his place. The doctor in charge, Grace Augustine who is played in the film by sci fi favorite Sigourney Weaver, assigns Jake to be her bodyguard as she and Dr.Norm Spellman head into the Pandoran jungle.
During the trip into the jungle Jake becomes separated from the others and gets lost. He is found and protected by Neytiri, a female Na’vi played in the movie by Zoe Saldana. As he is drawn into the Na’vi society and becomes close to Neytiri Jake sees how the mining operations of RDA are destroying Pandora and the Na’vi culture and he begins to work with them to stop RDA.
Avatar has been nominated for many awards because of the groundbreaking technology used to create the special effects and to broadcast the film. One of the reasons why Avatar has been such a box office smash is that the film is available in regular 2D film, 3D film, and IMAX format. 3D films and television are being heralded as the next big thing in technology. While not many films are available in 3D now the astonishing success of Avatar and the millions of dollars paid by customers to see the 3D and IMAX formats of the film, have sent a clear message to movie companies that consumers will willingly pay more to see films in these formats.
With the popularity of vampire shows and movies such as Twilight, New Moon and True Blood, the subject of vampires have been discussed a lot recently.
Vampires have gone mainstream these days, but for hundreds of years vampires have inspired real terror among the populations of different areas. Throughout the world people have feared the undead and feared that their deceased loved ones would return after death to stalk the living. Over the last couple of decades vampires have gone mainstream with the wide recognition of Goth culture and a new generation of vampire devotees inspired by the Twilight books and films but vampires have not always been seen as romantic, misunderstood figures.
In Europe the legend of the vampire is believed to have come from a misunderstanding of the natural process of human decomposition. After a person died and was buried the process of decomposition can cause physical characteristics that are often associated with vampires such as blood around the mouth or nose, or a full stomach. The hair and fingernails of a corpse appear to continue growing after death but in reality what happens is that as the bodily fluids drain through decomposition the skin shrinks and pulls back on the body, which gives the illusion of longer hair and fingernails. The appearance of blood around the mouth and nose made people assume the corpse had been drinking blood.
There are humans who have a medical condition called Porphyria who really do drink blood. Porphyria is a genetic condition that can run in families and is very common in some parts of Europe. Porphyria can cause symptoms 
similar to those associated with vampires like a sensitivity to light that can cause the skin to burn or purple lesions to form when the person is exposed to sunlight. People affected with Porphyria usuallyi have a ghostly pallor caused by a blood deficiency and lack of sunlight on the skin. In the past drinking blood was prescribed for people with Porphyria to replace the blood elements that their own blood lacked.
Hollywood created the first romantic vampire with the creation of the Dracula character with the 1931 Dracula film starring handsome leading man Bela Lugosi. The film Dracula was famously portrayed as a tragically handsome figure who spent eternity pining for his lost love. But in actual vampire mythology vampires are not handsome, romantic, or loving. They were portrayed as ghoulish characters who would stalk and kill humans by drinking their blood in various ways and leaving corpses in their wake. Even the quintessential vampire, Dracula, was based on the horrifying life of Vlad Tepes, the Romanian mass murderer who was known for the brutal killings of thousands of his own people and his taste for human blood. The 1922 silent film Nosferatu showed a vampire character that is in keeping with traditional vampire lore: an ugly, frightening killer.
But audiences latched onto the suave, romantic figure of Bela Lugosi’s tuxedo and cape clad vampire and the vampire has been associated with tragic romance ever since. If you’re planning on dressing like a vampire for Halloween you can create either a Bela Lugosi inspired romantic costume or you can create a more traditional ghoulish costume with corpse like makeup and scary accessories.
Halloween props and costumes are now 50% or MORE off at http://www.spirithalloween.com/ .
They have started their Halloween clearance sale early! ( On October 30).
Great deals for those who go to their site before they sell out!
Spirit Halloween Raises $1 Million to Bring Holiday Celebrations to Hospitalized Children
Spirit of Children Program Brings Halloween to
Hospital Child Life Departments Across the U.S. and Canada
NEW YORK, October 29, 2009 – Spirit Halloween, the country’s leading seasonal Halloween retailer, announced today that its 2009 Spirit of Children campaign has successfully raised a record-breaking one million dollars in customer, vendor and partner donations as well as merchandise contributions. One hundred percent of the money raised will go to improving the comfort and experience of pediatric patients through the purchase of items including books, computers, and entertainment centers, games specifically designed for children with physical challenges as well as toys that are fun, educational and therapeutic for hospital child life departments. This year, Spirit Halloween hosted Halloween parties for children at over 50 participating hospitals. Since its inception in 2006, Spirit of Children has raised more than $1.8 million for hospitals all across the United States and Canada.
“Spirit of Children is a way for Spirit Halloween to bring the fun and fantasy of Halloween to children who otherwise might not be able to enjoy the holiday,” said Steven Silverstein, Spirit Halloween President and CEO. “The positive response we receive from the hospitals and the excitement of the children this program touches is extremely meaningful for our organization, the hundreds of our employees who participate on their own time, and our customers who donate generously. We hope to continue to grow this initiative in the years to come.”
The Spirit of Children program has built significant momentum, receiving support from participating hospitals and Spirit employees in every region of the nation. The program has expanded its reach from 11 hospitals in its 2006 to 74 hospitals in 2009, including such leading medical institutions as Texas Children’s, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Maimonides Infants and Children’s Hospitals, Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital and Phoenix Children’s Hospital as well as ten Shriner’s Hospital for Children locations throughout the country.
“Thanks to the Spirit of Children program and generosity of the community, we’ve received more than $150,000 in the last two years,” said Jamie Byrd, Child Life Manager at Texas Children’s Hospital. “With this money, we’ve been able to greatly improve the Child Life facilities at Texas Children’s by adding a variety of amenities to improve the hospital stay for our young patients.”
The Spirit of Children program takes a three-pronged approach to providing holiday excitement and support for children during hospital stays. Volunteer Spirit employees bring Halloween celebrations to participating hospital child departments with costumes, pumpkin painting, costume parades, Halloween games and crafts, offering a temporary escape for the young patients, in hospitals across the United States and Canada. Additionally, the program raises needed funds through the generous donations of Spirit Halloween’s customers and partners as well as from the profits generated through the sale of exclusively designed eco-friendly trick-or-treat bags, available at all Spirit Halloween stores.
For a full list of participating hospitals and additional information regarding the Spirit of Children program, please visit www.spirithalloween.com/spiritofchildrenday/.
About Spirit Halloween
Spirit Halloween (www.spirithalloween.com) is the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the country with 725 locations in strip centers and malls across the United States and Canada. The authority on all things Halloween, Spirit has offered one-stop shopping -- ranging from costumes to décor and party goods to accessories -- for more than 25 years. In addition to being a fun and interactive event for shoppers, Spirit stores offer complete selections of costumes and accessories for infants/toddlers, children, ‘tweens, teens, adults, and even pets. At the heart of Spirit Halloween is the Spirit of Children program, which is devoted to bringing the fun, imagination and fantasy of Halloween to pediatric patients in hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the United States.
Zombieland was one of the most anticipated movies of 2009 among horror and indie movie film fans. The film is a comedic horror film about four strangers who meet and become friends in a post-apocalyptic USA that has been overtaken by zombies. The four main characters choose to be known 
by names of the places they come from or are trying to get to so the story follows two men who are called Columbus and Tallahassee and two women called Wichita and Little Rock as they try to make it to an amusement park that is reported to be zombie free. Columbus is trying to get back to Columbus, Ohio to find his family. After losing his son to zombies Tallahassee is determined to find the last Twinkie left on Earth, and the women are just trying to make it to the amusement park, Pacific Playland, where they assume they will be safe from the zombies.
Neither the men or the women trust each other at first and they routinely pull cons and tricks on each other along the way. After they first meet Wichita and Little Rock steal Columbus and Tallahassee’s car and all their weapons and take off without them for Pacific Playland. Luckily Columbus and Tallahassee find an SUV that still runs loaded with weapons and they take off after the women. After spending time together Columbus begins to fall in love with Wichita but the love story is secondary to the main story which involves a lot of shooting, a lot of zombies, and a lot of high speed driving.
As the group travels towards Pacific Playland they pass through Hollywood and they spend some time with Bill Murray, who appears in the movie as himself. At first the group assumes that Murray has been turned into a 
zombie as well because he looks and acts like a zombie but after they are in his home he reveals that he only puts on zombie makeup and acts like a zombie so that the zombies will continue to leave him alone. He spends his days living in his home and playing golf. There is a misunderstanding and Columbus ends up accidentally shooting and killing Bill Murray. Murray’s cameo appearance ups the comedic side of the movie and there are many witty exchanges between Columbus, Tallahassee and Bill Murray.
Eventually, after lots of adventures, the group arrives at Pacific Playland. Tallassee does find the a Twinkie, but Columbus realizes that his family and friends in Columbus, Ohio are either dead or zombies and he is better off staying with Wichita, Little Rock and Tallahassee. While at the amusement park the women turn on all the lights and start riding the rides which makes all the zombies in the area notice the amusement park which they had not noticed before. The converge on the amusement park and the four friends are left to fight off the hordes of zombies who are trying to kill them. They battle the zombies and together manage to kill them all. At the end of the movie the four leave Pacific Playland together in search of new adventures.
Zombie movies are always popular, but audiences love Zombieland because it’s funny and has a lot of action but remains tongue in cheek throughout the whole movie.
A zombie, a vampire and a sexy nurse walk into a bar. GI Joes and Transformers are seen hand-in-hand. It's no joke: Halloween has arrived.
Spirit(R) Halloween, the largest Halloween retailer of costumes and decor, kick-started the season with the opening of 725 stores across the United States and Canada. Spirit has been helping people of all ages celebrate Halloween for more than 25 years, offering the most unusual, authentic , sometimes scariest and always unique Halloween costumes and home decor.
Each year, the country's largest seasonal Halloween retailer predicts the most popular costumes with scary accuracy. This year's dead-on picks:
Musical Mania
- Michael Jackson
- Britney Spears
- Lady Gaga
Almost Infamous
- Kate Gosselin
- Sarah Palin
- Bernie Madoff
From the Big Screen
- Vampires
- G.I. Joe
- Transformers
For the Little Ones
- Star Wars
- Yo Gabba Gabba
- Light-up fairy and princess costumes
Fun for the Whole Family: matching adult/child costumes
- Sesame Street
- Teletubbies
- Nintendo
- Ninja Turtles
"Each year the Halloween season kicks off with the opening of Spirit Halloween stores over Labor Day. With Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, there will be more fun had by all," said Steven Silverstein, President and CEO, Spirit Halloween. "Consumer inspiration comes from everywhere. Overwhelmingly we are influenced by everything from movies to TV, from music to the latest scandal. Halloween is about having fun and taking the plunge."
For more than 25 years, Spirit Halloween has been the most comprehensive one-stop destination for Halloween enthusiasts and casual observers alike. Through the vast merchandise assortment and memorable visual presentation, Spirit stores provide an impressive, unique and unforgettable shopping experience with haunted house-quality and theatrical-quality, props, decor and animated figures.
In addition to being a fun and interactive event for shoppers, the locations offer complete selections of costumes and accessories for infants/toddlers, children, 'tweens, teens and adults. A broad assortment of decor and party goods complete any look. A large portion of the selection is exclusive merchandise found only at Spirit Halloween.
About Spirit Halloween
Spirit Halloween (www.spirithalloween.com) is the largest seasonal Halloween retailer in the country with 725 locations in strip centers and malls across the United States and Canada. The authority on all things Halloween, Spirit has offered one-stop shopping -- ranging from costumes to decor and party goods to accessories -- for more than 25 years. In addition to being a fun and interactive event for shoppers, Spirit stores offer complete selections of costumes and accessories for infants/toddlers, children, 'tweens, teens, adults, and even pets. At the heart of Spirit Halloween is the Spirit of Children program, which is devoted to bringing the fun, imagination and fantasy of Halloween to pediatric patients in hospitals and rehabilitation centers across the United States.
The Saw franchise started with a low budget indie horror flick, Saw, in 2004. At the time the horror market was glutted and no one really expected this low budget film by unknown writers and directors to do very well. Even the creators of the film didn’t have high expectations for it. However, the Saw movies have gone on to become some of the most lucrative horror movies in history. The most recent incarnation, Saw V, in particular, was the highest box office grossing horror movie of all time. Even people who aren’t die hard horror fans were blown away by the Saw films. Saw VI is scheduled to be released just before Halloween in 2009.
One of the reasons why the Saw films appeal to such a wide audience is the basic premise of the film which is that people should be tested in order to appreciate their lives. The ones who fail to appreciate their lives lose them, in torturous and horrific ways usually. The psychological aspect of the premise behind the movies is engaging and draws in fans of many other types of genres of movies. Instead of just being another slasher film the first Saw movie was darkly thrilling and kept audiences guessing until the very end about the identity of the killer. In the first film audiences knew very little about the killer, nicknamed Jigsaw, but in future films more about Jigsaw’s past was revealed.
( Get some SAW Movie Props and Costumes )
Jigsaw is a man who was happily married until his wife lost their child. The death of the child caused a rift in the marriage which caused them to divorce. After the divorce Jigsaw was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Left with a lot of anger and bitterness about the fact that is life was waning while so many people wasted their lives doing bad things, stupid things, or nothing at all he decided to commit suicide. The suicide attempt failed, and he lived. After that he became obsessed with testing people who he felt were not taking full advantage of their lives, with the 
ultimate goal of either forcing them to change or killing them.
He began designing elaborate psychological and physical traps for people he felt were squandering their lives, starting in the first movie with the doctor who diagnosed his cancer. The traps were designed to not only cause great physical pain but to also cause great psychological pain and to break people down into a survival state of mind. Those were able to survive were supposed to be more grateful for their lives. Those who didn’t survive were considered weak and better off dead.
The Saw franchise was the first horror series in many years that brought an entirely new storyline to the genre. In a time when old horror plots were being remade and recycled the original Saw movie was fresh, fascinating, and managed to play upon audiences’ deepest psychological fears as well as their physical fears. The Saw franchise will go down in history as one of the most innovative and deeply disturbing horror franchises of all time.
There is now only 100 Days until Halloween 2009.
Many online stores are now getting their new merchandise in stock.
Check out Spirit Halloween for their new items. They also have a lot of things that are sold only at their online store.
There is only 140 days until Halloween 2009.
Online stores are started to get new costumes and props in stock.
It is time to start getting ready!