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Mwaah ha ha ha haaaaa!!!!!

It was only a handful of Halloweens ago that I scorned trick-or-treaters, prefering to draw the drapes and horde the snack-sized candies all for myself. I don't know what caused it, but eventually I came to the realization that Halloween was a fabulous opportunity to put on a costume and construct an art installation (a term I'm using to pretend that I really am doing something with my Fine Arts degree). Now we set up lights, mannequins and props, and we subject the neighborhood to the ominous (and loud) strains of pipe organ music.
I prefer my horror to be of the classic sort (I'm not a Bride of Chuckie kind of a gal), so last year's theme was based on the delightfully asstastic film Plan 9 From Outer Space. The photograph shows the mannequin in the role that was played by Vampira, along with the re-animating hand of a corpse and some gravestones that pay homage to the film's writer/producer/director and its sort-of-star. I swear the gravestones looked much better in person - the flash seems to have magnified the difference between the paper the text was printed on and the blueboard "stones".
The plan for this year is to keep the same basic setup, but to add some more 50s B-movie elements. My dream is to have some flying saucers suspended overhead. Considering Ed Wood just used a couple paper bowls attached to a string, I'm thinking it shouldn't be too hard.

I'll leave you with a detail of "Vampira" and a cover from Plan 9 (click to enlarge).