The Following 1/21: "Pilot"

Hi everyone!

I have started watching a new show called "The Following".  The first episode aired last Monday.  I had wanted to write a weekly recap of this show just like I did a few years ago with the tv show "Jericho", but The Following is so fast paced and contains so much information in each episode, I'm not sure if I will be able to do that.  I would like to try and at least write a weekly "what I thought" post about that week's episode.  So, bear with me, I haven't done this in awhile!

©2012 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Patrick Ecclesine/FOX

Basically this show revolves around a serial killer who has created a following and the former FBI agent who is trying to stop him.  Kevin Bacon plays Ryan Hardy, a damaged former FBI agent and James Purefoy plays Joe Carroll, a literary professor obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe and also the serial killer.  A few years before, Ryan caught Joe and put him in prison....now Joe has other plans.  He has managed to create a following of "friends" who are willing to do anything and everything that Joe tells them to do.

In this first episode, Joe was able to escape prison thanks to a prison guard who is part of Joe's "following".  The FBI director calls Ryan Hardy and asks him to meet with the agents who are on the case in order to give them insight into Joe the serial killer.  What gets me is Ryan is treated like a pariah when he meets up with the other agents and they don't LISTEN to him!  Considering Ryan is the one who caught Joe in the first place, you'd think they would at least give him some credit.

Image Credit: Michael Lavine/Fox

Ryan is a damaged man.  He was stabbed in the heart by Joe and now has to use a pacemaker.  When Ryan gets stressed or exerts too much energy, he becomes weak.  I loved how during this entire episode, you could hear a heart beating in the background.  I've always liked Kevin Bacon and I think he's a great fit for this role...he's very believable and even though he's broken, he's a determined man.

 

©2012 Fox Broadcasting Co. CR: Patrick Ecclesine/FOX

James Purefoy is pure gold in his role as Joe Carroll.  Joe is charming and charismatic and also psychotically evil!  He has a brilliant mind and is obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe as well as the other authors of the gothic period.  Joe, being inspired by these stories, murders his victims in symbolic ways.  I am a fairly new fan of James Purefoy...I discovered him in the movie Ironclad (which is a great movie by the way, I highly recommend it) and really liked his acting.  He does a great job portraying Joe Carroll..it's chilling!






I really enjoyed the first episode.  It was fast paced, packed full of information, and we met most of the recurring characters such as:

• Joe's ex-wife who formed a relationship with Ryan
• The team of FBI agents (I don't trust all of them)
• Joe's son
• A few members of Joe's following

I've been following (teehee!) the Facebook page for this show and I have to agree with many of my fellow fans in saying the FBI agent with the mole is very annoying.  She's very short with Ryan and doesn't seem to have much compassion for others (I'm thinking maybe she's part of Joe's following).  I know there always has to be conflict somewhere in a tv show, so I guess we just have to grin and bear it!

Well, there you have it.  I am definitely a fan of "The Following" and will be watching each week.  If you want to watch here are the details:

The Following airs every Monday night on FOX at 9pm eastern/8pm central time.  If you miss an episode, you can watch online at: http://www.fox.com/the-following/
You can also like the show on Facebook by visiting their page HERE.

Let me know what you think of the show!  Also, if you would like to blog about each week's episode with me, I would love to put together a sort of blog carnival.  I've hosted one before in the past and found they are really fun and you meet some great people too.  If you are interested please let me know!  You can message me at the Halloween Night Facebook page or email me at:  halloween_night-owner@yahoogroups.com and be sure to put "The Following blog" in the subject line!

Thanks for reading and watching!

Halloween Giveaway Winner!

Hello everyone!

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and that 2013 is treating you well so far!  My 2013 got off to a rocky start, but seems to be better now! 

I apologize for being so late with announcing the winner of our giveaway.  We lost one of our kitties the beginning of November and with the holidays I wasn't online much except to check Facebook now and then.  The goodies for the giveaway are sitting in a box and waiting to be sent to their new home!  

The winner of Halloween Night's first giveaway is: SS_Summer!  Congrats!  I will need your contact details in order to send you your goodies.  You can message me from the Halloween Night facebook page or send me an email to: 1313halloweentown-owner@yahoogroups.com  and be sure to put "Giveaway winner" in the subject line!

Thanks to everyone who participated, I really appreciate it!  I plan on doing another giveaway for Halloween this year, so be sure to watch for that this October!

Have a wonderfully spooky weekend!

Happy Halloween 2012!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!   Can you believe it's finally here?!  I hope everyone has had a wonderful time tonight.  Tonight the veil between our world and the otherworld is at its thinnest.  If you have heard a strange sound that cannot be explained or saw a shadow when no one was around.....it could very possibly be someone trying to communicate with you!

Don't forget to send me your list of costumes you saw tonight!  I will add all of the submissions together and see just how close I came to predicting the costumes this year.  Also, we will be able to see what kinds of costumes were popular in different parts of the country and the world!

We have had so much fun counting down the days til Halloween and have really enjoyed putting together our Halloween Extravaganza and sharing the videos with you.  While we know it was long in length, we sure hope that we taught you something new.  This was a story we really wanted to tell, in order to honor the victims of the Salem Witch Trials.  While researching and working on the project, we experienced several mishaps and strange occurrences.  One such incident was when Chas was reading about the witches.  The light kept flickering on and off on his 3-way lamp and at one point, it went out completely.  He checked the bulb and the chord and found there was nothing wrong with them.     Was this due to the events in Salem?  Was someone trying to prevent us from sharing our information?  We will never know, but we can't help but feel there were some spooky forces at work!

Our final video of our Halloween Extravaganza is below.  Once again, we truly hope you enjoyed our project.  Soon, you will be able to view all the videos easily in one list on the blog.  Thanks again for making this a great Halloween season for us!  Happy Hauntings!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiPvsGsjzs4

Halloween Extravaganza: Chas's Pictorial Tour of Salem

It's the night before Halloween, are you excited?  We sure are!  Chas will hopefully be handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters (weather permitting) and as for me, I'll be watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and wishing I was at a party or something.  LOL!  Don't forget to keep a list of all the costumes you see!  I would like to do a follow up post to my costume prediction list!

We have a special treat for you tonight.  We have given you the history and ghost stories of Salem...now we will take you on a pictorial tour!  Chas visited Salem in 2008 and took some really great photographs of the town.  In this video, he will explain what he saw and give you a better view of Salem as it is today!  Have fun!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-W5r4ILxas

Halloween Extravaganza: More Haunted Places in Salem

Good evening!

We have three new episodes in our Halloween Extravaganza tonight!  Wednesday night we will wrap up this series!  We really hope you have enjoyed watching the videos and hope that you have learned something from them!  We also want to wish everyone a safe next few days on the east coast, also to those further inland. 

Tonight's first video is about the hauntings at Patriot Cinemas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKlmY_EMbKA

The second video focuses on the haunted Danvers State Hospital.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj1aobIuRRY




And our last video features four short ghost stories for your spooking pleasure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNc7Lpvo-WE&feature=plcp




We hope you are getting prepared for Halloween!  We still have two more days full of Halloween fun to share with you!!  :)

Happy Hauntings!

Halloween Extravaganza: Haunted Places in Salem

Another Friday is here yay!!  Once again I've been having internet problems.  Basically, our local phone company who we have our internet through, decided to put in fiber optic lines.  We weren't supposed to experience any problems, but of course they were wrong.  It seems as if each week, we have some kind of problem with either the internet or the phone lines being down.  Ugh! 

So, tonight we have three episodes from our Halloween Extravaganza.  These episodes are about haunted places in Salem.  You will find out why these places are haunted and who is haunting them!  You may want to leave the lights on!  ;)

Our first haunted place is St. Mary's Cemetery.  Cemeteries are spooky enough, but a haunted one?  *shiver*!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkQu9nAfYx4 

Our next haunted place is the Salem Marine Society/The Hawthorne Hotel.  Haunted hotels are very spooky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbQo6JEgpOE

Our last haunted place for the evening is Salem State College.  For many, college marks the start of a new life. For a few at Salem State College, it was the beginning of their end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-hizpO7mHA

We hope you enjoy the spooky stories from the very real places in Salem!

Halloween Extravaganza: The Bloody Curse of Sarah Good

Hello everyone!

Are you scared yet?  While a ghost story can be scary, what makes it even more scary is when the story is based on a real person.  I think that is what makes the stories surrounding the victims of Salem so eerie.

In tonight's episode we learn about the bloody (quite literally) curse of Sarah Good.  Makes you think!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u4mDyM7Jsg