Most holidays worth their while encompass entire seasons, such as Christmas, for example. However, as you may have noticed there is a corporate push every year for us to think about the next holiday even sooner. While this has many negative side effects I figure I may as well embrace it.

Since Labor Day is really only good for college football and movie marathons cinematically it is as significant as Arbor Day, which means the next big day on the calendar is Halloween and we can start looking toward it starting now.

Daily I will be viewing films in the horror genre between now and then and sharing the wealth. Many, as is usually the case, will not be worth it so for every disappointment so I will try and suggest something worth while as well.

Garfield’s Halloween Adventure

Originally referred to as Garfield in Disguise, this special has sort of gotten lost in the shuffle. While one cannot argue that it holds the same kind of distinction as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown it does fit the mold better as a traditional Halloween tale. If you’re like me the appeal of the strip has in large part dwindled over the years but this like many of his specials does stand the test of time.

It too is about the day in its essential form: trick-or-treating, ghost stories and getting a good scare and it hits all these points on the head.

While I am not inherently afraid of clowns I too would be scared out of my wits if Binky the Clown screamed me to life on any given morning.

What I had literally forgotten about is that there are songs in this short and also that aside from that the score is rather effective. So not only do you have the pleasure of listening to the voice of Lorenzo Music but you have toe-tappers as well.

What’s best is that even though the tale is a little primitive it does, in fact, provide scares. The Old Man’s ghost story is fireside storytelling at its best and the animation of said ghosts is rather impressionistic which is nice to see.

Ultimately, it’s a very well-rounded adventure that is worth getting on DVD since it’s not an annual TV staple.

10/10