www.halloweengraveyard.com
Halloween Graveyard
www.halloweengraveyard.com
Halloween conjures up all sorts of scary images such as
skeletons, goblins, ghosts and other dead things that have returned
to haunt the living. At halloweengraveyard.com, one can learn of
the true history of the holiday, how the practice of
trick-or-treating originated, where the name
“Halloween” comes from, and even how bad luck became
associated with black cats. The opening page also has some
interesting eye candy that may be something different from what the
average Halloween scaredy cat might think of. Horror figures such
as Freddy Krueger, the masked face of the “Scream”
movies, Pinhead from “Hellraiser,” and Michael Myers
from the “Halloween” horror film series, flash on the
screen while scary movie music plays in the background. A
“Projects” link leads Web site viewers to instructions
on how to create various mechanisms that will give Halloween
trick-or-treaters a cheap scare. For instance, “Hoover the
Dog” is a project that involves creating a fake dog that
charges out of his doghouse whenever visitors walk by. Though the
projects promise to be viable, this one seems a little complex,
involving tools such as an “Air Cylinder” for assembly.
Regardless, for the true Halloween prankster, the projects seem
like the perfect way to pull off a great scare. An authentic
bubbling “Witch’s Caldron” and “Trash Can
Trauma,” a trash can that flips open suddenly as if by magic,
are just a few of the other projects available to torture
trick-or-treaters and friends alike. Links are also provided to
other useful Halloween Web sites. One such link connects users to
electronic Halloween cards that can be sent for free to whoever
needs a good Happy Halloween greeting. It is not an overloaded
site, filled with so much information that you get lost simply by
clicking on one link, but that proves to be an asset for
halloweengraveyard.com. Though easy to navigate, a user may quickly
exhaust the site and start looking for others to visit. One major
plus, however, is the fact that the scary, but annoying, Halloween
music shuts off after 60 seconds on each page.
Barbara McGuire Rating: 7
Caverns of Blood
www.cavernsofblood.com
Spelunking through an electronic maze of horrific caverns is one
way to celebrate the Halloween season via the Web. When viewers log
onto cavernsofblood.com, they must pass through a series of caves,
such as the “Cave of Distortions,” the “Cave of
Carnage” and many more to win access to everything the site
has to offer. More complicated then it seems, the site has the
potential to get annoying because of such difficulty. In each
progressive cave, site-goers must find a way into the next, and
sometimes the lucky click isn’t all that easy to find. For
instance, in the “Cave of Death,” except for a few
graphics at the top of the screen featuring a skull and two hands
holding candles, the spelunker is basically left clueless as to
what to do to move onto the next cave. The rest of the screen is
entirely black and clicking on various points just moves the screen
from one black area to another. With annoying, “The X
Files”-type music that almost sounds like an elephant being
whipped, it makes the viewer anxious to find a way out or just quit
playing. A somewhat funny aspect of the maze is that tidbits of
information are provided to the spelunker to tell him or her what
kind of situation they are in. After visiting the “Cave of
Carnage,” one may be surprised to learn they have actually
lost quite a few virtual limbs. Besides a tricky maze, the site has
many other games such as a “Jigsaw Puzzle Hell Game”
which allows users to put together a variety of horror genre
puzzles in the comfort of their home, on their computer screen. One
can select their personal difficulty level from the easiest,
“The Itch,” to the most difficult, “The Severed
Limb,” in addition to their own jigsaw personalized puzzle
with diverse themes from the “Halloween Tree” to
“Alien Holiday.” There are many Halloween-related pages
on the site, such as the “Magic 8 Ball of Horror,”
where users are given the option of asking a computerized 8 ball
questions plaguing their life. The only problem is that the
question has to be limited to yes or no answers. Though site-goers
may be trying to get away from the annoying and repetitive music
that could make a sane person go mad, cavernsofblood.com provides
seemingly endless Halloween options that won’t scare you, but
will suffice as an entertaining distraction.
Barbara McGuire Rating: 4
Halloween Magazine
www.halloweenmagazine.com
Only six days until Halloween, and according to
Halloweenmagazine.com, that’s still enough time to plan a
party, decorate and get the perfect costume. Since the site offers
links to buycostumes.com, maskworld.com and many others, you can
assess all your Halloween needs from this site. It appears to be a
“middleman,” but it is valuable in that it offers links
to virtually every Web site dealing with the haunting holiday. For
instance, you can find 12 links to safety-related sites, all of
which offer tips on the wrong and right ways to trick-or-treat from
various groups such as the Oakland Children’s Hospital and
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An article section
is available to connect site-goers with various things that have
been written about Halloween. “Spooked About Your Skin this
Halloween?” provides one with information on how to keep
one’s skin in tip-top shape during the holiday. Other
articles include “Why Bother to Save Halloween?” which
looks at the overall societal importance of the spooking day. The
links to other sites, which provide a wide range of services from
e-mail greeting cards to virtual haunted houses, are available for
viewers to play with and get lost in. Though apparently lacking any
content itself, offering a somewhat boring experience and relying
on the material of other sites to propagate itself,
halloweenmagazine.com is a great site to visit when you are too
lazy to use a search engine to find Halloween-related Web sites.
The site does the dirty work, so you can simply travel here for all
your Internet Halloween-related needs.
Barbara McGuire Rating: 6