The Arrival of Fall

At last the heat has given way and glorious Fall has arrived. I love Fall, I love this time of year in general. September through December is my favorite period out of any given point of the year. Outside of the act of changing the page on the calendar, I knew that Fall was coming by the sight of two things. The first being the sudden appearance on Facebook of status updates all about the arrival of “PSL”. Upon first glance, I wondered if “PSL” was a new type of disease that was going around. Perhaps that kind that requires that sad Sara McLaughlin song, and a request for money. It turns out it was about the early arrival of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, the popular seasonal drink at Starbucks.

The other was the arrival of the season monster breakfast cereals at the grocery store. Much in the way others celebrated the return of Pumpkin Spice Lattes, I celebrated the return of Count Chocula and Boo Berry. Why? Because I am secretly twelve years old on the inside. Halloween is a big part of Fall for me. In the Ross clan, Halloween is just as big as Christmas, and in the Andy Ross sector of the Ross clan, we get all geeked up over watching as many crazy 1950s and 1960s horror/suspense movies as we can find! I'm already mentally salivating over a double feature of Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte with the charming “teeny horror flick” Two on a Guillotine.

Fall, more than any other season, tends to kick up some very key memories. The memory of a crisp, Autumn wind running through my hair, as I drove around Nashville with my windows down, listening to Revolver by The Beatles. The memory of being taken to a corn maze, not told what type of clothes I should wear, and loosing a pair of slip on shoes in the process. Fall fashion excites me as well, I think I dress better when it's time for layers and sweaters. Also I tend to sweat at the drop of a hat, so the cooler temperatures are quite welcomed. There's nothing quite like walking around and seeing the world slowly turn into the pages of an L.L. Bean catalog.


But really it's the thought of my Fall/Halloween movies that get me going the most. There's something about the combination of the weather, nights lasting longer, and the particular flare of an over the top film like My Blood Runs Cold that just makes for a visual cocktail of the most perfect proportions. Our own Jim Kelly will no doubt do his annual look at Halloween films next month, and I might chime in with one or two, as I can't help but already think of all the goodies out there. It seems just when you think you've seen every crazy 1960s B movie there is, more are magically unearthed.


Much like Santa Claus, come late August, I'm going over my movie library, making a list, and checking it twice. Opening up the box set of 1950s and early '60s Universal monster/sci-fi films and getting excited about the treasures inside. Monster on the Campus? Absolutely! The Monolith Monsters? Yes, please! Then moving to the other Halloween fare. The Alligator People, The Ghost in The Invisible Bikini, The Hypnotic Eye, The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow, the list goes on and on. Not to mention my beloved box set of the works by William Castle, one of the great delights of movie making. A man whose movies all feel like a fun haunted house ride, and whose films I could watch all day long.


So yes, at long last Fall has arrived, and we can begin the cycling of our long sleeved clothes towards the front, and moving our short sleeved clothes to the back of our closets. So here's to the falling leaves, the fun sized candy bars appearing in shops, the seasonal coffee drinks, and the joy of movies with names like The Deadly Mantis.