DV Journal

She’s got a hit movie, a hot NFL boyfriend, and just concluded one of the highest-grossing tours of all time. And now Taylor Swift had topped another list.

Hottest Halloween costume in Pennsylvania.

The greeting card marketplace thortful used Google search trend data for its results and found the Swift costume ranked first in Pennsylvania, averaging 3,500 monthly sales. The Little Mermaid (3,100) and Barbie (2,700) came in second and third. Fourth was “Barbenheimer” (a combination of Barbie and “Oppenheimer,” the movie about the father of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer) and Wednesday Addams from the streaming series “Wednesday.”

Swift’s celebrity power is hard to deny. Many costume ideas this Halloween feature Swift and her new boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Thanks to her appearance in the stands for Kelce’s games — and the TV coverage of Swift’s skybox cheerleading —  the telecast of Fox’s “America’s Game of the Week” scored the highest among female demographics across ages 12-17 and 18-49.

However, some local stores that sell Halloween costumes told DVJournal Swifties aren’t swarming their stores. The clerks didn’t mention Swift, a West Reading native. Instead, Stephanie Leighton with ScarePros Halloween in Levittown said Super Mario is the hottest costume this season at her store. At the Party City in Warminster, Callie said Star Wars villain Darth Vader is number one.

DVJournal checked on the costumes some DelVal youngsters plan to wear.

Jake Abel, a Radnor commissioner and the father of four boys, said his oldest no longer dresses up, but the three youngest do. Eli, 12, and Benny, 11, got their costume idea from a funny YouTube video. They bought hot dog costumes and combined those with witch’s hats to become the “Wicked Weiner of the West.” Adam, 8, plans to wear a scary mask, said Abel.

Amanda Greenberg, who is running for the school board in West Chester, said, “We dress as a family every year. This year, my kids chose to be in the cast of Mario Brothers. My son Asher, 7, is Mario. My daughter Lyla,7, is Princess Peach. My son Harry, 5, is Luigi. I am Toadette, and my husband is Bowser. They chose this theme because we saw the movie in a theater as a family and loved it.”

“I’m enjoying it while I still can. I’m sure the twins will want to do their own thing in the coming years,” said Greenberg.

Jeff Jones, a candidate for Delaware County Council, said his one-and-a-half-year-old grandson, Levi, of Clifton Heights, will be dressed as Winnie the Pooh.

None of Broad + Liberty CEO Terry Tracy’s kids want to be Taylor Swift. Instead, said Tracy, who lives in Drexel Hill, his 7-year-old daughter, Caroline, will be Wednesday Addams because Wednesday is “the most popular girl on Halloween.” T.J., 3, will be a skeleton “because the costume is spooky and glows in the dark.” And Vera, 1, will be Sky from “Paw Patrol” because “she likes the theme song.”

Mia Samuel, 13, of Elkins Park, is going trick-or-treating with two friends, and all of them are dressing as Cupid, said her mom, Samantha Brooks. Mia will wear wings and red clothing and carry a bow.

And Chalfont resident Carly Walker, 15, plans to be a vampire, her mother Jamie Walker said. Carly and her friends decided on their costumes together.

And, in case you’re wondering what candy to buy for the trick-or-treaters, Pennsylvanians’ favorite is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, followed by Milky Way and Twix.

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I have a small Halloween Tree on my desk that my mother made over 20 years ago.  I pull it out every October 1, mostly because it reminds me of Lucy, but also because it’s a festive note in an otherwise dour professional office. Tiny goblins, witches, ghosts, and ghouls hang from its branches, and it’s been a useful distraction for little kids who are bored out of their October gourds sitting on their parent’s laps as we discuss immigration options.

Halloween is, after all, about the kids. It’s true that adults have hijacked the holiday with their sexy zombie costumes and their spiked beverages (bobbing for apples can lead to serious bobbing and weaving as parties progress,) the 31st of October will always be a time for childhood wonder.

At least, that’s how I grew up. Today, sadly, there are adults who want to ruin that wonder, and some of them live right here in Lower Merion. The school district recently announced it was canceling the Halloween parade this year, out of concern for those who “don’t celebrate.” They also mentioned that they were worried about the safety of kids. But that’s an old trope that’s been around since I was 5 over a half-century ago and we were told not to bite into that Hershey Bar without first checking for razors.

No, the real reason that Lower Merion has decided to destroy the happiness of countless elementary school children is that they want to promote “inclusivity.” According to an email sent to parents, they were worried about offending students who don’t participate in Halloween because of the dreaded “religious reasons.”

I’m trying to figure out what those might be. There are some Christian sects that seem to believe dressing up as ghosts and witches and begging for candy is akin to some satanic ritual, but they are few and far between. Frankly, there are a lot of things that are much more satanic than cute little kids trotting around politely asking for treats. Politicians canvassing for votes come to mind. So do those Fetterman signs on Delco lawns. But I digress.

Amy Buckman, who used to be with Channel 6 and is now the director of Lower Merion’s school and community relations, insists that there’s nothing nefarious about the move and that the district is truly concerned with the safety of the kids, noting that “just the thought of having an entire school population of young children in a field surrounded by adults that we couldn’t possibly screen was worrisome.” I’m wondering why, after decades, this is the year that they decided to squeeze the last drop of joy out of a treasured holiday, decades after the first missing child appeared on a milk carton. What makes today that much more dangerous for a little tot than yesterday?

The question answers itself. Adults have become overly cautious, overly triggered, and overly concerned with control. They monitor every move of their tots as if they were General Eisenhower and the kids were about to storm the beaches of Normandy. And they want to impose that iron-fisted control on other people’s children as well.

Add in the additional, rather suspicious concern about religious freedom and you know that this is all of a piece to train our kids to be afraid, timid, and apprehensive of offending others in this pristine society of pure tolerance. I find it rather laughable that we have a school district worrying about the religious concerns of some parents even while school districts across the country are punishing people for not using the correct pronouns, even when this violates someone else’s religious beliefs.

Eliminating this holiday parade is much scarier, in my opinion, than anything a child might encounter on a dark and chilly October evening.

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Move over Sleepy Hollow, New York.  Back at ya Jersey Devil.  Adios Arizona’s Chupacabra.

Pennsylvania has plenty of things that go bump in the night. Just ask horror movie directors.

Horror movies are known for having some of the most iconic settings out of any film genre, including “Friday the 13th” in Crystal Lake, New Jersey, “Scream” in Woodsboro, California, and “The Amityville Horror” in Amityville, N,Y. However, CableTVran an analysis using Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 200 best horror movies in the United States. It turns out that Pennsylvania came out as the deadliest state, with a total of 615 kills throughout six horror films.

“The horror genre often emerged from independent filmmakers, who exploited settings beyond New York and Los Angeles (George Romero was initially based in Pittsburgh),” Chris Cagle, associate professor of film history and theory at Temple University, said. “There’s also the mix of rural and urban geography in Pennsylvania that may lend themselves to the genre.”

In the Delaware Valley, the Colonial Theatre located in Phoenixville hosts its annual celebration of the 1950s sci-fi classic film The Blob, known as “Blobfest.” In 1957, part of The Blob was filmed at the Colonial, and during the festival, many people inside the theater get to run for their lives, reenacting the “run out” scene from the film.

“We’re obviously cognizant of the high horror film body count in Pennsylvania, having survived the Blob’s initial attack in the late 1950s and subsequent annual attempts to devour theatergoers for the past 23 years,” Emily Simmons, the Colonial’s Marketing Director, said. “Our ongoing (and very popular) Cult and Horror film series at the Colonial Theatre, partnerships with Exhumed Films, and Blobfest festival also reflect that. Pennsylvanians know that the woods and cornfields can be creepy places.”

On October 26, the Colonial will be hosting the world premiere of a new horror film shot in nearby Malvern starring Kane Hodder and Bill Moseley: “Hayride to Hell.”

Following Pennsylvania on the CableTV list, the second deadliest state was New York, with 254 deaths throughout seven horror movies where the most murders (176) came from “House of Wax.”

Next on the list was California with 136 deaths, Maine with 60, Illinois with 45, Ohio with 39, South Carolina with 36, Missouri with 16, Texas with 15, and West Virginia with 14.

The horror film with the most deaths in Pennsylvania was “The Land of the Dead,” adding 490 to the Keystone state’s total body count. Other prominent horror movies in the state include “Dawn of the Dead” and “Night of the Living Dead.”

Some other findings in the CableTV study include by region, people living in the Northeast are up to 10 times more likely to get killed in a horror movie, with 954 deaths.

California caught attention as the most killer-capable state, with 17 horror movies on the list. Famous films such as “The Lost Boys” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” all cast a dark shadow over the Golden State. However, “Creep” features the highest death toll for a California-based horror movie.

The study also showed that 20 non-coastal states made up 59 percent of deaths, while 20 coastal states accounted for just over 41 percent of the total kills.

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