Hallowe'en

Normally, I don't go in for Hallowe'en much. It's a bit pointless, and I can't quite believe that it is now the UKs third most popular festival after Christmas and Easter (mind, at least "Clinton's Cards" haven't started stocking "Happy Hallowe'en " cards).

The past three years, my attitudes have changed slightly, mainly because our old landlady Debbie held the most spectacular Hallowe'en parties, involving a good deal of merriment, alcohol and herbal remedies.

However, on Sunday, I had the most enjoyable Hallowe'en for a long time. It involved a get together at a friend's house, alongside all our fellow compadres from Hungary and The Inimitable Martin. We ordered two 1m wide pizzas (Heaven!), Jen laid on a cracking spread of nibbles, and we drank far too much of the vine.

The highlight of the evening was the first of the scary films we decided to watch - "Ghostwatch". Now for those of you who don't remember, this was a one-off BBC special shown in 1992, and featuring the talents of Sarah Greene, her husband Mike Smith, Craig Charles, and best of all, Michael Parkinson.

They really don't make things like this anymore. The premise was that a documentary crew were allowed in to witness the haunted events taking place in a suburban house. Now if they made it these days, there would be mediums, and the family would rationalise with the spirit and lay it to rest. And the spirit would probably be restless simply because no-one had ever found their hidden stack of treasure.

But not Ghostwatch. Oh no.

In the heyday of 1992, the ghost was a psychopathic child molester who hung himself in an under-the-stairs cupboard (nicknamed "the glory hole", leading to far too much amusement) and got eaten by cats. The young girls in the house were beaten up by these spirits, one of them was possessed, while the other gouged out the eyes of her stuffed rabbit toy. Really quite gruesome.

To my shame I was never allowed to watch it when it first went out (though I maintain I was working that night), though all my friends did, and they remember not sleeping for nights after it. It was truly spine-tingling. It built the tension slowly, with subliminal flashes of this deformed ghost figure, reflected for half a second in a window or against a curtain. Then there was the possession and injury of the girls, before it finished up with Sarah Greene and half her crew apparently dead, Craig Charles crying, and Michael Parkinson possessed.

Of course in retrospect, there are a lot of nods to adult viewers to let them know that the whole thing is a hoax. The afore-mentioned "glory hole" (still funny three days after watching the thing), Craig Charles thinking the camera was turned off, and hitting a small child over the head to get him to "sod off". But still I think it was a masterpiece of TV, and something I think we are unlikely to see again.

After having seen this, and being a tad scared, we then watched "Nightmare on Elm Street 3". Awful. 'Nuff said.