“For 31 nights, I raced home after work, threw on a costume, did my hair and make up on the fly, took a bunch of photos and had it up by 8pm.” — Christie Monteleone
If you thought planning out your Halloween costume was hard, imagine planning out 31, one for each night of October leading up to Halloween! Well, I had the pleasure of following Christie Monteleone (@ckmont) as she posted the most amazing, hauntingly creative movie/TV show inspired photos throughout all of October for the 31 Nights of Halloween challenge. Although it is now November, I must say the final image Christie posted was not only the perfect Hocus Pocus way to end the series, but her BTS Instagram Stories and captions gave a peek into the hard work and effort it took her to 1. find the inspiration and time, 2. gather participants to help (she’s got a bada** family), and 3. shoot these images while publicly acting in character — as you’ll see in the photos, she perfectly captures the essence of each scene.!
All 31 were ABSOLUTELY amazing, but let me recap my top 10 favorites:
1. The Joker
Do you see what I mean by Christie capturing the essence of each scene!? Set in the bathroom of a local movie theater, The Joker comes to life. The movie itself was approached to be a “low-budget ‘character study’ of a comic book character” (- Joaquin Phoenix) set to feel like an everyday world. Christie frames the photo to show an endless repetition within the mirror, where The Joker is within you, as the movie says — “It might as well be the thing that scares you the most."
2. Stranger Things
Who hasn’t watched Stranger Things? The American science fiction horror show set in Hawkins, Indiana. Well this is straight out of the Season 2 finale of Stranger Things with Eleven closing the rift in reality in “Chapter Nine: The Gate”. When Christie posted this photoshoot, along with the extra effort of adding the Photoshop effects, I was mindblown!
3. The Shining
For some reason when I think of The Shining, my mind goes directly to Joey Tribiani and the only book he’s read more than once (clearly, I’m a Friends addict). Of course, Christie approached this photo shoot with the actual Shining in mind. Including the iconic “Here’s Johnny” Jack Nicholson scene reference and the scary twins (featuring Christie’s very own sister).
4. Halloweentown
How I used to wish to be able to whistle for a cab driven by Benny. Halloweentown was my childhood favorite, as I’m sure most 90s babies grew up watching the Halloweentown movies every October since 1998! My favorite part of this photoshoot is Christie’s mom dressed as Aggie and the appearance of Benny!
5. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
I’ll admit, I have yet to watch this Netflix Original show. I’m still holding onto the Melissa Joan Hart version, however, I have seen previews for the show and I must say these photos are hauntingly similar. The wig, the outfits, the candles scream horror and occult, definitely a dark twist to the Sabrina the Teenage Witch tale I’m used to.
6. Ghostbusters
Who ya gonna call? A 1984 supernatural classic. Need I say more…
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton’s very own Jack and Sally declaring their love for each other. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween classic, actually all of Tim Burton is, but this one in particular features Christie and Rachel — with Christie’s boyfriend unavailable, Rachel came to the rescue to star as Jack in this rendition of The Nightmare Before Christmas and they make the perfect pair of gals!
8. Scream
The movie Scream is definitely a scary one, especially this opening scene with Drew Barrymore, I was scarred from the start of the movie. But I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw this post. Why? Because I read BTS Instagram stories for this photo shoot first, apparently to get this shot Christie had to keep making these faces out her window… towards her neighbor’s house... which would’ve probably been quite a strange view to see (lol).
9. Edward Scissorhands
Like I said, all Tim Burton is classic Halloween. Edward Scissorhands starring Johnny Depp, the story of an uncommonly gentle man — or in this case woman, as this photo successfully captures the longing pain of the unfinished, artificial creation who has scissor blades instead of hands. Also, how crazy is this costume! Makeup, scissor hands, and all.
10. Harry Potter
You’ve either read the books, seen the movies, or both, but there is no way you haven’t heard of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. Of course, there are the other wizards, Harry’s best friends, Ron and Hermione. They're also two characters who wind up together at the end of the Harry Potter series. I love that Hermione and Ron were the characters chosen for this photoshoot.
