I love Halloween. I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid and had the wonderful opportunity of living abroad in countries where we actually got to celebrate it. I have fond memories of dressing up as Mario (of Super Mario Bros. fame) or as Sting (the WCW wrestler, not the musician), going from house-to-house with other kids in crazy costumes. I didn’t even care about the candy that much (fun fact: I don’t really like candy), but just loved the spirit and creativity of it. That being said, I was a coward when it came to horror movies. Or, well, some would say “coward,” while others would say “a normal kid.” In any case, I would push myself to dabble in horror, reading about haunted places or looking at the grotesque illustrations in the original “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” but I would immediately regret it as soon as it was time to go to sleep. The Blair Witch Project was my first foray into watching a full-on horror movie, having sneakily borrowed the VHS from a friend at school. To this day, I remember how exhilarated I was after having watched the movie with my pal. We straight up ran to another friend’s house to brag about having laid eyes on the mysterious Blair Witch Project. Then night time came and, you guessed it…

These days, I watch horror movies all of the time. They’re basically my favorite genre, because when a horror movie is done well, there’s nothing quite like it. It sticks with you, torments you even, but man… It’s exhilarating. These days, I get excited whenever I hear about a new movie or game that is apparently terrifying! I can’t wait to watch it, to experience that dread and feeling of uncertainty… Ironically, for a genre so focused on death, it makes me feel very much alive. That being said, when night time comes… Well, sometimes, old habits die hard.

Of course, if there’s anything to learn from all of this, is that Halloween can be enjoyed by just about everyone. I haven’t loved scary stuff my whole life, but I’ve loved Halloween. This, dear readers, is something that we hope to reflect in this issue.

For all of you lovers of spooky stuff, we’ve got Ari reviewing Guillermo Del Toro’s latest film Crimson Peak, my piece on scary scenes, and Elizabeth’s look at schizophrenia reflected in an artist's work. I’m also incredibly proud to announce that the horror quota is being helped by TWO brand new writers: Emma gives us a stream-of-consciousness look at fears, while Hanna delights us with a terrifying Poe-esque short story. For those of you who relate more to the younger version of myself, we’ve also got some Halloween related stuff for you too, namely a conversation between Inka and Kaisa on Halloween for Pussies (their words, not mine).

Once you’ve had your fill of Halloween, fear not, for we have other articles to scour too! Ile brings us another chapter of his ongoing Bohr saga, lovebirds Ari and Laura co-wrote a piece about gaming in a relationship, while Inka writes about why customer-service workers shouldn’t feel bad about telling rude customers where they can shove things. Finally, for the first time ever, we have a recipe for you, courtesy of Emma, so you too can excel in deliciousness!

At this point, I also want to give a special shout-out to our entire team. We were all eager to get out a Halloween themed issue to you before Halloween, so the writing schedule was tighter than ever. I’m proud to say that this team came through in a big way and, as a life-long fan of Halloween, I couldn’t be more proud to say “Welcome… to our Halloween issue… BWAHAHAHAHAHA!”

- Jesper Simola

Editor-in-Chief