Joyeux Noël 2017 | Château de Boucéel, France

It's Christmas time again my dear friends! It's crazy how fast the years keep going. I feel like I just sent out last year's card. Everyone loved last year's photo and have to admit, I felt the pressure for this year. On a whim, I asked Markus to bring the tripod just in case we came across an amazing setting. We took a two week road trip through various French cities and only ended up using the tripod once when we stayed at Château de Boucéel. Of all the fantastic places we stayed, this château was my favorite. It's been in the same family for centuries and is still run by the count and his family. I'll be writing a more in depth post about our experience, but I wanted to share this year's Christmas card photo. Joyeux Noël dear readers and have a happy new year! 

Giant's Causeway: Part 1 | Northern Ireland

Let’s go back to 2006. Markus and I have been married for about a year and we’re about to have our second wedding. With this set of nuptials, we had an opportunity to travel abroad for a second honeymoon. Both Markus and I knew that we wanted to go to Europe, specifically the U.K. The first place that jumped to both our minds was the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Back then, we were poor twenty-somethings with really low paying jobs and barely any vacation days. With these restrictions, we both decided to go to London for six days. Hoping that one day we would make a month long trip to Ireland, Northern Ireland and the Giant’s Causeway.

So that brings us to Christmas 2016 or we lovingly called it Happy Britmas 2016. Markus and I decided to spend Christmas and New Year’s with our friends, James and Ari in the U.K. Since Markus and I spent time in the U.K. two times before, we wanted to do something a little different and head somewhere none of us had been and that ended up being Belfast. Thankfully, Ari was able to find a day tour that took us north to a few other touristy spots. The real draw for Markus and I was Giant’s Causeway, since we didn’t get a chance to go in 2006. It only took us ten years, but we finally made it! I took so many photos, so this is just part one. As always, there will be much more!

A Very Cruz Halloween | Chicago, Illinois

Here in the House of Cruz, we love Fall and most of all, All Hallow's Eve - so much so that these decorations have been up since September 8th. You can probably guess after five years of Creepy Cinema, we love all things spooky. Over the years, we've started to amass quite the collection of vintage Halloween decorations. Markus's favorite go to decoration is blow molds, as you will see in the photos. This year, we scoured the antique markets and were able to find heaps of pumpkin and ghost blow molds and even a cute little skeleton. One of the best finds was a Don Featherstone black cat that we got for way under market price. It was a grave robbery!  My favorite part of the house are the Ben Cooper masks that looked perfect with our portrait collection. I like them so much I might leave them up till Thanksgiving! Happy Halloween everyone! 

The Upside Down Bar | Logan Square, Chicago

In honor of season 2 of Stranger Things being released today, I wanted to share my photo from the pop-up bar in Logan Square. The bar was just an eight minute drive from our house so we decided to stop in one night to check it out. We went on a Sunday night at 6 p.m. and it was already packed full of people. What I found surprising was the clientele wasn't just the typical hipsters you find in Logan Square, it was mix of all kinds of people. Just goes to show you the scope of people that love Stranger Things. As most of you know, Netflix sent a hilarious cease-and-desist to the owners of the pop-up. It may be shut down now, but may the Upside Down Bar forever live in our hearts. 

Creepy Cinema 2017: Week 3

I cannot believe how fast this month went by! The older we get the faster the days go by, it's crazy. Thank you for sticking with me this month and I hoped you enjoyed the movies and my thoughts on them. Check out the last four films of this year below and don't forget to let me know what you think in the comments below!

It is definitely one of my favorite movies from this year. I’ve been spreading the gospel of It to anyone that will listen, and I think people are getting sick of me talking about it. I’m actually quite surprised at how many people find clowns terrifying. I get it, I don’t really like clowns either. A grown man with a painted face and a permanent, sinister smile - it’s unnerving. This film definitely draws from that fear and turns it up more than a notch.

It was an incredible film that 100% met expectations and lived up to all the hype. This movie had everything: an interesting storyline, great actors and most importantly, a terrifying monster. Pennywise is the epitome of what I think a monster should be. He completely lacks humanity, preys upon all your fears and is downright scary. Bill Skarsgård did an incredible job portraying Pennywise, so much so that you forget how hot he is in real life. Pennywise will forever haunt my dreams. The cast of main characters (all kids), also known as the Losers Club, was phenomenal. They all had great character development, and being a “loser” myself growing up, I definitely empathized with them so much. In the past few years, there has been an influx of 80s nostalgia in media, and this movie really cashed in on it, much like Stranger Things did last year. However It wasn’t nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake, and hits all the right notes an incredible film should. I can honestly say, this is quite possibly one of the best horror films I’ve ever seen.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this movie. Markus has been going on and on about this franchise, and we purposefully waited till this year to watch it so that we could make it a double feature with the sequel. As you may know, I love Unsolved Mysteries and other shows that deal with mysteries and investigations, so this movie is right up my alley. The film is based on the real life husband and wife paranormal investigative duo, Ed and Lorraine Warren. This film is loosely based on their investigation into the Perron Family Haunting in Rhode Island.

I really liked The Conjuring, I thought it was a well done supernatural horror movie. It didn’t feel like the typical film of its genre. Sure it’s draws on the familiar trope of a family being terrorized by some malevolent spirit, but it still felt fresh and interesting thanks to some great acting and direction. There were some genuine scares as well as jump-scares, but the film didn’t heavily rely on those elements. I also enjoyed that the story is told from the point of view of the Warrens instead of the family. It felt more personal and we delved a bit into their other stories and what drives them to do this type of investigative work for a living. The actors that portray Ed and Lorraine, Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga, deliver a genuine performance. Their chemistry is on point and you can really feel how much this pair needs each other -  they really compliment one another on screen. The backstory of the spirit that haunts them was also a really cool mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. So much so that I was ready to watch The Conjuring 2!

Unfortunately this sequel wasn’t as good as the first, which is usually the case. I still think the concept of these movies are really good and I love Wilson and Farmiga in these roles, but something seemed a bit off. The film opens with the Warrens mid-investigation into the Lutz Family murders, otherwise known as the Amityville Horror. During the investigation Lorraine sees a horrible vision that puts her family in danger, and convinces Ed to stop investigating in order to prevent it from coming true. Of course the Warren’s can’t stay away from their work, and end up traveling to Enfield, England to investigate a series of strange occurrences.

I did like that this film moved the setting to England and focused on a haunting occurring overseas. Most of the famous true crime mysteries are based in the U.S., so it’s always refreshing to watch something that’s set in another country. I also really enjoyed the actress that played the young protagonist, Janet Hodgson. She was a real emphatic, human character and the best part of the film. There was just something about this movie that rubbed me the wrong way, and truly can’t put my finger on it. I had to watch this film in 4 separate parts - I don’t know if it was my fear of that creepy nun at the beginning, pure disinterest, or if I just couldn’t connect with the story itself. Probably just the creepy nun. (shudder)

I couldn’t think of a better film to end Creepy Cinema with, and ease us into the holiday season. The Krampus is an Eastern European Christmas monster from folklore. I first heard about the Krampus when I was younger. Being someone named Noelle, you get curious about all things yuletide. No one knows when and how the Krampus originated, but one thing is sure, he is definitely not Saint Nick. He’s the complete antithesis of the jolly old fellow. He’s described as a horned demon that punishes wicked children and drags them away in chains. When Markus and I first saw the preview for the film, we were so excited and couldn’t wait to watch the movie.

The film follows a very dysfunctional family as they come together for Christmas. It mainly focuses on the younger son, Max, who wants to keep all his family traditions alive, while his parents and relatives fight amongst one another. The tension is quite strong between the family members, and when they’re all finally under one roof, everything goes wrong. A blizzard overtakes the town trapping residents in their homes - and this is when the film becomes a classic bottle movie. We watch as the family tries to survive the terrible weather conditions, handle the growing tensions amongst themselves and inevitably, the arrival of the Krampus. I think for most of us, we know that Christmas time can be a time of great joy, but also stress. So it was fun to watch a familiar situation turn into a horror film. I thought the movie was really enjoyable and entertaining, and the Krampus was totally scari-fying. If you want to hold onto Halloween for just a little longer but still get into the Christmas mood, I most definitely recommend the Krampus! It’s the perfect segway!