Phyllis Diller Spends Halloween At Disneyland

Disney does Halloween right. They do Halloween specials right. Somebody behind the scenes of The Mouse Factory did drugs wrong. I don't know if Phillis Diller did drugs, but I do know her name is slang for cocaine. Which I'm sure there was a mountain of offstage on this episode.

Spooks and Magic, the Halloween episode of The Mouse Factory features Phyllis Diller as the guest star going absolutely insane with Disney characters. At one point she's breaking into the Haunted Mansion and harassing the ghosts, the next minute she's having a Halloween costume party with Donald Duck. Said costume party doesn't sound bad until she shows them her batshit family slides then runs them off by singing.

The whole thing ends with her forming a witches coven with King Louie, Goofy, and Witch Hazel. The later is sent to Donald Duck's (who just left) house as a set up to the classic Disney 'Trick or Treat' short. In the end, Phyllis uses her evil witch powers to steal Snow Whites identity and... it just ends. That means she's still out there.

Originally Posted 10/02/2020

Tim Burton's Hansel and Gretel (1983)

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I love Halloween. By proxy, I'm a big fan of Halloween specials as well. Some people follow the NFL, I follow the Great Pumpkin. While various Halloween specials are produced every year... I prefer the old ones. Because nostalgia? Maybe, but also because they were vastly different. The gloves were off, obviously too much fun being had behind the scenes, or maybe it was a good opportunity to try something different. The more obscure the special, the more out there, the better. Such is the case with today's post.

The video above is a Disney Channel Halloween special from 1983. At the time a young Tim Burton was a Disney employee and made this short for the company. It was literally only shown once, on Halloween in 1983. Even as a Halloween special it was a little too dark. Even for Tim Burton. It might be cursed.

I've used the term fever dream often to describe things here and... that's a nice way of putting it. We have a retelling of Hansel and Gretel which is a pretty good story for Halloween. You know, they get lost in the woods and find a witches house. In this telling, their step mother tries to get rid of them by getting them lost in the woods (involving a robot duck), which leads to the witches house and some of the weirdest hellscape I've ever seen on film. You'll have to pause it occasionally.

Enjoy!

Originally Posted 8/28/2020

Halfway 2 Halloween~ Ha! Ha! ...Hell

I've never worked for Disney, so I can't tell you who got fired over Eddie Murphy's Haunted Mansion movie. What I can tell you is, it was so bad that they waited 20 years before doing it again without seemingly learning anything. Regardless of some of their bad choices, Disney has always been synonymous with Halloween for me. Between their impeccable Halloween Treat special and all the other ways they downright wallow in pumpkin spiced mayhem... it's just a part of the spooky season for me.

Phyllis Diller Spends Halloween At Disneyland

Disney does Halloween right. They do Halloween specials right. Somebody behind the scenes of The Mouse Factory did drugs wrong. I don't know if Phillis Diller did drugs, but I do know her name is slang for cocaine. Which I'm sure there was a mountain of offstage on this episode.

Spooks and Magic, the Halloween episode of The Mouse Factory features Phyllis Diller as the guest star going absolutely insane with Disney characters. At one point she's breaking into the Haunted Mansion and harassing the ghosts, the next minute she's having a Halloween costume party with Donald Duck. Said costume party doesn't sound bad until she shows them her batshit family slides then runs them off by singing.

The whole thing ends with her forming a witches coven with King Louie, Goofy, and Witch Hazel. The later is sent to Donald Duck's (who just left) house as a set up to the classic Disney 'Trick or Treat' short. In the end, Phyllis uses her evil witch powers to steal Snow Whites identity and... it just ends. That means she's still out there.

Tim Burton's Hansel and Gretel (1983)

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I love Halloween. By proxy, I'm a big fan of Halloween specials as well. Some people follow the NFL, I follow the Great Pumpkin. While various Halloween specials are produced every year... I prefer the old ones. Because nostalgia? Maybe, but also because they were vastly different. The gloves were off, obviously too much fun being had behind the scenes, or maybe it was a good opportunity to try something different. The more obscure the special, the more out there, the better. Such is the case with today's post.

The video above is a Disney Channel Halloween special from 1983. At the time a young Tim Burton was a Disney employee and made this short for the company. It was literally only shown once, on Halloween in 1983. Even as a Halloween special it was a little too dark. Even for Tim Burton. It might be cursed.

I've used the term fever dream often to describe things here and... that's a nice way of putting it. We have a retelling of Hansel and Gretel which is a pretty good story for Halloween. You know, they get lost in the woods and find a witches house. In this telling, their step mother tries to get rid of them by getting them lost in the woods (involving a robot duck), which leads to the witches house and some of the weirdest hellscape I've ever seen on film. You'll have to pause it occasionally.

Enjoy!