There is a particular pleasure in getting the house ready for Halloween. A pumpkin by the door, a few decorations, the lights turned down, and suddenly an ordinary room starts to feel rather different. Even people who have no intention of dressing up can usually be persuaded to join in, especially if someone else is dealing with the pumpkin and its surprisingly substantial contents.
This year, we have something to add to the preparations. Halloween, part of The Gallery Collection on RODtv, turns your television into a haunted window, bringing ghostly faces and unsettling imagery into the room. Put it on as guests arrive, leave it playing during a party, or use it to give an evening at home a suitably eerie atmosphere.
Most of us have a large television occupying a fairly prominent position in the living room. At a party, it often spends the evening switched off, reflecting the guests and reminding everyone how big it is. Give it something more useful to do. A haunted window makes the screen part of the decorations, with something lurking beyond the glass that deserves an occasional second look.
The effect works particularly well when the room lighting is lowered. You can still see your guests, find your drink and identify whatever is being passed around on a plate, while the television adds a darker presence in the background. There is no need to reorganise the furniture or embark on an ambitious decorating project. A few touches around the room are enough to help establish the mood.
For anyone organising a Halloween themed party, it is also an easy way to make more of the space you already have. Position the screen where people will notice it as they enter, or let it sit quietly in the background while conversation carries on. Guests can discover the haunted window for themselves, which is generally more effective than repeatedly pointing at it and asking whether everyone has seen your ghost.
It works just as well for a quieter evening. Perhaps you have friends coming round for supper, perhaps you are preparing for a scary film, or perhaps you simply enjoy the seasonal excuse to make the living room look slightly sinister. Halloween decorations have a fairly short working life, so you might as well get some use out of them before November arrives and the pumpkins begin to express their age.
The idea behind The Gallery Collection is to give your television another role in the home, using the screen to create a setting and change the atmosphere of a room. Halloween takes that idea somewhere considerably less reassuring, replacing the everyday view with a window onto a haunted night.
Halloween is available now in The Gallery Collection on RODtv. Whether your plans involve a room full of guests or a quiet evening with the lights down, it provides a simple finishing touch to the occasion.
Just check which window you are looking at before you decide something outside needs investigating. Some things can wait until morning.
