The home is in the heart of San Antonio's Windcrest neighborhood.
Photo courtesy of KVUE.com
A Windcrest home's Christmas decorations earned them national recognition on the ABC competition show The Great Christmas Light Fight. While Windcrest is known for their spectacular Christmas holiday decorations, this home in particular will give trick-or-treaters a Halloween they will never forget in 2024.
The couple, who asked to remain anonymous, used their earnings from the television show to start something new. They decided to channel all of their energy into Halloween.
The creepy clown circus theme was unveiled Sunday, October 27 at sundown.
It took the homeowners two months to construct the display.Photo courtesy of KVUE.com.
The inspiration for this year's decor, the homeowners say, came from the 1988 movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The homeowner grew up watching the movie, and even purchased most of the creepy clowns that look just like the ones in the film.
The house, located in the heart of the Windcrest enclave in northeast San Antonio (address withheld), features close to 20 animatronics and 10 to 15 other characters in their display.
This year, a surprise will be in store for visitors: a special monster with a smoke feature. The display will remain up through Halloween.
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Read the full story and watch the video at CultureMap's content partner, KVUE.com.
Of all the formulaic movie genres, Christmas/holiday movies are among the most predictable. No matter what the problem is that arises between family members, friends, or potential romantic partners, the stories in holiday movies are designed to give viewers a feel-good ending even if the majority of the movie makes you feel pretty bad.
That’s certainly the case in Oh. What. Fun., in which Michelle Pfeiffer plays Claire, an underappreciated mom living in Houston with her inattentive husband, Nick (Denis Leary). As the film begins, her three children are arriving back home for Christmas: The high-strung Channing (Felicity Jones) is married to the milquetoast Doug (Jason Schwartzman); the aloof Taylor (Chloë Grace Moretz) brings home yet another new girlfriend; and the perpetual child Sammy (Dominic Sessa) has just broken up with his girlfriend.
Each of the family members seems to be oblivious to everything Claire does for them, especially when it comes to what she really wants: For them to nominate her to win a trip to see a talk show in L.A. hosted by Zazzy Tims (Eva Longoria). When she accidentally gets left behind on a planned outing to see a show, Claire reaches her breaking point and — in a kind of Home Alone in reverse — she decides to drive across the country to get to the show herself.
Written and directed by Michael Showalter (The Idea of You), and co-written by Chandler Baker (who wrote the short story on which the film is based), the movie never establishes any kind of enjoyable rhythm. Each of the characters, including competitive neighbor Jeanne (Joan Chen), is assigned a character trait that becomes their entire personality, with none of them allowed to evolve into something deeper.
The filmmakers lean hard into the idea that Claire is a person who always puts her family first and receives very little in return, but the evidence presented in the story is sketchy at best. Every situation shown in the film is so superficial that tension barely exists, and the (over)reactions by Claire give her family members few opportunities to make up for their failings.
The most interesting part of the movie comes when Claire actually makes it to the Zazzy Sims show. Even though what happens there is just as unbelievable as anything else presented in the story, Showalter and Baker concoct a scene that allows Claire and others to fully express the central theme of the film, and for a few minutes the movie actually lives up to its title.
Pfeiffer, given her first leading role since 2020’s French Exit, is a somewhat manic presence, and her thick Texas accent and unnecessary voiceover don’t do her any favors. It seems weird to have such a strong supporting cast with almost nothing of substance to do, but almost all of them are wasted, including Danielle Brooks in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo. The lone exception is Longoria, who is a blast in the few scenes she gets.
Oh. What. Fun. is far from the first movie to try and fail at becoming a new holiday classic, but the pedigree of Showalter and the cast make this dismal viewing experience extra disappointing. Ironically, overworked and underappreciated moms deserve a much better story than the one this movie delivers.
It took the homeowners two months to construct the display.Photo courtesy of KVUE.com.
