A digital Halloween...

There’s something about driving around a community and seeing the spirit of a holiday displayed among the homes that just helps put a person in the mood of the season.

Yes, Christmas is awesome, but I’m talking about Halloween. There’s something about seeing the morbid side of people’s humor on display that is fascinating to me.

Ever seen a ghost sitting on a toilet in the front yard with a scarecrow holding the toilet paper before? I have, and it was a show-stopping event some 40 years ago when my father put that in out front yard. I think my mother might have created the first “head smack” because every time a car would drive by our house, suddenly stop (sometimes with the brakes screeching to a halt) and then honk their horn as they drove away laughing, she would slap her hand to her forehead in frustration.

My father refused to take the display down, saying it was his right of freedom of speech and the display was his take on the social mess of the times.

Guess I learned early on to appreciate the unique thoughts that can go into creative displays for holidays.

But, here we are in the year 2017; who has the time to be that creative?

I’m lucky if I pick out and buy a pumpkin, let alone carve it, stick a candle in it, sit it outside and then light it up for the world to see.

I’d love to have one of those cool houses that just SCREAMS Halloween for the children in our neighborhood, and there’s a lot of them, who come knocking on our door for trick-or-treats.

This is a technological age of wonders, and, with that in mind, I took a look at some potential ways to quickly set up some decorations for this upcoming Halloween.

There are those blow up creatures in a myriad of themes, both scary and cute. But the problem is two-fold; a few neighbors reported theirs went missing last year, taken by little hooligans, and then I don’t really have a big front yard so the piece would probably have to go on my front porch — which has no room — or up on the roof, which is too steep to climb.

There are lots of yard ornaments to choose from, but I’ve addressed that already.

I needed something that was easy to set up, could be easily controlled and was really cool to attract attention.

While I thought my creative juices were going to be unfulfilled, a virtual solution came to light in an email just in time for Halloween.

Founded in 2006 by a select group creative digital experts with the idea of creating high-end visual effects for the attraction and entertainment industries, AtmosFX is a Seattle-based company that now also creates digital decorations for various holidays and other celebrations for the average homeowner wanting to decorate with a zing. They are pioneers in the industry.

If you haven’t seen the digital effects created by AtmosFX, you are really missing out on some incredibly animated characters, unique stories and atmospherics that are an easy way to decorate anywhere, any time of year.

All you need is a TV, monitor or a projector and a surface — like windows, walls, ceilings and even in thin air with the use of a special screen material — to project a variety of images that will delight or scare the pants off your visitors during any holiday season or celebration throughout the year.

Within a matter of minutes of opening a digital decorating kit; I was watching 3D images of skeletons dancing on the walls; a man swathed in moonlight changing into a werewolf; a hoard of zombies trying to come in the door; a banshee taking flight.

I also watched Santa visit a home, elves decorate a Christmas tree, New Year’s Eve celebration, fireworks, the Easter Bunny painting an egg and a football collage worthy of any Super Bowl party.

There are 14 decorations built into the sim card provided with the kit. It’s an impressive package of ideas to give those holiday displays a punch of excitement for sure.

And don’t forget about the people who create haunted houses, these are perfect for that creepy factor.

Even those like me, who are too busy to do it up right, I can project Dracula approaching one of his victims onto the front picture window of my house, my front door or go upstairs and make it even more frightening by using one window of a normal looking home to stir up some terror.

Something I really like is the safety factor of having the equipment in my home: No need to worry about those little hooligans anymore. Although, they can watch the spooky show from a safe distance.

As for price, AtmosFX has a wide range of kits and products to get started. Depending upon what you already have and are planning to use for your decorations, the DVDs and/or sim cards start as low as $5.99 while the media players are $69.99 and complete projection equipment kits start at $199.

That might seem expensive to some people, but remember: This isn’t just one type of decoration that will only be drug out for a few days and then put back in the garage. This compact system has nearly all the holidays covered, and they are creating more decorations every year to add to the collection.

A person who likes to decorate could possibly find themselves hooked on the wide array of decorations available by AtmosFX.

Consider this, if a person purchased one large yard/home decoration at a price of $50 each for every potential decorating event during the year — let’s say New Years, Valentines Day, Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas and then include something for football fans and birthday parties — that’s $400. It’s also a lot of ornaments to take care of that need a lot of storage space during the year.

Like I said, I don’t have time for that.

If you want to see the AtmosFX products stop by The Brazil Times, 531 East National Avenue at approximately 7 p.m. each night from October 22-31 as we light up one of our windows for your family to enjoy the spooky show.

To learn more about AtmosFX, log onto atmosfx.com for more information.

Here's peek at Christmas with AtmosFX.