New York Post

CURBSIDE CREEPERS

Spooky Halloween homes worth the drive-by

- By JORDI LIPPE-MCGRAW 1306 Albemarle Road, Brooklyn

Thanks to COVID-19, 2020 has already been a terrifying year. And with trick-or-treating up in the air and walk-through haunted houses mostly closed to visitors, spooky street-side decor is more important than ever. Besides watching a scary movie at home, checking out creepy displays is one of the safest ways to get into the spirit of Halloween.

Thankfully, some locals are going all out with elaboratel­y scary Halloween decoration­s to spread some horrifying holiday cheer. From a virus-themed tableau in Queens to a 35-foot-tall inflated Michael Myers in New Jersey, these are the most terrifying­ly over-the-top decoration­s in the tri-state area worth making the trek to see from a safe distance.

COVID CREATION

Julie Simonson always has a theme for her family’s Halloween display. So, when it came time to decide the decoration­s at their Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, home, they used the mom of two’s job as inspiratio­n: Simonson works at Pfizer, a major pharmaceut­ical company developing a coronaviru­s vaccine.

“Originally, we had an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme planned,” said Simonson. “But COVID is really scary and made us change our minds. Although, we didn’t want it to be too dark.”

The 52-year-old, along with her daughters Kira, 9, and Maya, 12, used the giant blowup rainbow they put up in March to spread cheer during the peak of the pandemic as inspiratio­n.

“Kira suggested we have a superhero fighting COVID and call him Sanitizer Man, and I thought it was a great idea,” said Simonson. From there, the medical-outcomes specialist purchased a blowup doll and a hazmat suit, mounted him on an oversize stuffed unicorn and crafted the molecular structure of the coronaviru­s using Styrofoam balls and golf tees to complete the scary-yet-hopeful display.

“I was expecting around 2,000 trickor-treaters this year,” she said. “But since we’re not giving out candy, [this display] is like a touchless sort of joy.”

39-33 47th St., Queens

STATEN DIE-LAND: Former firefighte­r Eddie Anguiano (pictured far left with his wife and two kids) crafts his own creatures from discarded mannequins for his elaborate display.

MULTISTORY MURDERER

Kevin Malinski’s Halloween display is over-the top: He’s got a 35-foot-tall inflatable Michael Myers that towers over his Bloomingda­le, NJ, home.

“’Halloween’ is one of my favorite movies,” Malinski — known in the neighborho­od for his inflatable holiday decor — told The Post. “So, after I got the Christmas blowups going, I decided to get a Mike Myers one for Halloween.”

But, as popular as the 1970s masked murderer is, no inflatable­s of him existed. Malinski didn’t let that stop him. After reaching out to hundreds of production companies, he found a manufactur­er in China willing to make him a custom design for $3,000. It took a month to plan, and the resulting piece is a three-story horror icon that can be seen for miles.

“It takes about two hours to set him up, and two blowers and a separate circuit breaker to keep him up 24/7,” said Malinski. “My electricit­y bill for October goes up to $150.”

286 Macopin Road, Bloomingda­le, NJ

MONSTER MANOR

For years, retired NYC firefighte­r Eddie Anguiano transforme­d his Staten Island home into what neighbors called Monster Manor, with themes like “Nightmare on Elm Street,” “Friday the 13th” and even “Stranger Things.” Family and friends dressed in scary costumes and jumped out at visitors.

But after moving to a new home this year, Anguiano, along with his wife, son Marcos, 12, and daughter Ava, 6, wanted to make a scary splash at their new pad. So, the lawn is now outfitted with lifesize Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Jason and Pennywise characters that Anguiano created using discarded Modell’s mannequins. There’s also a haunted doll scene, the Grim Reaper, illuminate­d ghosts and more than a dozen classic jack-o’-lanterns dotting their front stoop. “I’m not sure why, but I tend to lean toward the scarier decoration­s and don’t really do cute,” said Anguiano, 43. “Which is strange because as an NYC firefighte­r I’ve dealt with fatalities and was never quite comfortabl­e being around the bodies. I would always keep my distance.” While the horror-movie fan admitted to spending “five figures” over the years on his decoration­s, Anguiano said he gets the most joy from the pieces he constructe­d himself. “I have a carpentry background and love putting these characters together,” he said. “It will take me three days for each one, but it’s worth it.”

11 Legion Place, Staten Island

APPALLING ANIMATRONI­CS

“I have a couple dozen skeletons scaling the house, several zombies, lots of witches, spiders, a werewolf and several scarecrows,” said David Lindsay-Abaire of the setup outside his Ditmas Park home. Of course, that’s in addition to the spooky window projection­s and 60 ghoulish motion-activated animated props.

The blood-curdling collection started seven years ago, when the Pulitzer Prizewinni­ng playwright and his wife decided to participat­e in the small neighborho­od Halloween parade. “Each year, I would add more, and now the entire house is decked out,” said Lindsay-Abaire.

Various vignettes take over the wraparound porch, including a zombie swamp section, a coven of witches and a scary clown takeover topped off with

NIGHTMARE ON 117TH STREET

Jocess Franciosa knew Halloween wouldn’t be the same this year for her three grandsons. “There were so many fewer decoration­s up this year,” the Harlem resident said. “Normally, the townhouses in our neighborho­od have incredible displays. But there was nothing this year.” So, the grandmothe­r decided to deck out her place for Wesley, 8, Wyatt, 6, and 11-month-old Wynnie. “I went to several local stores and picked up zombies, skeletons, pumpkins, stickers and spider webs to surprise the kids,” said Franciosa. “Then we put everything up together.”

After a couple of hours, their house’s small front garden was covered in a gory scene complete with “guts” wrapped in plastic to look like they were packaged by a butcher. “The blood was all Wesley,” Franciosa said. “He told me when the rain washes it off, I have to put new blood on. Grandma’s job is to reapply the blood.”

11 E. 117th St. retro paintings of frightenin­g funnymen (pictured).

“We have a friend who was a profession­al clown in the Barnum & Bailey Circus who had been gifted clown paintings over the years,” said LindsayAba­ire. “He didn’t want them in his own home . . . so I put them up every year.”

And while the playwright admitted his basement is getting quite full with the sinister specimens (which have startled the Con Ed guys on occasion), he’s still growing his collection.

“This year’s new acquisitio­ns are a butcher with a cleaver and bloody apron, and there’s a possessed dog who pops out of a doghouse,” said LindsayAba­ire. “This season’s hottest thing is the pigheaded butcher. I had to get it.”

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