Horror Movies For Halloween Viewing
I’m generally opposed to lists. I think people go overboard with them. Best of this, scariest that, coolest so-and-so, etc. But rules were made to be broken, including my own self-made rules, and today I caved and wrote this list. It’s not a best-of list, it’s not a scariest list, it isn’t a coolest so-and-so list. The following list is full of what I like to watch during the Halloween season to get me in the mood. (Well I don’t need to be enticed into the mood, I’m usually there all year long, but these flicks are awesome anyway.)
For me, more important than outright scariness, is atmosphere. You need to have movies around that help evoke the proper Halloween atmosphere. Everyone has their own idea of what Halloween should be, and those ideas are usually formed in our childhood. I have my dad to thank for my concrete ideas on what Halloween should feel like. I grew up in Michigan, so I was given the proper fall weather thanks to Mother Nature, but my dad was always very theatrical and creative on Halloween. He even carved pumpkins with my sister and I even though he hated the smell.
Best pumpkin carving memory was in our garage, with the door open so the smell wouldn’t overcome my father, with a big Michigan thunder storm raging outside. You can’t ask for better circumstances for pumpkin carving.
Back to the list…
I also need to give a quick shout out to the Disney channel for helping me gain a proper appreciation for Halloween. They have some of the best Halloween cartoons, and back in the day they didn’t have marathons of Wizards of Waverly place, they showed the pinnacle of long lost Halloween television traditions: Disney’s Halloween Treat. For those of you in the know, I ’m not talking about the lesser foam Jack O’ Lantern host version, I mean the one from 1983 with the Magic Mirror (Hans Conried) who hosted. That guy was awesome! Okay, let’s get back to it.
Evil Dead 2: Evil Dead, as a series, is just an ingrained part of me now. The whole cast and crew are from Michigan, so I always felt a kinship with them, and I love the same things everyone else loves about Evil Dead: the low budget effects, Bruce fucking Campbell, the cabin in Tennessee (that has since burned to the ground), the dialogue, Bruce fucking Campbell. Evil Dead 2 is more polished than number one, but still retains the gore and humor…in fact it stepped up the humor to a zany cartoon-like level that carried on into Army of Darkness. (Army of Darkness is also a must-watch for the season.)
Hocus Pocus: Laugh all you want. This movie is fun and the sets and costumes are great. For a non-scary Halloween movie, it’s one that is more along the lines of comfort food for me. Plus you have three good actresses playing the witches and they are just having a ball doing it. I like watching a movie where the infectious glee that went into its making can rub off on you while you.
The Wicker Man (1973): I know that no one likes this movie but me…because I’ve never met anyone who actually does. Also anybody that I show this to never lets me recommend anything again. This movie has Christopher Lee and lots of fun songs and cult imagery and lots and lots of nudity. It is a weird flick, but it’s got a great low budget feel that puts it up next to any Hammer movie for me. It kind of feels like a long-lost secret film that you discovered. It also feels like it could be a documentary. P.S. The remake sucks hard.
Sleepy Hollow: Tim Burton has contributed much to our collective enjoyment of the dark and macabre, and Nightmare Before Christmas is also a favorite, but that one is more of a Christmas movie to me. Sleepy Hollow is so highly stylized that it makes me sad that every bit of woods was a soundstage. The movie looks amazing, has a killer score and makes darkness palpable. Burton does a wonderful job of creating colder scary feelings outside, while keeping the interiors safer and warmer. Next to Disney’s cartoon of this story, this is my favorite movie version of it. (I also like reading it, so I recommend you do that too.) If you get a chance, visit Sleepy Hollow in New York at Halloween. They have a ton of great activies including the Great Blaze with over 4,000 Jack O’ Lanterns.
An American Werewolf in London: This is pretty much the best movie for this season, although I can watch it any day of the year. The actors in this movie are great. Thankfully, but not to them, they didn’t make it very big and thus their performances have not been marred by star power. This doesn’t happen when big stars make scary movies. Interview with a Vampire might be a fun flick, but it’ll always be Tom Cruise doing the blood sucking. David Naughton is a perfect every-man and I have a thing for ‘70’s era Jenny Agutter. If you want to see her in another horror film you can rent Child’s Play 2. It seems superfluous to mention the jaw-dropping (to this day) special effects, but I will anyway. Rick Baker, you da man! And for extra credit, go to New York City and grab a Boddington’s at The Slaughtered Lamb, which has some pretty great horror décor and posters from the film.
Trick r Treat: It’s a little cheap of me to include this movie as I just watched it today for the first time, but I feel that it will keep making itself known for years to come. I had a lot of fun with this movie, and even though I expected more from it in terms of actual scares, it provided the perfect atmosphere that I keep bringing up. Anna Paquin…was this a conscious nod to True Blood? You can tell that the makers of Trick r Treat care a lot about Halloween and they have shared their feelings of the season with us.
Any Jason flick: My horror movie vice is Friday the 13th. I like those movies, no matter how shitty they continue to be. The reboot was watchable and it had its moments. My personal favorite is Final Chapter (#4), but the shots of Jason walking through NYC in Jason Takes Manhattan are priceless.
Halloween (1978): I don’t think I have to explain this one at all.
The Thing (1982): Also does not need an explanation.
The Halloween Tree / It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: More animated fare that cannot be overlooked. You all know The Great Pumpkin, so I’ll just say that nothing beats those water-colored skies. As for The Halloween Tree, it’s based on a story by Ray Bradbury, and is narrated by him as well. Leonard Nimoy voices Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud. It’s about the history behind Halloween and is a great story that will make you wistful for trick or treating like no other. Also, you should read the book so you can take in the chapter that didn’t make it into the movie.
Anything Hammer: I don’t have to tell you that Hammer films have the best atmosphere, from the way they were shot to the colors and actors used. Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed, and all those fantastic nubile young women make these movies classics of their own category. The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Dracula and his Vampire Brides, Curse of the Werewolf, Night Creatures, etc are all great examples of Hammer Films. Honorable mention goes to Amicus for The House That Dripped Blood and Scream and Scream Again. Pretty much anything British tends to get thrown into this category though. I just watched Die, Monster, Die the other night…great Karloff performance.
So there you have it, an incomplete list of things that I must watch annually. In October I only watch horror/Halloween movies, so new ones get added all the time. This year so far I’ve watched (among others) Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, C.H.U.D., Tokyo Gore Police, Saw 4 and 5, and Ginger Snaps. I hope you all celebrate the holiday in style and in what way seems most proper to you. Costume ideas anyone? I can’t be Ash or Patrick Bateman again. I know there are tons more stuff I could’ve put on this list, but how many of you actually read the whole thing at its current length anyway? Add to this list in the comments.