It’s a tradition in my house to start watching a movie a night (well, most nights) on October 1st that fit the scary or Halloween theme. The definition is pretty loose, in some cases, because there are a few fun titles in there. And we don’t really worry about the order, although there are one or two we save for the very last days around Halloween. So here are some of the movies we love to watch in October:
- Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter – I went in expecting silliness, got a not-terrible film with Rufus Sewell. Yum.
- Beetlejuice – does it work if you type his name three times in a row? Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Gary Oldman is an excellent version of Vlad Tepes, Dracula
- The Company of Wolves – a bizarre movie (with Angela Lansbury and David Warner!) that’s a loosely-strung-together narrative based on Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories.
- Corpse Bride – a strange little Tim Burton gem but nevertheless good watching.
- Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness – you have to watch all three. Maybe AoD twice.
- Hocus Pocus – I can’t stand that nutbag Midler, so it’s extra special when she gets her just desserts at the end.
- In the Mouth of Madness – the only Lovecraftian one here, but I’m usually watching HPL movies year round by myself.
- The Last Witch Hunter – with Vin Diesel. It didn’t get high ratings but hey, I don’t think it’s all that bad and it at least tried to be something a little different than your run-of-the-mill films in the genre.
- Nightmare Before Christmas – this one gets double-duty as Halloween and Christmas (yeah, we watch movies like this in December, too.)
- Sweeney Todd – the one with Johnny Depp, although I loved watching the broadway version with Angela Lansbury on one of the cable networks when I was younger.
- Tucker and Dale Versus Evil – a comic-horror reversal of the “Rednecks terrorizing college kids in the woods”. Gruesome fun.
- Van Helsing – I’m a purist ofttimes, but I can say I enjoy the different take on the main horror trio – Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster and the Wolf-man of this one. I don’t think it takes itself very seriously, which is perfectly fine. Doesn’t hurt that Hugh Jackman is easy to look at. I especially like short Bond-style sequence of Friar Carl introducing Van Helsing to the weapons he’s invented.
- Young Frankenstein – “HE VAS MY… BOYFRIEND!” (With the late Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Kenneth Mars… I think Gene Hackman and Terri Garr are the only major players still around from this masterpiece, sadly.)
On nights we don’t watch a movie? Usually Saturday, when we’re watching Svengoolie, of course, but we watch him all year round and he gets plenty of the horror classics on the playlist. You should check out his hosting, especially if you’re a fan of MST3K.
How about you? Any here you love? Hate? Any you think ought to be in our viewing list but isn’t?
Don’t be shy – let me know!
EDIT: There are still a few days to get some fantastic reads for free by helping out the authors (I’m included but there are sooooooo many more) with a review. Check that out HERE
T. R. Neff - Author 