Halloween Movies

Turn on your DVD or Blue Ray because I want to put you in the mood for Halloween with Halloween movie talk. For me, it isn't Halloween without some Halloween films to watch, in part (if they are especially awfully-good films) or completely (to set the mood). I think Halloween is especially popular because it allows us to pretend to be scared, to escape the real scare of everyday life and find refuge in pretending to be afraid by what we watch on screen. The late film director, Alfred Hitchcock said it best, "People like to be scared when they feel safe."

The Hollywood Halloween films do it in many ways......with fun or funny scary films, suspense scare films, special effects scare, suggestive scare, and with gruesome slasher films (I don't like those and won't recommend any of them today). Most people just watch them because they are merely fun to see. I prefer the older ones that have fewer special effects, come in black and white and have almost no special effects. That way, the imagination can take over the viewer. Suggested horror is always more frightening than seeing it in full blown modern tech, special effects enhanced with gore.

I also like the light, innocent Halloween films, the one the little kids also like.
Here are a few of my favorite non gory/violent Halloween films that you might want to give a try. I promise you will have a spookingly good time if you view any of them.
* Frankenstein , Dracula, The Wolfman- These three 30's era black an white films are, in my view, the greatest horror films ever made. Boris Karloff

(Frankenstein), Bella Lagosi (Dracula) and Lon Chaney (The Wolfman) created the characters that have changed little since. After watching them you feel frightened, but you can't remember why. It seems that all the fright was suggested and your imagination created all you could stand.

* Hocus Pocus- A fun 1993 Disney film that stars Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy and Sara Jessica Parker tells the story of a Halloween-hating teenager named Max, who accidentally resurrects three witches, The Sanderson Sisters, from their temporary death and must risk his life to protect his sister and defeat them with the help of a classmate and an immortal black cat.

* War of the Worlds- This 1953 black and white film follows the world's failed efforts by we humans to stop an invasion from Mars. The film offers plenty of scares, but the biggest has to be the encounter with a Martian in the abandoned farm house.

* Dawn of the Dead"- The 1978 movie features some of the goriest scenes ever committed to film. It's no wonder the film was banned in 17 countries.

* The Things- Made in 1982 it follows a crew stationed at an Antarctic base stalked an alien. But which member of the crew is the alien? The crew doesn't know, and neither does the audience until the creature begins one of its stomach churning transformations. There's one part with a head sprouting insect legs to escape.

* The Birds- a late 60's classic by Alfred Hitchock that is based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier is about an invasion of earth by birds. The use of suspense and the unknown (we are never told why the birds of the world suddenly turn violent and attack humans) are classic ways to spook anyone without resorting to cheap special effects gore.

Sleepy Hollow- A rare twenty first century thriller about a headless ghost slaughtering the villagers of an 18th century town. It's a complex murder mystery that Johnny Depp is sent to unravel.

* Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein- It's a lot of fun to watch the great comic duo Abbott and Costello work out slapstick routines and mix with with horror pro's like Lugosi (the original Dracula) and and Chaney (the original Wolf Man).

* The Invisible Man- The 1933 black and white classic d filled with as much humor as frights.

* The Mummy- Boris Karloff brought The Egyptian Im-ho-tep to life in the 1932 version of The Mummy. This one is full of intriguing imagery and suspense and sort of, well...creepy.