TEX MASSACRE'S HALLOWEEN of HORRORS
11:00am, October 30, 2009
Wanna watch a movie tomorrow night. How about a dozen! Here are 12 films some obvious, some not so obvious) that I would recommend watching for Halloween.
-t-
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! – 1966
Virtually no one reading this list today could comprehend a Halloween where a primetime viewing of Charles Schultz's Peanuts masterpiece wasn't a mandatory event. Take a moment to watch it again. I promise you'll remember why.
Night of the Creeps – 1986
Director Fred Dekker occupies 2 places on my list (including The Monster Squad). This is a spoof for the seriously hardcore film buffs – example – The cast are all named after horror film directors (Romero, Cameron, Landis, Rami, Cronenberg, Hooper)and they attend Corman University!!! Look closely in the bathroom, the graffiti reads "Go Monster Squad" …it would be the title of the next film on this list.
The Monster Squad – 1987
Imagine what it would be like if The Goonies had to make battle against the dark forces of the Classic Universal Monsters of the 30's and 40's - A film probably best remembered by the life lesson – If you're attacked by The Wolfman…. kick him in the 'nards - because "Wolfman's got 'nards"
Something Wicked This Way Comes – 1983
Ray Bradbury's classic story comes to life in Walt Disney's gothic masterpiece. You literary types will recognize Bradbury borrowed the title from this line in Shakespeare's Macbeth - "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes" Act I Scene IV. Writer Steve Kloves later incorporated the same line into the Halloween Song from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Sleepy Hollow – 1999
Tim Burton's homage to all things great about 1960's Hammer horror films, is a breathtaking supernatural set piece. Burton who began his career as an animator lifted several scenes directly from the 1949 Disney adaptation The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Michael Jackson’s Thriller – 1983
Maybe it’s just nostalgia on the rise, but I think you all need to take 14-minutes out of your life and watch this video. Epic. Amazing, there are not enough adjectives in the English language to laud this masterwork of the music video era. Shot in 1983 by Director John Landis, with make-up effects work by Oscar winner Rick Baker. The video cost a reportedly unheard of $500,000 to make. It went on the sell over 9 million copies on Home Video and win the 1st ever Grammy Award.—for best Video Album (an award arguably created solely to bestow this honor).
Ginger Snaps – 2000
Speaking of Werewolves…probably the absolute best Werewolf film since John Landis' 1981 cult fave An American Werewolf in London, Ginger Snaps, takes Joss Whedon's idea of High School as hell and the Teen Wolf theory of Werewolf transformation as puberty and splatters that bloody framework all over a pair of miscreant Canadian high school sisters. Eagle eyed genre vets will recognize Emily Perkins from her previous fright film experience as young Beverly Marsh in Stephen King's It and her cameo in the series finale of Showtime’s unjustly canceled series Dead Like Me.
Trick r Treat - 2009
Speaking of Dead Like Me, little sister Reggie Lass (Britt McKillip) makes an appearance in X-Men 2 writer, Mike Dougherty’s epic ensemble Halloween film. Call it the Pulp Fiction of horror movies, Trick r Treat weaves together a creepshow of macabre tales and instantly creates one the best horror films of the decade. You can finally rent this film festival favorite since Warner Brothers finally got their shit together and put it on DVD.
Halloween 1 & 2 – 1978 & 1981
John Carpenters definitive film virtually created the model for stalk and slash cinema and Rick Rosenthal's 1981 follow-up is a near perfect linear progression in the theory – everything needs to be twice as big in the sequel. Interestingly Rosenthal's film still feels as intimate and immediate as Carpenters ever did. On a side note, the guards in part 2 are watching the next entry on this list.
Night of the Living Dead – 1968
A late night staple for over almost 40 years, George Romero's slow moving gut munchers are the definition of man's overwhelming need for consumption – spreading like a virus across this earth. Decades ahead of its time, the film still feels fresh today, even though it perfectly dissected American strife the year it was released. As for your thoughts, consider this – How many horror films can you say have been honored by induction into National Film Registry of the Library of Congress! Shocking, but true.
Suspiria – 1977
If horror films are made of our nightmares and our nightmares are made of horror films, what do you call a 104-minute bad dream that you can't wake up from? I call it Suspiria - Italian Maverick Dario Argento's tale of hell on earth has been begged borrowed and stolen from, but never ever duplicated. If you can manage to make it to the ending, just remember the tagline…."The Only Thing More Terrifying Than The Last 12 Minutes Of This Film Are The First 92"
User Comments
 | JohnMarrone 11:55am, October 30, 2009
Im introducing my 8 year old daughter to Night of the Living Dead for the first time on Halloween night |
 | Tex Massacre 12:02pm, October 30, 2009
I tried to pick films that would work more in a lightwight or party setting. (Probably not Suspiria though)
My Daughter watched Charlie Brown, the Monsters vs Alien Pumpkin thing that was on TV the other night, Garfield Halloween and The Monster Squad. She liked Monster Squad!!! Yea!!!!
She's only 6. |
 | navyblues 1:10pm, October 30, 2009
cool list tex. for my (child free) halloween party tonight i've lined up:
black sabbath
night of the creeps
trick 'r treat
re-animator
creepshow
halloween |
| JohnMarrone 2:04pm, October 30, 2009
Charlie Brown: "I got a rock..." - never gets old |
 | Quint's Machete 2:11pm, October 30, 2009
I've watched The Great Pumpkin every year since I was a child. I tend to have movie marathons for Halloween, playing them full blast with my home theatre system. This year, it's gonna be Friday the 13th parts 1 through 4!!!! I tend to watch the OLD classics later at night: The Wolf Man, Frankenstein, Freaks, Dracula, ect. I alternate from year to year. Have a Happy SAMHAIN everyone. Get lotsa' snootchie bootchie nootchies this weekend !!!! |
| Quint's Machete 2:17pm, October 30, 2009
I concur John Morrone. That old cartoon never gets old to me either. I always liked that lonesome theme music while Snoopy pretends he's traveling behind enemy lines. Cool theme!!! "Oh Great Pumpkin, where are you?"-----Linus. |
 | gorebath 4:47pm, October 30, 2009
Don't know about the rest of y'all....but on Halloween, I pop in the Mariah Carey movie GLITTER.....talk about pure horror. It's even better when you duct-tape your eyes wide open and put your head in a vice-grip so trying to turn away during those excrutiating moments are impossible.
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 | Rambo Lunchbox 6:46pm, October 30, 2009
"Charlie Brown is an asshole!"
Sorry, had to be said... |
 | ZombieMadness13 11:12pm, October 31, 2009
Don't forget about "Delores Herbig, as in Herbig brown eyes" appearance in Trick 'r Treat. |
 | Inga 10:50am, November 2, 2009
I love Charlie Brown because he is the "everybody outcast" and who can forget pig pen as the ghost with the cloud of dust wafting around him? |
| JohnMarrone 4:09pm, November 2, 2009
8 yr old didnt take to Night of the Living Dead too well. She was pretty damned scared. Imagine the awkwardness in the room when the kid chopped her mom up - and ate the chicken off the bone out of the truck after they burned by the gas tank.... Now she's telling everyone about the naked woman she saw.... Im waiting for a phone call from the school. DOH! |
| navyblues 3:51pm, November 3, 2009
hahaha, thanks for the update JohnMarrone...my Halloween movie night had a misfire as well...i'd say the severed head zombie booby groping and near pussy eating scene made a couple ladies uncomfortable. should have seen that one coming... |
| navyblues 4:53pm, November 3, 2009
the scene from re-animator that is. |
| JohnMarrone 7:50am, November 4, 2009
They loved it! |
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