Favorite Halloween movies

[Greyryder]

Burton's Sleepy Hollow, for sure. But, for Halloween? You can't beat Monster Squad.

 

[Ghostsoldier]

I would have to say:

It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (the 1949 Disney 'toon)
Sleepy Hollow (the 1999 Tim Burton version)
The Shining (the 1997 TV mini-series)
The Woman in Black (the Hammer film w/Daniel Radcliffe)

Rob

 

[GoetzManor]

I myself am a fan of the Atomic Era horror, something about sitting in the dark with some popcorn watching a giant beast or group of ants terrorizing a town is magical.

I am also, however, a big fan of the Italian horror, be it Argento or Fulci. I like Argento for his use of colors to set a mood, and well Fulci...I just like how much viscera he manages to get in his films.

I also enjoy sitting down on Saturday nights and tuning into Svengoolie on MeTV (Channel 461 for you Marylanders out there). Great horror hosting out of Chicago, love the cheese factor because it allows me to take a step back in time when local access cable horror hosts hosted public domain horror films. You don't really see that too much anymore.

Now that I've derailed the conversation...

 

[dh66]

I myself am a fan of the Atomic Era horror, something about sitting in the dark with some popcorn watching a giant beast or group of ants terrorizing a town is magical.

+1 to that!!
Although I prefer beer and peanuts.

Svengoolie is darn fun, too!

 

[cw3pa]

I liked "Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein" (1948) as a kid. Had all the big name monsters in it and not too scary. The Invisible Man even makes an "appearance" at the end of the movies.

 

[Zombie_61]

On Halloween I prefer to watch classic horror movies, and by "classic" I mean almost anything in black and white that was produced before 1969 (that way I can include Romero's Night of the Living Dead ). The one exception would be Dracula (1931) starring Bela Lugosi, which I find to be rather boring; other than that, anything is fair game.

 

[Fading Fast]

"The Uninvited" with Ray Milland

"The Others" with Nicole Kidman

"The Awakening" with Rebecca Hall

All are beautifully filmed movies with sets and clothes that are stunning to look at. All are strong movies that also happen to have a ghost / spirit element to them - they are not for ghost / spirit genre movie fans only.

My girlfriend and I will watch one or two of those each Halloween depending on time.

In the slightly campy but fun category - "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" is a quick enjoyable little time-travel-to-the-English-coast-in-the-late-1940s feel-good movie that also might make it to our TV line up especially if Halloween falls on a weekend and we have more time.

 

[filfoster]

Scary: Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Oldman, and of course, 'Rosemary's Baby' , the original.
Funny: Hocus Pocus
Fun: Johnny Depp's 'Sleepy Hollow', by Tim Burton
All Round: Disney's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' with Jason Robards and durable bad guy Jonathan Pryce.

 

[Gregg Axley]

The classics...
Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein
The Black Cat
Various Hammer Horror movies.
Nothing newer than 1973 because I don't go for the gore factor.

 

[Haversack]

From opposite ends of the spectrum: Meet Me in St. Louis - (The trick or treating scene) and The Wicker Man, (the original one from 1973 with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward. Gets one in the real holiday spirit.)

Haversack

 

[filfoster]

I forgot one, and very unique: A Halloween movie about the making of a Halloween movie, with a great cast and period setting and costumes:
Shadow of the Vampire
about the making of 'Nosferatu' with Max Schreck.
My wife hates it. I love it. I watch it alone.

 

[HudsonHawk]

The only Halloween movie that's a must for me is Arsenic And Old Lace.

 

[rocketeer]

How about..... Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum

Mad Love, sometimes titled Hands of Orlac......Peter Lorre, Colin Clive

Carnival of Souls.

M.....Peter Lorre again.

And another Peter Lorre film where he has a supposed head transplant but the title evades me???????Anyonehelp?

 

[Zombie_61]

I forgot one, and very unique: A Halloween movie about the making of a Halloween movie, with a great cast and period setting and costumes:
Shadow of the Vampire
about the making of 'Nosferatu' with Max Schreck.
My wife hates it. I love it. I watch it alone.

Great movie, as long as people understand it's a fictional telling of the making of Nosferatu (1922) with a bit of a twist (no spoilers here), and can accept that premise. Very atmospheric, solid writing, and excellent performances from the entire cast. It's also nice that the story is structured in such a way that it's not absolutely necessary for viewers to have seen Nosferatu, but it does "flesh things out" to some degree if they have. I might just add this to the "viewing pile" for Halloween this year.

 

[rocketeer]

There is also a comedy released in the UK, Nosferatu in Love starring Mark Strong. Anyone seen that?

 

[dh66]

O.K. folks...need a little help here.
My 10 year old has decided that it's the coolest thing in the world to try and creep out his younger siblings, to the point that someone often ends up slobbering in tears and has to sleep with mom and dad. Maybe it's bad parenting, but I'm looking for something that will scare the bejeebers out of him good, and maybe demonstrate how truly uncool it is that he keeps doing this to the little kids. I've already ruled out The Exorcist, or The Ring, or any modern slasher films because I don't want CPS showing up, but maybe something suitable for his age range that's still effectively creepy.

 

[HudsonHawk]

O.K. folks...need a little help here.
My 10 year old has decided that it's the coolest thing in the world to try and creep out his younger siblings, to the point that someone often ends up slobbering in tears and has to sleep with mom and dad. Maybe it's bad parenting, but I'm looking for something that will scare the bejeebers out of him good, and maybe demonstrate how truly uncool it is that he keeps doing this to the little kids. I've already ruled out The Exorcist, or The Ring, or any modern slasher films because I don't want CPS showing up, but maybe something suitable for his age range that's still effectively creepy.

Flying monkeys?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Phantom of the Opera, the Lon Chaney version. Saw it when I was just about that age and it gave me nightmares for years.

Cronenberg's "The Fly" might work too, but ten year old boys probably *like* things that are revolting.

A Hammer film from the early sixties called "Nine Million Years To Earth" is pretty intense if you're a kid -- it's more science fiction than horror, but it's still pretty frightening.

 

[dh66]

Flying monkeys?

Kids seem to grow up faster these days. Even my 4 year old isn't phased by them any more. The fact that we have it on DVD and my daughter loves it and wants to watch it several times a week probably doesn't help.

They sure creeped me out as a kid, though, and the witch's guards too.


Lizzie, I have Chaney's "Phantom" in a box set of old horror movies. May give that a try. Was also thinking "House on Haunted Hill" with Vincent Price. I love V.P., and that hat one always seemed kind of creepy to me. And you are probably right about "The Fly", that'd be right up his alley. I'll look for the other one.

btw - I think Cronenberg's creepiest film is that one about the identical twin gynecologists. I can't remember the name, but I think it had Jeremy Irons in it. That one made me uncomfortable, and I'm a guy.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Kids seem to grow up faster these days. Even my 4 year old isn't phased by them any more. The fact that we have it on DVD and my daughter loves it and wants to watch it several times a week probably doesn't help.

They sure creeped me out as a kid, though, and the witch's guards too.

They still creep me out. Another movie that creeped me out was "The Other", about the good and evil twins.