Spooky Movies

Musique - "Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565" by Johann Sebastian Bach

I'm not really a horror movie fan, but only because I have a very vivid imagination and find it incredibly hard to sleep for months after watching a scary movie. I prefer to stick with more "spooky" or "witchy" movies come Halloween time. What spooky movies and shows am I entertaining myself with this October? Some old favorites and some new (to me) films I'm excited to watch for the first time:

Hitchcock's favorite film he ever made, Shadow of a Doubt, with Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten (1943). Cotten is particularly creepy in this bad guy role. I was pleased to see a young Macdonald Carey of Days of Our Lives fame as young Charlie's love interest.

Clue (1985). One of my all-time favorite movies. I was obsessed with seeing this movie when I was little. I remember seeing the commercials for it and really, really wanting to go see it. I didn't get to until it came out on VHS (ha!), but that didn't stop me from wanting to be Miss Scarlet. Every time my sister and I played the board game with our babysitter, I always had to be Miss Scarlet (of course, it doesn't hurt that Miss Scarlet always goes first as a rule). Anyway, this movie is just pure genius and hilarious (even though the voice dubbing on it is pretty bad) and a bit spooky, too.

Murder, She Wrote, The Complete Third Season (1986/1987). I've most likely seen all of these episodes when I was little, but if so, I have forgotten whodunnit. The third season is the best so far, not only because of the Magnum, P.I. crossover episode (pictured above), but also because of a later episode that includes FOUR Golden Girls guest stars in ONE episode: Herb Edelman (Dorothy's ex, Stan Zbornak), Scott Jacoby (Michael, Dorothy and Stan's son), George Grizzard (Blanche's dead husband, George), and Dinah Manoff (the girls' neighbor, Carol). Maybe MSW isn't spooky enough for your tastes, but hey, I like it. Plus, it's Angela Lansbury's birthday on October 16, so I have to celebrate her work!

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920). This one's been in my Netflix queue for quite some time, but it just finally came this week (that's what happens when you've maxed out your queue). Conrad Veidt is pretty damn good at playing the creepy, murdering Cesare. And I loved the twist at the end—totally unexpected (well, at least by me). I think people not used to silent films will find the jerky movements and heavy makeup even spookier than I did.

Sleepy Hollow (1999). Tim Burton can rarely go wrong and he certainly is a master of spooky and quirky. This movie is no exception. It's one of my favorite spooky movies, but I have to watch it in the daytime or I'll have Christopher Walken nightmares.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Dracula is one of my very favorite books and I re-read it every year. And while this movie certainly takes giant liberties with Mr. Stoker's work, I still enjoy it (maybe it has something to do with young Gary Oldman being my #1 crush). I also love the fact that Francis Ford Coppola didn't resort to CGI or fancy computer tricks when making the movie (or, rather, I should say his son, Roman figured out old timey methods to produce trick shots).

Halloweentown (1998). Okay, yes, this is a children's movie. But it's just so irresistible. When I was younger, I would have loved to have been told I was a witch. And who can resist Debbie Reynolds? Halloween is my favorite holiday, so a whole town dedicated to Halloween is pretty badass.

The Addams Family (1964–1966). I'm sure I've seen many of these episodes before, but it'll be a delight to watch them again. For some reason, I always preferred the Addams to the Munsters (even though The Munsters had a sweeter theme song).

Nosferatu (1922). Believe it or not, when I watched this movie years ago, I fell asleep. Not because it was boring and definitely not because it's not scary, because man, look at that guy! Creepy!! I now own the film, so I'll be watching it (again) prior to watching the next one.

Shadow of the Vampire (2000). Willem Dafoe is pretty creepy as is, so I imagine this will be an incredibly interesting movie to watch.

So I think that should do it for October. I just wish that Netflix had Mr. Boogedy!