What spooky movies are you watching leading up to Halloween?

Films I've enjoyed for years and watch annually during the Halloween season -

Fright Night - ( 1985 original )
The Howling - ( 1980 original )
Clive Barker's Nightbreed ( 1990 theatrical cut...still need to see Clive's cut )
The Dark Cyrstal ( 1982 original )
Bram Stoker's Dracula ( Coppola version...2001 was it? )
Disney's The Black Cauldron ( animated, 1985 )
John Carpenter's The Thing ( 1982 )
The Lost Boys ( 1986 )
Aliens ( 1986 )

Also really dig the 'Salem's Lot' tv film from the 1970s.
Still spooks!

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I watched The Blob for the first time since the 1970s a few nights ago.

 

I watched The Legend of Hell House (my favorite haunted house movie) with my daughter this week, and I split it into two evenings because she was so freaked out by the first 30 minutes. BIG mistake. When we started it again tonight, the tension had worn off and the rest of the movie wasn't nearly as fun! So I learned something about horror movies - interrupting them just lets all the air out of it.

 

Watched The Old Dark House tonight


Have a potato

 

Rob Zombie-Halloween ...

 

The Lady In White

 

I didn't even know this was released. Wow! It's $130 on Amazon...

 

Here’s a good list of 70s horror I plan to check out. I believe it’s this months criterion picks. Which should I watch first? Not a horror guy. I’ve only seen the bolder selections.


Trog, Freddie Francis, 1970
The Vampire Lovers, Roy Ward Baker, 1970
Daughters of Darkness, Harry Kümel, 1971
Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, John D. Hancock, 1971
The Nightcomers, Michael Winner, 1971
Dracula A.D. 1972, Alan Gibson, 1972
Images, Robert Altman, 1972
Death Line, Gary Sherman, 1972
Season of the Witch, George A. Romero, 1972
The Crazies, George A. Romero, 1973
Don’t Look Now, Nicolas Roeg, 1973
Ganja & Hess, Bill Gunn, 1973
Sisters, Brian De Palma, 1973
Theater of Blood, Douglas Hickox, 1973
The Wicker Man, Robin Hardy, 1973
Black Christmas, Bob Clark, 1974
Deathdream, Bob Clark, 1974
It’s Alive, Larry Cohen, 1974
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Tobe Hooper, 1974
Shivers, David Cronenberg, 1975
The Tenant, Roman Polanski, 1976*
The Witch Who Came from the Sea, Matt Cimber, 1976
The Hills Have Eyes, Wes Craven, 1977
Rabid, David Cronenberg, 1977
Coma, Michael Crichton, 1978
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Philip Kaufman, 1978
Long Weekend, Colin Eggleston, 1978
The Brood, David Cronenberg, 1979
The Driller Killer, Abel Ferrara, 1979

 

Black Sabbath is wonderful . The colors and backgrounds are fantastic.
That version on tcm with the English dub and Karloff' s voice is the one I grew up with and better then the Italian version imo. A nice collection of ghost stories.

 

I liked that it was sort of unnerving and uneasy, this type of psychological horror is more my preference. The Witch is the last newer horror movie that left me truly impressed.

I loved Zombieland 1, has one of my favorite appearances from Bill Murray. I've held off seeing the second.

My most recent viewing was Tumbbad, a huge thank you to @acemachine26 for bringing this to my attention - not really overt horror, more like Guillermo del Toro's style of horror. And a very good life lesson that rings quite true.

 

I just watched Repulsion (1965). One of the reasons it scared me was because it reminded me of my ex-wife.

 

Glad you liked it

 

I've been watching some of these on Criterion, as well. I finally caught Deathdream (directed by Bob Clark, of A Christmas Story, Black Christmas and Porky's), and really liked it. It says something difficult about America's conflict in Vietnam (but, more broadly, war in general) that I suspect mainstream American movies could not (at the time). I also watched Dracula A.D. for the first time. It's not a great Hammer film, but with its "Dracula meets the hippies" theme, it's fun. Cushing and Lee are terrific, as usual.

For the rest (those that I've already seen), Let's Scare Jessica to Death, Death Line, Theater of Blood, Sisters, The Crazies, Black Christmas, It's Alive, Shivers, The Brood, Rabid and Driller Killer are all excellent. In spite of the title, Driller Killer isn't a slasher film, but more of a low-budget art film about a mental breakdown (it is pretty gory, though, but in a surreal way).

I like The Witch Who Came from the Sea very much, but it does include a very disturbing theme, so it may not be for everyone. I won't spoil it, but you can search online and find out what the theme is. Images is also interesting, and unusual for Robert Altman (small cast, heavy on visual storytelling rather than character and dialogue). It's worth a look if you are an Altman fan.

 

The bulk of my horror movie binge watching is the classic Universal Monsters, which are as essential to the season for me as fun-sized Snickers bars. From there, I'll throw in selected Hammer Films and a few choice cuts from later decades. Last night's creature feature was the original The Thing which to my embarrassment, I hadn't previously thought of as a "Halloween movie". D'oh!!

At the request of my 9-year old, I've also been watching occasional Twilight Zone episodes. "To Serve Man" is a favorite of his, as is "Nightmare At 20,000 Feet" (even though he giggles at the monster).

...and what would Halloween be without a few laughs? Every year, I do a double feature of Young Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein just before the big day, plus a few of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror episodes to get warmed up.

 

Making my way through the Universal Frankenstein and Creature From the Black Lagoon, Addams Family and Munsters box sets. On All Hallows Eve my girlfriend and I always watch Young Frankenstein and Rocky Horror Picture Show.

 

Last night, watched “The Cleansing Hour”, a demonic possession film on Amazon Prime that wasn’t bad. Will probably watch on Blu-Ray “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken”, “The Birds” tomorrow night and Halloween.

 

American Horror Stories-Roanoke, scary!

 

I will be watching “The Others”. One of the greatest classy haunted house horror movies, in my humble opinion. Even when you know the “punchline” it is a great watch.

 

The Haunting of Hill House Eps 1-10 (2018)
Sint (2010)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
The Legend of Hell House (1973)
The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)
Thriller - S01E33 - "The Terror in Teakwood"
To The Lake Eps 1-8 (2019)
Vampire Circus (1972)
The Fury (1978)
Patrick (1978)
Images (1972)
Fright (1971)

So far...

 

Salem's Lot
When Michael Calls
Pumpkinhead
The Legend Of Hell House
You can tell it's the old films/shows that scare me lol

 

I've been including everything I've been viewing this month leading to tonight in two other threads, but as of last night it was:

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Leading up is today.....
1. The Hills Have Eyes (1977) DVD
2. The Fog (1980) DVD
3. The Exorcist (1973) DVD
Tonight
1. Halloween (1978) Blu-ray
2. Halloween II (1981) Blu-ray

 

We've been watching a few "scary" movies leading up, but tonight it will be Sinister (2012) because of this article...according to science:

Science settles on the scariest horror movie based on viewers' heart rates