Halloween Movies
We are a big movie family in our house. For weekly movie nights, we usually take turns selecting what we’ll be watching, but not for October. For Spooky Season I get to choose them all! While my husband and daughter love the costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating, they are not big fans of scary movies. In fact, I just found out recently that my husband hadn’t watched a single horror movie until he started dating me. He barely made it through the opening scene of Scream without running out of the theatre Shaggy-and-Scooby-style. And he officially begged off horror movies in theatres after I took him to The House on Haunted Hill in 1999. I did manage to get him back into the theatre to watch both It movies, but he admitted he only saw about half of each since he spent a good chunk with his eyes closed. Over the years, he’s agreed to watch a scary movie with me on Halloween night and any Friday the 13th during the year. Add to my husband’s dislike of horror movies the fact that our daughter is only 11, and it can be a little tricky finding Halloween movies for us all. I need to find the right balance of not too scary for them and interesting enough that they won’t put me to sleep. It helps that I am also a huge fan of horror comedies, which go down a little easier for the squeamish.
Movie #1 – Tremors
This year we started the festivities a week early, trying to make up for a mostly missed 2020 Halloween. We started with Tremors, which my husband and I both love. We were pleasantly surprised when our daughter fell in love with it, too. Many beloved movies from our childhood tend to not go over well with her due to a lack of interesting female characters, so she just gets kinda bored. But she took an instant liking to grad student Rhonda and was all in. There is a lot more swearing than we remembered (network tv edits, likely) but that’s not a deal breaker for us. There’s also some light gore and jump scares but nothing too scary for her. And there was lots and lots of laughs; definitely a hit!
Movie #2 – Nightbooks
Nightbooks was a new one for all of us. It appeared on Netflix and I thought we would give it a try since it seemed to hit that sweet spot of just a little scary. It had fun visuals and the story was interesting. I would say that it was a bit predictable for an adult audience, but my daughter really loved it. She identified with both main protagonists, the outcast storyteller, Alex, and the tough survivor, Yazmin. And it was great to watch the fabulous Krysten Ritter really swing for the fences in her portrayal of the evil witch, Natacha. All-in-all entertaining, but not sure if we would watch it again.
Movie #3 – Clue
Clue is a favourite from my preteen years so I was excited to be able to show my daughter this one, especially since she enjoys really broad, zany humor. She absolutely loved Young Frankenstein, one of last year’s picks, so I was hoping she would like this one, too. I was a little concerned because there is a lot of sexual innuendo in Clue but much like me when I was her age, it mostly went right over her head. There is also some very outdated sexism and homophobia that is unfortunately pretty common in comedy movies of that time, and we made sure to address that with her. Beyond that she loved Miss Scarlet’s sassiness and the frenetic multiple endings. I think she even liked the “whodunit” aspect. And she laughed like a loon at Madeline Kahn’s infamous “flames” improv; she made us rewind it. My husband spent most of the movie looking confused. When I asked him why, he said that he thought he had seen Clue, but was slowly realizing that he never had. I don’t think he got the appeal. I guess you had to be there…
Mrs. Peacock in the Dining Room with the Candlestick and Miss Scarlet in the Lounge with the Rope - Prints & cards available here
Movies #4 - #6 – Still to be determined…
So, these are the three movies we’ve watched so far this year. I’m still considering some ideas for the next three, including: Practical Magic, The Witches, Sleepy Hollow, Goosebumps, The Monster Squad, Edward Scissorhands, or Gremlins (I know the last two are technically Christmas movies, but c’mon.) There is also the possibility of rewatching some of our favourite past Halloween picks: Beetlejuice, The Addams Family or Addams Family Values, Young Frankenstein, Ghostbusters (both new & old), Return to Oz, The Goonies, The Mummy, Coraline, Hocus Pocus, any of the Harry Potter Movies, or The Nightmare Before Christmas. All well loved!
On Halloween we’ll end our evening of Trick-or-Treating by gorging ourselves on candy and watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown as we do every year. It’s a great end to the spooky movie season. One year I know our pumpkin patch will be the most sincere; I just know it!
I would love to hear some of your family friendly Halloween favourites! What do you watch every year? What do you recommend? What Halloween movie is your favourite? Would you like me to add reviews for the other three movies we watch?
But wait, there’s more!
Now on to more spooky fare, because don’t forget, I also get to pick something scary to watch on Halloween night. This year I’ll admit I’m at a bit of a loss as there isn’t anything new that I really want to see. I’m really hoping they will decide to do a simultaneous streaming/theatrical release for Last Night in Soho as that would be my top choice. I’m also considering Army of the Dead, though it wouldn’t be my first pick, I hear good things.
Anyway, I thought I would also include a list of my favourites here for anyone that is looking for ideas and also to see if anyone has any suggestions:
Scary Funny (in addition to the family faves above)
So as you can see my likes lean towards the paranormal and atmospheric: hauntings, supernatural creatures, possession, things that go bump in the night, etc. Not so much slashers and gore.
Do you have any recommendations? I would love some suggestions!
Another End’s Beginning - Original Acrylic Painting available here
