31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Movie

Looking at my previous two posts, and destiny seemed to be leading me to watching Sleepy Hollow (1999) today, so I caved in and did just that.

As you probably already know, this movie is based on "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving concerning a headless phantom on horseback who is said to haunt the area surrounding the town of Sleepy Hollow. Tim Burton's adaptation plays fast and loose with Washington Irving's story introducing a mystery into the proceedings and changes Ichabod Crane's occupation from school master to NYC constable eager to prove the value of scientific detection in police work.

These changes don't really bother me. Anyone who has read the original story would recognize that it really needs some embellishment to pad it out into a feature length film. This is why the excellent  Disney adaptation is only about 45 minutes long and why most other feature length adaptations which limit themselves to what's contained in the Irving story tend to drag.

Visually, the movie is stunning and is about as perfect a visual distillation of the mood of the Halloween season as you can get. If the music had been composed by James Bernard instead of Danny Elfman it would truly seem like you were watching a Hammer horror film, which is what Tim Burton was striving to evoke. The movie moves along briskly with a great cast and plenty of wonderful visual moments.

The only thing that kept this movie from being close to perfect for me goes back to one of the aspects of the movie that was altered from the original story, which is the detective material. Great weight is placed on Constable Crane's determination to prove the value of forensics, or scientific detection, to police work as a whole, and he is given a series of mysterious beheadings in Sleepy Hollow as a testing ground to prove his point. Yet, when the time comes to use them, many of Crane's methods fall over to the realm of made -up pseudoscientific nonsense such as his ridiculous, impractical looking,  tools of his own design to sprinkling powder on the ground next to a corpse and noting its reaction to determine that the corpse was beheaded with a single stroke of the blade. Worse, his detective work does not solve the case, or reason out who is behind the murders. The responsible party relays all of this information to a chosen victim. Crane only figures things out on his own after he's given up and then makes an intuitive leap from an observed detail. As a case for proving the value of scientific methods, this is a bit of a failure.



      

31 Days of Halloween - Day 7 - Movie 1

 

Coming across it at the library, I decided to watch The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1999), a Canadian made for tv movie which aired on the Hallmark Channel and came out the same year as Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. While Tim Burton's interpretation of Washington Irving's classic tale took extensive liberties with the source material, this production did not. Bookended with scenes set in a tavern with Washington Irving writing down local stories being told to him, including this one,  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow stays close to Washington's tale of Ichabod Crane, the new schoolmaster of Sleepy Hollow, his ambitions to marry local rich girl, Katrina Van Tassle, and his fateful run in with the headless horseman.

As with what you'd expect from a Hallmark production, this movie tends to be stagey and it's limited budget shows. Most of the cast are capable, but not noteworthy, with a couple of exceptions, which I'll get to in a moment. Paul Lemelin, who plays Brom Bones seems terribly miscast. His whole look and demeanor, and especially his air suggest an actor better suited as the generically handsome boyfriend on The Facts of Life. On the plus side, Vlasta Vrana  plays Baltus Van Tassle, Katrina's father in a spirited manner that suggests he sees Ichabod for the fool that he is which brings life to scenes that he shares with  Ichabod. Brent Carver is a great Ichabod Crane. He reminded me of a lighter Brad Dourif. Carver looks just like we all imagine Ichabod to look like and plays him as a pompous self-assured fool who views himself superior than those around him, convincing many of them that this is true, but completely unaware of the disdain and ridicule aimed at him by anyone who sees through his pretenses. Washington's Crane was not a likable fellow either so his encounter with the headless horseman is a case of just desserts.

As for the headless horseman. This movie spends a great deal of time with Ichabod (it is his story after all) padding out Washington's slight story to fill the running time. Instances which could have provided nice exciting, spooky visual interruptions to the more mundane aspects of the story are not taken advantage of, and when Ichabod and the Horseman finally do meet, it is a very brief sequence, maybe five minutes long total, that's filmed without any flair or excitement, and it's often confusing who is where. That, and the special effects are pretty hokey. The story tries to have it both ways on whether the headless horseman is really Brom Bones, or a ghost, but succeeds with neither.

I don't regret watching it, but it moves a bit slowly and suffers from missed opportunities. My kids were bored by it. It feels like a made for tv Halloween special from about 30 years ago, meaning it has no real scares and nothing terribly memorable to it; the visual equivalent of one of the bite-sized candy bars in abundnace in October. It's the sort of thing I'd gladly have sat through as a kid on a rainy Autumn night which makes me like it more than it probably deserves.



  

31 Days of Halloween - Day 5

Walt Disney's extremely popular television series, Zorro (1957-1959), which starred Guy Williams, Gene Sheldon, Henry Calvin, George J. Lewis, and Don Diamond, may seem like an odd choice for inclusion in a Halloween Countdown, but there's one episode from early in the first season that is especially deserving.

Episode 4, "The Ghost of the Mission," written and directed by Norman Foster, aired on October 31, 1957. This episode continues a storyline begun in the first episode in which Don Nacho Torres (Jan Arvan)  was arrested for speaking out against the corrupt Commandante, Capitan Monastario (Britt Lomond), and later rescued by Zorro who took him to sanctuary in the local mission.  Unable to coerce Torres out of the mission using other means, Monastario creates a false concern about attacking Indians to give him license to occupy the mission as a means of protecting it. What he's really trying to do is keep anyone from bringing food or water to Torres. Monastario's cruelty then extends to whipping the local, peaceful Indians, and forcing them to perform backbreaking labor as a means of guilting Torres into surrendering into his hands so he'll stop punishing the Indians.

Zorro (Guy Williams) devises a scheme to rid the mission of Monastario and his men and to free the Indians using a manufactured legend about the ghost of a mad monk who haunts the mission. In his civilian guise of Don Diego de la Vega he sows of his plan by relating the made up legend of the ghost to gullible Seargent Garcia (Henry Calvin), who grows more and more apprehensive with each detail. The power of suggestion set in motion, Garcia later passes on the story to the other lancers stationed at the mission.

That night, just like in Diego's tale, the tell tale signs of the ghost monk's presence makes themselves known. The mission bells ring on their own, actually managed by Diego's servant Bernardo's (Gene Sheldon) use of a slingshot, rattling chains and eerie moaning sounds are heard, and then the hooded, faceless ghost of the monk is spotted and chaos ensues as panicked lancers run for cover and Monastario suspecting this is a trick tries to uncover the culprit. During the confusion, Zorro manages to set the Indians free and upset Monastario's plans.

What makes this episode particularly noteworthy for the season, is that it recycled a number of spooky sound effects that Disney's legendary sound designer, and voice of Mickey Mouse after Walt Disney's voice became too hoarse from smoking, Jimmy Macdonald (1906-1991) had created for early animated films such as the short film Lonesome Ghosts (1937), and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow half of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).

The headless horseman's distinct laughter as well as several moaning ghost sounds from Lonesome Ghosts are used throughout the second half of the episode as the eerie moaning and ghoulish laughter of the faceless monk. Many of the ghostly sounds from Lonesome Ghosts, particularly the distinct yawning moan of the stretching ghost at the beginning will also be recognizable from the classic Walt Disney record Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.

You can watch the complete episode of "The Ghost of the Mission" by following the links below. Part 3 has the sequence with the ghost of the monk.

Zorro: The Ghost of the Mission - part 1

Zorro: The Ghost of the Mission - part 2

Zorro: The Ghost of the Misssion - part 3

Below are links to the animated short, Lonesome Ghosts, as well as the headless horseman sequence from the Legend of Sleepy Hollow portion of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.

Lonesome Ghosts

Legend of Sleepy Hollow - part 5


    

31 Days of Halloween - Day 7 - Movie 2

Filmed near the actual location of the story, The Headless Horseman (1922) is an adaptation of Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow starring Will Rogers in the role of Ichabod Crane. Rogers comes off as more charming than clueless and unlikeable making him more sympathetic than Brom Bones (Ben Hendricks, Jr.) who plays one prank on Ichabod that goes too far, endangering his life. The rivalry between them over Katrina Van Tassel (Lois Meredith) takes much of the focus of this adapation and is handled well. Another running plot involves the innkeeper's wife's hatred of Ichabod. Her desire to see him thrown out of town grows into accusations of witchcraft and associating with devils being made against the school master.

The scenes with the headless horseman are the weakest parts of this movie, which may be due to the murkiness of the print available through Alpha Video more than anything. When first introduced as a spectral character, the headless horseman is depicted as transparent with a skeletal arm. Unfortunately the background overcomes the image of the ghost and his mount so that they are hard to see. The fact that the horseman has trouble mounting his horse (it takes two tries) diminishes his menace immediately. During the climactic chase between the headless horseman and Ichabod Crane its hard to see the headless horseman at all, as his dark form constantly blends into the dark surroundings.

Unlike most adaptations that came after the Disney cartoon, this movie does not set the story during Halloween, nor does it transform the pumpkin the headless horseman carries into a jack o'lantern. This movie also makes it quite clear as to whether or not the headless horseman is a supernatural being, or Brom Bones playing a prank.

The movie is pretty mediocre overall. I only recommend it if you're curious to see another adaptation of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, otherwise stick with the Disney adaptation.



  

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2

 A couple of months ago, Robert Pope asked me "what movie or tv show, without which, would greatly diminish or even negate the Halloween experience?" It brought to mind a post from my first Halloween Countdown here about what I considered to be the perfect Halloween movie marathon. I've been meaning to revisit that post and see if it was still relevant to me four years later. Surprisingly it did. Rather than simply rehash it here, I thought I'd give some more reasoning to why I chose what I did. So here then is what I would consider my essential Halloween viewing.

1. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" half of The Adventures of Ichadod and Mr. Toad (1949) or "The Night on Bald Mountain" sequence from Fantasia (1940). I like to intersperse shorts into any movie marathon. They serve as nice intermission pieces, almost like palette cleansers before moving on to the next course, and animation works as a nice contrast to a live action feature film. Just as movie theaters used to show a short before the main feature, I like to start with one, too. The two I've chosen are pretty long for animated shorts, but both really serve the purpose of properly setting the mood for a Halloween movie marathon. Disney's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is the visual version of a hot cup of apple cider with a cinnamon stick in it. "The Night on Bald Mountain" has a darker atmosphere suggesting the witching hour is upon us no matter the true time of day. Either of these makes for a perfect way to start a true Halloween viewing experience.

2. The Haunting (1963). This is the pinnacle of haunted house movies (The Changeling (1980) is a close second). The movie starts with a real chilling bang with the sequence relating the house's history imparting a dark atmosphere on everything that comes after. I decided last year when I began my own month long marathon by watching it that it is the perfect movie to start with. With this movie the mood is set and there's no turning back.

3. The Tell-Tale Heart (1953) This is a gorgeous experimental short designed by Paul Julian with a perfect voice over narration by James Mason who reads the Edgar Allan Poe story over unsettling visuals. Again, I wanted to intersperse a short between features and following The Haunting, it seemed like anything with any humor in it would appear frivolous and would change the mood that we've been carefully cultivating. 

4. Frankenstein (1931) Whether it's windy and rainy outside, or you just want to make it feel that way, Frankenstein is the perfect choice to invoke that dreary autumnal feeling (vs the crisp autumnal atmosphere). It's also the classic horror movie and features one of the best monster designs ever to be shown on screen played to perfection by Boris Karloff. The rest of the cast is pretty darned good as well.  I'm a tremendous fan of the classic Universal horror films, warts and all, and Halloween wouldn't feel complete without at least a couple of them. 

5. Bride of Frankenstein (1935) breaks my intent of separating two features with a short, but it would seem jarring to do so here. Paired with it's predecessor, these two movies are the crowning jewels of Universals monster films. Whether, or not, it's superior to Frankenstein is beside the point here. Superior sets and a great deal more levity than seen in Frankenstein not only reinforce the dreary autumnal weather we began to invoke, but serves as a nice segue to bring some light-hearted fare into our holiday viewing.

6. Water, Water, Every Hare (1952) There are a lot of great choices from the Looney Tunes canon to choose from, but this remains my favorite of the genre related shorts. It's beautifully atmospheric with some gorgeous backgrounds and Bugs Bunny does his usual great job out foxing his opponents, in this case a mad scientist and his monster. 

7. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) Required Halloween viewing. Without it, just like the Great Pumpkin, Halloween will not appear. As a kid I always wondered what the Great Pumpkin looked like, and as I grew older I realized that no matter what, if he were ever actually seen, it would be a complete disappointment. 

8. The Wolf Man (1941) Back to Universal. It may not be the best of the Universal monster movies, but it's my favorite. Not only does it have a great cast including Lon Chaney, Jr. as the most sympathetic monster in movie history, but it does a good job capturing the spirit of the holiday. Larry Talbott transforms into a monster just as kids everywhere change into an entirely different persona by putting on their costumes and heading off into the night. 

9. Lonesome Ghosts (1937) There were a few Mickey Mouse cartoons I could have picked, but this on wins out because it not only contains Mickey, Donald Duck, and Goofy during the tail end of the period of my favorite look for the characters (and the Mickey Mouse shorts overall) but it includes sound effects  that were later included in the classic Chilling, Thrilling Sounds from the Haunted Mansion record album. It's a fun short in which the trio play ghostbusters and end up stymied by  various suprnatural special effects employed by the ghosts. 

10. The House on Haunted Hill (1959) Just as I believe that It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and at least a couple of the Universal monster movies are essential viewing during the Halloween season, I also believe that a movie starring Vincent Price is required. The Roger Corman movies inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe might be more atmospheric, but The House on Haunted Hill seems perfectly suited for the holiday. It's a playfully macabre film full of tricks and treats as well as one of the best staged bits of misdirection leading into a scare to be found in any movie. 

11. Trick or Treat (1952) This Donald Duck short with its catchy theme song may have been responsible for turning the actual act of trick or treating into a central part of Halloween. Aside from its significant impact on the holiday, it's a great looking cartoon filled with nice Halloween visuals and Donald Duck as his nasty self as he proves to be the perfect match against a well meaning witch out to teach him a lesson for spoiling Donald's nephews' Halloween fun.

12. Brides of Dracula (1960) Probably my favorite monster movie of all time. The first third is absolutely perfect, and each act after that contains dialogue and visual gems that ignite the imagination and almost make you giddy with pleasure over just how inventive, exciting and fun a horror movie can be. The color scheme and gothic trappings of this movie also scream "Halloween."

13. Vincent  (1982). Tim Burton's ode to Vincent Price is thematically and visually perfect for the holiday and brings us back to black and white. 

14. Night of the Living Dead (1968) One of the things I love about this movie is that it serves as a bridge between what are considered the "classic" horror movies of the 1920s-1960s and the "modern" horror movies which really came into their own in the 1980s, even though groundwork was being laid in the 1970s and even late 1960s with this movie and Rosemary's Baby. Fans of horror movies tend to be divided into two camps, those who love the "classic" stuff and those who love the "modern" stuff. There's plenty of modern horror I love, but my heart really belongs to the classics. Night of the Living Dead really feels like both, which makes it close to being the quintessential horror movie; both new and antiquated at once. Dreamlike in many ways, it's a nice way to work towards our finale.

15. The Skeleton Dance (1929) There's something about the way Halloween was celebrated in the 1920s that makes it seem like a completely different animal that what we do now even though it contains so much of the iconography that we associate with the holiday; bats, Jack O'Lanterns, owls, spiders, graveyards and skeletons. This movie has all of those things, especially the skeletons. It's like showing Halloween from the source. 

16. Nosferatu (1922) or The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Silent movies have a dream-like quality to them making them the perfect way to close a lengthy Halloween movie marathon. There others I could substitute, but these two seem to fit the season the best. 


No doubt many of you are wondering where a particular John Carpenter movie is. Truth to tell, while I enjoy the movie, there's not a lot to it that really says "Halloween" to me beyond the title. The movies I chose all evoke to me the spirit of the holiday and the season, in ways that are most likely only apparent to me. Movies made after 1970 generally do not have that quality present in them, though I keep hoping someone will make one that does. 


I'm curious what everyone else would include for their Halloween marathons. 






                                

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Are you wondering what you should watch this month, or what you should avoid watching? Between 2006, when the Halloween countdown began, and 2011 I watched 268 different movies during the Halloween season. Below are links to each of the movies I watched arranged in alphabetical order.

Now pop the popcorn and pick something out for what I hope is a dark and stormy night -- the perfect atmosphere to watch these under.



Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
The Alligator People (1959)
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
Baron Blood (1972)
Bay of Blood (Twitch of the Death Nerve) (1972)
The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
The Birds (1963)
The Black Room (1935)
Black Sabbath (1963)
The Black Scorpion (1957)
Black Sheep (2006)
Black Sunday (1960)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Blood of Dracula (1957)
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
The Burrowers (2008)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
Captive Wild Woman (1943)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Cat's Eye (1985)
Chamber of Horrors (1966)
The Changeling (1980)
Chilean Gothic (2000)
Chosen Survivors (1974)
The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
Count Yorga - Vampire (1970)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
Creature With the Atom Brain (1955)
The Creeping Flesh (1973)
Cronos (1993)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Curse of the Fly (1965)
The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)
Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
A Dark and Stormy Night (2009)
Darkman (1990)
The Day the World Ended (1956)
Dead of Night (1945)
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Devils of Darkness (1965)
Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Dr. X (1932)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula - (Spanish language version) (1931)
Dracula (The Horror of Dracula) (1958)
Dracula (1973)
Dracula (1979)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)
The Edgar Allan Poe Collection - Annabel Lee
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Eyes Without a Face (1962)
Flip (2004)
The Fly (1986)
Food of the Gods (1976)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
Frankenstein (1910)
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein (2004)
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1973)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Frankenstein vs Baragon (Frankenstein Conquers the World) (1965)
Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)
Frankenweenie (1984)
Freaks (1932)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Fright Night (1985)
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)
The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
The Ghoul (1933)
The Giant Claw (1957)
Gorgo (1961)
The Gorgon (1964)
Gorilla at Large (1954)
The Green Slime (1968)
The H-Man (1958)
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 4 - "Pickman's Model" 
Halloween (1978)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween - The Happy Haunting of America (1997)
The Hand of Death (1962)
The Haunting (1963)
Haxan (1922)
The Headless Horseman (1922)
The Hideous Sun Demon (1959)
Horror Express (1973)
Horror Island (1941)
The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
The Host (2006)
House of Frankenstein (1944)
House of Horrors (1946)
House of 1000 Corpses (2002)
How to Make a Monster (1958)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
Insidious (2010)
Invaders From Mars (1986)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
Island of Lost Souls (1933)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007)
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)
Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966)
Konga (1961)
Laid to Rest (2009)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Leopard Man (1943)
Let the Right One In (2008)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Lifeforce (1985)
Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997)
The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Mad Love (1935)
The Mad Monster (1942)
Madhouse (1974)
The Man From Planet X (1951)
Man Made Monster (1941)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1971)
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
Martin (1977)
The Mask (1961)
Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Matango (1963)
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Mimic (1997)
The Mist (2007)
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
Monster House (2006)
The Monster Maker (1944)
Monster On the Campus (1958)
The Monster Squad (1987)
Moon of the Wolf (1972)
The Mummy (1959)
The Murder Mansion (1972)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
Mystery in the Wax Museum (1933)
Mystics in Bali (1981)
Night Monster (1942)
Night of the Demon (1957)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Night Tide (1961)
Night Watch (2004)
A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Nightmare Castle (1965)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 - Freddy's Revenge (1985)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 -  Dream Warriors (1987)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master (1988)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 5 - The Dream Child (1989)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Orphanage (2007)
The Others (2001)
Paranoiac (1963)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
Phantasm (1979)
Phantasm II (1988)
Poltergeist (1982)
Puppet Master (1989)
Puppet Master II (1991)
Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991)
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Miles to Earth) (1967)
Re-Animator (1985)
[Rec] (2007)
The Reptile (1966)
The Return of Count Yorga (1971)
The Return of Doctor X (1939)
The Return of Dracula (1958)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
Revenge of the Creature (1955)
Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Rogue (2007)
The Ruins (2008)
Santo contra la hija de Frankenstein (1972)
Santo en el tesoro de Dracula (1969)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
The Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
The Sentinel (1977)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The She-Creature (1956)
Shivers (The Parasite Murders) (1975)
The Skull (1965)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Slither (2006)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Son of Kong (1933)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Splinter (2008)
Squirm (1976)
Sssssss (1973)
Strange Invaders (1983)
The Strangers (2008)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Tales of Terror (1962)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Them! (1954)
They Live (1988)
The Thing (1982)
The Thing (2011)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
13 Ghosts (1960)
Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007)
Trailer Park of Terror (2008)
Trick R Treat (2007)
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Twice Told Tales (1963)
The Undying Monster (1942)
The Vampire (1957)
Vault of Horror (1973)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Village of the Giants (1965)
Voodoo Island (1957)
The Walking Dead (1936)
War of the Gargantuas (1966)
The Werewolf (1956)
Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory (1961)
White Zombie (1932)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Witchcraft (1964)
The Woman Who Came Back (1945)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Zombie (1979)
Zombies of Broadway (1945)
The Zombies of Mara Tau (1957)

31 Days of Halloween - Day 1 - Spooky Bonus

This year, like all year's past, I'll be watching horror movies every day in October and posting about them on this blog. I don't know how many movies are on the list below, somewhere between 500-600, I'm guessing, but the list represents all of the movies I've watched for the Countdown to Halloween beginning with 2006 and ending with last year. If you are stumped for something to watch, there are plenty of movies to choose from. Click on any title to see what I thought about it.

Recommendation: For best results watch late at night and alone.


Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Absentia (2011)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
The Alligator People (1959)
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957)
American Mary (2012)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Antiviral (2012)
Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)
Attack of the Puppet People (1958)
Attack the Block (2011)
Audition (1999)
The Awakening (2011)
Bag of Bones (2011)
Baron Blood (1972)
The Bat (1959)
Bay of Blood (Twitch of the Death Nerve) (1972)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006)
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
Big Ass Spider (2013)
The Birds (1963)
The Black Cat (1934)
Black Friday (1940)
The Black Room (1935)
Black Sabbath (1963)
Black Death (2010)
The Black Scorpion (1957)
Black Sheep (2006)
Black Sunday (1960)
Blacula (1972)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Blob (1958)
The Blob (1988)
Blood of Dracula (1957)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
Brainiac (1962)
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
The Burrowers (2008)
Byzantium (2012)
Cabin in the Woods (2011)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
The Call of Cthulhu (2005)
Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974)
Captive Wild Woman (1943)
The Captured Bird (2012)
The Car (1977)
Carrie (1976)
Castle Freak (1995)
The Cat and the Canary (1927)
The Catman of Paris (1946)
Cat's Eye (1985)
Chamber of Horrors (1966)
The Changeling (1980)
Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)
Child's Play (1988)
Chilean Gothic (2000)
Chosen Survivors (1974)
Christine (1983)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
The Comedy of Terrors (1963)
The Corpse Vanishes (1942)
Corridors of Blood (1958)
Count Yorga - Vampire (1970)
The Crater Lake Monster (1977)
The Crawling Eye (1958)
Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)
The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)
Creature With the Atom Brain (1955)
The Creeping Flesh (1973)
The Creeping Terror (1964)
Cronos (1993)
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
Curse of the Fly (1965)
The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964)
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)
Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
A Dark and Stormy Night (2009)
Dark City (1998)
The Dark Eyes of London/The Human Monster (1939)
Dark Tales of Japan (2004)
Darkman (1990)
Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957)
The Day the World Ended (1956)
Daybreakers (2009)
The Dead (2010)
Dead of Night (1945)
Dead Silence (2007)
The Deadly Mantis (1957)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The Devil's Backbone (2001)
Devil's Mile (2014)
The Devil's Rain (1975)
Devils of Darkness (1965)
Diary of the Dead (2007)
Die, Monster, Die! (1965)
Dr. Cyclops (1940)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972)
Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Dr. X (1932)
Dogora (1964)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (1973)
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula - (Spanish language version) (1931)
Dracula (The Horror of Dracula) (1958)
Dracula (1973)
Dracula (1979)
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972)
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)
Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula's Daughter (1936)
Drag Me to Hell (2009)
Duel (1971)
The Dunwich Horror (1970)
The Earth Dies Screaming (1965)
The Eclipse (2009)
The Edgar Allan Poe Collection - Annabel Lee
Empire of the Ants (1977)
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
Eyes Without a Face (1962)
Faust (1926)
The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
Final Destination (2000)
The Final Destination (2009)
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Final Destination 3 (2006)
First Man Into Space (1959)
Flip (2004)
The Fly (1986)
Food of the Gods (1976)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
Frankenstein (1910)
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein (2004)
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1973)
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943)
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
Frankenstein vs Baragon (Frankenstein Conquers the World) (1965)
Frankenstein's Daughter (1958)
Frankenweenie (1984)
Frankenweenie (2012)
Freaks (1932)
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)
Friday the 13th (2009)
Fright Night (1985)
From Beyond the Grave (1973)
The Frozen Ghost (1945)
Funhouse (1981)
The Gate (1987)
Genocide (1968)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)
The Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
Ghostbusters (1984)
The Ghoul (1933)
The Giant Claw (1957)
The Giant Gila Monster (1959)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Goke, Body Snatcher from Hell (1968)
The Golem (1920)
Gorgo (1961)
The Gorgon (1964)
Gorilla at Large (1954)
The Green Slime (1968)
Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
The H-Man (1958)
The H.P. Lovecraft Collection: Volume 4 - "Pickman's Model" 
Halloween (1978)
Halloween (2007)
Halloween II (2009)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
Halloween - The Happy Haunting of America (1997)
The Hand of Death (1962)
The Haunted Palace (1963)
The Haunting (1963)
Haxan (1922)
The Headless Horseman (1922)
Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
Hellraiser (1987)
Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996)
Hellraiser: Deader (2005)
Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2001)
Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)
Hellraiser: Inferno (2000)
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)
The Hidden (1987)
The Hideous Sun Demon (1959)
Higanjima (2009)
Hold That Ghost (1941)
The Hole (2009)
Homicidal (1961)
Horror Express (1973)
Horror Island (1941)
The Horror of Party Beach (1964)
The Host (2006)
House (1977)
House of Frankenstein (1944)
House of Horrors (1946)
House of 1000 Corpses (2002)
House of the Devil (2009)
The House That Dripped Blood (1970)
How to Make a Monster (1958)
The Howling (1981)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
I Eat Your Skin (1964)
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
Inferno (1980)
The Innkeepers (2011)
Insidious (2010)
Invaders From Mars (1986)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
Island of Lost Souls (1933)
Island of Terror (1966)
Island of the Alive (1987)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
It Came From Beneath the Sea (1955)
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
It Lives Again (1978)
It! - The Terror Beyond Space (1958)
It's Alive (1974)
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007)
Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Jeepers Creepers 2 (2003)
Jekyll (2007)
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)
Ju-On: The Grudge (2002)
Kill, Baby...Kill! (1966)
Kiss of the Damned (2012)
Konga (1961)
Laid to Rest (2009)
The Last Warning (1929)
The Last Winter (2006)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)
The Leopard Man (1943)
Let the Right One In (2008)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Lifeforce (1985)
The Living Skeleton (1968)
Lizzie Borden Took An Ax (2014)
The Lords of Salem (2012)
Lugosi: Hollywood's Dracula (1997)
M (1931)
The Mad Ghoul (1943)
Mad Love (1935)
The Mad Monster (1942)
Mad Monster Party (1967)
Madhouse (1974)
The Man From Planet X (1951)
Man Made Monster (1941)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1971)
The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)
The Man Who Laughs (1928)
The Manster (1959)
Mark of the Vampire (1935)
Martin (1977)
The Mask (1961)
Masque of the Red Death (1964)
Matango (1963)
The Maze (1953)
Meet Me In St. Louis (1944)
Men In Suits (2012)
Messiah of Evil (1973)
Mimic (1997)
The Mist (2007)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
The Mole People (1956)
The Monolith Monsters (1957)
Monster House (2006)
The Monster Maker (1944)
The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)
Monster On the Campus (1958)
The Monster Squad (1987)
Moon of the Wolf (1972)
Mother of Tears (2007)
The Mummy (1932)
The Mummy (1959)
The Mummy's Curse (1944)
The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
The Mummy's Hand (1940)
The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
Munster Go Home (1966)
The Munster's Revenge (1980)
The Murder Mansion (1972)
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
The Mutations (1974)
Mystery in the Wax Museum (1933)
Mystics in Bali (1981)
Nadja (1994)
Night Monster (1942)
Night of the Blood Beast (1958)
Night of the Demon (1957)
Night of the Eagle (1962)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Night Tide (1961)
Night Watch (2004)
Nightbreed (1990)
A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Nightmare Castle (1965)
A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 - Freddy's Revenge (1985)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 -  Dream Warriors (1987)
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 - The Dream Master (1988)
A Nightmare On Elm Street 5 - The Dream Child (1989)
Nosferatu (1922)
Not of This Earth (1957)
Oculus (2013)
Orphan (2009)
The Orphanage (2007)
The Others (2001)
Paranoiac (1963)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
Phantasm (1979)
Phantasm II (1988)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
The Phantom Creeps (1939)
Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
Pillow of Death (1945)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Planet of the Vampires (1965)
Poltergeist (1982)
Prophecy (1979)
Puppet Master (1989)
Puppet Master II (1991)
Puppet Master III: Toulon's Revenge (1991)
Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)
Quatermass and the Pit (Five Million Miles to Earth) (1967)
The Quatermass Experiment/The Creeping Unknown (1955)
Queen of Blood (1966)
The Raven (1935)
Re-Animator (1985)
[Rec] (2007)
The Reptile (1966)
The Return of Count Yorga (1971)
The Return of Doctor X (1939)
The Return of Dracula (1958)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
The Return of the Vampire (1944)
Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)
Revenge of the Creature (1955)
Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Rogue (2007)
The Ruins (2008)
Santo contra la hija de Frankenstein (1972)
Santo en el tesoro de Dracula (1969)
Santo y Blue Demon contra Dracula y el Hombre Lobo (1973)
Santo y Matequlla Napoles en La vengganza de la llorona (1974)
The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Scanners (1981)
Scars of Dracula (1970)
Scream, Blacula, Scream (1973)
The Secret of the Blue Room (1933)
The Sentinel (1977)
The 7th Victim (1943)
The Shadow of the Cat (1961)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
The She-Creature (1956)
Shivers (The Parasite Murders) (1975)
Shock Waves (1977)
Shutter Island (2010)
The Skull (1965)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Slither (2006)
Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Son of Kong (1933)
Sorrows of Satan (1926)
Space Amoeba (1970)
Spider Baby (1967)
The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
Splinter (2008)
Squirm (1976)
Sssssss (1973)
Stanley (1972)
Strange Invaders (1983)
The Strangers (2008)
Suspiria (1977)
Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Tales of Terror (1962)
Tarantula (1955)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
Them! (1954)
They Live (1988)
The Thing (1982)
The Thing (2011)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
13 Ghosts (1960)
30 Days of Night (2007)
Tormented (1960)
Track of the Moon Beast (1976)
Trail of the Screaming Forehead (2007)
Trailer Park of Terror (2008)
Tremors (1990)
Trick R Treat (2007)
Trilogy of Terror (1975)
Trollhunter (2010)
Twice Told Tales (1963)
Twins of Evil (1971)
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
The Undying Monster (1942)
The Vampire (1957)
The Vampire Bat (1933)
Vampire Circus (1972)
Vampyr (1932)
Vampyres (1974)
Vault of Horror (1973)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Village of the Giants (1965)
Viy (1967)
Voodoo Island (1957)
Wake Wood (2011)
The Walking Dead (1936)
War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Weird Woman (1944)
The Werewolf (1956)
Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory (1961)
Werewolf of London (1935)
White Zombie (1932)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Witchcraft (1964)
Witchfinder General (1968)
The Witch's Mirror (1960)
The Wolf Man (1942)
The Wolfman (2010)
The Woman Who Came Back (1945)
The X from Outer Space (1967)
Young Frankenstein (1974)
Zombie (1979)
Zombies of Broadway (1945)
The Zombies of Mara Tau (1957)