How can you pick just three?
Do what I did: watch a bucket-load of them and whittle them down to those that are on-theme for Halloween.
You’ve got to be cutthroat. And enjoy it.
#1: Start with a fun one
Hocus Pocus (1993)
It’s a classic that a great many of us have grown up with.
At the time, we laughed at the crazy antics of the Sanderson sisters: a post-Beaches Bette Midler as Winifred, a pre- Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker as another Sarah, and Kathy Najimy as Mary; in between prayers in Sister Act and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.
Hocus Pocus is a spell-binding comedy studded with musical numbers and choreography from High School Musical director Kenny Ortega, a cheeky Thora Birch, John Candy’s wife in The Great Outdoors dressed as Madonna, and that guy, Sean Murray, from NCIS as Thackery Binks. (Did we all think people were saying Zachary with a lisp?)
So, what makes Hocus Pocus such a go-to favourite? It’s actually a lot darker watching it as an adult…
Within the first 15 minutes, a young girl called Emily has her life force sucked out of her, her body is discarded with a blasé comment from Mary, “What? There’s no child here!”, before she flings a throw over the corpse to hide the evidence. The Salem lynch mob aren’t fooled and subsequently truss the witches up onto the makeshift gallows and they are hanged.
Remember – this is a family/ kids’ movie made by Disney.
You also see a zombie (sometimes headless) and a cat flattened in the road my a bus.
There is even a child wearing a Michael Myers mask outside the randy Devil’s house.
Is Hocus Pocus also the first Disney that dared to utter the word virgin? I think so.
I don’t remember turning to my folks and asking: “What’s a virgin?” However, I can imagine the question came up for a lot of unsuspecting mums and dads, almost as many times as it’s mentioned on-screen… to Max’s embarrassment.
It feels weird to look back on it now, but I had a BIG crush on Omri Katz.
I was nine-years-old and a fan of Eerie Indiana, so I was more than happy to receive Hocus Pocus on VHS as a present and the novelty hasn’t worn off.
By that, I’m referring to the film.
While Omri is an awesome actor for nostalgic reasons, my crushes have evolved naturally with age.
If John Krasinski had been in Hocus Pocus 2, I would’ve been very happy now.
There is a fun fact related to Sarah Jessica Parker that I couldn’t resist mentioning…
Her tenth Great Grandmother was actually accused as being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials.
Check out more from her ancestry anecdotes in Parker’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? here.
So, yeah, it’s in her blood.
Way before Hocus Pocus 2 was released, Bette Midler reprised her role as Winifred in costume for her fans.
How do we feel about the sequel?
#2: Sandwich in a comedy-horror
Trick ‘r Treat (2007)
Michael Dougherty has made a fantastic anthology of stories that overlap and co-exist in the definitive Halloween Town.
There’s the pumpkin-carving father, the pack of lupine ladies, the trickster cohort of kids, the grouchy old neighbour with a secret, and the couple who like to role-play for the holidays.
The graphic novel style comes to life in the best Halloween anthology movie to geek-out to.
Yes. It IS the best.
Dylan Baker, to me, is the best creepy villain.
I would be scared of him.
After playing that character in Todd Solondz’s Happiness a little too well, I can’t picture him as anything else.
Plus, Lauren Lee Smith from How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town and The L Word should be in more.
I also appreciated seeing some of the Dead Like Me cast pop up: Britt McKillip as Macy and Christine Willes as the insatiable neighbour, Mrs. Henderson, hosting a sex party.
It’s also great for a second watch to find the clues peppered throughout the film if you missed them. Like I did.
It took me 10 years to acknowledge Mr. Kreeg’s ring and his wheezing almost immediately indicated that he’s the driver from the infamous School Bus Massacre.
The contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood with Anna Paquin’s coming out cotillion is another great foreshadowing example…
Laurie (Paquin) slips into a Little Red Riding Hood costume; she is nervous about her “first time” and referred to, by her sister Danielle (Smith) as the “runt of the litter”.
Having a party at Sheep’s Meadow is another dead give-away that the women are wolves in sheep’s clothing, luring hapless men to the slaughter.
At FanExpoCanada 2016, actor Quinn Lord (pictured above, far right) joined the panel named ‘The Children of Horror’, alongside The Shining’s Danny, The Omen’s Damian, and Friday the 13th’s Jason from the lake.
The Trick ‘r Treat actor told us that his costume for ‘Sam’ (short for Samhain, I think, which we know the meaning of from a Halloween II education) or ‘Peeping Tommy’ had an animatronic face, operated by external puppeteers.
He may have been the stuffing in a suit, but he still played the grotesque demonic pumpkin child well. Peeling back a chocolate bar wrapper to reveal a Stanley knife and crawling across the ceiling made Mr. Kreeg’s segment frighteningly funny.
If you have the DVD or Blu-Ray, watch the super short animation, Seasons Greetings by Dougherty, which portrays the succinct shenanigans of ‘Sam’.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to see the sequel to Trick ‘r Treat…
#3: End on a classic high-note
Halloween (1978)
It just has to be done.
I could stop there but I can rave about classic John Carpenter films infinitely:
The music is phenomenally atmospheric, the William Shatner painted mask is chilling, the final montage unnerves me, and Donald Pleasance has the best monologues. The images of the Wallace house with Michael’s voyeuristic shadow against it is PERFECT.
Although, I did state my case in a previous post as to why I think Laurie Strode is NOT the ultimate ‘Final Girl’ of slasher films…
Was this brave or just a foolish analysis to find fault in one of my all-time favourite films?
The former film student in me doesn’t stop the fan I’ll forever be from watching Halloween every year and loving it with all of my twisted heart.
The imperfections of the iconic independent slasher film add to its charm.
The little things like the cables from the camera equipment that can clearly be seen on the porch during the 1963 opening; to Carpenter’s own cigarette smoke drifting in front of the camera during Nancy’s scene when she shouts, “Hey, creep!” into the bushes.
I want to be friends with Nancy. But isn’t she ALWAYS mean-sassy to Laurie in EVERY scene?
The bigger imperfections are the spatial and temporal verisimilitude of the film… When you religiously watch Halloween as much as I do, you pick up on these idiosyncrasies.
Like this:
Laurie walks from her home to the Myers’ house to drop off a key and she meets Tommy Doyle on the way, who asks: “Why are you walking this way to school?” From this, we understand that Laurie’s journey is a scenic route.
However, later on, the extent of the scenery in between Laurie’s residence and the Doyle house is EPIC.
Here is where it gets confusing:
Annie picks Laurie up to commence with the babysitter’s club and it is clearly daylight. Annie smokes the reefer and stops in town to chat with Dad, Sheriff Leigh Brackett. He is attending to a robbery at the local hardware store. They banter for a bit, featuring one of the best exchanges ever:
Sheriff: “Somebody broke into the hardware store, probably just kids.”
Annie: “You blame everything on kids.”
Sheriff: “Well now, all they took was a Halloween mask, some rope, and a couple of knives.”
Those darn, harmless, pesky Illinois kids!
Then Annie continues driving as the sun begins to set and jibes Laurie about potential dates to the high school dance… which none of them will get to go to.
Cut to the next scene: Annie parks up and it is pitch black. How far did they travel for the time-frame to transition from daytime to night-time?
That was an especially long dusky period if so.
It’s astonishingly jarring but at the same time, it doesn’t matter. The Master of Horror is at work and we are hypnotised into a suspension of disbelief.
That’s the Carpenter magic – he has us in a grip of fear and uncertainty.
There’s more: Annie prepares to meet her boyfriend Paul but realises she has “no ke-eeeeys!” Yet when she returns to the car with the keys in hand, she still doesn’t unlock the door. Instead, we see her try the handle and the door opens instantly.
Speaking of keys…
THIS is my favourite quotable line from the film.
When Laurie is trying to get back into the Doyle’s house. (I have a thing for characters saying their thoughts out loud when they’re alone.)
Did you also notice Michael’s brand of butcher’s knife and its notably outstanding durability?
The robust blade can hold up an impaled Bob against a wall above the ground, without there being enough length to create an exit wound.
Michael is invincible and can make his victims defy gravity at will.
Another goof that bypassed me: Lynda (PJ Soles) phones Laurie but her death-rattle of a telephone call is dialled without even looking at the numbers.
Most rotary phones are not this easy to negotiate for those of us that can remember (I had a toy one). Lynda had skills, even if she says we don’t need books.
Once Michael’s motive for stalking Laurie is revealed in Halloween II, we look back and say “What?”
Admittedly, Carpenter explains that he came up with the script late one night over a six-pack of beer.
The issue: Laurie’s step-father is a realtor for the very house that Laurie’s biological family lived in. It is also the infamous scene of the first murder committed by her brother Michael Myers – the murder of their sister. It is mentioned by the nurse (the one that smokes with those Rabbit in Red matches) that the records were sealed by the court.
Considering this, I’m hoping that Step-father Strode was blissfully unaware and it wasn’t negligence. If he didn’t see the harm in sending Laurie off on the errand that put her on the psychopathic killer’s radar for the rest of her life, then his character has a lot to answer for.
Last year, I did manage to watch Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, and the Rob Zombie Halloween remakes across two nights, along with Friday the 13th, Carrie, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and my flatmate’s somewhat abstract choice: Single White Female.
So, you can indulge in a marathon or curate your own trilogy… but consider any flatmate suggestions carefully.
I hope that it was an enjoyable night to one and all because it’s Halloween – everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
Fourth Wall Breach 