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Post by BingFan on Oct 28, 2022 18:29:53 GMT
I hope folks don’t mind that I’ve started a Halloween movie thread in the “Holiday favorites” board. I was about to go to the “Horror” board, but then realized that many/most of my favorite Halloween movies aren’t really horror movies.
I suppose “Holiday favorites” might suggest just Christmas movies (“the holiday season,” “happy holiday,” etc.). On the other hand, “Holiday favorites” might also include movies we enjoy watching around other holidays, like Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s, Easter, and Independence Day, among others. I can think of many movies that could be associated with these other holidays.
So I opted for a more expansive use of “Holiday favorites” — hope it makes sense!
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Post by BingFan on Oct 28, 2022 19:36:39 GMT
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m not much of a watcher of movies with a horror or supernatural theme, but there are some that I do enjoy watching around Halloween, along with movies in other genres that seem to fit this holiday.
Here are my Halloween favorites — what are yours?
Arsenic and Old Lace — This Frank Capra/Cary Grant comedy is about two elderly sisters, Grant’s aunts, who have a kind-hearted but macabre way of relieving old men of their loneliness. It’s one the few movies I know of that’s explicitly set on Halloween. This broad black comedy has a great cast: in addition to Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, and, as the two sisters, Josephine Hull and Jean Adair.
Blithe Spirit — Based on Noel Coward’s stage comedy, this is the story of a mystery writer (Rex Harrison) who asks a “medium” (Margaret Rutherford) to conduct a seance as a way of getting material for his next book. I don’t want to include any spoilers, but I think it’s probably OK to say that an unexpected ghost story ensues.
Cat People (the 1943 version) — A horror story, produced by Val Lewton, about a Serbian woman (Simone Simon) living in New York who worries that her passion for her new husband (Kent Smith) may turn her into a different creature entirely, according to an old legend. This was, I believe, the first of several very effective horror movies that Lewton famously produced on low budgets. Among his other movies, I’d also recommend The Seventh Victim and I Walked with a Zombie.
Orphee — Jean Cocteau’s story of Orpheus going into the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice. The film is set in 1940s Paris, where Orpheus is portrayed as a famous poet. A strange but fascinating movie.
Portrait of Jennie — An impoverished artist (Joseph Cotten) meets young Jennie (Jennifer Jones) in Central Park and becomes obsessed with her — but isn’t sure that she really exists. Ethel Barrymore, Cecil Kellaway, Lillian Gish, and David Wayne fill out the excellent cast. There’s really nothing like this engrossing fantasy.
The Spiral Staircase — A “horror noir” set against the backdrop of serial murders of young women with disabilities. The story focuses on a young woman (Dorothy McGuire) who is mute and works as a servant in a big spooky house. Ethel Barrymore, George Brent, Elsa Lanchester, Kent Smith, and Rhonda Fleming are part of the excellent cast.
The Trouble with Harry — Hitchcock’s dark comedy about a body that just won’t stay buried. John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick, and Jerry Mathers make this one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. The beautiful fall colors of the Vermont setting make it a perfect movie to watch during this time of year.
The Uninvited — A brother and sister (Ray Milland, Ruth Hussey) buy a grand old house on the English coast from a retired naval officer (Donald Crisp), whose granddaughter (Gail Russell) is obsessed with the house’s connection to her late mother. This outstanding ghost story has a light-hearted tone that balances the more fantastic elements.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 28, 2022 21:02:20 GMT
I'd add the Ghost and Mrs. Muir to your outstanding list. One "on the margin" of being Halloween themed that's enjoyable is The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry.
A couple of modern ones I'd recommend are 2001's The Others and 2011's The Awakening.
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Post by BingFan on Oct 28, 2022 21:33:08 GMT
I'd add the Ghost and Mrs. Muir to your outstanding list. One "on the margin" of being Halloween themed that's enjoyable is The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry.
A couple of modern ones I'd recommend are 2001's The Others and 2011's The Awakening. |
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Post by dianedebuda on Oct 29, 2022 16:04:17 GMT
I’ve started a Halloween movie thread in the “Holiday favorites” board.
Makes perfect sense to me. Like you,
I'm not sure I ever watched Blithe Spirit even though I had to memorize a short segment as part of a HS speech class. Need to add that to my ToDo list.
You put Bell, Book and Candle (1958) in your Christmas list, but I'd put it here.
I do like some of the films mentioned so far and agree they'd make good Halloween viewing: Portrait of Jennie, The Trouble with Harry, The Uninvited, and The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Haven't seen the others.
I'd add:
Young Frankinstein (1974)
Dracula, Love at First Bite (1979)
The Dead Zone (1983) one of my favorite movies; watched it 4 or 5 times before I realized it was a Stephen King story 
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1983) Little Shop of Horrors (1986) The Witches of Eastwick (1987) love the John Williams score! Beetlejuice (1988) Weekend at Bernie's (1989) Edward Scissorhands (1990) one of the very few Johnny Depp films that I like
The Addams Family (1991) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) another of my favorite movies
Death Becomes Her (1992) The Sixth Sense (1999)
Mostly comedies or spoofs. Amazed how many of these are from the 80s & 90s. Probably because I couldn't think of many off-hand, so referenced web lists which don't go back very far. But then again, could just be I wasn't entralled by the earlier era ones. I've watched some classic Dracula & Frankenstein flicks, but they don't do much for me. The other earlier ones that I can think of seemed cheesy. Don't know. Seems like there should be a Batman something in there too just because of the bat association. 
Of course, there's the essential It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966).
Think you've inspired me to watch at least Arsenic and Old Lace this year. Haven't seen it in a long time and didn't remember the Halloween connection. Thanks!
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Post by BingFan on Oct 29, 2022 23:06:47 GMT
... Of course, there's the essential It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966). ...
Thanks for the reminder about The Great Pumpkin, a favorite since I was a kid and saw it for the first time probably the year it premiered. We should get out our DVD! By the way, Vince Guaraldi’s full original soundtrack for the show was just released for the first time this year, and it sounds great. The tapes of the recording sessions had been lost, so previous releases had come from the show itself, with overdubbed sound effects and shortened versions of the tunes. The new release, from the newly rediscovered tapes, has the tunes in their original form.
Your list has a movie that wasn’t on my Halloween list but which we watched just last night: Young Frankenstein. While watching it, it struck me that even without Mel Brooks’ usually funny gags, this movie tells the kind of story that you might have seen in one of the classic Universal horror pictures of the 30s and 40s.
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Post by topbilled on Oct 9, 2023 17:32:26 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it.
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Post by Fading Fast on Oct 9, 2023 18:01:50 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it.
"Some movies get better after you've seen them a few times as the plot is almost a distraction to the movie's more enjoyable style and verve, as in Bell Book and Candle. I've always liked this one, but now in my third or fourth viewing in, well, three or four decades, I found I really enjoyed it because I took it in more as a stylized 1950s experience, than a plot-driven story." (full review here: "Bell, Book and Candle")
Now, I look forward to seeing it.
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Post by NoShear on Oct 10, 2023 1:15:29 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it.
"Some movies get better after you've seen them a few times as the plot is almost a distraction to the movie's more enjoyable style and verve, as in Bell Book and Candle. I've always liked this one, but now in my third or fourth viewing in, well, three or four decades, I found I really enjoyed it because I took it in more as a stylized 1950s experience, than a plot-driven story." (full review here: "Bell, Book and Candle")
Now, I look forward to seeing it.
Fading Fast, at one point I hadn't visited the Zodiac Club for a while and had forgotten that the dress was far more dinner jacket than Bohemian... BELL, BOOK and CANDLE was released the same year that the Insomniac, a Beat coffeehouse, opened in Hermosa Beach, California:  The long-gone establishment is not to be confused with the InSoMnIa CAFE, the inspiration for F*R*I*E*N*D*S. |
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Post by NoShear on Oct 10, 2023 14:14:35 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it.
"Some movies get better after you've seen them a few times as the plot is almost a distraction to the movie's more enjoyable style and verve, as in Bell Book and Candle. I've always liked this one, but now in my third or fourth viewing in, well, three or four decades, I found I really enjoyed it because I took it in more as a stylized 1950s experience, than a plot-driven story." (full review here: "Bell, Book and Candle")
Now, I look forward to seeing it.
Regarding your review, Fading Fast: I like your Beat takes - which is to write that I hate you! |
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Post by NoShear on Oct 10, 2023 14:38:11 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it. You 'must' give it a full chance, TopBilled: Ernie Kovacs' humorous Sidney Redlitch portrayal, the lighting, etc. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Oct 10, 2023 23:04:38 GMT
I was looking through these lists...and I don't think I have ever seen BELL BOOK AND CANDLE the whole way through. Not sure if it's because it didn't hold my interest, or if I had been interrupted when I tried to watch it. I agree with the other recommendations. It's a really good cast, including wickedly playful witches Elsa Lanchester and Hermione Gingold, and it's a solid early role for Jack Lemmon before he became a headliner. And it looks like a million; beautiful cinematography by James Wong Howe. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Oct 10, 2023 23:21:59 GMT
I really enjoy Mad Monster Party? (1967), a Rankin/Bass stop-motion feature with Boris Karloff doing the voice of an evil scientist who summons all the big monsters to his island lair. It's a lot of dumb fun watching caricatures of our favorite monsters. It's definitely a detour from the holiday TV specials Rankin/Bass are most famous for, but it's gotten sort of cult-y over the years in its own right.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Oct 23, 2023 13:32:40 GMT
Tootie's Halloween antics are one of my favorite parts of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).  |
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