[tomanderson]

Lately I have been enjoying "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters"...

The first time I saw it I was not too impressed, the 2nd viewing I warmed up to it. It really doesn't take itself seriously at all, it is a sort of "cheeseburger" action movie with monsters and stuff. Vulgar, crude, silly, clever at moments. Good as light popcorn entertainment.

 

[tomanderson]

William Castle's "13 GHOSTS" from 1960...

My favorite Halloween type film, and I'll watch it any old time of the year, too!

 

[tomanderson]

Hocus Pocus
13 Ghosts (1960)
House on Haunted Hill (1958)
Halloween (1978)
Night of the Living Dead
The Murder Mansion


Lately, I have also been enjoying:

Hillbillys in a Haunted House


And for those in a really odd mindset, I just adore this silly film:

The Naked Witch (1961) ...for me at least, this is entertainingly bizarre.

 

[tomanderson]

I've sort of started the season by watching these:

Ruby Gloom
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Nosferatu
and
Mad Max Fury Road.

Now, Mad Max is certainly not a "Halloween film" but it has the wild and crazy thing going for it. Start the mood off with a slightly different flavor...

"13 Ghosts" (1960) will be up next, mebbe...

 

[tomanderson]

Teresa, you've got some great choices in there. Good taste! By the way, I worked on the "Bride of Reanimator"effects crew back in the day, and was in there wiggling some of the puppets in the big scene with all the weird creatures in the crypt. Fine memories of that.

 

[tomanderson]

"Fun Size" is an interesting film. It has Halloween atmosphere but in a distinctly different way...

 

[tomanderson]

I happen to have a 3D VHS of Robot Monster sitting right here, and I've been waiting for the right moment to watch it.

John Carpenter movies are awesome. I visited one of the locations of "Big Trouble In Little China" when they were filming, and briefly met Carpenter and Kurt Russell, who were both really friendly.

Right now I am really enjoying the 1931 Dracula with Bela Lugosi. I have always liked it, but over the years it has gotten better and better for me. I believe it is the first sound horror film, and being at the advent of sound it was a real technical experiment. I applaud Universal for taking the gamble, and of course the gamble paid off very well for them.

 

[tomanderson]

Great lists from you guys !!

I don't have a list right now. But I watched "House on Haunted Hill" (the original, of course...William Castle rules!) just the other evening. Very nice. Light fun type of scary picture.

And a few nights before that, I watched "THE HAUNTING" from 1963. Again, the ORIGINAL, not that other thing they call a remake, which was just okay, not better. But the original "THE HAUNTING," directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Harris, Claire Bloom, Richard Johnson and Russ Tamblyn, that is a real classic of the genre, it has never gotten old for me. In fact I will echo what someone told me a long while back...this film gets SCARIER the older the viewer gets. It's an adult horror film. It has no empty calories. Just good acting, good production, and a nice solid story. I recommend it fifty times over, as a very good film to start the Halloween season movie viewings......

 

[tomanderson]

I've been wanting to get my hands on a copy of Lady in White and was excited to see that it's being released on bluray next month. I still have young kids so we watch all the kid friendly Halloween movies.

"Lady in White" was one of the very first movies I ever worked on, when I started doing movie special effects. I assisted in the building of the Bela Lugosi mask that Lukas Haas wears in the cloakroom scene. "Lady in White" is one of the best films I was ever involved with, and I'm very proud of the little bit that I did on that. I'm glad you enjoy it.

 

[tomanderson]

If I had to pick "just one special" Halloween film, something FUN AND LIGHT, I would have a hard time choosing between "13 Ghosts" (1960) and Disney's "Hocus Pocus".

"Hocus Pocus" might have a little bit of an edge, because it actually takes place on/around Halloween and has lots of Halloween imagery, because it's a big-budget, slickly produced Disney flick with lots of special effects, and because it has a nice stereo sound mix that sounds good on home theatre systems.

But "13 Ghosts" is classic William Castle, in spooky moody black and white, it has a great cast all around (including Martin Milner and Jo Morrow-----among all the OTHER great castmembers!), it was filmed in a real spooky old house in Los Angeles (and partially also in a real museum in Los Angeles!), and it has one of those neato ambiguous William Castle endings that doesn't QUITE make sense but that's part of the fun, for sure.

 

[tomanderson]

Gotta love Disney stuff. Gotta love William Castle.