... that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain. ...
It is autumn. October. A gorgeous October here in the heartland. There are pumpkins on the porches, spider webs (both real and fake) on the bushes, and scarecrows on hay bales. Time for trick-or-treating, leaf-raking (and burning), and the last crickets. Let us celebrate with film, as we do on Friday nights every week.
I want to start with a disclaimer. This diary is not about slasher or gross-out films. I hate films where creepy people jump out from behind the bushes. It seems terribly manipulative, and just unpleasant. An admission: I found Alien difficult to watch, and walked out on Jurassic Park II (although I liked the first one). So if Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street are your idea of great Halloween films, more power to you! But those aren't mine. Feel free to talk about your pick for the best and worst of those in the comments. That is what makes the world of film so wonderful.
Here let us talk the truly magical films dealing with Halloween topics. Those that disturb you, frighten you, and don't necessarily gross you out (or do so unnecessarily -- e.g. Silence of the Lambs). I have a few examples of "Halloween" movies. Please add your selection in the comment section.
Just before Disney got cool (with Splash and subsequent successes) they produced a film of Ray Bradbury's fantastic October book about an autumn carnibal, Something Wicked This Way Comes. With Jason Robards as the librarian/father, and Jonathan Pryce as Mr. Dark, this had two kids who acted pretty well, and a fantastic supporting cast (Pam Grier as the Dust Witch). The Illustrated Man was pretty cool, but Rod Steiger was too creepy for me when I saw it at age 10. I love Bradbury's book The Halloween Tree, which was made into a pretty good cartoon (which replaces one of the boys with a girl, which is really jarring to me).
The Addams Family movies, with Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and Christopher Lloyd, were an absolutely perfect version of the family created by Charles Addams (whose last marriage was in a graveyard, believe it or not). I love Raul Julia in just about anything, and here he was perfection. There was a very fine made-for-tv Addams Family Halloween special as well, Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977). The Harry Potter films are also pretty good at capturing the Halloween spirit. But the books are better...
The story of Dracula has been badly hurt by film. My favourite treatment of the story is one done by the BBC with Louis Jordan as the vampire. But badly dated as it is, the version of the stageplay (1979) with Frank Langella is truly creepy and fine. I like Nosferatu, too, but 2000's Shadow of the Vampire is amazing (Willem Dafoe as a vampire(?) is truly creepy) and at least references the silent classic Nosferatu. Bella Lugosi was also a creepy vampire in 1933, the year of classic horror -- King Kong, Frankenstein, and Dracula all came out that year. Vampires have also leant themselves to humour. George Hamilton was a fine Count Dracula in Once Bitten, and of course the master (mistress) of humourous vampire films is Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Of course, the tv show was fantastic and had great GREAT Halloween episodes, but the original film was brilliant.
Witches have a long history in film as well -- of course the Wicked Witch of the West (the wonderous Margaret Hamilton) is one of the highlights of 1939's The Wizard of Oz. You have the great witch scenes of any of 48 versions of Macbeth that show up on the IMDB list.
Macbeth has both witches and ghosts of course. When one talks about ghosts in the movies, you of course have the glorious chaos of Ghostbusters I and II. There is so much glee in the telling of those stories, you have to forgive complete lapses of logic. The ghosts are the sort of ghosts I figure would haunt an amusement park. The best ghost stories are a tie between Truly, Madly, Deeply, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and Blythe Spirit. Okay, so all of them feature yummy men. So sue me...
Werewolves? You cannot do any better, of course, than An American Werewolf in London. The original Mummy film was fun, but I am fonder of the Brendan Fraser version. You have lots of Disney films with witches and the great section of Fantasia set to "Night on Bald Mountain." The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Disney and Johnny Depp versions) makes a great film as well. Hundreds of other films deal with Halloween or standard Halloween-y creatures. Share yours in the comments.