Some of Parker's Halloween Go-Tos

            Like most people, when it comes to holiday movies, I have my favorites. Oftentimes, the bulk of these are things I have watched since I was a child. Thanks to technology, especially Social Media, we have discovered that most of us watch the same stuff: Elf, A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, etc., for X-Mas, and things like Halloween, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the like for Spooky Season. And yet, when it comes to Halloween, I find that there is some variety in the things people watch, perhaps due to the nuance in the celebrations of Halloween across the country and the world. So I started to wonder: what are some of the off-the-wall, atypical movies people watch during the Halloween season? Here are a few of mine:

Freaks

            After the massive success of 1931’s Dracula, director Tod Browning was given creative control over anything he wanted to do for a follow-up project. The result was 1932’s Freaks, a film so disturbing to viewers, so controversial, that it was largely buried and forgotten for decades. Horrified with the finished project, the studio cut the film from an initial 90-minute runtime down to just over an hour (the footage lost to history), and it, in essence, buried Browning’s career.

            Browning, who had run away with a circus at a young age, created a story that revolves around circus sideshow “freaks,” though in a twist, in Browning’s picture, the “freaks” are the protagonists and the handsome and beautiful people are the villains. In it, a sleezy trapeze artist seeks to seduce Hans, a Little Person who is apparently rich. After humiliating him and his friends, the “freaks,” who live by a special code of their own, avenge themselves on their tormentors.

            Browning cast real circus sideshow performers and people with disabilities in his film, shocking audiences, many of whom had not seen such people in real life. As such, the film was largely buried, unearthed years later to become a cult classic.

            To this day, the film is awkward and disturbing, and far ahead of its time. Modern audiences may bristle at the dated term “freak,” and perhaps see their inclusion as exploitative, but that misses the point of his original purpose. During this era between world wars, many monsters of horror were ethic, mostly Eastern European characters, but in Browning's picture, the "freaks" are the victims, and ultimately, the victors. It's a classic, and f you haven’t seen it, give it a watch.

Horror Express

Starring celebrated horror duo Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, Horror Express plays on the classic “murder mystery on a train" motif, though this isn’t your average whodunnit. Professor Sir Alex Saxton travels on the Trans-Siberian Express with an ancient fossil he’d just acquired on an expedition to the Arctic. But this is no simple fossil; it is the frozen remains of something not of this world, something that can kill with a glance and inhabit the body of others. On the train, he meets old friend and occasional rival Dr. Wells (Cushing), and the two horror giants have to battle the monster, which turns out to be an extraterrestrial menace that has been on Earth for millions of years.

            The film is not “great” in any sense of the word, but it has a creepy soundtrack, creepy effects in the white, pupil-less eyes of the monster’s victims, and perhaps one of the most hilarious lines in a horror movie.

The Black Cat (1934)

            Another famous horror duo, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi, starred in many pictures together, the best of which, in my opinion, is 1934’s The Black Cat. In it, two old rivals (Karloff and Lugosi), reunite at a former military installation turned castle to settle scores going back to World War I. Dr. Werdegast (Lugosi), has just been released from a Siberian prison after being betrayed by Herr Poelzig (Karloff) during the war. With a hapless American couple in tow, the two old enemies reunite. Poelzig tells Werdegast his wife and daughter are dead, and while the former is true, the latter is not, as she is still alive and serving as his old enemy’s wife. Not only is Poelzig a Soviet sympathizer and daughter-stealer, but in a strange addition, he also leads a Satanic cult. Oh, and the only aspect from Poe's story is that Lugosi's Werdergast has an irrational, crippling fear of cats.

            Like all the old horror movies, there are some odd, cringy moments in The Black Cat, but is also fairly solid. Combine creepy, psychological horror combined with some pretty horrifying torture for the time period, along with what I think is some of Lugosi and Karloff’s best acting, you have a classic.

The Silence of the Lambs

            Back in 1991, when The Silence of the Lambs won all the Oscars, I was sort of surprised, maybe even a little confused. As an adult, however, I recognize the movie for what it is: a masterpiece. Incredible acting by the cast, uncomfortable close-ups and masterful composition by director Jonathan Demme, a great soundtrack, characters that have become iconic, and some really creepy killer moments make this Oscar winner a Halloween must for me. The story of a young FBI trainee enlisting the help of a brilliant serial killer to hunt down a current killer is familiar, as is the name Hannibal the Cannibal, the character having become legendary ever since the release of the film. But if you haven’t watched it in a while, do so. It is genuine psychological horror at its best.

The Night of the Living Dead (1968)

            The original Night of the Living Dead is one of the greatest horror films ever made. It not only defined a genre, it also created it, as well as the monsters we all know now as “zombies” (called “ghouls” in the original). The story, the idea so familiar in our world today but at the time, revolutionary, follows a group of survivors that hole up together in an abandoned farmhouse while an outbreak of flesh-eating monsters converges on them. Unlike films of the time, even today, there are no explanations offered for the ghouls, they’re just suddenly a thing. Director George Romero further turns expectations on their head by making an African American his main protagonist (again, this was in 1968…). The horror of the film still works because the survivors' isolation in the farmhouse, with nothing but a radio to reach the outside world, feels claustrophobic and real. The film spawned multiple sequels and serves as the inspiration for basically every zombie film since. If you are a horror fan and haven’t seen it, it is time.

Silver Bullet (1985)

         Silver Bullet, based on the novella Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King, follows young Marty (Corey Haim), his divorced, alcoholic Uncle Red (Gary Busey), and big sister Jane (Megan Follows), as they fight to expose and ultimately survive the onslaught of the town's reverend (Everett McGill), who happens to be a werewolf that has been plaguing the town for the last year.

            Silver Bullet is a lot of fun. Full of character actors and genre favorites (Gary Busey, before he went completely batshit crazy, is great as Uncle Red) inhabiting some typically Stephen Kingish atypical protagonists and villains (see: boy in wheelchair; drunk uncle; reverend-werewolf), as well as some untypical Stephen Kingishness in that I find the movie to be better than the novella.   

            King’s novella focuses more on the literal lunar cycle that makes the werewolf come out, while the film rightfully focuses on the human side, even attempting (not entirely successfully) to peer into the psyche of the reverend. The werewolf suit looks a little cringe, but the silver bullet (code name for Marty’s motorized wheelchair) is pretty darn cool. Oh, and there’s a literal silver bullet, too.

What are some of your go-to horror movies and shows for Spooky Season? Send me a message or drop me a comment to let me know!