Sunday, October 03, 2010

31 Things I Love About Halloween: Monster Movie Marathons



Almost as soon as I got a VHS player, I started having horror movie marathons this time of year. For a while, I was able to watch every horror movie in my collection, but my favorites were the Frankenstein films: Kenneth Branagh's, all the Universal ones (including House of Dracula and Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein), and Mad Monster Party.

Eventually though, my collection grew to the point where I was having to start the marathon in July just to get everything in, so now I have to pick and choose. I try to watch the two Addams Family movies every year, then a bunch of classics - some old ones from my collection and others that I've never seen before from Netflix. I also try to pick one series to go through. This year I did a mini-marathon of Charlie Chan's horror-related adventures (Bela Lugosi and Dwight Frye were both in The Black Camel and there were multiple ones that featured spirits and seances), but my official, complete marathon for 2010 is Predator/Alien.

I'm curious, if you feel like sharing: What do you make sure to watch every Halloween in order to feel like you've properly celebrated?

11 comments:

Wings1295 said...

May sound cliche, but I don't give a damn: Halloween and some/all of its sequels (NOT the Zombie trash). Love Michael Myers, the original flick can still scare the beejeebus out of me!

Michael May said...

Not cliche at all. When I started picking one series a year to go through, that was the first one I picked. I love those movies too (except for 3).

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

The Universal films were my earliest exposure to horror and have always been my go to for Halloween night.

Recently I've been trying branch out by dabbling in Hammer Horror. It doesn't quite have the same effect, maybe it has something to do with the age I saw the Universal flicks that give them that nostalgic hook.

Wings1295 said...

Ah, part 3... That is a film you have to enjoy for completely different reasons! hahaha

Ken O said...

My wife doesn't like gory or really scary movies. Last year we started a tradition where we'd alternate movie choices through out the month. She'd pick one and then I got the next one. I'd pick something I knew she could handle; Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, etc.. Then after one of my picks, she'd pick something like the Disney Headless Horseman cartoon or something else a little more kid friendly. We haven't started this year, but will soon. And for the record, Happy Happy Halloween, Halloween. Happy Happy Halloween from Silver Shamrock. There now it's stuck in your head.

Michael May said...

Erik, I'm very uninformed about Hammer, but that's something I mean to correct soon. The few I caught on TV as a kid have stuck with me and I've always wanted to go back and marathon them.

But, like you, I grew up fascinated with the Universal films. We didn't have home theaters in my day (*shakes cane*), so the only exposure I had to the Universal movies was in books that talked about them and occasionally included stills. It was this whole world that I desperately wanted to explore and couldn't.

The first Universal monster movie I ever saw was Son of Frankenstein. Our local children's museum was cool enough to show it on the big screen and my mom was cool enough to take me. I've been hooked ever since.

Michael May said...

Ken, that's a great system. Diane doesn't like real horror movies either, which is one of the reasons we do Addams Family (that and that they're awesome).

I finally picked up Disney's Headless Horseman cartoon this year and I can't wait to watch it again. Bing Crosby's song from it is one of my favorite Halloween tunes.

Michael May said...

Wings, I have yet to discover those reasons. :)

Love your new icon, by the way.

John Rozum said...

I'm enjoying your countdown. I posted my idea of the perfect Halloween marathon here:

http://johnrozum.blogspot.com/2010/10/31-days-of-halloween-day-2.html

and have been running this year's movie viewing each day as a regular feature (which I also did the past four years) if you want to go take a look.

As far as Hammer goes, do not miss "Brides of Dracula" which is their best.

I really liked "Halloween III" and wish the series had progressed with stand alone movies that simply had Halloween as a setting or theme, rather than continuing with the Michael Myers character which should have ended after the first movie.

Austin Gorton said...

I always try to watch an assortment of the Universal movies this time of year (which ones specifically change year to year depending on my mood), as well as Burton's Sleepy Hollow (which has a great "Halloween" feeling to it) and Addams Family.

Also, at least a few Simpsons Treehouse of Horrors and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Michael May said...

Ooh! Sleepy Hollow is a great one! I'm going to have to watch that again this year.

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