(This guide is mainly for Halloween nights in, but it does include some helpful costume tips)
Books
The best way to get psyched up for Halloween? Read creepy books in the lead up. I will admit that I’m not a big reader of horror, but these are a few books I think fit the Halloween creepy quota.
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
By Sara Nickerson
This is one I’ve been meaning to do a post on for a while now; it’s been a long time since I’ve read it, but I remember it being particularly creepy. The characters are younger than I normally read about - the main character is twelve – but it’s got all the good makings of a Halloween book; creepy old mansions, a mystery to be solved, kidnapped children and rat-men. What’s also interesting about it is that the narration of the story is done partially through comic panels. I remember it being fast paced, well written and gripping.Angelfall and World After
By Susan Ee
I did some serious raving about Angelfall in a previous post called I Am Obsessed, which pretty much sums up how I feel about it. Despite just being really good, though, Angelfall is quite dark, violent and gory and the sequel, The World After, is even more so. The imagery is really descriptive, and it’s very hard not to get completely immersed in the story. I highly recommend the audiobook; the narrator is really good and the listening experience in general is really intense. As in, super vivid, I-can-still-picture-scenes-from-this, intense. And come on, it’s just SO GOOD.Frankenstein and Dracula
By Mary Shelley and Bram Stoker
These two were actually originally on the list for last week’s blog post as well, until it turned into a rant, directed primarily at myself. Seriously though, where would any Halloween book list be without these two? I’m hoping I can get at least one of these done by this Friday. Bonus points are awarded if you read said books while wearing a Dracula costume, a Frankenstein’s monster costume, or a Frankenstein’s bride costume. Last week’s post also includes Jane Slayre, a vampire infested take on Jane Eyre, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which seems pretty self-explanatory to me. These are also excellent choices when preparing for Halloween.Movies
Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon
My goodness, it does not get much better than this in the way of Halloween movies. Rocky Horror should not be reserved just for Halloween, as it is a timeless classic, befitting any occasion, however, Halloween is prime Rocky Horror watching time. Provided it is frequented with and followed by much singing of the songs, because it’s Rocky Horror. Duh. The Rocky Horror Picture Show, while annoying to type over and over, is one of my favourite movies of all time. It’s funny, clever and creepy, with awesome songs, and is just generally perfect for such an occasion.World War Z (2013)
Starring Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos
I will begin this by saying that I have not read the book, and that people who have read the book hated it because quite a bit of plot got left out in the transition from book to movie. As a stand-alone movie, however, I quite liked it. I went to see this with a group of friends, and just as the movie started, one of my friends said quite loudly “I heard this movie is really scary.” Thank you for that. While it was not as terrifying as he promised , it had a lot of jump scares. It’s not the best movie plot wise; it’s basically Brad Pitt fighting zombies, and that’s it, but as an apocalyptic action movie, it’s pretty awesome. Another good Halloween zombie movie is Zombieland, which takes a more light-hearted approach to the apocalypse, but doesn’t skimp on the action and violence, either.The Polar Express (2004)
Starring Tom Hanks, Chris Coppola, Michael Jeter
Finally, you might be wondering “why is The Polar Express on this list? This is a Christmas movie.” You would be completely right in your assertion, but the reason that this movie is on the list, is that it terrified six year-old me so much that I have not wanted to watch it since. I don’t know about you, but that seems more like Halloween material than Christmas.But seriously, you can fill this with pretty much any horror movie you want. Classic versions of Dracula or Frankenstein are also winners.
Television
Supernatural (2005- )
Starring Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins
Ah Supernatural… I couldn’t not include this one. Seeing as the premise of the show is two brothers , Sam and Dean, driving across the US, hunting evil supernatural creatures, it seems to go without saying that Supernatural is perfect Halloween fodder. I could leave it here, and just say “watch Supernatural” but instead, I’ve made a list of some of the scariest episodes in my opinion. While there is a line of horror that Supernatural doesn’t cross, a lot of the episodes are quite gory, some of them just downright terrifying, and they don’t shy away from violence, so proceed with caution. One thing that is good about it, though, is that there is a limit to how far the gore and creepiness goes, so I know that it won’t extend past the level of horror that I'm comfortable with. Supernatural is really well written, funny, with a lot of attention paid to the mythology of the creatures they fight, but I do think it’s more of a 15+ show. You have been warned.Season 1 Episode 5: Bloody Mary
You know the game where you say “Bloody Mary” three times into mirror? Yeah, well in this episode, it works and, and Bloody Mary appears, and the brothers must stop her before more people die.
Season 1 Episode 11: Scarecrow
A creepy, pagan Scarecrow god demands sacrifices from the town surrounding it for a fertility ritual. This episode includes lots of chasing through corn fields, and man, that scarecrow is creepy. This episode also includes the classic Supernatural line “Dude, you fugly.” The moral of the story is, stay away from both corn fields and scarecrows.
Season 1 Episode 19: Provenance
This episode is about a family portrait from around 1910. Anyone who owns it dies, and when a newlywed couple suffer a painful death, Sam and Dean look into the history of the painting. This is a very clever episode with a really interesting plot twist. Like the next episode, I watched this one in the dark because I’m stupid, but my goodness was it fun.
Season 2 Episode 2: Everybody Loves a Clown
Right? Ahahah NO. Stupid person that I am, I watched this late at night, in the dark, because apparently I thought that would be a good idea. It was ultimately both a very good and very bad decision. A clown appears to children, and then convinces them to let him into their house where the clown then proceeds to murder the child’s parents. I hate clowns.
Season 2 Episode 6: No Exit
Sam and Dean confront the ghost of H. H. Holmes, the first serial killer in American history with the help of [super awesome] Jo, played by Alona Tal, who also played Meg in Veronica Mars. It’s super creepy, and involves a lot of crawling around far underground. Urgh.
Season 4 Episode 7: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester
The ultimate Halloween must-watch; a witch is sacrificing innocent people to raise a very bad demon. This is a really cool episode because it goes into detail about the origins and folklore of Halloween. Entertaining, interesting and topical, what’s not to love?
Season 4 Episode 11: Family Remains
The brothers desperately try to stop a family from moving into a haunted house, but who or what is haunting it, and why aren’t they behaving like a normal ghost? I both love and hate this episode; it’s really interesting, and takes some unexpected turns, and it’s really scary but it’s also REALLY SCARY.
The X-files (1993- 2002)
Starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson
Aaagh I love this show! (as evidenced by the I want to Believe poster in my room) The X-files is about two FBI agents, Mulder and Scully who investigate paranormal cases. If Supernatural deals with demons and ghosts and the like, The X-files does UFO’s and government conspiracies… and more! It’s a really good series, and very witty and funny. I was going to make another list of episodes, but pretty much any episode will make for good Halloween viewing. Honourable mention, however, goes to the third episode of season 1, Squeeze, which freaked me a lot. Not because of violence or gore, but because of the brilliant use of creepy music and its excellent timing.So go forth! Grab some popcorn and any Halloween-themed foods, and binge watch to your heart’s content.
And finally, what every one’s been waiting for; some costume advice for those who haven’t yet come up with something:
1. Do not dress up as a sexy Ebola nurse (only 59.99) or patient, because no matter how funny any topical you think you’re being, it’s just wrong
2. Also don’t go as a sexy hamburger or corn, or really any kind of food for that matter
3. To be honest, stay away from sexy costumes all together. And finally;
4. If you go trick or treating and you come to my door, no matter how good your costumes are, you will most likely only get lettuce, because we don’t have candy. (True story)
*******
And that’s it! Happy Halloween!
No comments:
Post a Comment