Spooky and Not So Spooky Stuff To Watch This Halloween Season
Leaves are falling, the air is getting chillier, and I can finally wear a cardigan while I write this; it’s October! Halloween is upon us and what better way to spend the night in on these October nights than to watch some horror movies! Incase you don’t like those, I’ll also include some fall-vibe movies too.
Horror is where we’ll start and for that I think one of the more important films to watch this Halloween is the one that share’s its namesake: John Carpenter’s (He/Him) Halloween. It gives you that slasher fix and an amazing synth-y score from Carpenter himself. Honestly, most of this list could be John Carpenter movies but besides Halloween I think the other most important film to watch is his movie The Thing. Here’s the thing about The Thing, it’s a horror film with competent protagonists but you also get some whodunnit action too as they try to find out who’s human and who isn’t.
Speaking of whodunnits, my biggest non-horror recommendation for this is going to be Knives Out. A clever Agatha Christie (she/her) style of whodunnit that subverts the genre’s tropes and finds good humor in the mystery it follows. With great performances by Ana De Armas (she/her) and Daniel Craig (he/him) alongside Jamie Lee Curtis (she/her), who’s also in Halloween, there’s bound to be a good time watching this film. If a murder mystery isn’t your speed, I also recommend checking out the fall-vibe romance that is When Harry Met Sally. It’s a film that’s sweet, funny, and did a great job at making me cry.
To finish off this list, I’m circling back to horror and unashamedly plugging my favorite horror series of all: The Evil Dead Series. With three original films and two remakes, every single one offers an almost entirely different experience: horror, campy horror and just campy. Personally, I prefer the originals with their hilarious performances by Bruce Campbell (he/him) as the character of Ash, but the remakes offer some much more terrifying stuff.
With this list of films, all that’s left is to mention that this October will have the 13th landing on a Friday… so I don’t think I need to say anymore about what to watch that day.
One of my earlies memories was watching stories unfold on a small TV in my room. Ever since then, I've always wanted to become a filmmaker to put stories of my own onto all manner of screens. Being a fan of writing alongside this has also led to my love of writing analysis/reviews on the things I view. It's a joy to share to others my thoughts and insights on media.
