Scary Movies for Halloween

But what I really love is “Friday Night Fright Light”, a series on TCM in October in honor of horror movies. And by horror, I mean spooky, mysterious, suspenseful. No guy with a chain saw running after scantily clad co-eds. That’s not horror to me. It’s a blood bath, and there’s enough of it in the news to make it unappealing for me as entertainment.

No, I mean horror…in the true, spine-tingling, the special effects are so cheesy they’re good kind of movies.

Which ones are your favorite? Here are a few I’ve seen recently that I liked for various reasons.

• The Walking Dead: Not the television show, but the original black and white 1930s movie with the incomparable Boris Karloff. He plays piano in this movie. He’s sensitive. His eyes are truly windows to his soul, capturing subtle changes of mood and sorrow. Although this movie is billed as a horror movie, it’s really a suspense/thriller.  Karloff plays a convict released from jail who used as a patsy by a gang who wants to murder a judge. They murder the judge and pin it on Karloff’s character, who has the misfortune to fall for a plot hatched by the gang. They pretend to be giving him a job but are setting him up to be framed for the murder. Then, when witnesses step forth on the day of his scheduled execution, the gang members (who have people in high places) stall the evidence so that he can’t get a stay of execution. But their plot is thwarted when a doctor revives Karloff. The result is a combination of supernatural thriller and psychological thriller as one by one, the gang members die in unusual ways (but Karloff never touches them.). The ending is sad, but it’s worth a look if you’re seeking a good movie for this time of year without blood and gore.
• Curse of the Demon:  Ah, I love it when Satanists get their own. This is another black and white film in which a skeptical scientist arrives at a conference to find his co-presenter mysteriously died the day before. The other fellow was investigating and unmasking a wealthy magician who is also a devil worshipper…and who has a nasty habit of putting hexes on people investigating him. The skeptical scientist ends up next in line for the curse but finds a way to deflect the curse back on the devil worshipper.  As I said, I love it when they get their own.  The demon is pretty cheesy….but in the afternotes, the TCM narrator explained that the director never wanted a fake demon model in the picture; the producer insisted on it. Well, it is unfortunate, because it’s the kind of special effect that can ruin a movie, but put that aside and go with it. It’s a good movie.
• Burn, Witch, Burn!  More voodoo, witches, hexes and tarot cards.  I can’t even give you the plot of this one in detail because if I do, it will spoil the surprise of it all. Is magic real or fake? Is voodoo real or fake? Do witches exist? The movie keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering if the main character is just hallucinating or if there really is a witch somewhere in the placid English village where he teaches college.  You’ve got to watch this one to believe it.

I’m definitely in the spirit of Halloween this year. Maybe it is getting the decorations out, or watching the movies, or just having some fun with the season. This weekend, we took in the patio furniture and the grill. I pulled out the zinnias and some of the pepper plants nipped by the frost. I bought hot cocoa mix, and roasted a gigantic turkey, and made a new parsnip recipe from a Thanksgiving recipe I’d clipped a while back.  It does seem like the season is upon us for festivities and autumn fun.  How are you celebrating fall?