Right photo: "There are no Halloween costumes here...unless you brought them with you!"


Halloween is a big deal to me. I had a ritual as a child: Trick or Treat and then go home to watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". In fifth grade I played Dracula in a play featuring various monsters: The Incredible Hulk, Wicked Witch, Frankenstien, and many others. I really built up my part with paste on my face and really traumatized the first grade classrooms we performed for. Cue "Those were the Days" (Theme from "All in the Family"). In sixth grade (for Begger's night anyway) I did a repeat performance as Dracula.

It was around that time that I got into Monster Movies. Fox ran some Hammer Horror Classics that year (along with "Munsters, Go Home"). My favorites were the "Munsters" movie as well as "Brides of Dracula". It really creeped me out at that age, but it was a good creep.

The last time I participated in a major way to Halloween was back in 1999. I was mentoring a boy diagnosed with ADHD and I took he and his siblings Trick or Treating (twice: one in their neighborhood and once in the Mall where I was working at the time). It was a lot of fun. I went as Qui-Gon Ginn, the kid went as Jar Jar, his siblings went as Anakin and Queen Amadalla (yes, he had a brother and a sister).

Since then I pass out candy and turn into a Halloween movie buff. Not the series "Halloween", but favorite films I like to enjoy during that time. Here are some of my favorites (I am hoping to get them all on DVD or VHS)...

The Bat (1968)
A mystery writer (Agnes Moorehead) is plagued by a murder who dresses up in a bat costume. Also with Vincent Price.

Blood of Dracula (1958)
It's "The Facts of Life" with a hitch, the Mrs. Garrett character wants to turn the Jo character into a vampire! You'll see what I mean if you see it!

The Brides of Dracula (1960)
My absolute favorite vampire film (starring Peter Cushing as Van Helsing).

Critters (1986)
It's got a cat named Chewbacca in it! OK, it's not that great...but it has a cat named Chewbacca in it!!

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Not a horror? Luke is almost eaten by a monster, Han is frozen alive in carbonite, Leia is frightened by a mynock, and See Threepio is blasted to bits...Oh, yeah, and Luke gets a hand cut off!!

Fright Night (1985)
My favorite "modern" vampire film. I love the line: "You've got to have FAITH for THAT (a cross) to work on me!"

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Don Knotts plays a reporter who spends the night in a supposed haunted house.

Godzilla (1954)
The original Japanese version made just nine years after WW II.

House on Haunted Hill (1959)
A Vincent Price classic and, I recently read, a favorite of "Shock Theater".

Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
This movie only gets one star by most reviewers, but the Dom Delouis character, Aunt Kate, makes it worth watching.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
This is obviously not a movie, but is it really Halloween with out?

Munsters, Go Home (1966)
The Munsters inherit a fortune (and Herman an English title) in this motion picture that features MOST of the original television cast.

The Nutty Professor (1963)
This classic features Jules Kelp (Jerry Lewis) a nutty professor who turns himself into Buddy Love to win the heart of Stella Purdy (Stella Stevens).

Revenge of the Sith (2005)
What could be more scary than watching the good go bad?

Visit to a Small Planet (1960)
Jerry Lewis as a space creature coming to visit Earth and finding out about romance! Very entertaining. I like to watch it because it actually takes place on Halloween.

Of course I also like the Hitchcock classics "Rope" (1948), "Psycho" (1960), and "The Birds" (1963), but I don't think of them as Halloween flicks.