Today is blustery, dark, cold and wet. I love it. It is the perfect weather to light a fire, snuggle up on the couch with some cocoa, and watch scary movies. I love, love, love my October films. I love the classics, cartoons, off kilter and modern. I can appreciate the B movies just as much as the foreign or mainstream. Every year I pull out my October viewing list and see which will make the cut. I have a few that I must watch before the year is out (Beetlejuice, The Addams Family, Hocus Pocus, the Fog, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the Frighteners) and then I have a much, much longer list of shows that just work well with October. There are the whimsical, the magical, the romantical (but set against an autumn backdrop) and the comical.
For the most part I am not a horror movie fan. I just find them horrible. What I like is something suspenseful. Something that makes me catch my breath. Something that sends my imagination into overdrive and I have to sleep with the lights on for the rest of the night. My best example is Psycho. Mr. Hitchcock knows how to frighten a gal. It is such a simple concept. A girl goes to a motel and never leaves. There are not big special effects. There is no costumed monster lurking. But it scares the pants off of me. I can't go to motels, hotels or any kind of overnight establishment without thinking about that movie.
Because of scary October movies I can no longer be in a darkened stairwell by myself. I can't leave a foot poking out from under the covers. I won't eat apples from strangers, or swim in water that I can't see the bottom of. I'm scared to take baths (though oddly enough not showers) and I will never ever move to the town of Stepford. Yup, my imagination ruins all sorts of mundane things for me. And that is ok, because it is all in the name of October fun.
Though they tend to scare me and bring on ridiculous phobias, October movies also have done some positive things for me. They have introduced me to Frankenstein and the Wolfman. I know many, many ways to dispatch a vampire if it ever comes to that. I also know not to lurk in darkened stairwells and to run out the front door and not the back if someone is trying to pursue me in my home. Ok, so not particularly useful things, but fun nonetheless.
October has a smorgasbord of films and theme TV shows for the savvy viewer to watch. If you are at a loss for a new favorite October film, drop me a line and I will be happy to suggest one. As it stands I am always looking for a new favorite, what's yours?
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