Why so few films about Halloween?

[aTOMiC]

Its a funny thing to suddenly realize that something you would have sworn on a stack of bibles was true would actually be false.

Since another Halloween is upon us I usually start to think of Halloween movies to watch since I tend to be in such a mood during the holiday.

Sure I drag out all my Simpsons dvd collections and weed out the Treehouse of Horror episodes to watch one after another. Most current television shows have their Halloween themed episode which is fine. And of course movie channels tend to trot out their scare inducing films this time of year as well. However something that has occurred to me on more than one occasion is that there a precious few movies that are actually about Halloween. Sure there are films that try to scare the crap out of you with unstoppable serial killers and the like but that's really not about Halloween. That's more a coincidental moment in time. One of my favorite Halloween movies is Halloween III which is looked upon with disdain by most but you can't watch the film without being infected by the Silver Shamrock jingle and helpfully enough the film is actually about Halloween. The subject matter has a direct bearing on the holiday.

People often argue that there are lots of Halloween movies but the ones that are brought up are usually about as much about Halloween as Die Hard is about Christmas.

My point about all of this it that I would have thought that the Halloween holiday would be fertile ground for film makers and story tellers but as it happens I have found only a handful of existing films revolving around the actual event. What is available are often Disney-esque features for older kids ala Halloweentown or When Good Ghouls Go Bad which for me are un watchable. Therefore I resort to the same stable of films over and over again that are always associated with Halloween but have nearly nothing to do with it other than they are horror films. In some cases the movies are actually set at Halloween like...Halloween but save for the film's name and the date in which the events occur it could just as easily have been entitled..ARBOR DAY NIGHT! Oooooohh!

Since Christmas has about half a billion films in its holiday stable I guess I wish there were more Halloween arrows in its quiver.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

What is especially weird is that technically Halloween has absolutely nothing to do with "spooky" or "scary" whatsoever. All Hallows Eve is a day set aside to remember your dead predecessors. Only when it got combined with other celebrations and subsequently watered down did it turn into "boo!" and children--and adults--running around in cheaply-made, ridiculous-looking outfits that don't fit.

Now...as far as films are concerned....who decided that "ghost face" was actually scary? What I mean is when a movie will CGI the eyes into black pits then stretch the mouth into a inhumanly-stretched scream. It looks too ridiculous to be scary.

[Cagliostro]

Tom, I also am fond of Halloween III for precisely the same reason. It's dumb, but I've always enjoyed it, especially for the Silver Shamrock song.
The thing is, Christmas is a better setting for movies, as there are a lot of aspects to base a movie around - hell shopping, Santa, gathering with the family, etc.
Meanwhile, there is no central figure associated with Halloween, no matter how hard Tim Burton wanted Jack Skellington to be. So there go a heap of movies right there. Halloween tends to get cameos in movies instead of being based around it. Again, there isn't much mythology surrounding it that lends itself well as a backdrop to a full length family drama or comedy or fantasy piece. Sure, it would work. I could see something like a type of Adventures In Babysitting or other type of piece that takes place over one evening having Halloween as a backdrop, but again, it wouldn't be about Halloween so much. And Halloween doesn't naturally elicit a "feel good" moment like Christmas does. It tends to be more exciting and scary.
I'd say another reason is that Halloween doesn't play so well in the Christian neighborhoods, at least the more conservative ones. Screw this "War on Christmas"...I say there is a stronger war on Halloween. And from what I saw from taking my kids trick-or-treating last year, they are winning. When I was growing up, everybody handed out candy, and if they didn't, they were definitely the jerks of the block. Now, so few houses have their lights on that it is pretty much the opposite of when I was growing up. It saddens me greatly.
I am playing Costume Quest at the moment, which is a video game whose setting is Halloween and admires the season. It's mainly about trick-or-treating, getting candy, and trying to rescue your brother or sister (depending who you decide to play) from monsters who mistake him or her for a large piece of candy.

[Cail]

It has been tradition in my house, since the VHS days, to watch Die Hard on Christmas Eve. I don't think I've missed one since 1989.

That correction aside, it is odd that there are so few Halloween movies.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Everyone knows what Christmas is supposed to be about, even the people who don't celebrate it. The only thing Halloween seems to be about is trick-or-treating and dressing up in costumes, which plenty of people do much of the time anyway. Besides, Christmas has a long tradition of being a religious holiday throughout the Christian world and has been around for a long time (despite being made illegal in various places from time to time--yes, this is historically accurate) but Halloween is a relatively new holiday and is really celebrated only in the United States. It simply isn't an important enough holiday to warrant movies about it, except for a random tie-in.

[aTOMiC]

Cags, I really like the sound of the game you are playing. Very cool. You also make a very good point about how Halloween is viewed by the Christian community as a whole. What's odd is that when I was a kid it didn't seem to matter and my experience is similar to yours in that it seemed everyone in the neighborhood, even dedicated Christians, participated in the holiday. You are right. Now most of the homes in our neighborhood are dark and lightless when its time to Trick or Treat. A shame.

Cail I've tried for years to get Die Hard added to my Christmas tradition and have failed. I'm not even sure why. My wife loves the film as much as I do if not more. We're so dedicated to the franchise that we actually went to the theater to see Die Hard 5 and that's saying something. It seemed DH5 featured a cameo by John McClane by comparison and that sucked!!!
I only used Die Hard as an example because I feel most people don't think of it the way we seem to.

[aTOMiC]

It simply isn't an important enough holiday to warrant movies about it, except for a random tie-in.

I suppose that's true to some extent.

As it has been pointed out there is no central figure identified with the holiday. What I would find funny would be if Christians found a way to co-opt Halloween by introducing a character that took off with kids the way Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny seem to be designed to make Christmas and Easter more inclusive and secular. Trick or Treating is the closest thing to an Easter Egg hunt but there's no cute Witch, Ghost or Vampire Bat that is a full blown character icon for the event. Unless you count the Great Pumpkin and that idea has been floating around for over 40 years and hasn't found much traction. I mean what the hell does the Great Pumpkin look like anyway? Certainly not a cartoon beagle.

[Rau Le Creuset]

Halloween these days is about cheap horror movies.. thats the first thing I think of when its october.. gotta get out dat Charlie brown Halloween to laugh at snoopy and then comes nightmare before christmas.. then watch all the cheesy horror movies the free rogers on demand has to offer xD

[wayfriend]

Heh.

Where are the Halloween movies?

[aTOMiC]

How am i supposed remember a topic i posted 5 years ago?

The other thread was more entertaining. Heh.

Expect an entirely new discussion thread on this topic posted by me in 2019.

[I'm Murrin]

There just isn't a mythology around Halloween the way there are (multiple!) around christmas. What is Halloween, to people? Generically scary stuff. How do you make a film about something that doesn't have a solid definition or an existing story to work with?

[aTOMiC]

There just isn't a mythology around Halloween the way there are (multiple!) around christmas. What is Halloween, to people? Generically scary stuff. How do you make a film about something that doesn't have a solid definition or an existing story to work with?

The thing I keep thinking is that most of the more recognizable Christmas movies are about Christmas itself or Santa Claus etc.

It does make matters difficult to craft a film around something as surprisingly ambiguous as Halloween but it think creative minds could do the job.

Halloween III: Season on the Witch is about Halloween and is a good example of how you can make the concept work for you instead of against you. I realize that the main protagonist in Halloween III is almost a James Bond style super villain (which is probably why I like the film). If Conal Cochran's scheme was aimed at the children of U.S. on Halloween night and somehow managed to make it look like it was some kind of terrorist plot instigated by the Chinese government then James Bond would absolutely have been trying to stop it to avert global war.

Every film idea focusing on Halloween doesn't have to involve some kind of major disaster so I've always believed that the only limit is one's imagination. Apparently there are very few film makers that agree so until something changes we'll have to be happy with the 4 or 5 films we have.

Anyway its a point that has almost become moot yet again since its now November 1st and Halloween 2013 is now quickly becoming another fading memory.

[aTOMiC]

This thread is still relevant in that pretty much nothing has changed.

[aTOMiC]

Three years ago I revisited this notion and as with my other thread nothing really has changed.

I got into a heated discussion with my wife recently because I insisted that there are precious few actual Halloween movies and she steadfastly defended Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Halloween, Scream, A Nightmare on Elm Street etc as Halloween movies. I totally know what she means but my point isn't that there are no movies to watch its that there aren't very many that actually deal with the Halloween holiday itself.

This was a "Let's agree to disagree" moment.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Given that Halloween is a tired, boring, pointless, and useless holiday I can see why there aren't any movies about it. I ignore it completely; then again, I ignore most holidays these days. I tried to get Ms. Lebwohl not to celebrate or do anything about Christmas one year because I am tired of holidays but that was a battle I could not win.

[dANdeLION]

I watched The Visit last year; that should be on your list.

[TIC TAC]

I watched The Visit last year; that should be on your list.

After reading the summary I see no evidence that The Visit has anything to do with Halloween.
On the other hand I haven't watched it so it may be filled with Jack O Lanterns and Trick or Treaters.

I wonder what aTOMiC thinks?

[aTOMiC]

I wonder what aTOMiC thinks?

Indeed.

[dANdeLION]

Looks like I just did the Monster Movie Mash!

[aTOMiC]

I renew my annual observation that there are precious few Halloween feature films about Halloween.

I hope I phrased that right to exclude low budget, made for t.v. movies on the Disney channel and films that take place on Halloween but aren't about the actual celebration.