Kevin's Watch

Trick 'r Treat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehd1rkxJo8s

Costumes, trick and treating, lighted pumpkins, costume party, decorated houses slasher movie

Not sure if you can get more Halloween. Not the best constructed movie for sure but pretty decent for a night rental.

samrw3 wrote:Trick 'r Treat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehd1rkxJo8s

Costumes, trick and treating, lighted pumpkins, costume party, decorated houses slasher movie

Not sure if you can get more Halloween. Not the best constructed movie for sure but pretty decent for a night rental.

I have to admit. On the surface it seems like Halloween is part of the plot instead of just the setting like every other "Halloween" movie I've seen.

Haven't seen it but I definitely will give it a go.

aTOMiC wrote:

samrw3 wrote:Trick 'r Treat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehd1rkxJo8s

Costumes, trick and treating, lighted pumpkins, costume party, decorated houses slasher movie

Not sure if you can get more Halloween. Not the best constructed movie for sure but pretty decent for a night rental.

I have to admit. On the surface it seems like Halloween is part of the plot instead of just the setting like every other "Halloween" movie I've seen.

Haven't seen it but I definitely will give it a go.

Ah crap.

Just watched Trick or Treat.
Yeah. Its not the best constructed film in fact because its essentially 7 or 8 loosely stitched together independent vignettes, there's no time to become invested in any of the characters. So it was 2 hours of watching idiots murdered in different, Halloween themed ways. I guess the Bus driver plot thread has the most weight but even that ended up being uninteresting.

Strictly speaking, though it gamely tries its best, Trick or Treat ends up missing the mark like so many other films. IMHO.

I guess writing a story that focuses on the familiar aspects of Halloween and weaving those tropes into an interesting, compelling and hopefully genuinely haunting tale is impossible.

This year I will just give in and watch the same familiar parade of slasher and monster films that most everyone else seems to believe passes for Halloween fun.

I'm not bitter. Just bored and discouraged.

aTOMiC wrote: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.

Well, that's my playlist out. It's ALL low budget monster flicks.

aTOMiC wrote:

aTOMiC wrote:

samrw3 wrote:Trick 'r Treat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehd1rkxJo8s

Costumes, trick and treating, lighted pumpkins, costume party, decorated houses slasher movie

Not sure if you can get more Halloween. Not the best constructed movie for sure but pretty decent for a night rental.

.

Ah crap.

Just watched Trick or Treat.
Yeah. Its not the best constructed film in fact because its essentially 7 or 8 loosely stitched together independent vignettes,

Sam: I was going to jog my memory by looking up why I remembered the movie not being well constructed but you watched it before I had a chance to remember better - sorry I should have mentioned I had not seen it in a few years.

So it was 2 hours of watching idiots murdered in different, Halloween themed ways. I guess the Bus driver plot thread has the most weight but even that ended up being uninteresting.

Sam: I liked the fact that it at least tried to make the kills more Halloween themed although I agree it mostly fell flat.

Strictly speaking, though it gamely tries its best, Trick or Treat ends up missing the mark like so many other films. IMHO.

Sam: I agree I guess I should have told you my grade was C- for many of the same reasons you noted. I think its only saving grace for a Halloween movie is that it has some unique kills and has some OK Halloween themed cinematography - lighted pumpkins scenes etc.

I guess writing a story that focuses on the familiar aspects of Halloween and weaving those tropes into an interesting, compelling and hopefully genuinely haunting tale is impossible.

Sam: As mentioned elsewhere in the thread there is no universal theme to hang a Halloween movie on - Santa or religion or family gatherings. So this movie tried to cobble together all the various Halloween themes and throw them together on the screen. For that reason I am willing to give it a swing and miss instead of out and out failure. But I certainly do not give it high recommendations - just if you want something different and tired of the same slasher movies it can be break form the norm.

This year I will just give in and watch the same familiar parade of slasher and monster films that most everyone else seems to believe passes for Halloween fun.

I'm not bitter. Just bored and discouraged.

Sam: Well hopefully they will eventually churn out a decent Halloween movie. If you have young ones around and want to watch animated movie with foreign twist on Halloween the movie Coco [remember it is animated - but major motion picture] was OK - it is about the Day of the Dead. To me it was also trying to do to many things at the same time and throw a bunch of bright pictures and songs cobbled together just because it could. It would have been better suited to stick to the main storyline. But anyways it is not as horrific as some animated movies and at least its main theme sticks to Day of the Dead. My grade C-. But that could just be too harsh because I might not have been the intended audience.

This is perhaps going to be disagreed with by most, but I think there are few good films about Halloween simply because, contrary to what might be first appearances, it is not a good subject to make films about. Don't get me wrong, it wouldn't be impossible......but the subject comes so loaded with expectations to either conform to the tropes, in which case it is dull, or not, in which case (as noted) it isn't really about Halloween. These hurdles are actually quite big ones and make it a difficult task to pull something out of the bag that both bucks expectations but remains true to them at the same time.

(Just seen Tom's post above; silly Peter! )

Ok. I know it's been awhile but I feel compelled to renew my observation that there are few (professional) films that are actually about Halloween. Something that has come to mind is the idea that if the main antagonist or protagonist of a film either loves or hates the holiday (the Grinch hates Christmas, Buddy the Elf loves Christmas) a case could be made that actions taken on Halloween because it's Halloween would make films like "Halloween" a genuine Halloween movie. I've asked around and no one seems to think Micheal Myers rampages on Halloween because he either hates or loves or has some specific emotional attachment to the holiday itself. It just seems to be an annual occurrence. I haven't watched all of the sequels and reboots so it's possible I may be in error.

I don't know why they don't make scary Halloween movies with classic witches and ghosts and haunted houses.
They always ruin it somehow.
Hocus Pocus is the closest thing I've even seen for what I'm trying to describe but it's silly.
But it has all the classic elements...just G-rated.

I really don't enjoy any of the Halloween movie franchise.
It's just a slasher movie with the word Halloween in the title, imo.

You mentioned, way back in 2008 lol, that you liked Halloween 3 (Season of the Witch) because it was different.
I've heard the same from several different sources over the years.
I'm going to check it out this week.

I have a usb of my favorite Halloween movies, or rather movies that I try to see every Halloween.
I have no idea why I consider some of these movies "Halloween".
But I do.

A collection of The Simpson Halloween specials
A collection of Saturday Night Live Halloween shows
Arsenic and Old Lace
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Beetlejuice
Bram Stokers Dracula
Ghostbusters 1984
Ghostbusters 2006
Goosebumps 1 and 2
Dark Shadows
Halloween Town 1 and 2 (usually I only watch it when my kids are with me now-a-days because it's a tradition. On it's own it's just cute and hokey)
Hocus Pocus
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Mars Attacks
Monster House
Sleepy Hollow (the Depp one. Which is also one of my favorite movies of all time)
Sweeney Todd (another Depp one. it's ok. Just barely made my list)
Creepshow 2 (only for The Raft part)
The Addams Family Values
The Cabin in the Woods
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
The Dead Don't Die (Also one of my all time favorite movies)
Trilogy of Terror (but just the part with that evil doll)
Young Frankenstein

Runners up are:
The Shining (I need a lot of uninterrupted silent time to truly enjoy this film)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
Scary Movie 1
Any of the Evil Dead Movies (I just don't consider them Halloween for some reason)


I was really hoping that Universal was going to bring their old horror classics back from the dead but they ruined it.
To make The Mummy, they put shit in a blender, added Tom Cruise and blended it.

All I want is for them to remake the originals, with modern technology and special effects.
That's it!
Nothing else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOXEoWAi7A

My grandfather had this movie on 8mm film.
Every once in a while we pulled out the family movies he had recorded over the years, and then we watched this.
I wish I could say we watched it on Halloween. But no. Usually it was summer, and we were outside, and the movie was projected onto the side of the house.

But is this a Halloween movie ?

Wolfman was a lousy fighter. Frank was worse, but you don't expect anything out of him.

wayfriend wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUOXEoWAi7A

My grandfather had this movie on 8mm film.
Every once in a while we pulled out the family movies he had recorded over the years, and then we watched this.
I wish I could say we watched it on Halloween. But no. Usually it was summer, and we were outside, and the movie was projected onto the side of the house.

But is this a Halloween movie ?

First of all, that's awesome!
And yes, yes it is.

When I was a kid all we had were those horrible plastic Universal Monster masks.
Well, the rich kids did.
I was usually a pirate or a hobo.

Hobo. Every year.

Hobo with a Shotgun. Not a good Halloween movie. Even though Rutger Hauer is in it.

Fist and Faith wrote:Frank was worse, but you don't expect anything out of him.

Can't be a ninja when your elbows have no articulation at all.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:And yes, yes it is.

So what about, then, American Werewolf in London?

AWiL is a most excellent movie!! One of the greatest! I have the dvd, and it's been a long time. Maybe I'll get my son over. He's probably never seen it.

I like watching "old" movies with my kids that they would never even hear about, and blow them away.

Trying to get any of our 'next gen' to watch any of our recommendations is like trying to shell peas with a feather. Not happening.

Halloween is growing as an event in the UK, chiefly because of savvy marketing and the desire of the British population to 'party' for absolutely any reason whatsoever.

It hasn't really (to my knowledge) gotten as far as there being a development of a film binge around the affair, but I like the idea.

As to my choice, were I to sit down and make an evening of it........ Well, the Tim Burton short Vincent would definitely kick off the show, followed by Beetlejuice, and to finish with....shut the curtains, turn out the lights and watch the original Blair Witch Project in the dark.

In the dark, in the night, when no-one can hear you scream. In the dark. In the night.

In the dark, in the night, when no-one can hear you scream. In the dark. In the night.

Is that a line from something or did you make it up?
I like it.

I forgot all about the Blair Witch.
I really enjoyed that one and loved the ending.

Interesting that Halloween is becoming a party event in England.