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Greetings!

Here are a few of my favorite things: Nintendo, Penny Arcade, The Legend of Zelda, Mario, Pokemon, Harvest Moon, Fallout, Dungeons and Dragons, books, dice, Professor Layton, Shadow of the Colossus, Minecraft, and so much more. I'm going to talk a lot about video games, I sincerely hope you don't mind.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Halloween For The Rest Of Us

As we welcome October into our lives, I find myself deeply harassed like I am every year.

Excuse me while I remain unamused and feeling as though I'm being stalked by demon creatures. 
Redead image from here!

While I attempt to enjoy movies in the theatre and TV shows, I am bombarded with trailers for horror movies. Screaming in the background, frightened, sweaty faces in close up shots, and more and more often twitchy, disjointed filming tactics that thoroughly mess with my mind.

I love Halloween, but I prefer a Scooby Doo approach. You know, one that's not actually scary. I used to throw a Halloween party every year for my friends and they always wanted to watch a horror movie. So when it came time I'd sit in the kitchen and eat candy by myself while everyone else screamed and laughed in the living room.

It's high time I made a Halloween play list for myself and any other scaredy-cats out there like me!

1. Hocus Pocus

This is the epitome of Halloween for me. I've watched this movie every year with my sister for as long as I can remember. At least since 1993, at any rate. It's a great combination of a story about witches who suck the life out of little girls, a token cool high school dude trying to woo the popular girl, annoying younger sister, and hysterical performances from the witches in question: Mary, Sarah and Winifred.

Who out there actually hasn't seen this movie? It has probably shaped my life in more ways than I realize. Like, a deep rooted love for cats, and an intense desire to learn French, and the fact that I am extremely wary of supposed "fake" witchcraft. If you've never seen it, make this Halloween count and get your hands on a copy!

2. Casper

Ah, Devon Sawa. He may not have been the J.T.T. of his age, but he certainly had his place. And even though Mr. Sawa proper was only in Casper for about five minutes, he did a stellar job as the voice of Casper, everyone's favorite friendly ghost!

Instead the bulk of screen time is given over to Christina Ricci, who plays an outcast teenager who is new in town thanks to her father moving them to a new house. She quickly learns that her house is home to some ghosts though, and things just move right along from there. The movie culminates in a giant Halloween party the likes of which I can't even dream of, and one of my aspirations in life is to throw a recreation of that party.

People ask why I throw parties every year if I hate scary movies? It's because Casper has given me something to look up to.

I'm also pretty sure I had a Casper poster in my room as a child.

3. Halloween is Grinch Night


I will tell you now that it's impossible to go wrong with Dr. Seuss. Doesn't really matter the context, the man had a solution for everything. You hate funny colored food? We have a solution. But right now we're talking about needing non-scary Halloween films.

When little Eukariah Who leaves his house for the Euphemism on a stormy night filled with sour-sweet wind, he encounters the horrible Grinch out wreaking havoc across Whoville. The whole thing has a great classic cartoon vibe with plenty of Seussian thrown in. The most terrifying part of this film? The Grinch repeatedly running over a flower with his wagon wheel, to make extra sure it is crushed.

4. Coraline

Hands down, this is the scariest movie on my list. I saw it completely unaware of what I would be experiencing. Let me tell you that I felt legitimate terror in the movie theatre, but coupled with total intrigue and fascination and damn if stop motion doesn't impress me.

Even though I'd need to be a part of Coraline's adventures into the Other World with company in tow and a blanket to potentially hide under, it sits firmly on my Halloween film list. Fun fact: Coraline was my first foray into the world of Neil Gaiman.

5. ParaNorman

This one is actually still in theatres, so I'm not sure how I'll be watching it for Halloween this year, but, having seen it, there's no way I could make a Halloween movie list without it! Norman is a lonesome boy who can see and speak with ghosts. Hence the lonesome part. He has a hysterical, if stereotypical, older sister, a mother who loves and supports him and a father who has no patience for the ghost antics.

As Halloween approaches, Norman becomes tasked with saving the town of Blithe Hallow, Massachusetts from a witch's curse that is normally kept at bay by someone else. Armed with little to no knowledge and a mostly reluctant group of helpers, Norman searches for the answers to save the day.

It is another gorgeous stop motion film, and some of the ending sequences are so beautiful that I found it difficult to focus on the story progression. Oh, and the story progression is amazing. It was all worth being a little bit spooked at times.

Honorable mention: It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! Because... I love Charlie Brown.
Honorable mention: The Nightmare Before Christmas. It's an obvious choice, but I prefer it as a Christmas movie, actually!

What will you be watching this Halloween?

-MJ

3 comments:

Casper is STILL on my list of favorite movies. I need to go watch it again. I must say, though, I've yet to see 'Halloween is Grinch Night'. One that would be good for you to watch might be Raggedy Ann and Andy and the Pumpkin Who Wouldn't Smile (or something similar?). If you're up for a nostalgia 80s cartoon night.

*thinks* I feel like I'm missing one... I'll have to look! I like this list.

Also, that's a lovely 'harassed' pictures.

I'm almost always up for a cartoon night, so I'll see if I can track that one down!

Yay for a fellow Casper lover! :D

Other good, non-scary, halloween movies: Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Halloween Tree.
Great picture by the way.

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