Filmmaking, Philosophy

Halloween Movies

Wolf ManEveryone has their own ideas about what a Halloween movie is and of course there are always personal exceptions in any list. Around our house the defining elements of Halloween movies are Dead, Undead, Recently Dead, and of course anything that is specifically Halloween. Oh, and Witches, always a Halloween favorite. This also brings up another exception, curses which may or may not fall into the Halloween category. Deciding on whether or not a Curse story is Halloweenie is purely contextual, Wolf Man, definitely, Freaky Friday, definitely not.

We use this criteria for two reasons; the traditional celebration is about the thinning of the veil between the worlds that occurs on All Hallows Eve. Second is that it covers all of the basic monsters we normally associate with this time of year, Frankenstein’s Monster, The Mummy, and Vampires. Zombies usually fit in with this as well but the growing spectrum of Zombie may later see some exceptions.

Last year we fell off the wagon so to speak and only watched five or six Halloween movies as opposed to the usual 25 or so we normally get to. Yesterday Tammy said “This year we need to watch ALL of our Halloween movies.” Okay, I’m game. Here’s the movie list for this year, all 50 of them. We need to start watching them NOW if we are going to get them all in before October 31st.

These are the movies we have on the shelf, it is by no means an exhaustive list of good Halloween movies. These are the ones we actually own and watch at least once every year or two. They have all held up through many culls and will likely be around for a while. I didn’t post any kind of rating and the list includes some guilty pleasures, so don’t judge. 😉

Have any additional suggestions for us? Let me know through one of the social media sites I participate on. There are links at the top of the page.

  1. Addams Family (1991)
  2. Addams Family Values (1993)
  3. Army of Darkness (1992)
  4. Blade (1998)
  5. Blade 2 (2002)
  6. Blade Trinity (2004)
  7. Blade House of Chthon(2006)
  8. Casper (1995)
  9. Contagion (2011)
  10. The Craft (1996)
  11. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
  12. Dracula (Bela Lugosi 1931)
  13. Jeff Dunham: Minding the Monsters (2012)
  14. Frankenstein (Boris Karloff 1931)
  15. Ghostbusters (1984)
  16. Ghostbusters 2 (1989)
  17. Halloween Town (1998)
  18. Halloween Town Kalabars Revenge (2001)
  19. Halloween Town High (2004)
  20. Halloween Town, Return to (2006)
  21. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
  22. Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
  23. Hocus Pocus (1993)
  24. The Little Vampire (2000)
  25. The Lost Boys (1987)
  26. The Monster Squad (1987)
  27. The Mummy (Brendan Fraser 1999)
  28. The Mummy Returns (Brendan Fraser 2001)
  29. My Best Friend is a Vampire (1987)
  30. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) (also a christmas movie) 🙂
  31. Once Bitten (1985)
  32. Practical Magic (1998)
  33. Resident Evil (2002)
  34. Resident Evil Apocalypse (2004)
  35. Resident Evil Extinction (2010)
  36. Resident Evil Afterlife (2010)
  37. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
  38. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
  39. Sleepy Hollow (1999)
  40. Underworld (2003)
  41. Underworld Evolution (2006)
  42. Underworld Awakening (2012)
  43. Vampires (1998)
  44. Van Helsing (2004)
  45. Warlock (1986)
  46. When Good Ghouls Go Bad (2001)
  47. The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
  48. The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney 1941)
  49. World War Z (2013)
  50. Young Frankenstein (1974)

* updated to include dates