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Halloween Movies 2022: Miscellaneous Streaming

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Not interested in the classic (and some not so classic) horror films we’ve looked at this week for your Halloween viewing list? Not to worry! There are other places you can go to build your own spooky binge-a-thon (in other words, streaming services), so here are some suggestions for picking and choosing:

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949): It’s not Mr. Toad—whose story is a partial adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s novel The Wind in the Willows—that horror fans are here for in this two-part Disney animated feature, but rather Ichabod Crane and his spine-chilling encounter witrh the Headless Horseman in this lively adaptation of Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” featuring the voice of Bing Crosby, who not only narrates but performs the jazzy tune “The Headless Horseman.” (He was a big deal back in the day; ask your grandparents. Or your great-grandparents.) Streaming on Disney+.

Ash vs. Evil Dead (2015–2018): Here’s something for older viewers. This sequel to the Evil Dead trilogy of movies (The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Army of Darkness) finds often reluctant but always self-absorbed hero Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) dragged back into a confrontation with the unholy Deadites that made his life a living hell thirty years ago. Sure, there’s plenty of gore on display, but at heart it’s a comedy-action show that just happens to feature a guy who straps on a chain saw to replace his missing right hand—that he himself cut off all those years ago, when it tried to kill him! All three seasons are streaming on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2021): It’s as close as the Marvel Cinematic Universe gets to a superhero horror film, but that’s no surprise when the director involved is Sam Raimi of the Evil Dead trilogy, Drag Me to Hell, and Darkman fame (as well as the early 2000s’ Spider-Man 1–3). Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and new sidekick America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez) are chased across the multiverse by a Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) turned bad, and she doesn’t care how many people she has to pulverize, turn into string cheese, or neck snap to get her way. And then there’s the ghoulish debut of Zombie Strange—not to mention a guest appearance by Ash vs. Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell! Streaming on Disney+.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966): A Spooky Season classic. It’s Halloween, and while the majority of the Peanuts Gang go trick-or-treating (“I got a rock,” moans eternal sad sack Charlie Brown as he checks his haul), his best friend, Linus, goes to the pumpkin patch to await the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, Halloween’s answer to Santa Claus. But is the Great Pumpkin real, or just a figment of Linus’s overactive imagination? Written by Charles Schultz, directed by Bill Melendez, and starring the vocal talents of Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Sally Dryer, and Kathy Steinberg. Plus a fantastic score by jazz master Vince Guaraldi. Streaming on Apple TV+.

Morbius (2022): Yes, I know it got a lot of Internet hate, but this horror-antihero translation of the Marvel Comics “science vampire” to screen really isn’t as bad as they say—at least not until the completely unnecessary post-credits scene that so desperately (and badly) tries to tie it to the MCU Spider-Man franchise. Jared Leto (Suicide Squad) is Michael Morbius, a scientist battling a rare genetic disease with a special treatment he’s develoepd—one that involves using vampire bats. As you’d expect, the treatment has some unexpected—and unwanted—side effects… Costarring Matt Smith (Doctor Who, House of the Dragon). Streaming on Netflix.

Q, the Winged Serpent (1982): An oddball classic of 1980s horror filmmaking. There’s a giant winged lizard living in New York City—and his nest is right in the legendary Chrysler Building! Q is actually the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, the deity worshipped by a modern-day cult that’s been sacrificing New Yorkers in his name. Can the NYPD shut down the cult andfind a way to kill a living god? Written and directed by Larry Cohen (It’s Alive), and starring Michael Moriarty (Law & Order), David Carrdine (Kill Bill, Vols. 1 & 2), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), and Candy Clark (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Streaming on Shout Factory TV.

Silver Bullet (1985): If you can overlook the terrible monster effects in this adaptation of the Stephen King/Bernie Wrightson illustrated novella Cycle of the Werewolf, you’ll find an enjoyable thriller about a young boy who discovers there’s a lycanthropic killer on the loose in his town, and realizes he might be the only one to stop it—well, him and his sister and uncle, who not only come to believe him, but offer assistance for the big showdown. Adapted by Stephen King himself, directed by Dan Atlas (The Walking Dead), and starring Corey Haim (The Lost Boys), Gary Busey (Predator 2), Terry O’Quinn (Lost), Everett McGill (Dune), and Megan Follows (Reign). Streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Roku, and Google Play.

Trick ’r’ Treat (2007): What’s Halloween without a few tales of terror? This cult-classic anthology, written and directed by Michael Dougherty (Godzilla: King of the Monsters), stars Brian Cox (X-Men 2), Anna Paquin (X-Men), and Dylan Baker (Spider-Man 2–3), all celebrating Halloween in their own special ways, with candy, spooky surprises, and copious amounts of blood! And just wait until you meet that charming little boy, Sam—he’ll be verydisappointed if you don’t have any treats to hand out… Streaming on Amazon Prime.

Wendell & Wild (2022): The comedy team of Key & Peele—actor Keegan-Michael Key (The Predator) and award–winning director Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope)—reunites for this brand-new stop-motion-animation flick from director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline) about two demon brothers. Costarring Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible), and James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China).

Werewolf by Night (2022): The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this special, based on the comic series of the same name, not only introduces Jack Russell, the titular creature of the night, but also the Marvel screen debut of the shambling swamp monster known as The Man-Thing! Directed by Michael Giacchino (who also composed the music), and starring Gael Garcia Bernal, Laura Donnelly, and Harriet Sansom Harris. (Fun fact: Werewolf by Night the comic series was where Marvel’s latest live-action superhero, Moon Knight, made his first appearance—perhaps there’s a chance for a future encounter?) Streaming on Disney+.

Witch’s Night Out (1978): This weird little animated special from Canada involves a witch whose Halloween monster party is interrupted by angry neighbors who don’t want monsters living in their town. Things get worse when her magic wand is used by others to cause further tension, but in the end everyone learns to live in harmony. Written by John Leach and Isobel Jean Rankin, directed by Leach, and starring the vocal talents of Gilda Radner (Saturday Night Live) and Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek). Streaming on Shout Factory TV.

And thus we come to the end of this Halloween viewing series for 2022. I hope you enjoyed it, and that there’s something for you and your family to watch. Or perhaps you might want to create your own Halloween programming from your personal horror movie collection—you of course have one, don’t you?

So, what will you be watching tomorrow?

Halloween Movies 2022: IFC

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Unlike its parent company, the AMC Network, IFC—the Independent Film Channel—has a bit more choice in its All Hallows’ Eve programming than a loop of Halloween franchise movies. Sure, IFC’s list is comprised of well-known, not-too-terrifying box office hits, but at least you’ve got a couple of big-time winners (Gremlins, Jaws) in the mix, as well as a talking man-eating plant that can really carry a tune!

7:45 a.m.: Lake Placid (1999): Witness Golden Girl Betty White in all her foul-mouthed, laugh-inducing glory in this tale of a giant crocodile running rampant in Maine, pursued by sheriff Bill Pullman (Independence Day), paleontologist Bridget Fonda (Single White Female), and big-game hunter Oliver Platt (Chicago Med). Written by David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal) and directed by Steve Miner (Halloween H20: 20 Years Later).

9:30 a.m.: Little Shop of Horrors (1986): The screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical (itself based on the 1960 Roger Corman–produced movie that started it all) finds Rick Moranis (Ghostbusters) and Ellen Greene (The X-Files) trying to outsmart an evil talking extraterrestrial plant—Audrey II, voiced by music legend Levi Stubbs of the R&B group the Four Tops—hungry for blood…and world domination. Directed by Frank Oz—perhaps best known as the voice actor behind Ms. Piggy of The Muppets and Yoda of Star Wars fame—and featuring music and lyrics by the powerful composing duo of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast).

11:45 a.m.: Pet Sematary (1989): Based on the bestselling novel by Stephen King (aren’t they all?), Fred Gwynne (the original Herman Munster of The Munsters), Denise Crosby (Star Trek: The Next Generation), and Dale Midkiff (The Crow: Salvation) star in this adaptation directed by Mary Lambert (Mega Python vs. Gatoroid) with a screenplay by King himself. A family moves to a small Maine town and discovers a pet “sematary” (according to the misspelled sign on it) behind their house. It’s a special place where burying your deceased pet there usually means they come back to life—but not in a good way. As ol’ Herman ominously intones at one point: “Sometimes, dead is bettah…”

2:15 p.m.: Gremlins (1984): Directed by Joe Dante (The Howling, Piranha) and written by Chris Columbus (who later became a Harry Potter movie director), this tale of Christmas presents gone wrong proves that not everyone should be given an exotic pet as a gift—especially if you’re going to ignore the care-and-feeding instructions. Starring Zach Galligan (Waxwork), Phoebe Cates (Drop Dead Fred), and Hoyt Axton. Music by composing legend Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of the Apes, The Omen).

4:45 p.m.: Jaws 2 (1978): Not sure why the sequel runs first, but…okay. (Must be an AMC effect on the programming.) Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary, stars of the original Jaws, return to deal with the chaos created by another shark that’s eating the residents and vacationing families of Amity Island. The other returning character, Murray Hamilton’s Amity mayor Larry Vaughn, remains just as dumb as a post when it comes to acknowledging shark attacks during tourist season as he was the first time, which means it’s up to Brody to handle this on his own. 

7:30 p.m.: Jaws (1975): Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones) directs Roy Scheider (Jaws 2, The Punisher), Robert Shaw (The Golden Voyage of Sinbad), Richard Dreyfuss (CE3K), Lorraine Gary (Jaws 2, Night Gallery), and Murray Hamilton in this mega-hit adaptation of the bestselling novel by Peter Benchley (who also cowrote the screenplay), about a town terrorized by a large, hungry, and surprisingly smart great white shark that apparently can’t be stopped from feeding on the locals and tourists. Featuring an amazing score by John Williams (of Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones fame). It’s the summer movie that made people afraid to go to the beach.

10:15 p.m.: Gremlins (repeat broadcast)

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at movies you can stream to create your own Halloween viewing party. Stay tuned!

Halloween Movies 2022: MeTV

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Rerun channel MeTV—home to Star Trek, The A-Team, and The Andy Griffith Show, among other old-school series—doesn’t have Halloween programming, but they do celebrate the holiday in their own way, so here are the highlights of what they’re offering tomorrow (all times listed are Eastern Time):

9:00–10:00 a.m.: Bugs Bunny and Friends: It’s a special collection of “horror”-themed Loony Tunes cartoons, starring Bugs, Sylvester the Cat, Yosemite Sam, Witch Hazel, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and others: “Hyde and Go Tweet,” “A Witch’s Tangled Hare,” “Big Game Haunt,” “Shishkabugs,” “The Phantom Ship,” “The Haunted Mouse,” and “Hyde and Hare.” What, no Gossamer cartoons? Geez, MeTV, don’t you know by now that monsters make the most innnn-tuh-restin’ people?

6:00 p.m.: The Three Stooges: Moe, Larry, and Curly (and also Shemp) face off with the supernatural in the shorts “Idle Roomers,” “If a Body Meets a Body,” “Dopey Dicks,” “Spooks,” “Creeps,” and “Who Done It.” Eye pokes, face smacks, and gut punches abound—but it’s all in fun, kids.

8:00 p.m.: Svengoolie: Count Yorga, Vampire: The much-loved horror-movie host presents this 1970 fright flick starring Robert Quarry as the titular undead royal in a very loose adaptation/knockoff of Dracula, moving the action from 19th-century England to late 1960s Southern California. There’s no extra charge for all the corny jokes Sven will be inserting into the broadcast.

10:00 p.m.: Sventoonie’s Scary, Merry Halloween: Sventoonie, the Red Tuna of Terror—basically a puppet version of Svengoolie—hosts this holiday special in which, according to MeTV, he “is determined to give Halloween all the joy and traditions that Christmas has, including the cult classic Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.” Well, you do what you can with public domain material, right? 

11:00 p.m.: Star Trek: “The Doomsday Machine”: This Norman Spinrad–scripted Season 2 episode has nothing in common with the Spooky Season (that would be the episodes “Catspaw,” with its witchcraft overtones, and “Wolf in the Fold,” about Jack the Ripper), but it does have an unstoppable monster of sorts in the form of a giant machine that smashes planets and then eats them for fuel. It’s up to Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to figure out a way to stop it.

12:00 a.m.: Kolchak: The Night Stalker: “Mr. R.I.N.G.”: Reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) tracks down a murderer that turns out to be a runaway android. It’s not one of the better episodes of this one-season horror series that inspired The X-Files, but McGavin is entertaining, and it features a guest appearance from Julie Adams, the female lead of the classic “Gillman” film, The Creature From the Black Lagoon. 

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at IFC’s Halloween programming. Stay tuned!

Halloween Movies 2022: Turner Classic Movies

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For years, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) has offered a wealth of classic horror movies during its October-long celebration of the Spooky Season, and this year has been no different. Here’s what they’re running, all day long and into the night, on Halloween:

12:15 a.m.: Haxan (1922): This black-and-white silent film from Sweden (its title means The Witch) is a documentary-style examination on demonology, witchcraft, and superstition, with the sort of dramatized “reenactments” you’ll find in “reality shows” these days on the Travel Channel (aka Ghost Central) and the History Channel (aka the Alien Home Base).

4:00 a.m.: Eyes Without a Face (1959): Not the Billy Idol pop hit from 1984, but a French horror movie about a plastic surgeon determined to undo the damage his daughter suffered in a car crash, by any means necessary—even if that means targeting women whose faces he’ll use for possible skin transplants…

6:00 a.m.: The Bat (1959): Horror legend Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead (Bewitched, The Twilight Zone) star in this murder mystery about a costumed killer known as The Bat, based on Mary Roberts Rhinehart’s 1908 novel The Circular Staircase.

9:00 a.m.: Horror Hotel (1960): Another horror legend, Christopher Lee (Count Dooku of Star Wars, as you younger viewers might know him), kicks off a TCM mini ChrisLee-athon (five movies in a row!) as he contends with witchcraft and Satan wosrshippers in a Massachusetts town.

10:30 a.m.: The Curse of Frankenstein (1957): Christopher Lee returns to the screen, this time to star as the Monster in this Hammer Films adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Costarring Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin of Star Wars, to you younger viewers) as the Monster’s creator, Victor Frankenstein.

1:30 p.m.: The Mummy (1959): Christopher Lee shambles from the tomb as the bandaged monster in Hammer Films’ answer to Universal Studios’ classic Mummy flicks atarring Boris Karloff. Costarring Peter Cushing as the archaeologist determined to send the Mummy back to the afterlife.

3:00 p.m.: The Devil’s Bride (1968): Christopher Lee investigates Satanic doings in 1920s London, in this adaptation by author/screenwriter Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, The Incredible Shrinking Man) of the 1934 Dennis Wheatley novel The Devil Rides Out.

4:45 p.m.: Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972): Christopher Lee’s immortal Dracula and Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing (the latest descendant) mix it up again in this seventh entry in Hammer’s Dracula series. Costarring Stephanie Beacham (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Christopher Neame (Lust for a Vampire), and Caroline Munro (Captain Kronos—Vampire Hunter)

6:30 p.m.: The Plague of the Zombies (1966): A 19th-century English village gets overrun by zombies in this Hammer production, starring Andre Morell (The Hound of the Baskervilles), Jacqueline Pearce (Doctor Who), and Diane Clare (The Hand of Night).

8:00 p.m.: The Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Holy AMC—running the sequel before the original? What is it with these programming guys? Boris Karloff stars as the misunderstood Monster who’s searching for love and companionship, with Elsa Lanchester as his intended bride (and as Mary Shelley, in the film’s prologue), and Colin Clive as their creator, Henry Frankenstein. Directed by James Whale. 

11:15 p.m.: Frankenstein (1931): The movie that made Boris Karloff a horror legend. In this Universal Studios’ adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, Henry Frankenstein (Colin Clive) meddles with forces beyond his control, piecing together parts of corpses to form a Monster that will come to be hated—and learn to hate in kind. Directed by James Whale. Costarring Edward Van Sloan and Dwight Frye—Professor Van Helsing and Renfield, respectively of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, released that same year.

12:30 a.m.: The Invisible Man (1933): Director James Whale steps away from Frankenstein’s Monster for this adaptation of the H.G. Wells novel about a scientist (played by Claude Rains) who’s created an invisibility formula, experimented on himself with it, and is ultimately driven mad.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at MeTV’s Halloween-themed programming for this coming Saturday (they don’t have anything for Halloween itself). Stay tuned!

Halloween Movies 2022: Movies! TV Network

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Movies! has really gotten into Halloween this year, with Spooky Season–themed movie marathons running in October—a day of vampire films, a day of ghosts, a day of alien invaders, even a day of Vincent Price! Their Halloween schedule is sort of a blend of those topics, but every one is a classic. Okay, maybe not Earth vs. the Spider, but that has its charms, too…

Here’s what Movies! is offering for All Hallows’ Eve (all times listed are Eastern Time):

6:00 a.m.: Fiend Without a Face (1958): Marshall Thompson, Kim Parker, and Kynaston Reeves battle an atomic-powered invisible monster that likes to collect brains and spinal cords in order to create an army of similar horrors.

7:35 a.m.: Earth vs. the Spider (1958): Ed Kemmer and June Kenney try to save a town from a giant spider out to kill everyone. How’d it get so big? No one knows, but like the Fiend Without a Face, it’s probably nuclear related; irradiated monsters created by atomic bomb testings were all the rage in the 1950s (for example, Godzilla, Them!, Tarantula).

9:15 a.m.: The Blob (1958): Steve McQueen, Aneta Corseaut, and Earl Rowe have to deal with a big jelly monster from outer space that’s come to destroy their town—and eat everyone in its path! It practically oozes terror!

11:00 a.m.: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941): Spencer Tracy stars as the two-sided monster, Lana Turner as the woman Jekyll loves, and Ingrid Bergman as a pretty barmaid who draws the lascivious eye of the beastial Hyde in this adaptation of the classic novella by Robert Louis Stevenson.

1:30 p.m.: House of Wax (1953): Horror legend Vincent Price is a renowned sculptor turned madman (hey, it happens) who now runs a wax museum. Phyllis Kirk (The Twilight Zone), Charles Bronson (Death Wish), and Carolyn Jones (the original Morticia of The Addams Family) costar in this lavish flick about an artist who uses his gifts for revenge—and murder! It was originally presented in 3-D, so don’t be surprised when objects are hurled toward you at certain points.

3:30 p.m.: The Haunting (1963): Based on the classic Shirley Jackson novel The Haunting of Hill House, Julie Harris (The Dark Half), Claire Bloom (Clash of the Titans), Richard Johnson (The Monster Club), and Russ Tamblyn (Twin Peaks) star in this frightfully entertaining story involving a paranormal investigation of a haunted house that goes horribly wrong. Directed by Robert Wise (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Trek: The Motion Picture).

5:55 p.m.: House of Dark Shadows (1970): Jonathan Frid, Joan Bennett, and Grayson Hall star in this adaptation of the then-popular gothic soap opera, directed by creator Dan Curtis (The Night Strangler, Trilogy of Terror). Frid is Barnabas Collins, a lovelorn vampire smitten with a woman who resembles his long-ago greatest love; Joan Bennett is a scientist who might find a way to restore his humanity—if only she wasn’t so jealous of Barnabas’s true love… (Fun fact: The movie was shot in Sleepy Hollow, New York—home to the Headless Horseman!)

8:00 p.m.: The Fog (1980): Adrienne Barbeau (Swamp Thing), Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween Ends), her real-life mother Janet Leigh (Psycho), Hal Holbrook, John Houseman, and Tom Atkins (Halloween III: Season of the Witch) star in this film by director John Carpenter (Halloween, Christine) about a sleepy little West Coast town suddenly overrun by ghostly pirates—and not a Jack Sparrow to be seen!

10:00 p.m.: The Howling (1981): Dee Wallace Stone (Halloween), Patrick MacNee (The Avengers), Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore), and Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager) star in this adaptation of the Gray Brandner novel, about a TV news reporter who, after being traumatized by an assault by a serial killer, travels with her husband to The Colony, a secluded resort, to rest. But the residents of The Colony and its surrounding area all share a terrifying secret, and it doesn’t take a full moon to bring out the beast in them… Directed by Joe Dante (Piranha, Gremlins) and featuring a screenplay by John Sayles (Alligator, Eight MenOut) and Terence Winkless, and amazing transformation effects by Rob Bottin (Game of Thrones).

12:30 a.m.: Black Christmas (1974): Olivia Hussey (Batman Beyond), Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey), Margot Kidder (Superman), and John Saxon (A Nightmare on Elm Street) star in this slasher by writer/director Bob Clark, about sorority sisters being stalked by a murderer during Christmastime.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at Turner Classic Movies’ programming. Stay tuned!

Halloween Movies 2022: AMC

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Like Freeform, AMC never really has a lot of variety when it comes to their annual Halloween playlist—in AMC’s case, if they’re not pushing one of their horror series (typically the zombie apocalypse The Walking Dead, now entering its final season), they’re running the Halloween franchise movies on a loop, usually out of order (as demonstrated below, with Halloween 6 kicking off the marathon for some reason) and with no sign of 1981’s Halloween II or 1982’s Michael Myers–less Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

(Keep in mind: As far as the makers of the most recent trilogy—Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends—contend, none of the other movies in the franchise exist in their timeline, except for the original, 1978 Halloween. Confusing, eh?)

Anyway, here’s what AMC is offering for All Hallows’ Eve (all times listed are Eastern Time):

12:15 a.m.: The Walking Dead: An episode of the long-running TV series adapting the comic book series created by writer Robert Kirkman.

1:22 a.m.: Interview with the Vampire (2022): An episode of the new TV series adapting Anne Rice’s novel.

2:26 a.m.: The Walking Dead: Another episode of the TV series.

9:00 a.m.: Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995): It’s the end of a film trilogy begun in Halloween 4–5, so naturally AMC runs it before the other two installments. Michael is on the warpath (isn’t he always, though?), intending to kill Laurie Strode’s daughter, Jamie Lloyd (J.C. Brandy). The final film appearance of Donald Pleasance (Halloween, Halloween 4–5, Escape From New York) as Michael’s gun-toting psychiatrist, Dr. Sam Loomis, as he passed away after H6 was shot.

11:00 a.m.: Halloween: Resurrection (2002): Another case of broadcasting idiocy, as this sequel to Halloween H20: 20 Years Later runs first. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Michael have their “final” confrontation, but it’s not the end of the story as Michael shifts his attention from targeting high school kids to college girls. Costarring Busta Rhymes (The Rugrats Movie), Katee Sackhoff (The Mandalorian), and supermodel Tyra Banks.

1:00 p.m.: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988): Ten years after stalking Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode on Halloween night (well, technically seven years, considering 1981’s Halloween II took place the same night) and a failed box office attempt with Halloween III to make the series an anthology rather than a repetitive one-note killing spree, Michael picks up where he left off, only this time he’s after Laurie’s young daughter, Jamie Lloyd (future scream queen Danielle Harris, in her film debut), and only his nemesis, Dr. Sam Loomis (Donald Pleasance, returning to the franchise) can stop him.

3:00 p.m.: Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989): Michael’s back—of course—and he hasn’t given up on killing Jamie Lloyd. Tunnel vision matched with singlemindedness—that’s always been that boy’s problem…well, that and the homicidal rage. Donald Pleasance and Danielle Harris return, in a story to be continued in the previously broadcast Halloween 6.

5:00 p.m.: Halloween (1978): The John Carpenter–directed classic that started it all. Fifteen years after he stabbed his sister to death, Michael Myers breaks loose from the sanitarium in which he was locked away and goes on a killing spree on Halloween night in his hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis as “final girl” Laurie Strode and Donald Pleasance as Dr. Sam Loomis. Is Michael really the boogeyman? He just might be…

7:00 p.m.: Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998): Director Steve Miner (Lake Placid, Friday the 13th Parts 2–3) sends Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) back to Haddonfield twenty years after her traumatic encounters with Michael, accompanied this time by LL Cool J (Deep Blue Sea), Michelle Williams (Venom), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises). Guess who’s waiting for them…?

9:00 p.m.: Halloween: Resurrection (repeat broadcast, now in its proper sequence placement)

11:00 p.m.: Halloween (1978; repeat broadcast)

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at Movies! TV Network’s programming. Stay tuned!

Halloween TV Marathons: Turner Classic Movies

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tcm_kong_logoWrapping up our overview of U.S. cable-TV Halloween programming, this time we focus the spotlight on the mother lode of classic horror flicks: the schedule for TCM, Turner Classic Movies. Halloween’s a major event for TCM—they dedicate the entire month of October to it! This year’s marathon is hosted by Ron Perlman (Hellboy himself!).

Halloween weekend is especially busy for the network, and a must-see for horror fans; this past Friday night’s lineup alone boasted Bela Lugosi in 1931’s Dracula, Boris Karloff in 1932’s The Mummy, Claude Rains in 1933’s The Invisible Man, and Lon Chaney in 1941’s The Wolfman! And the classic shocks continued all day Saturday and Sunday, leading up to tonight’s and tomorrow’s schedules:

youngfrankensteinStarting at 8:00 p.m. (ET) on October 30, it’s Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, and Peter Boyle in the Mel Brooks–directed 1974 comedy Young Frankenstein, followed by another horror-comedy classic, with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello on the run from Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, Lon Chaney’s Wolfman, and Glenn Strange’s Frankenstein monster in 1941’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (one of my all-time-favorite movies).

At midnight (Halloween!), it’s Lon Chaney making an immediate return to the movie schedule in 1925’s silent horror-comedy The Monster, followed by 1955’s French psychological thriller Diabolique. Charles Boyer tries to drive wife Ingrid Bergman crazy in 1944’s Gaslight. Bela Lugosi and on-screen daughter Carroll Borland rise from the grave in 1935’s Mark of the Vampire. Producer Val Lewton springs were-panther Simone Simon on audiences in 1942’s Cat People. Another Lewton production, 1943’s I Walked With a Zombie, has nurse Frances Dee encounter one of the walking dead. Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now) makes his proper directorial debut in 1963’s Dementia 13, produced by B-movie master Roger Corman.

house-haunted-hillThen Vincent Price stalks the halls of 1953’s House of Wax. Boris Karloff introduces the three tales of director Mario Bava’s Black Sabbath, from 1963. It’s followed by another anthology: 1945’s Dead of Night. Vincent Price returns in 1958’s House on Haunted Hill, produced by B-movie-gimmick king William Castle. The Haunting is director Robert Wise’s 1963 adaptation of author Shirley Jackson’s acclaimed novel The Haunting of Hill House. Then it’s a Christopher Lee triple feature, with 1968’s The Devil’s Bride (aka The Devil Rides Out), 1959’s The Mummy—with Lee as the title character and his longtime friend (and Dracula film series nemesis) Peter Cushing as the hero—and the 1959 adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Cushing as Holmes and Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville.

The Halloween celebration winds down in the wee hours of November 1’s morning, with three final Lee entries: 1961’s Scream of Fear, 1960’s The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, and 1976’s To the Devil…a Daughter. Six Christopher Lee films in a row—that’s one hell of a way to close out the holiday!

And then Halloween 2016 is over. But don’t fret, horror fans, it’s a good bet that TCM is already making plans for next year’s countdown!

Halloween TV Marathons: Movies! and Get TV

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It’s part 3 of our overview of the kind of scare-related programming you’ll find on television this Halloween. This time we’ll take a look at a couple of cable movie channels in the U.S. that are showing old-timey horror films.

movies-halloweenFor the Movies! TV Network, the day starts off with 1959’s The Tingler at 8:00 a.m. (ET), starring master of the macabre Vincent Price (younger Panatics might recognize him as the creepy voice and sinister laugh at the end of Michael Jackson’s hit single “Thriller”: “The foulest stench is in the air/The funk of 40,000 years…”). The Tingler is a parasite that can only be halted from killing you if you scream at the top of your lungs—a plot device that made a lot of sense when the movie was in wide release, because the sales pitch to audiences was that at some point the Tingler would be loosed in your theater! It involved certain seats being wired with an electrical current that would mildly shock the “victims,” causing them to scream—scream for their lives! (In the late ’80s, I saw The Tingler in a small movie house here in Manhattan—and yep, they wired the seats, just like back in the day. That was the best!)

 

swamp_thing1982Movies! continues its programming with 1967’s Berserk!, starring Joan Crawford; 1965’s Die! Die! My Darling!, with Tallulah Bankhead and Stephanie Powers; 1971’s The Mephisto Waltz, with Alan Alda and Jacqueline Bisset; the 1988 remake of The Blob, with Shawnee Smith and Kevin Dillon; John Carpenter’s 1980 thriller The Fog, with Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween) and Adrienne Barbeau (Escape From New York); Wes Craven’s 1982 adaptation of DC Comics’ Swamp Thing, starring Louis Jordan, Ray Wise, Adrienne Barbeau, and Dick Durock as the walking, talking swamp critter; and 1975’s Bug—about killer cockroaches—starring Bradford Dillman and Joanna Miles. Wrapping up the marathon with 1967’s The Deadly Bees, with Suzanna Leigh and Frank Finlay.

Not a bad lineup at all. So what’s happening on those higher TV-remote numbers?

get-tv-logoGet TV—a cable channel owned by Sony Pictures that runs TV shows and movies from Sony’s extensive library—hosts a brief Halloween schedule, starting late Sunday night (October 30) at 10:00 p.m. (ET) with the one-hour documentary Vincent Price: The Versatile Villain, an overview of the actor’s life and career. It’s followed by the 1954 Price vehicle The Mad Magician, about a murderous illusionist who terrorizes costars Mary Murphy and Eva Gabor.

return-vampireThen comes 1944’s The Return of the Vampire, starring Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, as he tries to put the bite on Nina Foch and Frieda Inescourt. After a break for a Western (1954’s Jesse James vs. The Daltons—what the hell?), horror returns for a trilogy of documentaries: Bela Lugosi: Hollywood’s Dark Prince; Boris Karloff: The Gentle Monster; and Peter Lorre: The Master of Menace. Then another break, with episodes of the TV series Nanny and the Professor and Ensign O’Toole, before a final, minor supernatural-themed show: an episode of the ghost-comedy series The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, starring Edward Mulhare and Hope Lange as the eponymous characters.

Hey, Get, if you’re owned by Sony, and you have access to their film library, where are the Sony horror movies for a full-out marathon? What about The Howling for the overnight hours? Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II for prime time? (GB’s producer, Columbia Pictures, is a subsidiary of Sony.) Producer William Castle’s The Old Dark House or Homicidal? Maybe Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre in the 1942 horror comedy The Boogie Man Will Get You?

Let’s…er, get on the ball for next year, okay?

Halloween TV Marathons: AMC, Antenna TV, Showtime Beyond

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Continuing our look at U.S. cable-TV station that will be celebrating Halloween this year, this time we shine the spotlight on a couple of basic-cable channels and a pay-TV one, all with something to offer.

amc_logoAMC—home of The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead—spends All Hallows’ Eve celebrating the monstrous acts of unstoppable serial killer Michael Myers (aka The Shape) with an all-day Halloween marathon. John Carpenter’s chilling 1978 masterpiece Halloween starts the day at 9:00 a.m. (ET), with Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode just trying to survive the night and Donald Pleasance trying to put a bullet between the eyes of her silent, murderous escaped patient. Then Curtis and Pleasance return for more Shape-bashing in 1981’s Halloween II (which is set immediately after the original). It’s followed by immediate encores of Halloween I and II.

AMC skips over the sole non-Michael entry in the franchise, 1982’s Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and picks up the narrative with Donald Pleasance back on the case in 1988’s Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, to prevent Michael from killing Laurie’s daughter, Jamie (played by a young Danielle Harris). And in 1989’s Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Pleasance uses Jamie as bait(!) to trap Michael. (Hey, now who’s the bad guy—huh, Dr, Loomis?) The night ends with a second rerun of Halloween (three showings in one day!).

antenna_tv_logoAntenna TV—home to reruns of genre shows like The Addams Family, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch—is running an all-day marathon of Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes, starting at 3:00 a.m. (ET) and continuing right up to 11:00 p.m. A decade-long (1955–1965) anthology series in the vein of The Twilight Zone, AHP dealt with thriller and mystery stories rather than fantasy and science fiction, and every episode featured Hitchcock as on-screen host in dark-humored introductions (he even directed 18 of them). Probably its most famous episode is “Lamb to the Slaughter,” adapted from a story by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG), about a housewife who murders her husband with a frozen leg of lamb—but it’s not part of this marathon! What the hell, Antenna? Well, at least they’re running AHP’s adaptation of Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” so that’s something.

showtime-beyondShowtime Beyond—the horror- and fantasy-themed movie channel—kicks off Halloween on Sunday night, with the 11:00 p.m. (ET) showing of 2015’s The Funhouse Massacre, starring horror legend Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund. It’s followed by 2014’s millennials vs. man-eating bear film Backcountry; 2015’s torture-porn tattoo-artist flick Anarchy Parlor; the 2004 wedding horror Zombie Honeymoon; the urban fantasy Walter; 2013’s Space Warriors, about a group of young space cadets rescuing astronauts; 2006’s magic-man The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and Paul Giamatti; 2015’s The Wicked Within, with Sienna Guillory (Jill Valentine of the Resident Evil movies) starring in a sort of Satan meets The Usual Suspects mash-up.

The 2014 malevolent-ghost story Jessabelle pops in afterward, followed by Blair Witch Project director Eduardo Sanchez’s 2008’s Chinese-ghost story, Seventh Moon; the 2015 monster-at-the-beach film Blood Sand; and an encore of The Illusionist. The evening’s programming consists of the 2014 hit It Follows; The Hills Have Eyes (either the Wes Craven original from 1977 or the Alexandre Aja 2006 remake—Beyond’s schedule doesn’t say); and the telekinetic-killer thriller Patrick (either the 1973 original or the 2013 remake). The night ends with an encore of The Wicked Within.

An okay lineup for these stations. But if you want to experience real horror, you can take a trip over to the Hallmark Channel—which starts running its Countdown to Christmas 2016 movie marathon tonight.

Fifty-six days of overly schmaltzy Christmas movies—God help us all!

Halloween TV Marathons 2016: Chiller TV and Syfy

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The day of spooks and monsters, tricks and treats, and horror movie marathons on television is almost upon us, so I thought now would be the perfect time to see what some of the cable-TV networks—at least those in the United States—are offering viewers for Halloween. We’ll start with a look at what’s on the schedule for two of the most well-known genre-related stations on October 31st…

chiller-logoChiller TV gets its Halloween programming under way this year on Sunday (October 30), with a 9:00 p.m. (ET) showing of 1986’s Poltergeist II: The Other Side, starring Craig T. Nelson, JoBeth Williams, and Heather O’Rourke. Poltergeist III from 1988 follows, with O’Rourke’s Carol Anne moving the ghostly action to Chicago. Rising from the film crypt after it are 1988’s Pumpkinhead, with genre master Lance Henriksen, and 1993’s Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, followed by 1990’s Flatliners, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts, and Kevin Bacon (and which is getting a 2017 sequel with Sutherland, Ellen Page, and Nina Dobrev of The Vampire Diaries). Bacon returns in 1999’s Stir of Echoes, with Rob Lowe picking up the spirit-seeing mantle in 2007’s Stir of Echoes 2: The Homecoming.

Then in the afternoon the movies get shifted around for a string of reruns that carry us into the evening: Pumpkinhead, Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings, Poltergeist II: The Other Side, and Poltergeist III. Halloween wraps up with the broadcast of 1999’s “found footage” trendsetter The Blair Witch Project, with Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Joshua Leonard; and 2000’s Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, starring Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice) and Kim Director (Gotham).

A disappointing lineup, wouldn’t you say? With all the movies at Chiller’s disposal you’d expect them to put together something more exciting for their most important holiday of the year. No Hellraiser or Evil Dead? No Tremors? No Halloween?! Not even an appearance from Chiller’s own productions, Steve Niles’ Remains, The Monkey’s Paw (with Stephen Lang of the recent thriller Don’t Breathe), or Brian Keene’s Ghoul? Definitely a missed opportunity.

syfy-logoOver at Chiller’s sister network, The Syfy Channel—home to such TV series as Channel Zero, Van Helsing, Z Nation, and The Magicians, as well as those goofy Sharknado movies—things are a little more interesting. It, too, has its Halloween programming carry over from Sunday night, with the 11:00 p.m. (ET) showing of the 2011 home-invasion horror You’re Next. It’s followed by 2013’s Grave Halloween, set in Japan’s notorious “suicide forest” (the same setting of the recent film The Forest), and an encore of You’re Next. Then comes a trio of episodes from Rod Serling’s classic Twilight Zone series: “The Man in the Bottle,” “Nervous Man in a $4 Room,” and “A Thing About Machines.” Then it’s encores of—yep, you guessed it—Grave Halloween and You’re Next.

The heart of the marathon starts at 10:30 a.m. (ET), with the 2012 Joss Whedon–produced The Cabin in the Woods, with Chris (Thor) Hemsworth; 2003’s hillbilly-cannibals flick Wrong Turn, with Eliza Dushku and Jeremy Sisto; 2012’s creepy home-movies monster Sinister, with Ethan Hawke; 2003’s Jeepers Creepers 2, starring Ray Wise (and yes, there’s a Jeepers Creepers 3 in development); the other popular home-invasion film, 2008’s The Strangers, with Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler; and 2009’s walking-dead comedy Zombieland, starring Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. The night wraps up with a repeat showing of The Cabin in the Woods.

Set your DVRs now!