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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 Movies 2022: What’s Your Monster Movie?

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According to this popular meme, mine would be Curse of the Disco Zombies, which sounds right, given I spent part of my youth reading horror comics in the 1970s, at the height of disco. No doubt it stars Jaaaahhhhn! Revolta, shambling his way through the cemeteries of Brooklyn while boogeying with Karloff Lynn Gore-y to the tunes of the Bees?Geez!. “Stayin’ Alive” takes on a whole new meaning when your dance partner is a zombie!

It’s a timely question, because in preparation for Halloween this year, we’ll be taking a look at what some of the cable-TV stations will be offering in terms of spooky programming on All Hallows’ Eve. And don’t worry—if you need a break from all the blood and monsters, you can always swing over to the Hallmark channels, which are already knee-deep in their Countdown to Christmas movie marathons.

Celebrating Christmas in October?! That’s terrifying!

So, getting back to the subject…what is your monster movie?

Horror Street: Nosferatu

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Welcome back to Horror Street, my ongoing journey in search of awesome yet spooky graffiti art on the streets and little-traveled corners of New York City!

This time around, we have an appearance by the nefarious vampire lord Count Graf Orlock, star of the classic 1922 German silent movie Nosferatu. I came across this mural in September 2021 along the border that connects the neighborhoods of Brooklyn’s East Williamsburg and Queens’s Ridgewood. No idea who the artist is, unfortunately.

Still, there’s no better time for the count to make his Horror Street debut than now, because 2022 is Nosferatu’s 100th anniversary!

Directed by F.W. Murnau and starring Max Schreck as the rat-faced, corpselike Count Graf Orlock, Nosferatu was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, with character names changed and plot points slightly adjusted, in an attempt to avoid a copyright lawsuit—a ploy that ultimately failed when the Stoker Estate and its attorneys came calling; worse yet, they insisted as part of the settlement that every copy of the film be destroyed! 

Some prints survived, of course, and a very good thing that was, because Nosferatu is one of the greatest horror movies ever made, made memorable by the combination of iconic imagery from Murnau and cinematographer Fritz Arno Wagner, and Schreck’s fearsome portrayal of the monster. If you’ve never seen it, or haven’t watched it in some time, do yourself a favor and give Nosferatu a look.

So, happy 100th Anniversary to F.W. Murnau and Max Schreck and all the cast and crew of Nosferatu—you made an exceptional horror film that’s still thrilling fans to this day. Congratulations!

Be sure to check out my previous Horror Street entries. And stay tuned for further installments of Horror Street—there’s plenty of macabre graffiti art to be found on the streets of New York, if you look in the right creepy places! 

StarWarp Concepts Heroines Assemble!

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As all fans of comic-based movies are aware, today’s the U.S. premiere date for Avengers: Endgame, the payoff to last year’s blockbuster, Avengers: Infinity War, and the culmination of a storyline that’s run through ten years of Marvel flicks. Reviews are positive, fan excitement is at a fever pitch, the Internet broke in half when everyone in North America attempted to log on to Fandango to buy tickets, it’s already on track to make a bazillion dollars…in short, it’s a good time to be Marvel Films.

The question is, who’s going to survive the final battle with Thanos, the Mad Titan who used the Infinity Gauntlet to wipe out half of all life in the universe in the final moments of Infinity War? There’s a chance the team might have some open slots in their roster by the time the war’s over, and that reminded me of an old Avengers comic cover during one of their recruitment drives—and who might be perfect candidates for reserve members…

Avengers221-Pan-Lori

I know who I’m voting for: Goth Girl and Temptress! 😀

“Goth Girl,” of course, is our very own Pandora Zwieback, teenaged Goth monster fighter and star of my Saga of Pandora Zwieback books and comics. Pan made her debut in the novels Blood Feud and Blood Reign, before starring in her own comic book special, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1.

“Temptress” is Lorelei, SWC’s first lady of horror who’s celebrating her 30th anniversary this year. You can find her supernatural adventures in the Mature Readers graphic novel Lorelei: Sects and the City and the anthology comic Lorelei Presents: House Macabre.

Smart, funny, talented women who protect the world from monsters—who wouldn’t want them on their team?

Who will you vote for?