As we approach perhaps my favorite season, there has been some chat 'round here regarding Halloween parties, what costumes will be worn, and Zombie's Halloween movie revisit. This is great discussion material and I love hearing everyone's input.

I tend to go nuts with watching horror movies and saving a favorite horror read for this time of year.

Any suggestions for good reads and/or any indie/obscure movie gems? What do you guys like to watch/read this time of year?

Every Autumn I read The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft. Each Halloween I try to watch Evil Dead 1&2, Dead Alive, and Cemetery Man.

I recently watched The Abandoned which has that isolated, creepy feel that I crave from horror movies. I enjoyed this one.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions?

paging skylar, who will probably be a crank that people don't watch Horror movies and read horror year round.

and for what its worth..my vote goes to:



Since I started watching it, its just not halloween without it.

I drench myself in goats blood and turn on "November Coming Fire" as loud as I can and chant. As children approach my home for tricks or treats I spit urine on them to cleanse them and than offer them their own souls as the only worthy treats. Driven mad by my offerings they flee in terror, but it's too late....I've already granted their souls to Samhain for my harvest and for mercy on my own blackened heart.......than I watch "The Great Pumpkin" on TV and eat candy corn and popcorn balls.

make it a tradition:

rocky horror picture show

time warp is one damn addicting song

Not directed at you, but I HATE RHPS! I hate driving by theaters late at night playing it too, bunch of jerks in undies trying to get me to dance to some Sweet knock-off tunes. Sorry for the mini-rant, not directed at you really or your taste. Just my hate-filled opinion on it. One of the few things that still ignites rage in me.

My Halloween tradition is to watch my alltime favorite horror film, Ormsby and Clarke's Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, with my good friend, Orville.

i've never actually RHPS in a theater! i've only ever had it on dvd and i try to watch it every halloween.

i think tim curry is phenomenal in it and i like the glammy music in general

as a movie it's pretty terrible though haha

ooo the glammy music made me thing of hedwig and the angry inch. awesome movie! (but not a halloween flick)

come on... you know you love it!!!

Nope. Hate. I love glam rock, I have a weird thing for it. I think cause' it's "trying" to be weird I guess is why it bugs me, it's not natural, it knows what it is. I dunno, I guess I'm coming off like a douche, but I never liked it....too bad, love Meatloaf (god knows why?!)

nah not douche at all. we're allowed to hate!

I'm not a fan of RHPS, watched it a couple times in college and just didn't click. I did watch Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things last Halloween and absolutely loved it! One of my buddies brought it as his hidden gem.

I tend to watch at least 1 horror movie per week and try to read 1 novel per week. I'm trying to finish The Count of Monte Cristo so I can move on to Robert McCammon's Speaks the Nightbird.

Last few horror movies watched:
- The Number 23 (OK, liked the not-so-happy ending)
- The Abandoned (loved the creepiness)
- Vacancy (typical Hollywood horror)
- Zodiac (not really horror, I know, but even tho long was a good story)
- Dead Birds (really liked this)
- The Return (please don't waste your time, perhaps the worst I've seen)
- The Manitou (flashback to a cheesy flic that tripped me out as a kid)
- Oldboy (not really horror but this may be one of my favs)
- Versus (another one of my favs)

BD6969, your response has already made my Halloween!

Maybe view some of the not-so-obvious classics this year.

The 1963 movie "The Haunting," directed by Robert Wise, written by Shirley Jackson, remains a very spooky, moody movie precisely for suggesting more than it shows. Solid quality and truly eerie.

"The Bride of Frankenstein" is both a brilliant narrative extension of the first movie, but also intentionally campy and self-satirical in some ways while simultaneously expanding upon the more serious themes of alienation and misunderstanding inherent to the tale. It features a great early soundtrack by Bernard Hermann and an even better performance by Boris Karloff than the original. It's not scary, but it's great monster entertainment.

Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive" (aka "Braindead") is a must-see of the zombie genre. It's totally over-the-top, unusual for being set in provincial New Zealand. Another horror movie that doesn't take itself seriously, and is all the better for it.

My favorite part in Dead Alive is when he takes the lawnmower to the zombies heads. That and when the zombies start gettin it on on the dining room table (hilarious). I hate horror movies but love me some zombie flicks.

Make a haunted house and scare some kids!

I had to give away my coffin last year, but I think I'm going to set somthing up for this Halloween.

55 days 'til Halloween, Silver Shamrock!

That is the by far the best movie in the series!

I hate Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things. It's a zombie movie where the zombies don't do anything.

Reading Lovecraft still scares the hell out of me. The novella of I Am Legend has the same effect every time I reread it.

If you're a fan of John Carpenter's The Thing (and by extension, Joseph Campbell's Who Goes There?), check out Joe Haldeman's novel Camouflage. It's an interesting take on a similar situation: two creatures, one that can only imitate humans, one that can duplicate animate and inanimate objects. Interestingly, it wasn't inspired by the Carpenter film, he was completely ignorant of the film until after he wrote the book (although it's possible he knew about the Campbell short story), and it has a lot more depth to it.

I think Alan and his group would disagree.

Thanks for all the suggestions. It's been a long time since I've read/watched several movies and books mentioned. Halloween 3, The Haunting, and especially The Thing are all flics I'll put on my list for this year.

It's probably time to read I Am Legend again before the movie is released. I will check out Haldeman's Camoflage. I'm an avid reader so please keep posting some of your favorite reads, always looking for something.

Here are a few I've read recently:
- The Descent by Jeff Long
- San Diego Lightfoot Sue and Other Stories by Tom Reamy
- The House On The Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
- Blaze by Richard Bachman (Stephen King)
- Usher's Passing by Robert McCammon
I enjoyed all of these and would recommend them, especially the Hodgson for Halloween. Classic horror/sci-fi mind trip.

What did you think of that book? When it came out I (and a lot of other people) thought "this will be next summer's big movie," and if I recall correctly, someone did buy options on the property, but it never made it to screen.

I loved the concepts of the book (it basically describes a literal "hell" of underground-dwelling creatures who account for the mythology of demons) and thought the opening scenes were a slam-dunk, but it seemed like the author wasn't sure how to wrap it all up in the end. Still, a very fun page-turner!

I love that movie.

I agree, Xono. When I lent it to a friend, I summed it up similarly; a page-turner with many intelligent ideas but a wind-down ending. Still very, very enjoyable. Would probably be a long movie but long movies seem to be the trend nowadays.

I'm starting to think about a Halloween book swap. By this weekend I'll get together some reads that could be passed on. Just thinking out loud, more on this later...

I can recommend some obscure movies, but I would be interested to know what other kinds of stuff you like first, so I can base my suggestions on something.

and how obscure are we talking, because I can go deep. I'll watch anything, I swear.

I think you have me beat on books, and I should probably take some suggestions from you in that regard.

it seems to me from what you already posted that you enjoy Splatstick/Zombedies. Some suggestions in that realm would be The Convent, an indie film from a few years ago by a guy named Mike Mendez, who actually did one of those After Dark Horrorfest films. Also, Jake West's Evil Aliens (not sure if it's currently available on DVD in this country yet) or Rojo Sangre with Paul Naschy, or there's always Wild Zero.

I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now.

I prefer to watch older, classics around this time of year. I dig out all the old Universals, Hammers, and Amicuses.

nothing goes on in the UK, nothing.

I've heard that Japan (and I'm sure a lot of other non-US regions) is the same way. Personally, it's my favorite time of the year, and no matter where I were on this globe, I would celebrate the shit out of it.