The truly great thing about Halloween is that there is a nearly bottomless reservoir of appropriate films for the holiday. I think the average person could see every Christmas, Hanukkah, Thanksgiving and Ramadan movie ever made in less than a week. Yet, no one alive has ever seen every “Halloween” movie. This month at Crackle we’ve been focusing on zombies with ZombieFest, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Along with the zombie flicks, in the last few weeks we’ve talked at length about William Castle, Hammer Horror, Frankenstein, Hatian Voodoo Zombies, Ray Dennis Steckler and there’s still so much more to come. To get you digging here are seven horror flicks (in no particular order) you may have missed the first time, but each has a certain something you have to check out
WATCH: Pulse (1988)
The Story: Looking for a reverse rumspringa? This is a movie for the Amish luddite in you. Electricity goes evil in this story about how divorce may suck, but intelligent electricity poses the real danger to the family unit. It’s like Maximum Overdrive crossed with the home shopping channel. Beware your magic bullet blender buddy. This is close as we have to a family horror movie beause only one person dies, and it’s off screen.
What to Watch for: Woah! Strap in for two, count ‘em TWO, Lawrence brothers: Joseph Lawrence and Matthew Lawrence. Trekkie fans, keep an eye peeled for Tim Russ (Tuvok on Voyager).
WTF: Car windows are really mysterious in this movie.
WATCH: Carnival of Souls
The Story: It’s the best “girl on a bridge” story since Chappaquiddick. A lady and her friends drive off of a bridge, but only she mysteriously survives. After her survival she becomes a Tori Amos of the pipe organ and all hell breaks loose. This 1962 low budget movie has reached true cult status, with a reissue by Criterion, commentary tracks available from Mike Nelson of MST3K and a re-make by Wes Craven.
What to Watch for: Star Candace Hilligoss may not have done a large slate of movies over her career, but she did also work on The Curse of the Living Corpse in ‘64 with a young and pretty Roy Scheider.
WTF: Writer/director Herk Harvey got the idea for this movie when he saw Saltair Pavilion on the Great Salt Lake and the thought, “dead people dancing in a ballroom on the Great Salt Lake,” flashed in his mind.
WATCH: Day X
The Story: It’s time to escape from some good ol’ zombie disease! This action flick is low on gore and high on homages to George Romero’s zombie films. Then to class it all up, there’s a tiny bit of The Decameron thrown in.
What to Watch for: Frank Chambers is played by Ken Edwards, who was also happens to be in the zombie flick Z: A Zombie Musical.
WTF: For the record, this movie is in no way related to the 1967 Polish military documentary short: Day X.
WATCH: Lifeforce
The Story: Tobe Hooper helmed this space-vampire-zombie flick that involves the space shuttle and Halley’s comet. The tag line is, “With an insatiable hunger, they are coming…Mankind is their prey.” The writer is Dan O’Bannon who you may recognize as the writing mind behind other Crackle classics like Blue Thunder, Heavy Metal and Screamers.
What to Watch for: Any movie with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) is worth watching.
WTF: The alien spaceship was modeled after an artichoke. Delicious and terrifying.
WATCH: The Raven
The Story: Sorta’ kinda’ inspired by the Edgar Allen Poe poem, except reimagined as a horor comedy with transforming magicians. There IS a Lenore involved but there’s also a bunch of plot stuff involving dueling magicians.
What to Watch for: This movie has a crazy acting combo, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff and… Jack Nicholson. Yeah.
WTF: Did you not see the above?
WATCH: Scarecrows
The Story: It’s a dark night and thieves parachute into a graveyard surround by “scarecrows”… and well people die gruesome, horrible, deaths. If you loved The Wizard of Oz but wished that there was less dancing and singing and more blood, guts and re-animated corpses, this is the movie for you.
What to Watch for: The following quote, “If I were a crow I’d be somewhere else.”
WTF: This movie was written by one of the same guys in charge of writing the Tron Legacy reboot, Richard Jefferies.
WATCH: Guilty as Charged
The Story: Oscar winner Rod Steiger is a vigilante who enjoys gruesome home electrical projects. With the aid of Oscar winner Isaac Hayes, Stiger catches bad men and executes them in a homemade electric chair. Lauren Hutton and a young, nubile, Heather Graham come along for the ride in this comedy horror picture.
What to Watch for: Did you not read the above?
WTF: The mere fact that such a movie was made is reason enough that it be watched. I mean, really, does any of the above make any sence?
If these movies don’t make your holiday, you’re not watching them hard enough.
CJ – Crackle Blog Editor
Tags: Boris Karloff, Candace Hilligoss, Carnival of Souls, Dan O'Bannon, day x, Guilty as Charged, Heather Graham, Herk Harvey, Isaac Hayes, jack nicholson, Joseph Lawrence, Lauren Hutton, lifeforce, Matthew Lawrence, Patrick Stewart, Peter Lorre, Pulse, Richard Jefferies, Rod Steiger, Scarecrows, The Raven, Tim Russ, Tobe Hooper, Vincent Price, zombiefest
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by dobraworks: If you’re going to watch a movie this Halloween, this is your free film on-line guide to greatness: http://bit.ly/4rkOvi…