For the last several years I’ve watched one of the films in the Halloween franchise on Halloween and I decided to hit up Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) this year. I’ve seen it before and written about it (here) so I don’t feel the need for another review (one day I’ll rewatch and review the later films in the franchise but today is not that day.
Instead, I thought I’d talk about all the horror movies I watched this Spooky Season. I’ll do my usual write-up on every movie I watched this month tomorrow, but I wanted to say a few things about the horror movies I watched this month and didn’t get a chance to write about. For the ones I’ve already written something about I’ll just link to my previous thoughts.
Jeepers Creepers (2001)
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)
A giant mess of a movie. Winona Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, the girl who could see the ghosts in the first movie. Now she’s a TV star on a show where she does paranormal investigations. Jenna Ortega plays her daughter with her own issues. Lots of other people play lots of other characters. There are too many of them with too many subplots and Tim Burton doesn’t seem to know what to do with any of them. At least Michael Keaton seems to be having fun.
13 Ghosts (1960)
A very silly, gimmicky film from William Castle. A family inherits a castle full of ghosts. The trick is that whenever the ghosts appear the film uses some special filters so that the audience, wearing special glasses, can see them. Not having those glasses the ghosts appear only faintly.
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Werner Herzog’s remake of the silent classic (which was the first-ever cinematic adaptation of Dracula) is a slow, moody masterpiece. As ever, Herzog has more up his sleeve than meets the eye. Klaus Kinski plays Count Dracula to perfection.
Beetlejuice (1988)
My wife really wanted to see the sequel so we revisited the original. Winona Ryder was my first celebrity crush because of this film. It is still a fun time at the movies, but I don’t really love it.
The Fog (1980)
The Girl in Room 2A (1974)
The Wolfman (2010)
I did not realize this film with Benicio Del Toro as the Wolf Man and Anthony Hopkins as his daddy was a true remake of the classic Universal film. It updates the original and fleshes out the story. I’d say I liked it more than the original, but nothing really beats the way the first one looks.
What Have They Done to Your Daughters? (1974)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
I linked to a very old review in which I didn’t much enjoy this film. As I state in my editor’s note in that review I’ve come to absolutely love it. Watched it this time with my daughter who seemed to enjoy herself.
Day of the Dead (1985)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The story is pretty silly, and I’m not a huge fan of Lon Chaney, Jr, but the sets looks fantastic and the cinematography is on point.
Final Destination 2 (2003)
Cursed (2005)
The House of Seven Corpses (1974)
A film director shoots a horror movie in a house in which some ghastly real murders were committed. Unsurprisingly, things go bad. For the characters in the film and for us as an audience because this film is not good.
Alien: Romulus (2024)
A pretty fun, if completely unnecessary mix-tape of all the Alien movies.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Invisible Agent (1942)
In this fourth installment of the Invisible Man series, the Invisible Man battles Nazis. It starts out promising with Peter Lorre as a nasty…um…Japanese agent, but then it quickly becomes a very silly, and rather dumb comedy.
Night of the Werewolf (1981)
The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman (1971)
Spanish writer/director/producer/actor Paul Naschy made eleven films in which he played Count Waldemar Daninsky a werewolf. As far as I can tell most of the films have no real connection to each other other than the character and there doesn’t seem to be any continuity within the character either.
I watched these two back to back. Their plots have kind of blended together at this point, but also, they were kind of similar to begin with. In Night of the Werewolf, a couple of girls dig up Elizabeth Bathory the famous serial killing noblewoman from the 1500s, whereas in The Werewolf Versus the Vampire Woman a couple of girls resurrect a vampire. In both films, Count Daninsky saves the day, but also turns villainous. I really dug them both.
Torso (1973)
The Invisible Woman (1940)
Salem’s Lot (2024)
The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Who Saw Her Die (1972)
Mimic (1997)
The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
The Grudge (2004)
House of the Long Shadows (1983)
Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (2003)
Ju-on: The Grudge (2002)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
The Blob (1988)
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