PART TWO
The decorations are up, the nights are getting darker and that means Halloween is just round the creepy corner. Next up to share their personal Halloween favourites are Nina Romain, Steven West, Jays Hawke, Richard Street and Chris Ward and a common favourite emerges from the darkness.
October 31 gets ever closer as the spookiest time of year beckons, and you’re surrounded by visions of cheerfully diabolical gore and overpriced festive drinks. What better time to disappear into a cinematic world of autumn foreboding and creepy costumes? Ignoring the Halloween classics of this century, you can’t go wrong with some ‘70s and ‘80s classics, including the slasher that started it all. Nina Romain grabs a Creepy Cranberry cocktail, and goes old-school with some retro cinematic tricks and treats….
HALLOWEEN (1978), the most famous Halloween flick, revolving around a smalltown hiding a disturbing secret. Jamie Lee Curtis, completely believable as a high school babysitter in Haddonfield, Illinois, looking after some kids for a little extra pocketmoney, and takes on a faceless killer armed with nothing but a knitting needle. In doing so, she makes immortal the idea of the unstoppable killer, in the granddaddy of slashers that put John Carpenter on the horror map and is still playing the ultimate final girl today. The film is also an inspiration for many horror fans to travel to LA to visit the famous suburban street corner, where Laurie Strode sits innocently clutching her festive pumpkin. You’ll never look at a tiny trick-or-treater in a cute little clown’s outfit the same way again.
Which horror fan doesn’t have a soft spot for the ultimate 80s horror comedy, LOST BOYS (1987), both funny, creepy, and gory? Variety famously hated it, calling it “a horrifically dreadful vampire teensploitation”, but the rest of us loved it, from its endlessly-beautiful shots of Santa Carla (the real life Santa Cruz) and its sun and surf, to Joel Schumacher’s vision of black leather jacketed, teenage undead hip in the infamous “Murder Capital of the World".
I got to go to an immersive experience of the film in London, which recreated a small town based on the movie. This Canary Wharf summer event saw gangs of overexcited fans dressed as the Frog Brothers tearing around in a recreation of the vampire gang's cave, and undead on motorbikes revving it up all over the fake beach, complete with devilish DJs. Grandpa’s famous last line may have been: "The one thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach: all the damn vampires…" but us fans love the idea. Death by stereo in your living room as you take on an army of vampires…the perfect Halloween night in!
Nina Romain
My Halloween film pick has to be GHOSTWATCH. I saw lots of horror movies when I was legally too young to see them but, watching ths "live" on Halloween night 1992 at the age of 14, scared me like nothing before or since. I bought into it being "real" up to nearly the end...but it didn't matter because it had already crept under my skin with the increasingly disturbing "viewer" phone calls, shivery interviews with local witnesses, caught-on-camera "paranormal" activity and the genuinely unpleasant backstory for "Pipes". I've watched it most years near to or on Halloween ever since and it never, ever fails to make me cast an uneasy glance at the curtains or listen out for what might be dodgy plumbing...or something else.
It has to be..."Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound...Satanic Doo Wop)" by Twin Temple - and it has to be on vinyl for its authentic mono sound and the couldn't-be-displayed in Woolworths cover / gatefold image. I grew up in the 80s but developed a love for 60s music thanks to my parents - and a fascination for Satanic stuff thanks to just being a weirdo. This album is somehow beautiful, hilarious and haunting at the same time - like Phil Spector and The Platters and Buddy Holly gone to Hell but all cheerfully shagging each other and singing "doo-wop" enhanced retro pop. I love how sexy the husband-wife Twin Temple members are - and "The Devil (Didn't Make Me Do It)" should be top of any Halloween party play list.
Steven West
My two go-to films for spooky season are the two classic 80’s cult hits RE-ANIMATOR (1985) and THE LOST BOYS (1987). The former is an example of 80’s camp executed perfectly and with outstanding practical effects, and the latter follows a group of motorbike-riding vampires, what more could you need!
RE-ANIMATOR has been lodged firmly in my brain ever since I first watched it. From the perfect casting of Jeffrey Combes as a mad scientist, to the 24 gallons of fake blood they used on set, it’s the perfect film to get you in the Halloween spirit! Based on H.P Lovecraft’s take of FRANKENSTEIN, it follows Herbert West (Combes) as he repeatedly attempts to reanimate corpses to messy results. He finds a reluctant partner in Dan Cain (Bruce Abbot), and Cain’s girlfriend Megan Halsey, as played by the horror icon Barbara Crampton. This is overlooked by producer Brian Yuzna, director of the also fantastic SOCIETY (1989), and all sewn together with theatrical monologues and instantly iconic scenes. Later earning a shoutout in AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), and still maintaining its active fanbase, it’s safe to say that this little horror flick truly has grown a life of its own.
My second pick would have to be Joel Schumacher’s THE LOST BOYS. With a cast featuring Diane Weist, the two Coreys and Keifer Sutherland, it is absolutely brimming with all the 80’s hair sprayed charm you could ask for. The film takes place in the fictional city of Santa Carla, based on the filming location Santa Cruz, giving the film the unique seaside setting that is rarely seen in vampire media. The plot surrounds Micheal (Jason Patric) as he gets wrapped up in a rebellious group of vampires, led by the absolute standout of this film David (Sutherland). Sutherlands performance is charismatic to say the least, with the synth-rock soundtrack that gives the film a contagious energy. There are motorbike races, deadly HOME ALONE traps, an unexpectedly sweet subplot, explosions and more glitter than TWILIGHT. THE LOST BOYS is easy to love, for horror fans and beyond!
If you are already a fan of RE-ANIMATOR, I recommend Brian Yuzna’s previously mentioned SOCIETY. It somehow manages to double down on the camp, the gore, and includes the infamous “shunting” scene. What is “shunting”? If you have a strong enough stomach, you will find out! To fans of THE LOST BOYS, I would recommend EVIL DEAD 2 (1987). This film manages to find a similar level of electricity and charm, partially due to Bruce Cambell’s absolutely iconic performance as well as Sam Raimi’s trademark directorial style. This dark comedy is another must-see for horror fans!
Jays Hawke
My Halloween Top Pick would be SAW. And not just SAW itself, but the first seven films of the series over two or three evenings.
This started when the ongoing timeline got so convoluted that I simply had to remind myself who everybody was every time a new film came out. This year it probably isn't necessary as there isn't a new instalment until next year, but there's so much fun to be had from them: Charlie Clouser's industrial noise scores, the nonsensical twist endings, the mechanical ingenuity of the traps, the rapid-fire editing and narration at the end. And I still wince at some of the gore shots, though it's worth noting that the viscera has far more impact that Art The Clown's endlessly extended scenes of mindless slaughter. It's also astonishing that, given it was never originally intended as a heptalogy, those first seven films do form a (vaguely) coherent whole even though (Spoiler Alert) the villain dies at the end of Part III. I also love that they never wimped out for a PG13, that they achieved that consistency of mood and style over seven films, that none of their horrors were ever sexual, and that they never once winked to the camera.
You can stop after the seventh one: JIGSAW, SPIRAL and SAW X all have good stuff in them but THE FINAL CHAPTER makes for a natural end point.
Richard Street
It was completely unintentional but having been asked if there were any regular Halloween favourites that I like to watch during October I realised that for the past few years there have been two – THE DEVIL RIDES OUT and THE LOST BOYS – and this got me thinking as to why.
I think it must because these are movies from my youth, having grown up in the 1980s. THE DEVIL RIDES OUT has been a favourite of mine ever since my dad recorded it off BBC2 sometime in the mid-late ‘80s, and something about the classiness – for use of a better word – really stuck with me, along with the Baphomet imagery of the title card, a lot of which adorns my walls and decorations in my house to this day. Also, it’s a Hammer film, and Hammer is always great for some swashbuckling occult thrills, like a comfort blanket for the soul when I want something fun, yet made with sincerity, and watching Christopher Lee and Charles Gray go head-to-head never fails to make me want to be in that world with them.
As for THE LOST BOYS, I was the right age for this when it came out and, much like Hammer movies but maybe for different reasons, this movie is a proper comfort blanket for me that, like the characters themselves never gets old. When I was a teenager, I thought Kiefer Sutherland as David was the coolest screen villain (even more so than Charles Gray!) and I wanted a long coat and mullet like he had (had the mullet, didn’t get the coat). One of those movies that you need to see at the right age, otherwise its impact won’t hit as hard, but if you catch it at the right time of your life then it will become a perennial favourite, and I still get that same teenage excitement I got from it nearly 40(!) years ago.
Other movie picks would also include TALES OF HALLOWEEN, because everyone loves an anthology, and I prefer this over TRICK R’ TREAT for rewatch value, and HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (I was one of the few who liked it in the ‘80s before it became hip to say it), plus if you want to get your Halloween groove on then I can suggest ‘FAMOUS MONSTERS’ by The Misfits, for not only is the music excellent, but the cover art is amazing.
Chris Ward
