Renaissance Woman Supplement 1.1
Halloween Movie Curation
My initial plan was to include a “curated” list of Halloween movies in the second issue of the Renaissance Woman newsletter, but as I was compiling the selection of movies it became clear that the listing would quickly overwhelm the rest of the content. So alternately I am sending out this supplement between issues of the newsletter to focus solely on horror films.
Below you will find two lists. The first list has my prioritized films to watch in October, one for each day of the month (though not necessarily listed in viewing order). Personally, I watch well over 31 horror films in October (DON’T JUDGE ME BASTARDS), therefore I have included a second list with quite a few backup movie suggestions. You will notice that the majority of the films are “old” (sorry, not sorry?).
Please bear in mind that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all scary, spooky, or eerie movies. I have only included movies I have watched at least once and personally enjoyed or at the very least got some laughs from (I.e Manster or The Blob. Neither are especially well made films but they crack me up. It’s worth nothing that ‘Manster’ does not, to my great disappointment, stand for Man Hamster. And if you do not intend on watching The Blob, by God please listen to the theme song of the 1958 version at the very least!).
I hope you find at least a few films on the list that strike your fancy and induce you to watch them for, perhaps, the first time. Happy watching!
31 Spooky Movies for Halloween (Included links to movie trailers when possible)
The Innocents (1961) - Based on the book Turn of the Screw
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) - Based on a play by the same name
The Haunting (1963) - Based on Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House
I Married a Witch (1942) - Based on a book called The Passionate Witch by Thorne Smith
The Canterville Ghost (1944) - Based on a short story by Oscar Wilde
The Uninvited (1944) - Based on a novel by Dorothy Macardle
The Ghost Breakers (1940) - Based on a play of the same name.
Cat and the Canary (1927) and (1939) - Based on a play of the same name.
The Spiral Staircase (1946) - Based on a novel titled Some Must Watch by Ethel Lina White
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947) - Based on a novel of the same name.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) - Based on a novel of the same name.
The Shining (1980) - Based on a novel of the same name.
Practical Magic (1998) - Based on a novel of the same name.
Honorable Mentions or Substitutes (In an exceedingly random order)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Session 9 (2001)
Island of Lost Souls (1932)
Black Sunday (1960)
Midnight Lace (1960)
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
The Unsuspected (1947)
Rebecca (1940)
Suspicion (1941)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Dragonwyck (1946)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula’s Daughter (1936)
Son of Dracula (1943)
House of Dracula (1945)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
Werewolf of London (1935)
The Vampire Bat (1933)
The Mummy’s Hand (1940)
Village of the Damned (1960)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968)
The Thing from Another World (1951)
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
It Came from Outer Space (1953)
The Day of the Triffids (1962)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Mary Reilly (1996)
Dr. Renault’s Secret (1942)
The Black Sleep (1956)
The Snake Woman (1961)
Murders of the Rue Morgue (1932)
Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
Cry Wolf (1947)
Chandu the Magician (1932)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) and (1941)
The Invisible Man (1933)
Night of Terror (1933)
The Black Cat (1934) and (1941)
Freaks (1932)
The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920)
Vampyr (1932)
X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (1963)
Cat People (1942)
Comedy of Terrors (1963)
Abbott and Costello Hold That Ghost (1941)
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Carnival of Souls (1962)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
The Wicker Man (1974)
Death Becomes Her (1992)
The Witches of Eastwick (1987)
The Lodger (1927) and (1944)
The Man in the Attic (1953)
The Man with a Cloak (1951)
Experiment Perilous (1944)
Night Must Fall (1937)
Gaslight (1944)
The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
The Mystery of the 13th Guest (1943)
The 9th Guest (1934)
Supernatural (1933)
Charlie Chan’s Secret (1936)
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island (1939)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
The Manster (1959)
The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
The Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1964 Twilight Zone episode)
House of Usher (1960)
Nosferatu (1922)
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Death Takes a Holiday (1934)
Mad Love (1935)
The Old Dark House (1932)
Bedlam (1946)
The Devil Doll (1936)
Isle of the Dead (1945)
The Ghost Ship (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Häxan (1922)
The Phantom Carriage (1921)
The Golem (1920)
The Hands of Orlac (1924)
The Magician (1926)
The Raven (1935) and (1963)
The Fly (1958)
The Bat (1959)
The Invisible Ray (1936)
The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932)
The Body Snatcher (1945)
The Devil Bat (1940)
And Then There Were None (1945)
Ten Little Indians (1965)
The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)
Diary of a Madman (1963)
Tower of London (1939) and (1962)
The Tomb of Ligeia (1964)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
Diabolique (1955)
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962)
Premature Burial (1962)
Chronos (1993)
Eraserhead (1977)
Let the Right One In (2008)
Blood and Donuts (1995)
Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Therapy for a Vampire (2014)
Last Man on Earth (1964)
Zombieland (2009)
Ghostbusters (1989)
The Addams Family (1991)
The Others (2001)
The Company of Wolves (1984)
The Evil Dead (1981)
28 Days Later (2002)
Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)
The Craft (1996)