Wargaming Tradecraft: Happy Hallow-Month!

Clive Barker's Pinhead, carved by me, 2007

- Completely Off Topic -

You won't get many posts where I go off topic because I want this to remain a central hub of information for crafting - buuuut I love Halloween. When I was younger, I loved dressing up as a (land) shark or the wolfman and decorating the house. As I could start bending the rules of my bedtime, I'd stay up late and watch Halloweek on Showcase. (Canadian HBO) What this meant was that at midnight for a week leading up to Halloween, they'd play some sort of horror, scary, spooky, thriller, classic, obscure or cheesy B movie. (Usually a mix) This has unfortunately been cancelled for many a year now.

Now, I'm a fan of the "scary movie" genre and greatly enjoy anything as long as it's entertaining - from scary to suspenseful to B movie. (slashers and gorefests are about all I don't enjoy) Since Showcase doesn't play Halloweek anymore, I began holding up the tradition watching a scary movie every day during Halloweek - and generally watch a whole bunch of these movies throughout the month of October.

The following is my tentative lineup for this month (time allowing) and some that I've watched plenty of in the past and would recommend in case you're looking for a selection of movies to enjoy this month. Got some suggestions?
How do I have time for them all? They'll be playing in the background while I paint my Pumpkin Head project and my wife works like crazy at their twice yearly furniture market.

Survival of the Dead (newest from Romero, whom you can always trust)
Fear Itself

This is basically season 3 of Masters of Horror, which I _strongly_ recommend. Each ep is it's own movie about something terrible. Incredible writing, acting, cast, effects - Masters of Horror are some of the best recent scary movies. I'm looking forward to seeing how Fear Itself is.

The Hunger

TV series, often supernatural, each episode a different story about humanity's vices and weaknesses. First season hosted by Terrance Stamp, second by David Bowie. Birthday present from my bro, I've watched a few already and I aim to indulge.

Stan Helsing (This looks terrible, and my brother says it is... but I am intrigued)
House of 1000 Corpses (I don't care what you say about Rob Zombie - he knows how to make a movie)
Bram Stokers Dracula (Classic)
Tales from the Dark Side

Aka, Creepshow 3. I highly suggest 1 and 2. More short stories in movie format.

Nightbreed (Clive Barker without Pinhead set in rural Canada!)
Videodrome (Just crazy... I won't give anything away.)
The Shining (Been a long time since I ... something, something)
Silent Hill (Goriest thing every created by Disney animators)
Thir13en Ghosts (Terrific ghost story)
The Wolfman (New version, great cast... looking forward to it)
Wristcutters: A Love Story (surprisingly good and fun)
Ink (This looks really good and creepy - something about good and evil faeries fighting over your dreams)
1408 (Been wanting to see this for a while)
Shaun of the Dead (instant classic)
It (Been meaning to see this for a long time)
Fido (What could go wrong in a society post-zombiepocalypse where zombies become servants/pets?)
American Psycho (It's been a while since I've watched Batman completely lose it)
The Lair of the White Worm (Think I'm finally going to bite the bullet and watch this one)
Killer Condom (total B movie)
The Witches Hammer
Bloodsuckers
Fright Night 1 and 2

One of Pretty Ugly's Ugly Dolls, carved by The Wife, 2007

The Wife's Picks:

The Craft
Hocus Pocus
The Witches of Eastwick
The Fly
Practical Magic
The Exorcist
Rosemary's Baby
Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (How did I forget to list this?)
The Addam's Family
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!
Little Shop of Horrors
House on Haunted Hill - 1959 -Vincent Price / 1999 - Geoffrey Rush
The Creature From the Black Lagoon
Zombieland

(Those 50 Classics for $20 sets are great)

Others I'd recommend:

Repo! The Genetic Opera (Anthony Head at his best, somewhat depressing)
Clive Barker

Hellraiser 1-8 (Proving fake gore done right is better than CG)
Book of Blood (Reasons to read/watch Clive Barker for more than just Cenobites)
The Plague (The Dawson fights zombies)
Midnight Meat Train (It's a great ride, ha-ha)
Candyman
Lord of Illusions (Magician themed Spooky detective story starring Scott Bakula)

John Carpenter

Vampires (THE classic vampire hunting movie)
Village of the Damned
El Fin Del Mundo En 35mm (one of the best from Masters of Horror, not for the light hearted)
In the Mouth of Madness (Great Cthulu story)

Evil Dead 1-3 (If you get a chance, I highly recommend seeing the musical version live)
Romero's "of the Dead" (Some of the best recent zombie movies out there)

Dagon (Cthulu)
The Frighteners (Michael J Fox does scary movie - it's fun, without being a comedy)
Pulse Trilogy (First one's best, others are worth a watch)
Blade Trilogy (hey, it's not that bad)
Underworld (This would have been better if they just bought rights to the White Wolf IP)
Dog Soldiers
Warlock 1 and 2
Witch Hunt
Black Sheep (Two words: Were-Sheep)
Rabid Grannies (Words cannot describe this)
Zombie Island Massacre (Not that great, but entertainingly bad)
The Breed (Mediocre, but it's got the Highlander TV guy as a vampire)
Against the Dark (Overweight Steven Seagal fights vampires in a trench coat with a katana. It's that bad.)
Undead or Alive (this is really painful... western, zombies and Chris Kattan)

*Disclaimer: While most of this list is good, if laughing at how terrible B movies are isn't your thing, avoid the movies I point out as bad. The trick is to watch mostly good ones and throw in a terrible one from time to time.

It occurs to me I have a bunch of TV shows, cheesy movies I've been putting off for years and a surprising amount of Canadian Content.There's also a bunch I've never seen before this year that I'm looking forward to. Before you point out that Gremlins isn't on the list - it's part of my Christmas movie lineup.

Bonus - Halloween Music List:

Happy Hallow-Month!

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