Ask the Audience: What Are Your Must-See Fall or Halloween Movies?

Nothing quite compares to the days of strolling through the Blockbuster in late October, getting excited to pick out a handful of spooky movies. I was never much of a Halloween party goer, so the movie + pizza + candy combination was my perfect idea of fun. Whether by myself or with friends. I recall doing the Blockbuster run on Halloween proper freshman year of college, and realizing very quickly that we were too late. We had to settle for second-rate picks like House of Wax (so dumb) and Pet Sematary (terrifying) to get us through the night. The years that followed, we learned to go a day or two earlier for the pick of the DVD litter.

Now, of course, we can watch whatever we want, whenever we want to watch it, basically, so the sky’s the limit. My idea of a fun Halloween still hasn’t changed. Movie + pizza + candy = yay! I’m not sure what Charles and I will do this year, but it’ll probably look very similar to that. Last year, I was super excited to sit out on our front stoop and watch the neighborhood costume parade that was set to take place, but that day turned out to be a 2/10 in terms of how I was feeling, and I ended up crying over a very cold pizza in bed that took almost two hours to get to us. It was a sad sight, truth be told.

But anyhow, I always love to hear about people’s traditions or yearly musts, so I’m shining the spotlight on Halloween (or fall-focused because I know not everyone likes scary things) movies. Some of my must-watches include—appropriately so—Halloween. You know, the original one with Jamie Lee Curtis and Michael Meyers. The Michael Meyers house from the movie is actually out in Pasadena, which, if you like that see-it-in-real-life type of movie entertainment, would be fun to drive by or even go inside as I believe it’s set up as a sort of “museum”.

Other picks include the entire incredibly cheesy but incredibly wonderful Halloweentown series, Casper, Scream, The Adams Family Values (I didn’t care for the first one), and Hocus Pocus. Fun fact about me: When I lived in Florida, I used to throw a yearly Hocus Pocus viewing party. My gal pals would come over in their pajamas, I’d set up a “make your own pizza” station plus some seasonal treats like pumpkin pie dip and the like, and we’d all huddle around the living room talking our way through the movie. It was one of my favorite days of the year, something I very much looked forward to. I’m not sure why I didn’t carry on that tradition here in LA, to be honest. I should have.

Last year, the day after Halloween when I felt a little better, Charles and I watched a handful of movies one or the other (or both) hadn’t seen, including The Silence of the Lambs (not at all what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it), the 1990 version of The Witches and the 2020 version of The Witches. It was a lot of fun. If you can’t tell by now, “movie night” is probably one of my favorite ways to pass my time, and I make no apologies. 🙂

So, now it’s your turn to share. What movies do you have to watch this time of year to mark the occasion or season?

Looking forward to hearing all about it.

See you tomorrow, FOAS.