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Frankenhooker (1990)
Directed by Frank Henenlotter
Frankenhooker is at the very least as ridiculous as it sounds from the title. Quite possibly, it's even more ridiculous. The film is an exploitation twist on the classic Frankenstein story. But at the same time, it's much more than that. It's a positive movie with a funny, upbeat attitude and lighthearted tone (and a bit of slapstick comedy) disguised as a disgusting, trashy piece of filth. Frankenhooker gives you exactly what it promises (a Frankenstein monster made up of hooker parts, plus excessive gore and nudity), but in a slightly different way than you probably expect.
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I originally planned to include Ray Parker, Jr.'s "Ghostbusters" as the third essential Halloween song, but I guess it might not be as essential to other people as it is to me. Plus, Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II have way too many great songs on their soundtracks that are too often ignored.
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Idle Hands (1999)
Directed by Rodman Flender
October 24th is one of my favorite days of the year. It's exactly one week until Halloween, so you still have time to make the most of your October before it's over. If you're as Halloween-obsessed as me, this last week before the holiday is when everyone else finally gets into the spirit. So in celebration of the imminent arrival of the 31st, I decided to write about one of my absolute favorite Halloween horror films: Idle Hands. I have no idea how I managed to leave this one out of the 100 Days of Halloween back in 2010, because it truly is one of my favorites.
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ParaNorman (2012)
Directed by Chris Butler, Sam Fell
I was sold when I saw the first trailer for ParaNorman a year ago. Luckily, the film lived up to my expectations. If you're a long-time reader, you're probably aware how I feel about Halloween movies and TV specials for kids. I love the ones we have, but there just aren't enough. ParaNorman is a particularly noteworthy addition to the rapidly-growing list. This is another stop-motion film, which seems to be the go-to animation variety for spooky kids movies (following the success of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline).
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Hatchet (2006)
Directed by Adam Green
Hatchet has everything you want in a slasher: excessive gore, gratuitous nudity, pointless partying, and a hideously-deformed villain. But, then again, so does every horror film these days. To stand out among the countless horror flicks released every year, a movie needs to be memorable in the eyes of diehard horror fans. Whether you love it or hate it, Hatchet has made a significant impact on horror since its release back in 2006.
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Home Improvement Halloween (1992-1998)
Created by Carmen Finestra, David McFadzean, Matt Williams
The Halloween episodes of Home Improvement were one of my favorite October traditions in the 1990s. Unlike Roseanne, I watched more than just the Halloween episodes of this series. It's shows like this and The Simpsons that have spoiled me into thinking every TV series should have a Halloween episode every season. That might not be how every show does it, but that's understandable because not many shows do Halloween as well as Home Improvement.
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Directed by Tim Burton
Sweeney Todd is the story of a barber named Benjamin Barker, a man who gets revenge on everyone who has done him wrong when he returns to London (under the alias Sweeney Todd) after a fifteen-year absence. His tonsorial skills are overshadowed by his insatiable bloodlust. Yet The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is much more than a simple story. It's a musical full of comedy, romance, excessive gore, and good old-fashioned dramatic tragedy.
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The Addams Family (1991)
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld
The Addams Family originally debuted as characters in single-panel comics created by Charles Addams. Since then, they've appeared in multiple live action television series, multiple animated series, and multiple feature-length films. The Addamses' most memorable incarnation may still be the TV series from the 1960s, but my favorite by far is 1991's The Addams Family, the family's theatrical debut.
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Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010)
Directed by Eli Craig
Very few (if any) films deserve to be mentioned in the company of Shaun of the Dead. I don't think anything else is on par with that film, yet time and time again I hear Tucker and Dale vs. Evil being compared to it. They are very different from each other, but I think it's fair to compare them. These two, along with The Cabin in the Woods, are all comedic horror films with a post-Scream self-awareness. In other words, some of the best horror films today are spoofs.
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Critters (1986)
Directed by Stephen Herek
Apparently, movie studios in the late '80s thought that tiny monsters were going to be the next big fad in horror following the success of Gremlins. The result was usually a bad film like Ghoulies or Munchies. I'm not going to argue that it's necessarily all that good, but Critters is easily the most memorable knockoff. And I mean "knockoff" in the nicest possible way; none of the Gremlins impostors are anything like that film (which may be why there are few good ones), but the time of their release is no coincidence. In other words, in spite of the fact that Critters may have been written before Gremlins came out, it would never have been released if Gremlins had been a flop.
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Monster High: Ghouls Rule (2012)
Directed by Mike Fetterly, Steve Sacks
If you're not familiar with Monster High, you're missing out... particularly if you're a little girl. Mainly, Monster High is a line of Barbie-style dolls based on high school versions of famous monsters. So, imagine Dracula had a daughter and named her Draculaura. The main character, Frankie Stein, was pieced together and brought to life just like the original Frankenstein monster. But in addition to the dolls, there are countless other aspects of the Monster High brand, including a cartoon web series, video games, young adult novels, and now feature-length movies.
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Many punk rock purists ignore The Misfits since they've been resurrected by Jerry Only without Glenn Danzig. Other actively hate them. But not me. They may not be breaking new ground like they were in the 1980s, but they're still cranking out horror- and sci-fi-inspired monster music.
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Before Danzig and before Samhain, Glenn Danzig did his best work as the frontman of The Misfits. Many of the songs were inappropriate and controversial, but the group is probably best remembered for their songs inspired by science fiction and horror B movies.
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Classic rock radio stations can be goldmines of overlooked Halloween songs. They also play the stuff all year; I heard Edgar Winter's "Frankenstein" just last week, and the DJ wasn't thinking about a monster when he played it. Plus, classic rock is a broad term that covers a lot of music that's generally well-liked. In other words, most people are fine with listening to some classic rock.
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Allow me to take this opportunity to introduce the newest section of the website: The Ultimate Halloween Playlist. The goal here is to compile a comprehensive list of the best Halloween songs and to provide convenient links where you can legally download each of them. This Halloween season, I'll be posting Playlist Updates which will each include a mini-playlist of songs to be added to the ultimate list. If you checked out the playlist section already, you probably noticed there was nothing there. That's because I was waiting until I had time to post this: the very first Playlist Update.
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Older articles can be found in the Archives...
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