On a flip flop of this wig where people think her hair is black because it looked it in the movie, the actual skin color of Frankenstein’s monster has been completely changed in pop culture from what it was originally. According to Mary Shelley’s book, Frankenstein’s monster has yellow skin, and early art adaptations depicted him as pale, all because it’s meant to show he is built of corpses. His skin is supposed to be the color of death. In fact, original movie posters show they were actually going for this pale yellow color.
However, to achieve the color they wanted on black and white film, they used makeup and special lighting effects that made him appear green in person. Fans of the movie got their hands of behind scenes photos and those photos spread around. In a flash, it became a fact in the audience’s mind that Frankenstein’s monster was green, and later adaptations all bowed to that perception.
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 31, 2024
Universal Studios Monster Collection
The best choice by far for Halloween day proper has to basically any or all of the Universal Studios Monsters Collection. They’re classic, they’re fun, and you can have them play in the background as you chat or answer the door for trick or treaters. Pick your favorite one, and have a happy Halloween!!
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 30, 2023
The Shining (1980)
Hired on to take care of the Overlook Hotel in its off season when winter roads make it impossible to reach, Jack brings his family to what they hope will be a nice time away when he can work on his writing project. As their son Danny’s strong psychic ability make him vulnerable to the dark influences hiding in the corners of the hotel, Jack begins the descent into madness himself.
This is a movie I’d never actually seen, but I would have had to deliberately ignore it in order not to know the lasting iconic cultural touchstones left behind by this classic thriller. I’ve made the occasional “Here’s Johnny” myself, and of course creepy twins and blood elevators abound in horror culture. I just never saw it because a) I was not allowed to watch rated R movies growing up and b) by the time I could make that decision myself, it was on a long list of movies, many of which I wanted to see more.
First impressions, the movie was not nearly as scary as I had imagined it would be. I jumped more at loud musical stings than at anything that happened in the film. That being said, there were a few things that left a big impression on me. The references I listed were ones I knew before hand , but I had no idea just how many film touchstones came from this move specifically. I’m not going to list them all out since I’m sure someone else already has, but it was interesting.
Second impressions, I can see why it became a classic and influenced so much. I appreciate the speeding up of pacing through time skips: months to weeks to days to hours. I appreciate how they used a combination of close up and wide shots to both encourage feelings of claustrophobic and exposed vulnerability. Finally, I appreciate that they took their time and didn’t jump to scares just to keep things interesting; it’s very well-paced. I don’t know that it would be as successful today, but that’s not the metric we judge it on. Interesting. This was an interesting experience for me.
DĂa de los Muertos is not Halloween. It’s a beautiful Mexican holiday about honoring your family, and despite it not being Halloween, I think it deserves its place on this list. Coco, especially, is a beautiful movie about family. And music, of course. Anyone from any background and any age can find something to love about this heartwarming, adventurous classic. Has it been a while for you? Maybe it’s time for a revisit.
I'm pretty sure there's still one major plot twist in the universe of the movie that's been set up for a sequel but hasn't actually happened yet.
Heavy spoilers under the cut:
After watching the movie in theaters and then revisiting a few scenes on Peacock, I'm still kind of convinced that Mike Schmidt is Michael Afton.
Here's my reasoning. A lot of the characters spend time acting like they know something the audience/other characters don't, and those things are...mostly resolved. But some of them just...kind of aren't.
The main thing that sticks out to me is William's whole storyline. Starting with the scene where he offers Mike the job, his behavior is almost explained by the movie's logic. He sees Mike's name, seems...kind of deeply upset, looks at him very closely, stands to get coffee, and has a moment of visible internal conflict. Then he instantly offers him the Freddy's job. The way the movie frames this, it seems to be saying that he recognized the name of one of his victims, realized this was the kid's brother, and decided to kill him right then and there. Which is passable as an explanation, but it has a lot of holes, if you look deeper.
Why would William so instantly recognize a fairly common last name as the brother of some kid he killed that wasn't even anywhere near Freddy's? Why did he kidnap/kill Garrett in the first place, in some random forest in Nebraska? Why did he see the name on the file, then immediately stop and examine Mike's face so closely, when Mike's memories/dreams pretty clearly show that they never saw each others' faces when Garrett was taken? Why did he send Vanessa to "keep Mike in the dark" if he purposely gave him the job to get him killed? Why not have the animatronics kill him right away? He didn't know that Mike was searching for the man who took his brother, and while he could have maybe guessed he was still actively haunted by what happened based on Mike beating up a guy that he thought was kidnapping someone, it still feels like a weird choice to go and hire him, then just have him do the job with no issue for a few days.
As for Vanessa, we see that she's been cleaning up William's messes for years. Why is Mike the one she changes her mind and stands up to her father for? There's no implied romance between the two and no particularly meaningful connection beyond them both having family issues. I guess she cares about Abby because she's a kid, but kids getting hurt clearly never stopped her from helping her father before.
And, on a more meta level, this is Scott and his storytelling style we're talking about. The man puts plot twists inside of plot twists and everything always ties back into the Aftons, somehow.
So, here's my theory: I think that Mike is William's kid, but Mike's mom left Afton when he was young and remarried the man that Mike thinks is his father.
It seems convoluted and maybe cliche, but if it's true, then suddenly there's an answer to all of those questions. "Michael Schmidt" isn't exactly an eye-catching name, unless you had a kid named Michael and your ex-wife married a guy with the last name Schmidt. Garrett's kidnapping, then, becomes an act of intentional, petty revenge rather than an extremely random coincidence. Giving Mike the job and sending in Vanessa suddenly becomes about piecing together how much he knows and figuring out if he's worth trying to reconnect with or is just a threat that needs to be killed. (It feels worth noting that William is as far as I can remember the only person to call him Michael in the whole film. He also very pointedly never says "Schmidt" until he's decided to kill Mike and suddenly announces his full name out loud. If he went by Michael as a little kid, that is what William would default to calling him, but if he took the new husband's last name, that would be like like salt in the wound that he wouldn't want to voice. By finally saying it out loud, it feels like he's making the decision to fully separate himself from Mike.)
As for Vanessa, if Mike is her brother, it makes sense that he would be the person she'd turn against William to save. It would be weird for her not to tell him, but she could also be trying to protect him, in some way. There's never any mention of her mother, and it seems like it's just been her and William for a long time. Also, ending the movie with her in a coma feels like a strange narrative choice, but it makes sense if she knows information that's purposely being kept hidden for the sequel.
Of course, it could just be that the movie has kind of messy writing and I'm trying to fix it because I want there to be a deeper reason for it. Maybe there is no Michael Afton in the movies, or maybe he's off chilling and doing his own thing somewhere and we'll see him in the sequel. Only time will tell.
While I appreciate this thought process and believe it would be an interesting twist for sequels, I think it pokes holes in a different way.
**FNAF spoilers below the cut**
First, serial killers often get as much enjoyment from watching the suffering of the people left behind as they do for the act itself. Trophies collected by known serial killers often included more than something from the victims: newspaper clippings of devastated communities, recordings of parents on the news crying and begging for their child to be returned, records of trials where someone else took the fall, etc. (it’s why law enforcement call for a media blackout at times). It isn’t a stretch for him to know who the families of his victims are, even to assume he might realize who he was dealing with and want to see him up close, to revel in his misery. Some seem to think his reaction to Mike was that he was “deeply upset”, but I actually read it as excitement. I actually think he hired Mike not because he suspected Mike was looking for him still. I think he wanted to hurt him, to remember a taste of his original enjoyment, to drive the kid he saw running after his car in the rear view mirror insane.
As for Vanessa, they outright say the original child murders happened in the 80s when she visited the place as a kid. She may have been cleaning up her father’s messes for years, but I got the impression this was the first time a child was involved when she was an adult with a gun. She is very likely dealing with a lifetime of fear and brainwashing; it was made obvious through sound queues during her internal dilemmas that her father made her watch as he did what he did to other kids. I’m guessing she was too brainwashed and afraid to protect adults and that her wish to protect Abby is what pushed her to move against him rather than wanting to save Mike. After all, she did threaten to shoot Mike if he brought Abby back.
I agree that the movie ending with her in a coma would lead into a sequel, because there is something else Vanessa might know that hasn’t been revealed yet: where is Garrett? We know who all the animatronic puppets are that were in the movie, and we know who killed Garrett because he admitted it. My theory is Garrett is his first, that it falls outside of the pattern because he hadn’t established the pattern yet (as is often the case with real serial killers as well). He had this genius idea to hide bodies after the fact maybe, so where did he hide Garrett? There’s obviously more of the story to tell, and I’m curious how they decide to do it. Vanessa could easily be Elizabeth Afton. William Afton changed his name to Steve Raglan after all. I think the movie may be establishing Michael Afton as someone that may come up later…but *shrugs* who knows? I like this theory as much as mine.
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 28, 2023
Five Nights at Freddy’s (October 27, 2023)
Desperate for a job so that he can keep custody of his little sister Abby, Mike Schmidt accepts a position as a security guard at an old animatronic pizzeria called Freddy Fastbear’s. It turns out the job isn’t as simple as it may have seemed. Can he keep his sister safe against the tide his new job brings?
Released only yesterday (theatrically; I believe streaming was two days ago) and available on Peacock, this long anticipated movie adaption of the video game is already getting some boos from the critics, but I expect that ratings will take an upswing as the audience puts their two cents in. I have only watched some let’s plays of the original and some adaptations of the game; I haven’t played it myself. That being said, I know enough to say they captured the spirit of the game pretty well. There are some shot for shot copies of some of the game’s jump scares, and of course, there are similar musical stings, Easter eggs, and a pizzeria matching the original layout pretty faithfully as far as I can tell. That’s all good news for people who were excited for its release because they loved the game.
What made me appreciate this film was the effort they did to put some more depth to the story. After all, you’re pretty much a faceless security protagonist in the original video game, listening to the history of the place through tapes and trying your best to stay alive in a struggle against unstable electricity and relentless monsters. Interesting for a game, not really interesting for a movie. Instead they gave Mike Schmidt a story, a pretty compelling reason to make the choices he does, and people to protect other than himself when things go awry.
You can probably tell that I liked it. The practical effects were great. Using puppetry instead of CGI gave it some realism, the music could be both haunting and fun depending on the circumstances, and I became pretty invested in not only the three main characters but the puppets too.
I should warn that it’s honestly not that scary, which seems to be why most of the critics were irritated, but to be honest, I don’t think it would have been appropriate if it was scarier or gorier. The makers probably knew their target audience, mostly kids up to 20s, maybe early 30s adults. No need to scar children for life who just wanted to watch such a huge pop culture icon adaption. And to be fair, the game is not gory either. It’s got jump scares, that’s pretty much it. Hard to be mad at a video game adaptation for keeping the same tone. I had a good time. It looks like a lot of people who are familiar with FNAF agree. Try it out if that sounds like fun to you.
**Edit: to be clear, critics are rating the movie pretty low, around 20-30%, but if you really dig into it, audience scores are hovering at around 90%. Pretty big schism to make early judgments on success**
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 27, 2023
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Shaun is a 29-year-old nobody working at an electronics store and living with a lazy, filthy roommate. He is determined to turn his life around and win back the girlfriend who just dumped him, Liz, when zombies take over and throw a wrench into his plans. Now with a responsibility of protecting his survival and the survival of everyone he cares about, will he finally step up to the plate?
I woke up with the sniffles and feeling achy today, and all I wanted was soup and to watch something easy that would make me laugh. Shaun of the Dead is that movie. It’s witty but not so much so that it goes over your head (yes I get it, intro, everyone was already zombies before they got infected), it mixes real life problems into post-apocalyptic problems in a hilarious way, and to be frank, it’s a cast full of people who have made me laugh in other works. This isn’t a movie to break the box offices or win huge awards. It’s that movie you can watch and reliably have a good time doing so no matter what mood you are in.
The Spooktacular Halloween Challenge: October 26, 2023
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
11-year-old Ofelia suddenly finds herself on the fringes of a mystical, remote forest with her pregnant mother, Carmen, to meet her sadistic stepfather, Captain Vidal, who is stationed there to hunt down rebels. Through a harrowing series of events, Ofelia completes several tasks to earn her way into the underworld back into what she’s told is her place as the princess of that realm.
This movie is a fascinating blend of the fantastical and reality. Although the audience is led through this twisted path leaving them wondering what is real and what isn’t, the events outside of Ofelia’s little fairy tale keep the audience grounded in the gruesome truth of her circumstances. Old fairy tales are frightening in their own right, nothing like the whimsical and lighthearted imitations in pop culture today. Red hot shoes, blinded princes, and mermaids turning into foam are the reality of the fairy tales Ofelia finds herself pursuing. The fact that the mundane of her life is just as bloody and horrifying speaks to how eerily haunting this movie is. Nothing and nowhere is safe.
I know there are many people out there who dislike the idea of watching a movie with subtitles and may have skipped this one as a result, but I’m telling you: if you did, you’re missing out. Give it a shot. I haven’t seen another move that left an impression like this once before or since.
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 25, 2023
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
A pair of brothers pick up a hostage family on a road trip as their last steps to freedom following a murder spree and bank robbery. The brothers and their hostages arrive at a racy bar to wait for their contact to meet them and escort them to their new lives. Unfortunately, the bar turns out to be the home of a nest of vampires.
This movie is a Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino fever dream that shows you how to be high watching a graphic horror movie without ever touching any drugs. There are no morals to story. There is no truly steady through line, no logical plot. Bond with one character and there’s suddenly another one shoved forward to pique your interest. Who do you root for? What is the limit on gross? Are there any limits at all? Prepare for nothing to make sense.
Did I like it? Yes. Yes I did.
Also, I’m stealing the shotgun crucifix. That’s mine now.
Just like many a Mel Brooks classic, this movie is a rollicking, rowdy, and raunchy good time. Goofy and spooky, precisely what I love to watch around Halloween. There’s a reason so many of those quotes still get tossed around, so I think the movie speaks for itself.
The Spooktacular Halloween Challenge: October 23, 2023
Halloweentown (1998)
Marnie, Dylan, and Sophie follow their grandmother after discovering the secret their mother had been keeping from them their whole lives. Delight and magic awaits when they arrive in Halloweentown and learn they come from a long line of witches, but there is something lurking under the surface, a mystery that is causing the inhabitants of this strange new world to disappear.
When talking about moves to set the right Halloween tone, there is almost no better choice than Halloweentown. I watched this every year during Halloween, and I hope to do so for the rest of my life. I can give no higher level of recommendation than that! Enjoy!
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 22, 2023
Coraline (2009)
11-year-old Coraline explores her new house, feeling neglected by her parents, and discovers a door to a world that is everything she could ask for. The more she visits, however, the more something else appears to be lurking under the surface of magical wonderland. By the time she realizes what the truth of that world is, Coraline must use all her wits, resources, and friends she made along the way to get back to her own world.
Like Corpse Bride, I remember there being some hubbub about this movie not being what people wanted it to be when it came out, and like Corpse Bride, my revisitation of it led to my discovery that time eases all ills with movies like this. It is now pretty highly rated, which doesn’t surprise me at all.
My partner and I also both delight in the handmade types of movies. That classic claymation has its own charm that is just not replicable with CGI. I would love to watch a project like this for that reason alone. There’s more to love about this one, however.
Do you like that haunting but catchy nature to all the songs in Nightmare Before Christmas? Do you enjoy when things are creepy but somehow cute in James and the Giant Peach? The same mind behind those two movies, Henry Selick, created Coraline, but while it’s no surprise the same mind is behind all three flicks, Coraline is no pale imitation of the others. It’s a colorful, haunting, and sinister tale that answer the question: what would happen if that mystical world beyond the wardrobe was more deadly than wondrous?
The Spooktacular Halloween Movie Challenge: October 21, 2023
Malignant (2021)
This was another new movie for me. I’m only posting it as proof that I watched something today. To be honest, I wasn’t fond of this one. The first half of the movie is setting it up to be a certain way, and the second half was like a different movie altogether. I can forgive gratuitous violence the movie is good, but movies like Saw, gratuitous violence for the sake of gratuitous violence, don’t appeal to me. The problem is that it is a unique concept. I just wish it had been better executed. Maybe don’t watch this one. Pick another one. I’ve already posted so many. Go pick one of those.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003) & The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018-2020)
Now, I know these aren’t movies, but I did mention in my first post that I would be flexible on movies and focus on media in general. After all, there are only so many movies, and I needed to binge watch something in the background while I worked today. I decided on Sabrina.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was a big part of my formative years and probably the reason I love witches so much (that and Charmed) despite growing up in a strict, Christian household. That being said, the original show was not particularly earth-shattering in its themes, so despite not being allowed to watch Charmed (I did anyway), I was permitted to watch Sabrina.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was based off of the comic of the same name printed by Archie Comics in 1971. If you don’t know your film history, that was right around the time the original Bewitched was being aired, so popularity of the comic definitely borrowed from the fan base of Bewitched, people who enjoyed the kooky mismatch of a harmless witch trying to blend into the mortal world. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that the comic and the show leaned on that sitcom kind of humor, jokes that end with audience laughter in the background, over-the-top social situations, and, of course, the charming boyfriend next door type. I loved the show, still do, and I wasn’t the only one.
It was a fairly iconic show, so much so that Archie borrowed her character once again for Afterlife with Archie #6 in 2013. The comic was so well received that that Archie printed the first Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comic, borrowing its name from a 1972 anthology called Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as Told by Sabrina, in 2014, then pulling it under the newly minted Archie Horror line in 2015. The new comic may have borrowed characters, settings, and story arcs from the original Sabrina, but the official Archie stance is that they are Sabrina’s of different realities, so even Sabrina is a multiverse these days.
I haven’t tended to wax historical about these posts, but I had been curious about the similarities alongside the extreme differences and finally got around to reading up on why the two exist. I thought other people might be interested too.
Now for the show. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is clearly a passion project and a love letter to vintage horror. The witches have returned to previous incarnations in which they sign the devil’s black book and attain powers that are a little bloody in nature. The makers use custom-made software to mimic vintage lenses, fit everything into this retro brightly colored clothes over spooky colored backgrounds aesthetic, and there are lots of practical effects to build atmosphere. It is indeed chilling and so much fun to experience.
I included both in this post not only because I love both of them or because they are stories of the same characters. Not everyone cares for a sitcom, and not everyone cares for scary. Fortunately for you, you get to take your pick with these particular characters. Either way, you’ll have a great mood-setter for the Halloween season.
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