Spookytober Movie Madness!

It's SPOOKYTOBER!

For those of you who may be fairly new to us, Cassandra and I adore Halloween.

I love giving out candy to the little spooks on the actual day. In Madison, we celebrate Halloween on Halloween - even if it's in the middle of the week. Plus, I live in a neighborhood with tons of kids so it's always a celebration. The toddlers start coming around 5pm and then the kids get older as the night progresses. Usually, around 8:30pm or so, the first teenager with no costume and a pillowcase shows up. That's my cue to shut down the candy train. In my version of Halloween, if you want candy, you have to work for it. It's not hard to pull together a hobo costume now, is it? Seriously.

Cassandra has her own Halloween obsessions which I'm sure she'll talk about at some point this month. I'll just give you a small insight... She gives over her entire dining room to SpookyTown. 'Nuff said.

When it's all said and done, my favorite part of Halloween is the opportunity to wallow in all things horror. No one looks at you sideways when you watch old scary movies in the month of October. And I love a good horror movie - especially ones from the 1970's. As a matter of fact, Cassandra and I just spent a couple of lunch hours watching The Omen from 1976. Religion-based horror is our favorite genre.

In past Spookytobers, we've written posts about our favorite movies, television, podcasts, and books. We'd like to encourage you to go back and check out some of these posts because you might just find the perfect gem of a scare.

Oh the Horror! - Alex's list of favorite scary movies

It was a dark and stormy night... - Cassandra's list of spooky audiobooks

It's Spookytober! - Cassandra's suggestions for spooky podcasts

But for today's post, I'm going to provide a few suggestions of current movies and/or tv that are perfect for the season. As always, this comes with the disclaimer that these are MY favorites. And, while I'm sure I'll have forgotten (or passed over) something you really, really like - that's what the comment section is for!

Enjoy!

- Alex

Spooky Television

666 Park Avenue - So far it's not super scary but we've only had two episodes and the premise is promising. A big old NYC Park Avenue apartment building is somehow EVIL (from the DEVIL) and is owned by a couple that's super-rich and also EVIL (from the DEVIL). The couple is played by Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams - both of whom can be super-scary in a "we're beautiful and hiding something" way.

American Horror (The Asylum) - If last season is any indication, this new series is going to be one hairy scary ride. Part way through last season I thought, "How are they going to maintain this story over multiple years?" and now we know that they're doing each season as a separate "mini-series" - new setting, new cast, new scary story. This year, the setting is an asylum (obviously from the title) that is run by NUNS! Woot! Scary nuns! I'm holding out great hope for this one.


Spooky Movies

Sinister - A family moves in to a house where the previous family had been murdered. The writer-husband finds an old box of movie reels in the attic and he watches them (has he NEVER seen a horror movie?). Turns out that, by watching the films, he activates a demon who killed all the previous families in the house. And, of course, the demon is now after his family. The trailer looks super-creepy. Plus, it's got little kids doing scary horror things which is always good for a fright.


Paranormal Activity 4 - So... yeah. Generally, I would advise against any fourth sequel but the thing about the Paranormal Activity movies is that they're not at all about the story. You really go to see them just for the frights. And there's something really scary about the "home movie" format. It makes the whole thing more "real" somehow.




Silent Hill: Revelations 3D - You all know that I love an extra D on my movies (if it's appropriate) and I can think of no better use of 3D than this. The trailer looks OVER THE TOP creepy and, weirdly, reminds me of Hellraiser (one of my all-time favorite scary movies). Plus, it's got Sean Bean in it. I think I've made my argument here.