By The Alabamian Staff & Contributing Writers
We all think of Halloween as a time to dress up, eat candy and or attend parties. A staple of the holiday we rarely talk about though are the scary movies we watch during or around the holiday. Whether it’s a favorite Halloween or horror movie, a movie you watch around the Halloween season, a family tradition, or even just a memory attached to a Halloween movie, there’s always that one movie we think of during Halloween.
Carter James, Editor in chief
Halloween and movies are kind of flip floppy to me. As of recent, I’ve wanted to watch horror movies I haven’t seen before on Halloween or alternatively watch “The Batman” because it takes place on Halloween. A reoccurring tradition though have been watching the “Halloween” series on TV to some capacity. After a long night of trick or treating or being busy with class or work in recent years, I could always rely on the original “Halloween” or its crazy sequels playing on AMC.
Nethan Crew, Managing editor of production
A movie that I always end up watching at least once every October is the original “Beetlejuice.” The characters are written so well, to the point that I can’t see Winona Ryder as any character who isn’t partially linked to Lydia Deetz. Michael Keaton’s titular character is played so well and achieves so much of what a demonic con man should: making everyone around him uncomfortable. Tim Burton’s creation made me fall in love with his specific personification of the occult and allowing it to be more “beginner friendly.”
Marley Sledge, Photographer
I can appreciate almost any horror movie I watch since it’s my favorite genre, but I always find myself coming back to the original 1998 “Ringu.” The movie sticks out to me because it pertains to multiple genres. While it is primarily a horror movie, it feels like a mystery movie with how Reiko Asakawa tries to figure out how to solve the deaths caused by the ringu tapes. The movie still causes feelings of genuine dread in me though with how Hideo Nakata demonstrates time passing through his directing choices, especially in soundtrack choice. It is also the only movie I’ve seen where found footage actually makes you feel like you’re watching something you’re not supposed to be watching.
Scout Gunn, Business Manager
It’s hard to pick just one horror movie in particular. Every horror movie I’ve seen, no matter how good or bad it was, has good memories attached to it. There’s something about being scared that I love so much. Watching a horror movie with a group of people or my family, especially my dad, may be one of my favorite activities ever. Growing up, I always watched a lot of horror movies with my dad. We loved “Evil Dead”, “Evil Dead 2”, and “Army of Darkness”. I remember the DVD case was the Necronomicon and being so fascinated by it. One thing that always made these movies better was my dad’s popcorn. Watching him make it over the stove made me so excited for whatever movie it was, and it made every horror movie we watched so much better.
Sarah Turner, Sports editor
My dad was a big Charlie Brown fan when he was growing up, so it was only natural for him to pass that love on to me and the rest of our family. Every Halloween, we’d watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in the days leading up to the holiday, a tradition that became even more special after we started adopting beagles (we have two now, fittingly). These days, I usually spend Halloween watching early-season NBA games. This year, the season tips off on Oct. 22, offering a solid preview of what the teams might look like through the bulk of the regular season (not surprising coming from the Sports editor, right?).
Aroush Maroof, Copy Editor
My family was never one that celebrated Halloween, so every tradition had to be something me and my brother made up on our own. At some point one October I convinced him to watch this show a friend had kept recommending to me. That show happened to be Over the Garden Wall. Ever since then we’ve made it a tradition of watching it every fall leading up to Halloween. Despite me moving away for college, we’ve still managed to uphold this pre-Halloween ritual, and I think we’ll always make time for this no matter how old and far away we get from each other.
Meg Wallace, News Editor
While I don’t have a specific movie I watch each Halloween, I definitely watch more scary movies when October rolls around. Usually, horror is my go-to genre regardless of the season, but Halloween gives me the excuse to go all out, as well as subject anyone in my vicinity to the tradition. My favorite movie franchise is the Saw collection, so I typically love to rewatch one of the Saw movies during Halloween time. My boyfriend doesn’t like horror, however, so I’ve started watching a lot more thrillers instead. They have the scary aspects I love but are presented for a less intense audience. This spooky season, we’ve already watched four different thrillers, including “The Long Walk,” which I recommend if you’re interested in dystopian type horror. Just don’t expect any groundbreaking dialogue or topics you haven’t seen before.
Kendall Ledlow, Contributing Writer
I’ve never been a horror buff, but there are a couple things on my watchlist every spooky season, both vastly unrelated and neither particularly scary. First, I must watch Monster High: Why do Ghouls Fall in Love? before the end of October. I’m violently nostalgic for the first-generation Monster High movies, and even though this one is by no means good (it’s very overcrowded for a forty five minute special,) I can’t help but smile from ear to ear throughout. Once that’s wrapped up, I blitz through the Halloween episodes from the first 3 seasons of Community. My favorite sitcom is no stranger to genre episodes, but the Halloween ones always stand out to me as some of the funniest and heartiest of the show’s catalogue, full of halloween-y fun.
William Deaver, Contributing writer
I have a habit of playing spooky games with my friends around this time of year. This year im playing through a modded Zelda Majoras Mask. I plan to read Image comics Universal monsters Frankenstein 4 issue mini-series on the day itself, really looking forward to that.
A. K. Miller, Contributing Writer
The two movies I enjoy watching during the Halloween season are Hotel Transylvania and Coco. Hotel Transylvania is a funny cartoon that I have adored since childhood. Even though the humor throughout might seem juvenile at times, the overarching storyline is well structured and sweet. Coco has a glorious soundtrack and is beautifully animated. It also is nice to have a movie that breaks the mold of what some might think of as a Halloween movie by embracing a similar holiday: The Day of the Dead. Both stories feature the importance of family and acceptance of others. This is special and important to me and something that I feel should be celebrated.
Mars Brunk, Graphic Designer and Social Media Manager
One Halloween/horror movie I enjoy is Jennifer’s Body. I watched this movie probably too young, but even as a young child I understood the significance behind the message. The movie was called one of the worst horror films after it was released, but is now known as close to a classic in queer film. The movie performed awful due to it being advertised as a male gaze film, starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. The true meaning behind the story is one of queer love and the horrors women experience post-sexual assault. While the movie is corny and dates itself to the late 2000s, it is one that truly stuck with me growing up and one I will never hesitate to recommend horror film fans.
Kendall Murray Comic Editor
Last Spring, I went to see the movie Sinners with my family. The movie blends historical drama, music and horror but feels satire both haunting and entertaining. Sinners explore what it means to live and survive in a world that feeds others’ suffering. What makes the movie stand out immediately in its atmosphere. Ryan Coogler, who directed the film, recreates the early 20- century in the South with stunning detail and music gives the film. Yet beneath the supernatural that unfolds around a series of mysterious events. The horror here isn’t just in the blood or fangs; it’s in what people will trade for power, love, or escape. Michael B. Jordon performance as Smoke anchors the film. His portrayal captures both the pain of generational trauma and the resilience of those who refuse to be defined by it
Seven Jones, Layout Editor
Saw is a movie that I keep coming back to during Halloween. Due in large part to its tie to one of the first friends I made during freshman year, it was one of his favorite movies and not only was it extremely interesting and engaging to watch, but it also gave me and my friend an excuse to hangout. Saw’s themes of medical horror and morality inspired a lot of my later artwork and made me even more interested in delving into more horror movies, which works well for me since there are about 10 different Saw movies, and I have only seen 4 of them. With the most recent release of Saw X, which has been one of my favorite movies, so far, I can see the series being a continuing tradition in my house during Halloween.
