Lesser Seen Halloween
Witches and.... more witches?
Happy late October, my Very Breezy friends! The days are short, the nights are long, the marketing and advertising world is on fire (hence me falling off the regular posting schedule but I promise to get better), and spookiness of many varieties abounds.
Now, much like any good pop culture nerd, I see all seasonal occasions as an opportunity to do some thematic viewing/reading/listening indulgence, and while there seems to be more options out there than ever (Devil only knows, this substack has had a number of horror forward recommendation posts) - it is also very easy to fall into the trap of consuming the exact same comfort Halloween (is “comfort Halloween” an oxymoron?) things.
I am guilty of it myself - every October if I don’t watch “Practical Magic”, “The Craft” and “Hocus Pocus” in an uninterrupted manner (witches are apparently my thing), something is terribly off.
But for purposes of this newsletter, and for those into trying something a little different (and keeping their mind off the impending IRL horror-level stress of November 5th), here’s a working list:
TV:
Every year, October brings the Ryan Murphy cottage industry to the forefront of the American streaming viewership, and don’t get me wrong - it is fun if now somewhat predictable, and always terribly uneven (I am slowly but surely making my way through the mess that is “Grotesquerie” and am inclined to give the “American Horror Stories” another whirl - though “COVEN” remains my favorite AHS forever and always. I wonder why?).
But, we’d be remiss if we didn’t get into the European offerings which are always a little more special to me, at least.
On the 2024 list:
Midwich Cuckoos on Acorn TV/AMC+ - I have owned the cult classic book this is based on (which was the initial inspiration for John Carpenter’s “Village Of The Damned” ) for years, and while I hate that I didn’t get to it before this show came out, it is ok. It stars Keeley Hawes (“Durrels in Corfu”, “The Bodyguard”, and always a good sign of quality) as a child psychiatrist witnessing a sinister change in her charming English village (voted “#6 Best Place To Raise Kids In England”) after a power surge (or something else?) causes everyone in a 10 block radius of the Village Green to go unconscious one summer evening. I have seen the 1st episode (2nd one just became available) and I loved it.
Passenger on Britbox - Sitting somewhere between Twin Peaks, Wolf Of Snow Hollow and Deadloch (all perennial favorites), but also unabashedly British, is this new offering about a teeny town in England whose claim to fame is that people come from all over to visit a weird tree, and snow never stays on the ground (stick with me). Starring Wunmi Mosaku (also always a good sign) as DI Riya Ajunwa, whose day-to-day agenda mostly consisting of stolen rubbish bins and missing cats is interrupted when all sorts of weird things start happening (deer get all torn up in the middle of the road, girls go missing but also maybe not, black slime keeps popping up and bubbling over - and that’s just in the first episode). It is funnny and spooky and weird and I am excited to see where it goes (currently 3 episodes are available)
MOVIES:
This is obviously a much busier territory but aside from urging everyone to see “Wolf Of Snow Hollow” for some deadpan horror-adjacent fun, here’s a few places I am headed:
Criterion Channel - as always a treasure trove of unexpected (but quality) things - a bunch of the Variety’s Critic’s Picks for 100 Best Horror Movies of All Time live here (to include my personal scariest movie of all time “Audition” and the campy witch cult classic “The Love Witch”) and here’s my priority list:
Pre-”Halloween” era John Carpenter - the #1 movie I am excited to see is probably the least prestige-y movie on Criterion right now - “Somebody’s Watching Me” - a made-for-TV (before that was a thing movie stars did casually) starring Lauren Hutton at the height of her powers as a beautiful woman being, wait for it, watched, called, and tormented by a mysterious stranger, right there in her apartment. A lot of cigarettes are smoked and clothes are worn exceptionally well.
Non Beetlejuice Winona - from non-horror w/ Halloween scenes (Mermaids) to upscale, Daniel Day Lewis featured witches (The Crucible) to the true masterpiece of her Halloween range (Heathers) - it all lives here (minus the Gary Oldman’s “Dracula” which is inexplicably MIA, but worth checking out for sheer OTT energy and terrifying Keanu Reeves British accent)
Witches - the OG Roald Dahl adaptation w/ scenery chewing Anjelica Huston, not the Anne Hathaway one (shudder). Plus, don’t even try to tell me that this transformation was not a direct inspiration for the 2024 miracle that was “The Substance”:
All the Giallo Action - the Italians maybe didn’t do it better, but they certainly did it more technicolor-y and campy. So, if you are ok with extremely ambitious (but very plot-hole-y) plots, beautiful people, and the reddest blood you’ve ever seen, this is the selection for you (OG Suspiria is an obvious place to start (witches again!), but “Tenebrae” and “Deep Red” are up there too). Plus, truly the Criterion teasers are a Halloween treat in and of themselves (seriously, CLICK on that link)
Also, while there is a 1001 new made-for-streaming movies out, and while the quality can be middling (the new “Salem’s Lot” on Max is, I am sorry to report, pretty meh…), the one I am saving for this weekend is:
Apartment 7A on Paramount+, which manages to marry multiple things I love: Rosemary’s Baby (it is a prequel of sorts), Ballet based scares (so much so that I did a whole newsletter on that), AND the first ever onscreen pairing of Julia Garner and Diane Wiest. Have you seen it yet?
Also, this is always a good list to revisit.
Anything I should be adding to the roster?