Halloween Party Movies: The Rebuttal

In response to "Great Movies to Watch on Halloween Night" by Abigail Beal. Read it here…

There is nothing particularly original about a Halloween movies article, it's true. However, the level of contention and heated argument that can develop over the ideal selections is enough to make the subject worthy of the price of admission. Beal's article is rather cleverly set up by the basic emotion evoked from the film, sort of. But for whatever reason, a few salient choices are missing, replaced by rather odd and innocuous fare. Here, then, the rebuttal. The battle lines are drawn.

The "Scary Choices" section begins well enough, with such old standbys of "Halloween" (of course) and "Scream"-which, despite its comedic context, apparently is good for a few, well, screams. You can pick your own from any of the perennial favorites to complete this list; it nearly writes itself.

However, no scary movie rundown is complete without the classic horror film that all others must bow to: "The Exorcist". Billed as 'the scariest movie ever made', they weren't kidding; this is a genuine screamer with truly unsettling moments, and a guaranteed way to put the fear of God into a few folks. (If you're a guy, be sure to sit next to a cute girl so she hugs you. Yes, this actually works.) And best of all, the film transposes the time setting to Halloween. Seeing kids run down the street in their costumes as the haunting "Tubular Bells" theme plays never fails to get the mood going.

Beal's "Spooky Choices" appear to be the romance section that happens to contain ghosts. Perhaps if the girls are getting together to bob for apple martinis, this is appropriate, but you try getting a guy in a robot costume to sit through "Ghost". Unless you're married to him, in which case, he's got no choice.

She follows up with a rather curious pick-"The Wizard of Oz". It's not the most inappropriate suggestion, perhaps, but try this-instead of playing the movie by itself, sync it up with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" and make it a sort of video installation rather than the focus of the evening. This favorite and famous synchronization of album to film makes for a surprising and rather trippy viewing experience, and chances are, most party guests have heard about the trick a million times but never actually seen it happen.

For her "Silly Choice", Beal recommends "The Nightmare Before Christmas". This is a superb film and a treasure, but save it for, well, Christmas. Despite the ghostly trappings, the message and moral is decidedly Christmas-themed, and indeed part of the film's disappointing box office gross was Disney's decision to treat it, and market it, like a Halloween movie rather than a holiday release.

If up for some Burton stop-motion animation, choose "Corpse Bride"; to be fair, it is not half the masterwork "Nightmare" is, but thematically a better match, staying firmly in the territory of things that go bump in the night.

Regrettably, this section leaves out two of the best Halloween movies around: "Ghostbusters", a modern classic of supernatural comedy, and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", whose mystique is already well-covered by pop culture legend. Horror-comedy is a good genre mix when comedy is emphasized over horror (it gets messy if you go the other way), and the more staples you can load up your Halloween screening with, the better. They're great if you're hosting a squeamish audience that doesn't go in for blood and guts. (Boo.)

Ideally it's best to go for a mix of all-audiences fun and harder horror, so you cover all the bases; mix it up a bit. Your correspondent's favorite Halloween lineup is "Ghostbusters" to start the crowd off with something fun that has the feel of a Halloween party rather than haunting, followed by "The Exorcist" to scare the crap out of everyone now that they're warmed up, followed by-if timed correctly-"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" at precisely midnight, which is a party in and of itself. Make sure to get everyone dancing during the "Time Warp" number.

Whatever the case, to be frank, a Halloween party's success is not measured by its movies but by its guests. And its candy corn. Do not skimp on the candy corn.