Hey Pals,

Halloween is my favourite time of year, so much so that I turn the entire month into Halloween. But one of the biggest past-times during this time of year is watching horror films. I’m not a fan, will watch one every now and again, but I’m more of a thriller person. So I’ve accumulated a list of films you can watch that will still give you that Halloween spooky feeling without piss-your-pants scares.

1) Nightmare Before Christmas

Nightmare Before Christmas is a great film for the combination of Halloween and Christmas. Best for just after Halloween, when you’re not really ready to let go of the Spooky Season, but also need a hand in getting excited for Christmas.

2) Corpse Bride

A mix of sweet romance, funny supporting characters, and kind of terrifying subplot. Emily, the corpse bride, is so lovely but her story is so awful, this character truly has a warm hart no matter how cold she literally is. She even gives up everything she wanted because she knows what’s right. A bit of a tear jerker, but has great songs and is wonderful to watch.

3) Planet Terror

Strong female character, Cherry Darling, played by one of my personal icons, Rose McGowan. There are plenty of issues with this film that I wont go into during this post (if you buy Rose McGowan’s book Brave, she discusses a lot about this film in one of the end chapters if you wanted to know more). This is definitely a film filled with trigger warnings that I’ll put at the bottom of this paragraph. Planet Terror is not a film I whip out too often because a lot of the scenes are incredibly uncomfortable and kind of explicit, but there are moments of humour in the writing and I don’t think I could ever hate Rose’s acting in anything and I genuinely just love to watch her!

TW: rape, sexual assault, death, this film is A LOT.

4) Jennifer’s Body

This is one of my favourite ‘horror’ films. Not too creepy or jump-scary, but there’s definitely a lot of moments that make your heart ache. I love the main cast: Megan Fox is crazy good, a believable succubus (or whatever she’s meant to be?), Amanda Seyfried’s character is adorable and dorky, her character development is great, she doesn’t lose her original character as she grows, and Johnny Simmons always plays the cutest nerds, his floppy hair is goals.

5) BeetleJuice

This is one I really don’t watch often because Betelgeuse really creeps me out! This film is about a husband and wife commissioning a weird demon to rid their house of an obnoxious family. Featuring a young Winona Ryder (!!) and lots of pantomime costume. From what I remember… Betelgeuse was also kind of gross.

6) Scooby-Doo & Scooby Doo: Monsters Unleashed

This is probably what I’d call level one for Halloween. It’s a kids’ film that is meant to be more pantomime scary than actually scary. Scooby and the gang are breaking up but are all invited after two years to come for a ‘vacation’ at the amusement park Spooky Island. Film two, the gang have to save Cools Ville from a hoard of monsters they’ve already unmasked. Still fun to watch as an adult, you might even get more of the jokes.

7) Donnie Darko

One of my favourite cult-classics, Donnie Darko is about a kid who’s being haunted by the sight of a creepy man in a rabbit suit convincing him to commit crimes. This film features a teen Halloween party and Jake Gyllenhaal in a skeleton outfit. It’s a little questionable of whether this is a thriller involving mental health issues? It’s a bit more complicated than that. Lots of crawly skin and pretty boys on screen. The ending is surprising!

I’m sure all of these films are easily found online if you don’t already have one of them. I hope you enjoyed this list and enjoy watching these films to get you into the Halloween spirit!

Leave me a comment down below which films you’re going to watch! Or if you’ve seen any before, tell me what you think of them!

~ Artie

• 

• 

•