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Halloween is not for the faint of heart; either you love it, or you hate it. Some like it for the festivities, the dressing up, and the aesthetic of it all; some like it for the spooky movies and Michael Myers’ theme song. Whatever you love it for, today, we celebrate the holiday tradition of it all. We asked The Daily Fandom: What solidifies Halloween for you? Whether it be a film, television series, album, or game — what makes it feel like Halloween when you do, watch, see that thing? Beware, all of these answers are quite remarkable, and we are appreciative of the team partaking in showcasing what makes the Halloween tradition stay alive for them.
Scream (1996)
- Shareca
If you don’t know who Wes Craven is by 2020, then you don’t know horror! Just kidding, but Scream is one of the best of the best. Around Halloween, if I don’t hear at least one phone call that asks, “What’s your favorite scary movie?” something is wrong, incredibly. I love Scream for its use of metacinema, but what makes this film a gem is that it resembles everything that Halloween is: murder, slashing, teens, and a high school setting. What more could you ask for? Truly.
Plus Randy is forever the best character ever created. No bias.
Hocus Pocus (1993)
- Benjamin Doyce
First and foremost, candy is my go-to Halloween pleasure. Give me candy. That’s all I need: that, and the 1993 masterpiece, Hocus Pocus. Let’s face it, there are plenty of genre-shaping hacks and slash gore fests focused on Halloween, like, well, Halloween (1978). But there are not enough lighthearted ones that capture the holiday’s true essence: a fun, spooky night embraced by children and adults alike. Hocus Pocus does all that and a bag of candy corn.
Kathy Najimy, Sarah Jessica Parker, and the great Bette Midler play three resurrected witches on All Hallows’ Eve. It’s their dedication that makes this movie timeless and keeps me coming back year after year. Seriously, Parker actually eats a spider at one point! Each October, I expect the movie’s age to catch up with it, but the comedy in Hocus Pocus still hits more than it misses. The cast, from the witches to Doug Jones as Billy Butcherson, were just too talented. Jones, now more known for television roles on Star Trek Discovery (2017) and What We Do in the Shadows (2019), brings a physical comedy to the film that has me in stitches every time.
Speaking of stitches, the costume design still manages to impress me. I thought the witches were legitimately real when I was a kid. I was both drawn to and creeped out by them (the perfect witch aura, right?). Butcherson, a zombie, looks more like decaying furniture than a rotting corpse, but it fits flawlessly into the film’s aesthetic. I will say, his mouth being sewn shut with thick black sutures freaked me out. That’s a pretty dark fate, Disney! As I said, I’d be happily buried in mounds of candy (no Mounds though, I hate coconut!), but my Halloween would be far less sweet without Hocus Pocus.
If you can spare only five minutes, skip to Bette Midler performing “I Put a Spell on You.” As an actual magical spell. Yeah. If that doesn’t get you to watch this movie, nothing will. I know that I’ll be watching it again this year. It wouldn’t be Halloween for me without it.
The Ring (2002)
- Emily Barlett
Nothing gets me more in the Halloween spirit than the American remake of The Ring (2002). As scary as this movie is, what I really love about it is the plot. I’m a huge fan of quality scares over quantity scares, so I love that The Ring doesn’t rely on jump scare after jump scare to keeps its audience engaged. Instead, The Ring showcases a chilling and well-developed investigative plot that reveals pieces of the puzzle piece by piece. One other really cool thing about The Ring is that it makes me feel like I’m a part of the movie.
For those of you who haven’t heard of this movie, the basic plot is that people will watch this videotape full of disturbing images, and then seven days later, they’ll die because they saw the tape. The fun part is that the movie shows viewers the tape’s contents, which allows me to empathize with the characters on a different level because their fears become my fears.
No matter how many times I’ve seen this movie, I always spend the next seven days paranoid that some evil spirit will get me. My fears are, of course, ridiculous, but they are a testament to how convincing the movie is! Overall, I cannot recommend this movie enough! It’s great for horror fans and mystery fans alike, and it’s a movie best experienced with other people!
It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
- Rachel Sandell
Ever since I was a kid, it’s never felt like Halloween until It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown appears on the TV. The nostalgia factor is strong when it comes to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang, and each timeless holiday special holds a proportionately special place in my heart. In the 1966 classic Peanuts special, Linus is adamant that the Great Pumpkin will visit his pumpkin patch on Halloween night. Linus becomes the laughingstock of the Peanuts gang in a rare turn of events while Charlie Brown is invited to a Halloween party.
Stoic in his beliefs, though, Linus camps out in the hopes of seeing the Great Pumpkin and proving everyone else wrong. The special is so iconic that my siblings and I still quote the wonderful line during Charlie Brown’s unlucky experience trick-or-treating. While everyone else excitedly lists the candy they got, Charlie Brown laments that “I got a rock.” While the premise is silly, Linus’s unyielding belief that the Great Pumpkin exists and will come to visit him is the perfect set-up for the special’s heartwarming ending.
Lucy, ever the obnoxious older sister who in this very special threatened to pound him for being annoying about the Great Pumpkin, carries him to bed when he falls asleep in the pumpkin patch. This funny and cute classic usually airs on TV during October, but after 54 consecutive years, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is sadly not airing this year. However, the special has been moved to Apple TV+, where viewers can still continue the yearly tradition of watching it. Thankfully, the Great Pumpkin can still make an appearance this year. Feels like Halloween!
Harry Potter Marathon Weekends
- Lydia Mae Orendain
As an October baby, I always had a great love for all things fall and Halloween. October meant TV specials, creative costumes, longer nights, and a shift in weather. To prepare for Halloween, I would often indulge in a morning hot chocolate and spend my free time figuring out a subtle cosplay to flex at school. I had many spooky season rituals, but none of them were as significant as watching ABC Family’s frequent Harry Potter Weekends. Where you loved or hated the Harry Potter series as a kid, you can’t deny its serious cultural impact.
When ABC acquired all the films so many years ago, it felt like every lull in viewership would be skyrocketed by die-hard and casual fans of Harry Potter tuning into the Harry Potter Weekends. I was definitely among them. From pre-teen to teen years, I loved to wake up on an October Saturday morning and join Harry, Ron, and Hermoine on their wizarding journey. Harry Potter was the perfect combination of warm, spooky, and nostalgic. Starting with the wonder and innocence of the Sorcerer’s stone and quickly diving into the voice-in-the-walls horror of the Chamber of Secrets, I had so much joy binging the beloved series with millions of other viewers.
It made my heart so warm to know that watching Harry Potter on basic cable meant thousands of other people were watching the same thing as me. It was even greater to know that all of the hype was for Harry Potter, undoubtedly the most iconic series for millennial (and millennial cusping) kids. When ABC Family became Freeform and essentially omitted Harry Potter Weekends from their schedule, I was devastated. There were no more family events set to the Harry Potter movies and no more planning weekends with friends to binge the series. Fortunately for me (and hundreds of others who equate Halloween with the Harry Potter series), the box set exists, and the magic of Harry Potter Weekends can live on!
Trick r’ Treat (2007)
- Cassondra Feltus
I’ve watched Trick ’r Treat every October for the past eleven years. It’s funny, spooky, and a bit gory. It’s the ultimate Halloween movie because it has all of the classics – vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, and more. I love this movie because it shows how we celebrate Halloween at different ages.
There are five interwoven stories – a father showing his young son how to carve a pumpkin, a group of teens play a prank on “the weird girl” in town, four friends in their 20s dress in sexy costumes and spend the night drinking and looking for dates, a married couple comes home from the block party and starts taking down their decorations early, and a grumpy old man, kind of a Halloween Scrooge, gets a visit from some scary kids.
Trick ’r Treat is all about Halloween history and traditions. A creepy little Halloween ritual enforcer, Sam, connects all of the stories. We’re essentially following Sam as he watches over everyone. The town’s Halloween parade and the street party has live music, fire breathers, elaborate costumes, and decorations. I’d love to celebrate Halloween at an event like this every year but watching Trick ’r Treat is the next best thing!
Jennifer’s Body (2009)
- Maria Asimopoulos
Screenshots and fun trivia from Jennifer’s Body often circulate on Twitter around Halloween time, and for good reason. Its satirical take on high school drama and its iconic dialogue make it a consistent favorite and a quintessential horror movie for young adult audiences. “You’re killing people!” “No, I’m killing boys.”
From a scene that didn’t even make the final cut, this is probably one of the most iconic bits of conversation from the movie. When an indie band blows through Devil’s Kettle and sacrifices Jennifer in exchange for fame and fortune, something goes wrong — instead of dying, she comes back with a demon inside her body and has to kill and feed on the local townspeople to sustain her strength. Like the line says, she starts going after teen boys from her high school specifically, seemingly having never held them in very high regard:
“Boys are just placeholders. They come and they go.”
It’s not the most terrifying movie, but it’s got just enough jump scares and creepy demonic moments to send a chill running down your spine this Halloween. Not to mention, Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried put on a great performance together. Jennifer’s stuck up, hot girl persona balances Needy’s inquisitive, generous nature perfectly, making them a great protagonist/antagonist duo. It’s the perfect movie for audiences looking for demon-filled horror and gore with coming of age drama thrown in. It’s a pop culture hit and it’s sure to get you into the creepy-crawly mood this Halloween!
Scooby-Doo! And The Witch’s Ghost (1999)
- Kass Vasquez
I’ve always been a big Scooby-Doo fan ever since childhood. One of my favorite films to watch around Halloween time is Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost. This film is part of the newer Scooby-Doo animated films that came out in the late nineties that ended up being one of a kind.
These films portrayed Scooby and the gang solving mysteries while also dealing with otherworldly creatures such as zombies, ghosts, and even aliens. This was very different from the classic bad guy in a mask trope Scooby-Doo is commonly known for, which made the films hold more of a darker theme.
There is also something very nostalgic about the film and its obvious setting taking place around Halloween. Not only are we graced with mutant pumpkins and super-villain witches, but a bad-ass all-girl goth band too. Scooby-Doo and the Witch’s Ghost is always going to be one of my go-to movies for Halloween.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
- Emily Creery
Okay… I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Halloween. I don’t hate it (lower your pitchforks), but I’m most definitely the obnoxious person who’s already playing Christmas music mid-October. I honestly forget about jack-o-lanterns and ghouls as stores stuff their shelves with green and red, all the while the costume pop-up next door sells out. Thus, it should come as no surprise that my Halloween tradition shares screen time with my absolute favorite time of the year: The Nightmare Before Christmas.
“Now you’ve probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven’t, I’d say it’s time you begun.”
Santa Claus
How can you go wrong with an animated musical with extra holiday spirit — and a “Pumpkin King” who is actually good looking for a fictional skeleton? The push and pull between Halloween Town and Christmas Town provide the best of both worlds, illuminating how each holiday does, in fact, deserve its own time to shine. The snow may always be whiter on the other side, but Halloween has much to offer… something that we Christmas aficionados need to remember from time to time.
As children steal Santa Claus, skeletal reindeer pull the sleigh, and boxes with ribbons terrify their recipients, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a fun and spooky example of what happens when we try to be something that we’re not — or really, try to change who we are completely. Creepy, crawling gifts aren’t fit to go under the tree while snow ruins the fun of trick or treating. It’s good to have balance, but sometimes we need Tim Burton to obliquely tell us that who we are and what we’re good at are more than enough.
How do you celebrate Halloween? Let us know in the comments!
