Hey, Newgrounds, what's up? Did you have a good Halloween? Mine was pretty alright. A bit slow overall, but I still had fun dressing up. I was Jason Voorhees this year.

As we all know, this is the season to watch horror films and Halloween specials. Well, ANY season is the season to watch horror films. Still, there is something undeniably special about watching them this time of year. This year, I decided to actually go out of my way to watch a lot more than I usually do. My rotted attention span makes it hard sometimes, but this year I've managed to watch a fair amount starting from around the end of August (yeah I'm one of those people). I've compiled a topsters chart to show what I watched in no particular order.

Some of these were rewatches, but a majority was the first time I'd seen them. I had a lot of fun this season. If I were to name the ten highlights they would be...

1. Nosferatu the Vampyre - Fantastic remake. Follows the same basic plot beats, but the characters feel more fleshed out, the score is beautifully haunting, and it's just a very well put together film. It's a different take on the story that still manages to feel respectful to the source. You can tell Werner Herzog has a lot of love for it.
2. Son of Frankenstein - The last great film of the original Universal Frankenstein series, this movie is arguably the best. I personally prefer Bride still, but could see the argument for this one. The real star of the film is Bela Lugosi as Ygor, though Lionel Atwill and Basil Rathbone ALSO give standout performances in their respective roles. This is also the last time Boris Karloff got to play the role that made him famous. He feels overshadowed and underutilized in this film, but still gets ONE really good scene to himself.
3. The Revenge of Frankenstein - This film isn't part of Universal's Frankenstein series. Instead this is the second entry in the Hammer franchise. Unlike many Hammer sequels, this film keeps a tight continuity with the first, beginning right where that one left off. It's a very, VERY different take on the Frankenstein formula. By this point the series has completely abandoned the literary source it was already very loosely adapting. What set these films apart from their black and white predecessors is that they focus not on the creature, but on Baron Frankenstein. He is always played by the brilliant Peter Cushing, who is delightfully evil in the role.
4. It (2018) - This film is so recent I feel like you probably already know everything about it, assuming you haven't seen it outright already. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on it, but I'll say I really liked it. It's got a great main cast that all manage to be compelling and likeable, even if some are definitely more developed than others. The titular It makes for a strong antagonist, played well by Bill Skarsgård. I thought he was gonna be played as a super serious dark monster, but he gets kinda goofy with it. Especially some of those line reads. This is a good thing.
5. Blade (1998) - Hell yeah. Kind of film that makes you say that constantly. From the brilliant action set pieces to the amazing set design. The film supposedly takes place in New Orleans, but you literally cannot tell if it even takes place in the US. This is fine, since is prioritizes what makes for a cool setting and this film BLEEDS cool. Wesley Snipes is so fucking cool. This film was a major puzzle piece in that sort of, Y2K aesthetic of the late '90s and early 2000s that the Matrix codified. The CGI is dated to hell, but I didn't care. It honestly adds to the charm. Also in one of the scenes, you can see the 1995 MK movie playing on a TV. Hell yeah.
6. Psycho (1960) - You know Psycho. Even if you don't know it by name, you know Psycho. You know, the film with the shower stabbing scene that has been homaged and parodied to death. Yeeeaaah, now you know what I'm talking about. Even though you more than likely know the many twists of the film, it still manages to make for a very compelling narrative. It almost adds to the tension in some ways, since you know what's coming and can only anticipate when it's gonna happen. What can I say about Psycho that hasn't been said before? You just gotta watch it.
7. King Kong (1933) - One of the films I had seen before, but it had been awhile. I love this movie, everything about it. Well, maybe not everything. It's very dated in many respects, obviously. Not just talking about the special effects here, but the general attitude towards natives and the character of Charlie the Cook really remind the viewer this was the '30s. Taking the context in which it was made in consideration, it feels more respectful than many of its contemporaries. That they actually got actors' races to match the characters they were playing is already more than a lot of other films of the era. Still, in that aspect, yeah it doesn't hold up to modern scrutiny. There has also been a narrative that the film could be a metaphorical warning against interracial relations??? I think that is a huge misread of a film that is a clear as day environmentalist allegory, but I digress. I've gone off on a tangent because there really isn't much to say about the movie itself. It's KING KONG. As with Psycho, it's one of the most homaged and discussed movies ever made. You have to have been living under a rock to not know what it's about. Despite its age, the film manages to feel VERY bombastic in its presentation and many of the effects still boggle the mind. They don't 'hold up' in that they look real, but it gives the film a style all its own that does hold up. Between this and The Invisible Man, this was a great year for special effects.
8. Dracula: Prince of Darkness - Another I had previously seen, this is the sequel to the first Hammer Studios Dracula film. It sees the return of Christopher Lee in the title role after he was absent in Brides of Dracula. Brides is a very good film in its own right, but a Dracula film without Dracula just feels wrong, y'know? It has a very slow and deliberate start, really setting up the moody atmosphere. Dracula himself isn't resurrected until about an hour in and when he is, he doesn't say a word. There are conflicting reports as to why this is. Chris Lee said it was because the dialogue was so abhorrent, he refused to speak it. The screenwriter disputes this. Either way, he doesn't need to speak. His presence alone says more than words ever could, this is the most feral his Dracula would ever be portrayed. Aside from him, another standout is Andrew Keir as Father Sandor. Sandor takes the place of Peter Cushing's Van Helsing in the narrative, which is an unenviable task for anybody. However, Keir fills Cushing's shoes no problem, he makes for a GREAT foil to the prince of darkness that I wish appeared in more sequels.
9. Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers - While presenting nothing the viewer hasn't seen before, Halloween 4 is a very solid entry in a franchise with a mixed track record. This was my second time viewing it, since the last time I had seen it was on cable at like four in the morning. Donald Pleasance is great as always in the role of Sam Loomis, but Danielle Harris' Jamie Lloyd was a surprising highlight as well. Kid actors get a bad rap since good acting is a lot to ask of someone with so little experience, but she really did a great job in the role. Her relationship with her foster sister is the heart of the film, you really do get invested in it and hope they both make it out alright. Michael's depiction is weird. He has the shoulders of a linebacker and his mask looks like shit, frankly. Still, the low lighting makes this tolerable in most instances and it doesn't detract from the overall quality too much. The best part of the film is the vibe. It, more than any other entry of the franchise (outside of III which doesn't really count), just FEELS like a small town Halloween. That crisp, fall air radiates throughout it.
10. Ed, Edd, n' Eddy's Boo Haw Haw - It feels like cheating to put a 20 minute Halloween special on here, but fuck it. This is my list. I remember watching it on TV back when it first aired. Haven't seen it in YEARS. This was my favorite cartoon back then and I still do love it even now. The special is pretty solid, capturing the atmosphere Halloween has at that age very well. Dressing up in costume and going on an adventure. The world felt different on that day. Maybe not to the extent that Ed's movie addled mind hallucinates, but still! It's also very funny, which is to be expected from Ed, Edd, n' Eddy. I'll be honest I remember it being longer, but I think everything feels longer when you're a kid.

Overall, there was a lot I enjoyed here. There were only three I didn't particularly like. First was Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's a visually stunning film with a lot of style, but the narrative didn't really sit right with me. Making Dracula a romantic character is not to my tastes at all. The scene where you literally hear him cry BLUH HUH HUH HUH it took me out so bad. Comical. Nosferatu the Vampyre had a much stronger take on a sympathetic Dracula. While the film is accurate to the novel in many respects, this change makes it a VERY different story overall. Accuracy to the book isn't normally a huge thing for me. I happen to love a lot of films that are loose adaptations at best, but when it's LITERALLY called Bram Stoker's Dracula it does feel a bit insulting to the original.

Of a similar vein, I wasn't crazy about Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. This film is apparently meant to homage Hammer's output so it SHOULD be for me, but man I dunno. Again, I don't usually mind deviations from the source, but the changes here aren't for me. Sometimes it's alright to admit that there's simply some things you just don't vibe with. It all feels very Burton-esque, but like one of his later films that's not so good. There's a lot of his Willy Wonka and Alice in Wonderland remakes in it. I heard that Depp was trying to channel Peter Cushing with his take on Ichabod Crane which lol. Mission failed on that one, buddy. These '90s era sort of 'prestige' horror adaptations just aren't my thing.

The last I wasn't terribly fond of was Evil of Frankenstein. The third in the Hammer Frankenstein series, this film is more of a quasi-reboot. Cushing is back, but his character feels VERY different this go around. Despite being called EVIL of Frankenstein, he doesn't feel that evil here. He's just a guy trying to mind his own business most of the time, more an anti-hero than straight up villain protagonist. Not a nice guy, but far from the bastard who would go to ANY lengths for his experiments you saw in the previous two films. The idea that Frankenstein does not seek to show his creations to the world contradicts a major plot point in the previous film. The narrative just feels confused. A good chunk of the film is devoted to a flashback that kills the pace entirely. Also the monster looks like crap.

One more thing I'll say is that I don't think I'm too awful fond of mummies. Might be my least favorite monster archetype. I liked both the 1933 and 1959 films I watched well enough, but they're definitely on the lower rungs of both Universal and Hammer's catalog for me. Maybe the 1999 film will change my mind, need to watch that next.

Overall, I'm glad I watched all of these. Even the ones I didn't like too much, it's just nice to have seen them. Did you watch any scary movies for the season? If not, it's never too late! Anytime is a good time for horror. If you're looking for any to watch, I just gave you a whole big list worth looking into!