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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Rectification of the Vuldrini (Open Thread)

Rectification of the Vuldrini (Open Thread)

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My calendar tells me it’s almost Halloween — even if temperatures still are in the 80s. I love Halloween, but I’m finding it a bit difficult to get into the spirit this year. My kid seems to have outgrown dressing up, and it’s too hot to carve a jack-o’-lantern, which would rot on my doorstep within hours in this heat.

I’m thinking movies would help. My favorites in the genre are comedies like “Ghostbusters,” “Rocky Horror” and the incredible and brilliant “Young Frankenstein.” What are your favorites and why?

Open thread!

PS: Can anyone recommend a soundtrack or streaming channel for Halloween audio? I need background noise whilst my sister and I man the candy disbursement center (i.e., the carport) at my house on Saturday.

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    I haven’t seen a horror movie in years. I think the most recent one was Drag Me To Hell. That was actually pretty good.

  4. 4.

    gelfling545

    My kids are in their 30’s & have kids. They still have not outgrown dressing up for Halloween.

  7. 7.

    ruemara

    Umm, vuldrini? So confused.

    I like classic monster movies. Them, The Blob, Forbidden Planet etc. Also classics like Alien. Why? I like decent horror movies.

    Hoping to get a bit of a b’day celebration this month, but I just hurt my shoulder and I’m dying. And I’m dieting. A candle in a baked apple is declasse. Chocolate or GTFO.

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    “Young Frankenstein,” original “Frankenstein,” original “Dracula” about cover it. Never fancied dead-teenager flicks, to borrow Ebert’s label. “Ghostbusters” if kids are joining, they love stuff like that.

    ETA adding “Nosferatu” if the kids aren’t there.

  11. 11.

    schrodinger's cat

    I have a post up about Bihar elections. Bihar used to be the cradle of the Indian civilization, a place where Buddha preached many of his famous sermons, the seat of both the Gupta and Maurya empires. Now it is best known for its corrupt politics, move over Chicago and New Jersey you have nothing on Bihar.

    Anyway, its shaping up to be a referendum on Modi’s government. The opposing sides are tied right now.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    @gelfling545: My sister still dresses up! I’m lazy and just wear a headband with devil horns to hand out candy and only dress up if there’s a party to go to.

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well, scary anyway — scaring little trick-or-treaters is half the fun for us.

  13. 13.

    PaulW

    Halloween movies?

    Well, Halloween itself, the original. Pure classic.

    The original Night of the Living Dead.

    A Hammer Horror movie always seems apropos. Brides of Dracula has classic scenes but seems so slow-paced today.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    From the British History podcast

    Halloween Special: H.P. Lovecraft’s The Music of Erich Zann

    I have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never again found the Rue d’Auseil. These maps have not been modern maps alone, for I know that names change. I have, on the contrary, delved deeply into all the antiquities of the place; and have personally explored every region, of whatever name, which could possibly answer to the street I knew as the Rue d’Auseil. But despite all I have done it remains an humiliating fact that I cannot find the house, the street, or even the locality, where, during the last months of my impoverished life as a student of metaphysics at the university, I heard the music of Erich Zann.

    That my memory is broken, I do not wonder…

    http://www.thebritishhistorypodcast.com/archives/2335

    You can read the short story, play the audio, download it as an MP3 file

  15. 15.

    Central Planning

    My college freshman is acting in front of the screen of RHPS this coming weekend. Such a geeky nerd. We can’t wait to see him.

    I really like Ghostbusters and am looking forward to the reboot. I don’t really like scary movies, although suspense is ok… so I’ve never been a fan of Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc.

    So, other fun ones? Young Frankenstein, Little Shop of Horrors, Men in Black (aliens, not necessarily Halloween-ish)

  19. 19.

    Doc H

    The Abominable Dr. Phibes (& Dr. Phibes Rises Again)

    The Fearless Vampire Killers

    Hammer horror – all of it

  20. 20.

    Eric S.

    A brutal week at work. Our company was purchased and the take over was finalized July 1. The new org chart is being released November 1. Fifty people are losing their jobs today. Some long term colleagues and some friends are being walked out the door today. My team and I should be safe. At least for now.

  23. 23.

    Jim Kakalios

    @KG: Beat me to it. Though I was going for extra pedant points and list it as: Bruce Campbell vs. the Army of Darkness.
    Which raises the question: Are all men from the future loud mouthed braggarts?

  24. 24.

    donnah

    I just watched the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi and let me tell you, it creeped me out! No gore, no graphic violence, but some sinister set design and lots of tension…really good!

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    For spookiness with a soupçon of wit, 1932’s The Old Dark House (Karloff, Laughton, Melvyn Douglas, Raymond Massey).

    For schlockiness and ‘close, but no cigar’ camp, the 1963 remake of same.

  26. 26.

    Botsplainer

    Ghostbusters
    Men in Black
    Hocus Pocus
    Practical Magic
    Beetlejuice
    Paranormal Activity
    Poltergeist

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    Shaun of the Dead

    Lawnmower Man

    not funny but great:

    original Frankenstein (Karloff was a mime and it shows)

    original The Legend of Hell House

  29. 29.

    Sonoran

    Fearless Vampire Killers still cracks me up almost 50 yrs later. A Roman Polansky joint with Shaton Tate before the real horrors kicked in.

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    Movies: The old 1963 classic, The Haunting, is atmospheric and scary, without overt monsters.

    Bride of Frankenstein

    The House on Haunted Hill

    28 Days Later, modern zombie film

  32. 32.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    Phantom of the Paradise (rock ‘n roll really is music of the Devil!)
    Night of the Comet (zombies + ’80s fashion)
    John Carpenter’s version of The Thing

  33. 33.

    Peale

    Before he passed on this summer, Rowdy Roddy Piper made a final, film, “Portal to Hell” in which he played a janitor battling Cthulhu to save the earth.

    Sadly, I can’t find the short yet. As a one of the funders of this fine fare, my name will be in the credits somewhere.

  34. 34.

    JPL

    @Eric S.: That’s sad but hopefully, there is some type of severance pay. The company that my son works for, sold the division my son is in, today. As of now they want the employees to stay.

  36. 36.

    NCSteve

    I’m onboard with all of these, but I would add “Sweeney Todd.” Very dark, very nastily gory, and yet quite fun. So basically, a rare example of Tim Burton actually pulling off the thing he tries to do in every one of his movies (with the same cast, more often than not).

  37. 37.

    JPL

    The scariest movie that I saw was Pan’s Labyrinth. I’m pretty much a wimp when it comes to gore and any type of violence though.

  42. 42.

    dedc79

    Have always felt like Copycat (with Sigourney Weaver) was a pretty terrifying and highly under-rated contribution to the horror genre.

  44. 44.

    Bodacious

    Any type of soundtrack need screams for Rdio. Sorry about a shameless promotion, but I just love that service; worth x10’s any TV cost. We made an awesome playlist for Halloween party. How about Halloween’s Michael Myers – Scary Sounds collection? Screams, groans, howls, RNC gnashing of teeth- you name it.

  45. 45.

    RSA

    For horror comedy…

    Dead Alive (if you have a strong stomach)
    People Under the Stairs
    Cemetery Man
    Bubba Ho-Tep
    Black Sheep

  46. 46.

    NotMax

    One more offbeat black comedy, which I guess can be considered Halloween fare: Eating Raoul.

    BTW, for the animal lovers, TCM is showing the original live-action short Frankenweenie at 1:15 a.m. Thursday.

  47. 47.

    Betty Cracker

    @Botsplainer: I was reading that the other day, and it struck me that many of the current entries were lame. I was thinking about doing a Balloon Juice version. Might get around to that at some point.

  50. 50.

    p.a.

    I had a dvd player that would play in reverse at 1/2, 1/4 etc speed. Put on a Lucinda Williams cd (Car Wheels…), set up speakers in the windows. Great fu-fuckin-reaky sound for Halloween. See if yours does this. My current dvd won’t.

  52. 52.

    Botsplainer

    @Peale:

    Can’t believe I forgot “What We do in the Shadows” for horror comedy. Definitely more horror than comedy. The documentary follows the lives of 5 vampires who share a house in New Zealand.

    Same here – that was hilarious.

  53. 53.

    Eric S.

    @JPL: I’ve been told there is a severance but no one has confirmed what it is. This is an old school utility. Many of the people started here as their first job 15, 20, 30 years ago and have never known anything else.

  54. 54.

    DTTM

    I don’t have children, so I don’t have to worry about scaring little ones, but if you Big Ones want a intensely creepy cinematic, trippy, ’70’s psychological thriller kind of super scare, check out Nicolas Roeg’s (Walkabout, The Man Who Fell To Earth) 1973’s Don’t Look Now with a young Donald Sutherland and a ravishing Julie Christie.

    Truly terrifying not in an in-your-face Friday the 13thway, but in a “I saw that movie a week ago, and it’s still haunting my thoughts” way…

    It was filmed during the winter in Venice, shorn of summertime twinkling lights and teeming tourists. Instead, there is cold fog and clammy paving stones and gray skies lowering over empty streets. The tragic beginning sets up the truly terrifying ending.

    It is the scariest, weirdest movie I’ve seen, made in the high standards of so many ’70’s films–a great time for excellent edgy films without all the bells and whistles of today’s stuff.

  55. 55.

    Tom

    My wife and I just aren’t Halloween people. That being said, the Ghostbusters movies are great, as is “Young Frankenstein”.

  56. 56.

    maurinsky

    I was coming to add Shaun of the Dead, but gogol’s wife got there first.

    I am a good audience which means I am no good at horror movies, because I feel exactly what the director wants me to feel, and well after the movie is over. However, I was able to handle The Babadook, just because I rationalized an explanation that made sense to me.

    I also love Cabin in the Woods. And oldies, like Burnt Offerings (Bette Davis! Oliver Reed! Karen Black!).

  57. 57.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Lots of great suggestions here. We’re going to see a screening of “Son of Frankenstein” on Thursday — it’s the primary plot basis for “Young Frankenstein.” Once you see it, you realize how often Gene Wilder is doing a Basil Rathbone impersonation in YF.

    A couple of weird little Pre-Code movies: “Island of Lost Souls,” with Charles Laughton, and “Mad Love,” with Peter Lorre. “Mad Love” was released the year after the Production Code came in, but I swear they didn’t get the memo, because it’s pretty messed up.

    Also, “The Black Cat,” with Karloff and Lugosi. The climax where Lugosi skins Karloff alive was in my nightmares for years afterwards.

  59. 59.

    Webberly Rattenkraft

    Lots of great suggestions here so far! If you want monsters with your comedic horror, you can’t go wrong with the original TREMORS, and DEEP RISING is a mighty fine monster romp as well. DETENTION is a terrific but obscure self-aware high-school horror flick; a weirder one is RETURN TO HORROR HIGH. Ooh, and TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL is wonderful–funny and sweet while still blood-soaked.

  60. 60.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @gogol’s wife:

    Speaking of which, they’re showing his films on TCM this Friday. “The Body Snatcher” is my personal favorite, with one of the all-time best performances from Karloff, but “The Leopard Man” is an early and still creepy serial killer film. Honestly, of the ones they’re showing, the only one I DON’T like is “The Ghost Ship,” but some people love it.

    It’s basically Karloff/Lewton night since they’re showing “Body Snatcher,” “Isle of the Dead,” and “Bedlam” back to back. If you’ve ever seen Polanski’s “Repulsion,” quite a few of the images are indebted to “Bedlam.”

  61. 61.

    WereBear

    @Peale: That sounds awesome. Hell Comes to Frogtown is worth a look for Piper fans, or just if one likes weird movies.

  62. 62.

    schrodinger's cat

    Since I am on a Hindi film music binge, here is an entry that completely creeped me out as child. It is from an old black and white movie. First you see the beautiful woman and then you don’t. Is she a ghost?

  63. 63.

    geg6

    I love, love, love Beetlejuice. Best time I ever had watching on Halloween was the night about twenty years ago when I was babysitting my 3-year-old niece on trick-or-treat night at my house (well, mine and my ex’s house, that is) and, after the trick-or-treat was over, I put Beetlejuice in the VCR. Now, I realize she was a bit young for that movie, but I really didn’t have movies suitable for 3-year-olds and we’d already started on the first Star Wars trilogy and she loved it, so I thought why not? Well, we were watching and laughing and enjoying it and all of a sudden a bat flew into the living room and started swooping around. At first, the niece said Aunt G, there’s a bird! and I realized right away that it was a bat. The ex was teaching an evening class that night, so I was on my own for dealing with it. I threw the niece on the bed in my bedroom and slammed the door shut and, after a good hour of chasing it around, got it out one of the windows. Over the years, I’ve had many encounters with bats and several of them involved the niece but this was the first one for the two of us together. It’s something she remembers and it’s our special bond. Me, my niece and bats.

    That said, I hate Halloween. Was never much of a fan and, since we had to put our dear Otis down on Halloween last year, it is now a cursed day and I hate it. Can’t wait for it to be over.

  65. 65.

    PurpleGirl

    For several years my complex has sponsored Halloween “parties” in the building lobbies. Residents get together to hand out candy which keeps most kids from going door-to-door. (They make up signs you can hang on your door that you’re not giving out treats.) I’ve participated in costume — my Yarn Monster. See

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/25838683@N06/10603772573/in/datetaken/

    It’s a costume I began crocheting years ago. When I’ve done the treating giving from my apartment I’ll wear it. Kids and parents like it. One year there was a teen who just couldn’t get over the idea I made it myself.

  66. 66.

    joel hanes

    @Grumpy Code Monkey:

    John Carpenter’s version of The Thing

    Seconded. One of the most horrifying movies ever made.

    For a famous creepy movie, maybe Rosemary’s Baby

    For an obscure B-movie with flaws, The Brood

  68. 68.

    Matt McIrvin

    @RSA:

    Bubba Ho-Tep

    Which is actually a touching and sad meditation on aging and death sneakily concealed inside a silly horror-comedy.

  71. 71.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    For laughs:

    Ed Wood, Jr. paired with
    Plan Nine from Outer Space
    which means
    Manos the Hands of Fate (MST3K style)
    and for Hammer
    Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter (one of the best sword duels ever)

  72. 72.

    Botsplainer

    “My Name is Bruce”, with Bruce Campbell playing himself taking on real monsters is a hoot, too.

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @NotMax:

    Have you ever seen the 1936 “The Walking Dead” with Karloff? It’s a slightly bizarre cross of a Warner Bros gangster film with a Frankenstein-like horror movie, but it works. TCM is showing it in November and December.

  75. 75.

    Greg

    I agree with the post above that mentioned Phantom of the Paradise. It has a cult following similar to Rocky Horror (although much much smaller). Also, for kitsch I recommend the original Dark Shadows movie. Most of the same characters as the soap opera but different plot line. And don’t forget the first Elvira movie (the second one is not so great).

  76. 76.

    ixnay

    Our email addy has included “ixnay” since 1986, when we first acquired email. On account of “ixnay on the otten-ray.”

  78. 78.

    BruceFromOhio

    As one of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, I feel strongly that AC/DC “Back in Black” and Black Sabbath “Heaven and Hell” provide splendid sound track material.

    BRING ON THE SLOR!

  83. 83.

    goblue72

    @Eric S.: That’s awful. Layoffs just suck, no way around it. I hope your co-workers losing their jobs get a decent severance and are able to find new work.

  84. 84.

    shell

    The old 1963 classic, The Haunting, is atmospheric and scary, without overt monsters.

    Totally agree. Dont even think about going near the Liam Neesom remake.

    Curse of the Demon (1958) Gonna be on TCM this weekend too.
    **********

    Ive never been that fond of buckets-o-blood films. Or any movie where the synopsis starts “five teenagers decide to explore……” (and the black kid is always the first to go)

  86. 86.

    japa21

    Aren’t you missing the obvious. Record tonight’s debate and play it back on Halloween. That will produce a good blend of comedy and horror.

    BTW, The original The Haunting is by far one of the scariest films ever made. A couple have commented on it, but really, the horror is subliminal. No overt monsters, ghosts, murders, etc. But from a psychological POV, it hits all the primal fears.

  87. 87.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan: The Francis Ford Coppola adaptation, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” has its share of chills, but Keanu Reeves is more wooden than any stake you would use against a vampire.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    O/T, but is anyone following this Balloon Gone Wild story? I am hearing that helicopters are following it, and I’m just wondering if they’re laughing.

    What is it about crazy balloon stories in October, anyway?

  90. 90.

    boatboy_srq

    Can anyone recommend a soundtrack or streaming channel for Halloween audio?

    Funny you should ask: housemate was surfing Pandora channels for something lively to listen to that was season-appropriate. He found “Halloween Death Metal.” Last time he plays with my phone, period.

  94. 94.

    Adam L Silverman

    Betty C: if you haven’t seen it, and you have BBC America on your fancy moving picture box at home, they recently broadcasted and are rebroadcasting an anniversary of the Rocky Horror musical from London. I’ve saved it to dvr, but haven’t had a chance to see all of it yet. What I have seen has been quite good.

    And here’s a novella suggestion: The Hellbound Heart. It’s the book that Hellraiser is based on and much scarier than the movie. I read it in grad school on a short flight from Scotland to Brussells to stay and train with my sensei for a month. I slept with a light on and all my training weapons accessible for at least the first week…

  97. 97.

    Randy P

    Thread may be dead, but my $0.02…

    Hocus Pocus is very Disney-ish (and therefore I was reluctant to like it), but kind of grew on me, especially when I read about how much Bette Midler loved flying and they couldn’t get her off that broomstick once she got on it. And it’s obvious that the three witches had a blast making it, and I always enjoy movies that look like the actors are having fun.

    Shaun of the Dead has also been mentioned above. It’s a blast.

    I don’t think anybody has mentioned Idle Hands. Seth Green, who I love in anything, is wonderful as a stoner zombie.

  98. 98.

    Marc

    Not a horror movie (sci fi/comedy), but seasonally appropriate: Spaced Invaders. Disney made this sometime in the 90’s – basic story is a small Martian scout ship catches a snippet of “War of the Worlds” being broadcast on Halloween, and the crew thinks it’s real, deciding to join the invasion. Most of the townsfolk mistake them as trick or treaters. There are some easter eggs in the movie, as call outs to others (see if you can spot the Back To The Future one). All ages appropriate, but I don’t know if anyone can stream it from the various services – I have it on DVD.

  99. 99.

    donnah

    @trollhattan:

    And wasn’t Dwight Frye as Renfield the most amazing crazy man ever? OMG, that really creeped me out.

    The floppy bats are silly and some other “effects” are just weak, but the acting and the ambiance is great.

  100. 100.

    Maeve

    I asked Alexa “play Halloween music” and she came up with an Amazon Prime playlist “Kids’ Halloween” (apostrophe position theirs)

    First song ‘”I put a spell on you” Nina Simon – Second “Time Warp” (RHPS)

    I like it but not what I would have thought of as “Kids” – unless they spell it Kidz or mean “these kids these days – get off my lawn!”

  101. 101.

    RSA

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Which is actually a touching and sad meditation on aging and death sneakily concealed inside a silly horror-comedy.

    I hadn’t thought of that, but yes! Now I need to watch it again.

  104. 104.

    PurpleGirl

    @Adam L Silverman: I caught the second half of that “Rocky”. I was impressed with it and thought the actor playing Rocky was very good. Made me forget Tim Curry for the duration. I’ll have to watch it from the beginning now.

  105. 105.

    Mary in Ohio

    Pandora’s hipster halloween channel has a nice eclectic mix of music. I love it. They will play Werewolf in London, then a song by the zombies, and move back to a ghost themed song. You just have to get past the fact it is called hipster.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @PurpleGirl: I’ve seen sort of the second quarter. I had it recording on the DVR, but turned it on for background while I was doing up a post here. Tuned in just after Lets Do the Time Warp Again and just as Frank was making his appearance. I was quite impressed with what I saw and heard.

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