Ahh it's finally that time of year! I can smell the pumpkin spice in the air, I can taste the cheap candy, I can finally watch all my favorite movies five times a day and feel absolutely no shame.
Just kidding, I watch them 5 times a day even when it's not October and feel absolutely no shame. But hey, if you're feeling a little left out this Halloween season because you're… let's face it, kind of a "scaredy-cat," here are some movies you can watch in absolute pitch darkness and not feel like a bloody hand is about to grab you from under your bed.
You're welcome.
1. "Beetlejuice."
Let me be the one to introduce you to one of the best movies ever made in the 80's. This masterpiece directed by the one and only Time Burton tells the story of a recently deceased young couple. They become ghosts who are trapped inside their house, but when a new family tries to move in, they have to find a way to scare them away so they can keep their house. They end up hiring an obnoxious, devious ghost named Beetlejuice from the Netherworld who has malevolent intentions and a hidden agenda that go beyond scaring the new family and helping them get their home back.
2. "The Nightmare Before Christmas."
I love this beautiful "musical like" animated movie for many many reasons, but I love it most because I can watch it equally as many times during Christmas as I can during Halloween! This movie also produced and conceived by Tim Burton tells the story of Jack Skellington, The king of Halloween Town who stumbles through a portal to Christmas Town and decides to celebrate the holiday and play Santa Claus, with some disastrous and comical consequences.
3. "Halloweentown."
This is a must watch on Halloween day for me, kind of like a tradition and I cannot even remember when it started, but it's a thing. This movie is about a young girl named Marnie who gets a big shock when they follow grandma home to Halloweentown and find out they come from a family of witches. The town is the only place where supernatural beings can lead a `normal' life, but dark times are looming, and on her 13th birthday Marnie not only finds she is a witch, but that she and her family are involved in a fight against the evil that is threatening to take over.
4. "Corpse Bride."
This movie tells the story of Victor who lives in a small European village in the 19th century, where he is pledged to marry Victoria, a partnership arranged by their parents.
The two only meet the day before their scheduled wedding and fall in love, but Victor performs disastrously in the wedding rehearsal, that causes their engagement to be called off by victorias parents.
Later that evening, while he is walking through the woods, practicing his vows, he accidentally awakens the enchanted Corpse Bride, who then whisks him off to a dark and mysterious netherworld. Victor has to find a way to get back to his love before it's too late.
5. "Edward Scissorhands."
An elderly woman tells her granddaughter the story of a young man named Edward who has scissor blades for hands.
As the creation of an old Inventor, Edward is an artificially created human who is almost completed, but the Inventor suffers a heart attack and dies before he could attach hands. Some years later, Peg Boggs, a local door-to-door saleswoman, visits the mansion where Edward lives and finds Edward alone, so she offers to take him to her home.
Peg introduces Edward to her family, her husband Bill, their young son Kevin, and their teenage daughter Kim. The family comes to see Edward as a kind person, but things get complicated...
Halloween is a magical time, it doesn't need to be scary or gross. Just like you can pretend to be anybody you want to be, you can also decide what Halloween is and means to you.
Never mind all the history and superstition behind the real holiday. To me, it is that time a year when I can curl up in a handmade costume, with my bowl of candy, and watch all my favorite movies. (BTW You're never too old to go trick or treating, haters gon' hate.)
