Features, Film

Hassle of Horror: The Hassle’s Halloween Staff Picks

Compiled by Alexis den Boggende

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Oscar Goff, Editor-in-Chief

To me, Halloween is less a holiday than a semester, a portion of the year that begins on September 1, reaches a crescendo with the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s annual Halloween Marathon (which I have not missed since 2006, give or take a plague year), and doesn’t end—if it ever does end—until the candy runs out.

Yet it’s deceptively difficult for me to answer this prompt succinctly; I have so many favorite horror movies (many of which I have written about in these very pages over the years) that it’s difficult to visit with each and every one each and every year. So instead, I’ll flip the script and spotlight a favorite album: the 1998 various artists compilation Halloween Hootenanny.

Produced and masterminded by Rob Zombie (a few years before becoming a filmmaker himself), this is no cheapo K-Tel “Monster Mash” knockoff. Rather, Zombie enlisted a who’s-who of ‘90s psychobilly and surf revival bands– including Los Straitjackets, Reverend Horton Heat, Southern Culture on the Skids, and Deadbolt– to record an array of gleefully spooky covers and originals.

Appearing throughout is legendary TV horror host Zacherle, who both introduces the album and performs a truly astounding cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Sinister Purpose.” With its twangy guitars and macabre-yet-silly lyrics, Halloween Hootenanny is just as essential to the season as a trip to Salem or an industrial-sized bag of off-brand candy corn.

Jack Draper, Staff Writer

I’d have to say the “Tricks and Treats” episode of Freaks and Geeks and the Halloween episode of My So-Called Life! Something about the ’90s, gone-too-soon teen dramedies that have such a tangible chill in the air. Too old for trick or treating but not old enough to drink, a night out with your friends leading to epiphanies and self-actualization is indescribable.

What Halloween TV episodes can set out to accomplish is the aurora of autumn more than a sense of dread, which can be seen as harder than anticipated. Episode three of Freaks and Geeks “Tricks and Treats” and episode nine of My So-Called Life “Halloween” both expertly observe a feeling of importance that– it’s easy to forget– we all had for the Halloween season as kids.

It’s interesting to note how clearly defined through the school year Lindsay’s arc comes across being this is the third episode. By Halloween weekend, her friendship with the freaks and the ending of her relationship with Millie is still fresh, which is expertly captured by Linda Cardellini’s performance letting us know she is acknowledging the freaks are shitty.

Since being bored with hanging out with her mom to greet trick-or-treaters, Lindsay would now rather experience the awkwardness of being in the backseat of a lousy car while vandalism is the perfect test of Lindsay’s rebellious phase. It’s taken too far, however; while reluctantly trick or treating Sam is accidentally egged by Lindsay without her realizing he is there. While he is also having a miserable Halloween, he doesn’t tattle on Lindsay to their parents as she doesn’t need to be in trouble just to be reminded it doesn’t make her cool, even if it wasn’t Sam she egged.

My So-Called Life finds Halloween halfway through its remarkable season, where the angst and ennui are at a high– so much so the show is ready to be clever about what characters know about each other since Danielle’s costume is Angela (one of the best jokes in the entire show), Ricky’s costume is Brian Krakow and Angela’s costume is her English teacher.

Even the teacher as Obi-Wan Kenobi is so funny, considering how she still threatens to punish Jordan Catalano for ditching class and then has Angela relay this to him (in the most Angela Chase moment ever, she then ponders “If anyone knows Jordan Catalano?”).

Differing from Freaks and Geeks’ “Tricks and Treats” in Halloween is now more concerned with myths and urban legends than how to spend a Friday night. Rayanne is eager to tell Angela, Brian, and Rickie about a plan to break into the school and conjure the spirit of Nicky Driscoll, a student who died in Angela’s high school in the ’60s whom we then witnessed appearing to Angela as an apparition. Some real profound moments here like Danielle admitting she wished Sharon were her sister or Angela perceiving those who died young are haunted to be young forever like vampires.

A great reminder of how mature the show is demonstrated when Nicky’s spirit changes Jordan’s decision to be expelled when Angela can have an epiphany. Parents just don’t get it, at least the dads don’t, Graham from My So-Called Life and Harold from Freaks and Geeks call Halloween a “kids’ holiday”. Meanwhile, Patty from My So-Called Life and Jean from Freaks and Geeks attempt to grapple with their kids growing up and learning to empathize.

Patty is trying to find the best way of terminating a younger colleague while Jean wants to hand out candy to Lindsay expecting it to be their time together; unbeknownst to Jean, Lindsay thinks she’s outgrowing spending the night with her mom and wants to pursue a new teenage identity.

Of course, the magic and intelligence of both shows shine through in which its able to make the parents as three-dimensional as the kids are as if they have their own show going on. Even in the smaller moments, like when Harold Weir talks about the kid who still tricks or treats when he was in his twenties which led him to “live at home with his 90-year-old mother” and become the “laughing stock” of the community.

Kyle Amato, Staff Writer

Every autumn I like to try to watch as many new-to-me horror movies as possible, and I always find new things to love. But my absolute favorite horror movie to rewatch is Scream, a perfect film that still makes me jump. If you’re looking for more of a mood piece, I’d recommend Arrebato, which is Pedro Almodovar’s favorite horror film. It’s easy to understand why! And you can never go wrong with Chucky film, each of which is ingenious in its own way (except for 3, but even that isn’t awful)!

Anna Hoang, Staff Writer

Every year, I usually get the “You haven’t watched ______!?” so I try to watch at least one scary classic every season.

Nicholas Perry, Staff Writer

Nothing screams Halloween to me more than that first itch of needing to watch something scary, horrific, or pleasantly spooky. I watch horror regularly throughout the year, but there’s a different sense of urgency and need to the season, which can often start in August for me. This year I broke that seal with a found footage classic, Cloverfield on Amazon Prime– maybe even more unsettling and compelling now than it was in the waning post-9/11 fervor when it was released.

Recently, I’ve also found myself returning yearly to Mike Flanagan’s work—the Haunting series, Midnight Mass, and Ouija: Origin of Evil, all on Netflix. Although I think he could stand some editing, especially in his television work, I’m so taken with the romantic bleakness imbued in every moment that he crafts, and the way he punctuates what is essentially melodrama with indelibly terrifying mise-en-scene. A shadow in the corner of the screen, a monster in the mirror, a pair of eyes in darkness …

And maybe my spiciest Halloween take is that the season two King of the Hill episode, “Hilloween”, deserves to be regarded in the same vein as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Both are on my yearly rewatches!

Kary Keniston, Staff Writer

I like to keep the spirit of Halloween with me all year, and when October rolls around, I kick my spooky season viewing into high gear. One thing I am always sure to watch is the season 4 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer titled “Fear, Itself.” While Buffy has two other Halloween-centric episodes, “Fear, Itself” is the real standout for me.

A Halloween college party turns deadly when a fear demon by the name of Gachnar is accidentally summoned–happens to the best of us.

The episode does a great job of building tension as the gang tries to figure out why their greatest fears are coming true, with a beautiful blending of humor and genuinely spooky moments. I’m also a sucker for episodes that take place during Halloween, full of costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and a haunted house motif. If you want to see the big reveal of Gachnar–which will surely not disappoint–you can find the episode on Hulu.

Alexis den Boggende, Staff Writer

While Halloween is more a lifestyle for me than a season—as I admittedly consume all things spooky, horror, and Halloweenish year-round—I do have some specific seasonal favorites. Jeepers Creepers, Sinister, The Amityville Horror (1979), The Exorcist, Casper (1995), The Fog (1980), Halloween (1978), Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Child’s Play are my autumnal staples!

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