Traditional Halloween Viewing

Day 149

I’ve already posted about my favorite scary movies to watch during the month of October, to get me in the mood for Halloween; but there are other movies/TV shows that, while not really scary, are traditional viewing for me and my family.

There is a favorite movie my family loved to watch called Bride Of Boogedy. This was a made-for-TV movie that aired on TV (on ABC) back in 1987. It was recorded on VHS (this was back in the day, before TiVO and DVRs) and my family and I try to watch it every Halloween. It’s a silly, family-friendly movie, all about a family that is haunted by a ghost from the 1600s called Mr. Boogedy (the Boogeyman was taken, I guess); it’s not at all scary, but it has become a cult classic in my family, and we will often quote lines from this movie.

Another favorite movie to watch is the classic Arsenic And Old Lace (1944). This movie takes place on Halloween and stars Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, a man who has just eloped, and when he visits his two, dear aunts to share the news he makes a startling discovery…his sweet aunts have been poisoning lonely, elderly gentleman callers and have had them all buried in the cellar! His aunts consider this a “charity” and don’t see the harm in what they’ve done, and Mortimer has to figure out what to do now. To make matters worse, he has an uncle who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt and he has a murderous, evil brother who has just come back to town with a corpse of his own. It sounds very dark and scary, but the movie is a screwball comedy in the classic tradition!

When it comes to TV shows, many have had Halloween-themed episodes. One of my favorite TV shows growing up was The Cosby Show, and there was a Halloween episode from 1986 that we recorded on VHS. Back in the day we used to record all sorts of TV shows, as the whole concept of the VCR was such a novelty at the time. Anyway, this episode is always fun to watch, not just because the show itself was a classic, but also because of the commercials. Classic, 1980s commercials! Remember Cherry Coke? Remember Jell-O Pudding Pops? For some people these retro commercials would be quite scary, so this would be ideal viewing for Halloween!