As someone who doesn’t love to get scared, Halloween can be a challenge to navigate. I can enjoy a little fright, but most horror movies don’t really fit into my idea of fun. To me, the perfect horror movie blends terror with comedy. I have four favorites for the Halloween season, with one for each of my favorite monsters.
“An American Werewolf in London”
Werewolves are one of the coolest monsters, but werewolf films tend to lean toward horror rather than humor. The 1981 cult classic, “An American Werewolf in London,” changes that. The film follows two young men, David and Jack (David Naughton and Griffin Dunne), backpacking through England. There, the pair encounters a strange town where a werewolf attacks them. A few weeks later, David wakes up in London and has to figure out what happened.
The balance of scary and silly is perfect. In one scene, David makes fun of the possibility of lycanthropy (becoming a werewolf), and in the next, he is falling over from the grotesque and painful transformation he is enduring. The special effects used for the werewolf shapeshifting in “An American Werewolf in London” won the first Academy Award for Best Makeup and continue to look scary over 40 years later. If I were choosing a werewolf film to set the spooky mood, I’d certainly pick up this one.
“Braindead”
If zombies are more your tune, the 1992 New Zealand film “Braindead” will do the trick. Lionel (Tim Balme) is in love with Paquita (Diana Peñalver), much to the chagrin of his overbearing mother (Elizabeth Moody). While spying on the couple’s first date at the zoo, a zombie monkey bites Lionel’s mother. Lionel then falls into a misadventure of attempting to keep his now-undead mother — and the zombies she creates — safely away from society.
The film culminates in a party with a major bloodbath, which is undoubtedly the best part of the film. The cartoonish level of gore definitely made me wonder how much of the film’s budget was spent on fake blood. Other ridiculous, horrifying things in this film include a murderous baby zombie, an adult man re-entering the womb and an awfully aged special effects monkey. “Braindead” never takes itself too seriously, allowing for a perfect kitschy watch.
“House”
A similarly whimsical time is the 1977 Japanese ghost film, “House.” Gorgeous (Kimiko Ikegami), a schoolgirl frustrated with her home life, takes her six friends on a summer vacation to her sick aunt’s rural home. Once there, things begin to descend into chaos, fear and technicolor as the girls begin disappearing. Their fates depend on the remaining girls who must figure out what’s happening and save Gorgeous from her aunt.
This is probably one of the best ghost films I have ever seen — not necessarily for its plot, but for its amazing use of special effects. They aren’t just a bad recreation of something, like the zombie monkey in “Braindead.” They’re fun, campy uses of green screen and experimental cinematography that made me smile the whole runtime. “House” creates an eerie yet dreamy atmosphere that’s perfect for someone uninterested in the dark palette of modern horror.
“Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person”
But my favorite monster is the vampire, which is perfectly captured in the 2023 film, “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person.” The film follows Sasha (Sara Montpetit), a young vampire pushed by her parents to hunt for her own food for the first time. Sasha has a lot of sympathy for humans and struggles to kill, until she finds Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a teenage boy with suicidal tendencies, who agrees to let her kill him.
Despite touching on some darker themes, this film is incredibly heartwarming. Part of that is the way the film uses and alters vampire lore. Rather than being turned, Sasha is raised by her family, and we see her grow up with different vampire customs. When first attempting to bite Paul, Sasha gets shy and can’t get her fangs to show. “Humanist Vampire” is silly and sweet but has a nice level of vampire horror if that’s what you’re looking for this Halloween.
Finding the perfect Halloween watch can be difficult, especially if jumpscares and suspense aren’t your cup of tea. But there are still plenty of monster movies to see, you just need to know where to look.
