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Five of my favorite Halloween movies
Oct. 5th, 2020 10:39 amYesterday a couple of sister horror fangirls and I watched "Addams Family Values," which is as fun as ever --one of our number had never seen it, imagine!!-- and we all agreed we wanted to live in the Addams family mansion, or at least, heavily borrow from its interior design.
I realize that there are lots of movie suggestions being posted this time of year, but I thought I would add my own, because these are six films that I feel are tragically underrated and even rarely mentioned. In a couple of cases I would almost call them lost classics. Speaking of lost classics, has anyone else ever come across mention of an unreleased film starring Christopher Lee and Donna Riggs in a film directed by Roddy McDowell, based on Midsummer's Night Dream?
1. City of the Dead aka Horror Hotel (1960)
Christopher Lee as a professor of occult studies somewhere near a town that obviously stands in for Salem: how do I love this movie, let me count the ways
https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/kbatz-christopher-lee-delights/
2. Tam Lin (1970)
Directed by Roddy McDowell, soundtrack by Pentangle, Eva Gardner as the aging faerie queen (I want her wardrobe!), a young Ian McShane as Tom Lin and Stephanie Beecham as Janet—I swear, when I first read about this film I thought I was hallucinating, especially as no one to whom I’ve raved about it seems to have seen it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam-Lin_(film)#Production
3. The Nightcomers (1970)
Stephanie Beacham stars in this one as the infamous Miss Jessel opposite Marlon Brando as Quint, and I don’t even know how I managed to find this film on cable TV when I was a susceptible young teenager, because Quint is a bad, bad man, who really likes tying his girlfriend in knots, literally…
4. Baffled (1973)
If you like occult detectives (as I do), and Leonard Nimoy (as I do), this is a British made-for-TV movie that was supposed to be the pilot episode for a series, and I weep at the loss.
5. Spectre (1977)
Directed and written by Gene Roddenberry and starring Robert Culp and Gig Young as a pair of occult detectives who end up at a mansion which resembles what you might get if you crossed the Addams Family mansion with Playboy Mansion, and the slashiness between the two male leads, not to mention Majel Barrett as Lilith, add an additional layer of “Am I hallucinating this?” to the experience.
6. Simon King of the Witches (1971)
Set in psychedelic 1970s Los Angeles, this story literally follows Simon, a ceremonial magician, through the stormdrains (where he lives) and the mansions of LA as he pursues his desire for godlike powers. A weird mix of camp and references to real magical rituals, I would recommend not taking mind-altering drugs before watching this, but we’re pretty certain that Grant Morrison did
https://ultraculture.org/blog/2013/04/17/simon-king-of-the-witches/
I realize that there are lots of movie suggestions being posted this time of year, but I thought I would add my own, because these are six films that I feel are tragically underrated and even rarely mentioned. In a couple of cases I would almost call them lost classics. Speaking of lost classics, has anyone else ever come across mention of an unreleased film starring Christopher Lee and Donna Riggs in a film directed by Roddy McDowell, based on Midsummer's Night Dream?
1. City of the Dead aka Horror Hotel (1960)
Christopher Lee as a professor of occult studies somewhere near a town that obviously stands in for Salem: how do I love this movie, let me count the ways
https://horroraddicts.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/kbatz-christopher-lee-delights/
2. Tam Lin (1970)
Directed by Roddy McDowell, soundtrack by Pentangle, Eva Gardner as the aging faerie queen (I want her wardrobe!), a young Ian McShane as Tom Lin and Stephanie Beecham as Janet—I swear, when I first read about this film I thought I was hallucinating, especially as no one to whom I’ve raved about it seems to have seen it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tam-Lin_(film)#Production
3. The Nightcomers (1970)
Stephanie Beacham stars in this one as the infamous Miss Jessel opposite Marlon Brando as Quint, and I don’t even know how I managed to find this film on cable TV when I was a susceptible young teenager, because Quint is a bad, bad man, who really likes tying his girlfriend in knots, literally…
4. Baffled (1973)
If you like occult detectives (as I do), and Leonard Nimoy (as I do), this is a British made-for-TV movie that was supposed to be the pilot episode for a series, and I weep at the loss.
5. Spectre (1977)
Directed and written by Gene Roddenberry and starring Robert Culp and Gig Young as a pair of occult detectives who end up at a mansion which resembles what you might get if you crossed the Addams Family mansion with Playboy Mansion, and the slashiness between the two male leads, not to mention Majel Barrett as Lilith, add an additional layer of “Am I hallucinating this?” to the experience.
6. Simon King of the Witches (1971)
Set in psychedelic 1970s Los Angeles, this story literally follows Simon, a ceremonial magician, through the stormdrains (where he lives) and the mansions of LA as he pursues his desire for godlike powers. A weird mix of camp and references to real magical rituals, I would recommend not taking mind-altering drugs before watching this, but we’re pretty certain that Grant Morrison did
https://ultraculture.org/blog/2013/04/17/simon-king-of-the-witches/
