WEBSITE UPDATE–HALLOWEEN–2018
CONNIE WILLIS’S RECOMMENDED READING (AND VIEWING) LIST FOR HALLOWEEN FOR COWARDS LIKE HER
I love Halloween, but at the same time I hate slasher movies, Saw-type movies, blood, gore, dismemberment, and even Stephen King’s THE SHINING. (See gore.) And I assume there are other people out there just like me who might like a list of things to see and read that aren’t any of the above, especially this year when the blood and gore–and dismemberment–are out there in the real world and impossible to forget.
I’m not forgetting them AT ALL, but I also know people sometimes people need something to take their minds off the horrors of the real world, at least for a little while. So here’s a list of stories and movies that are spooky and shivery that you might have missed:
SHORT STORIES
“The Summer People” by Shirley Jackson–What happens if you decide to stay behind in your cabin when summer’s over? I mean, there’s no real reason to go home, is there?
“Homecoming” by Ray Bradbury–A traditional Halloween story with witches and ghosts and goblins and vampires, but with a twist. (Note: This is probably my favorite Ray Bradbury story.)
“Horrer Howce” by Margaret St. Clair–Amusement parks keep upgrading to provide scarier and scarier rides. Where DO they get their ideas?
“Evening Primrose” by John Collier–Have you ever wondered what happens in a department store after it closes? (Note: This was made into a lovely one-act musical with haunting Stephen Sondheim songs.)
“The Exiles” by Ray Bradbury–Where do all those witches and monsters go when nobody reads them anymore?
And two classics: “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe
NOVELS
THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE by Shirley Jackson–The book. Not the movie called THE HAUNTING, though it’s not bad, or the movie called THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, which was terrible, or the new series called THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, which isn’t the same story at all. The book!
THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO by Charles Finney–One of the strangest and creepiest novels I’ve ever come across. It reminded me of SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES by RayBradbury (which was actually written later.) I recommend both.
ALL HALLOW’S EVE by Charles Williams–I’ve recommended this before. It begins with the heroine, Lester, standing on Westminster Bridge, looking across the Thames at the plane crash in which she has just been killed, and follows her through a London of the dead.
WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE by Shirley Jackson–The creepiest novel of all time. Do not read late at night.
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THE OTHERS–This Nicole Kidman is my favorite Halloween movie! I don’t want to say anything else for fear of giving something away. When I saw it, I knew nothing about it, and that was the perfect way to see it!
WHAT LIES BENEATH–It has Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford and a next-door neighbor who may or may not have been murdered and be haunting their house. BETWEEN TWO WORLDS– An ocean liner is crossing from England to America during World War II. Or is that where it’s really going? This is the remake of a 1930s film called OUTWARD BOUND, which was made from the book (and the play), OUTWARD BOUND, by Sutton Vance.
And for fun:
THE ADDAMS FAMILY–Girl Scout: “Are there real lemons in your lemonade?” Wednesday: “Are there real Girl Scouts in your Girl Scout cookies?” ‘Nuff said.
GHOST TOWN–Like THE SIXTH SENSE, only the dentist who’s stuck seeing dead people hates them. It’s got Ricky Gervaise, Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear. And Kirsten Wiig, in one of the funniest scenes ever. And, believe it or not, it’s a romantic comedy!
THE RAVEN–This 1963 movie, which stars Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, and Peter Lorre, is great. Vincent Price to the raven: Can’st thou tell me of my lost Lenore? Where, oh, where is my lost Lenore? Raven: How the hell would I know?
Oh, and if you want to read something of mine, I recommend:
PASSAGE
LINCOLN’S DREAMS
and “Service for the Burial Dead.”
Happy Halloween, everybody!
Connie Willis