2005 Halloween DVD Recommendations

Like millions of others, Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Last year I wrote a column with
a slew of recommendations for your own Halloween viewing party that still stands.  Click
HERE
for that column.

But naturally, being the insatiable Halloween movie consumer that I am, I have a raft of new
recommendations for this year's festivities.  Costumes not included, however...  Click on the
titles to order directly from Amazon.
If I didn't start my Halloween recommendations with Dark Shadows The
Revival - The Complete Series from Columbia-Tri-Star Home Video I'd
never hear the end of it.  But even without my partner's obsession with both
the original supernatural soap opera from the 1960s and its brief revival in
1991 I'd still recommend it.  This 3-disc set contains all 12 episodes of the short
lived revamp of the series.  The dreamy Ben Cross with his gorgeous British
accent, big late 80s hair and puffy shirt is Barnabas Collins, the vampire who
doesn't want the curse of immortality.  Jean Simmons plays the family matriarch
Elizabeth Stoddard Collins and Roy Thinnes her cranky brother. Though the
series was a ratings flop, it was given a big budget which shows.  It's
sumptuously photographed and well cast (for the most part).  The pacing is a
tad slow but the storyline almost religiously follows the original.  Dan Curtis,
creator of the original daytime version, is again at the helm and he is greatly
aided by Robert Cobert's eerie score.  Though there aren't any extras on the
set -- a decided disappointment -- the collected episodes are a welcome
addition to the "Dark Shadows" canon.  "Dark Shadows" never looked better
than it did here.
Universal has released what they're calling the Bela Lugosi Collection
but it's really a Lugosi/Karloff collection -- Karloff appears in four of the five
titles.  The films, lesser known than the renowned Dracula or Frankenstein films
are nonetheless interesting little programmers from the golden age of the
Universal monster horror films.  Contained on one doubled sided disc, the
movies (each runs about an hour) look pretty good for their age and obvious
wear and tear.  The films included are
Murders in the Rue Morgue (a retelling of
the Poe classic),
The Black Cat, The Raven (another nod to Poe), The Invisible
Ray
, and Black Friday.  1934's Black Cat is my favorite.  Lugosi and Karloff play
two bitter rivals (Karloff has stolen Lugosi's wife after sending him to prison for
crimes he didn't commit -- very "Sweeney Todd" like).  Lugosi appears at
Karloff's art deco inspired fortress along with some innocent newlyweds (the
young hero is played by the handsome gay actor David Manners) in order to get
revenge and soon everyone's involved in a Satanic cult and murder.  No extras
on the disc but it's great to have these on DVD at last.
MGM has released the Robert Siodmak
classic from 1946
The Spiral
Staircase in which mute servant girl
Dorothy McGuire is being menaced by
the local serial killer.  Ethel Barrymore
and George Brent head a strong
supporting cast.  If you're looking for a
classic thriller with lots of atmosphere
this is the one for you.  The film
features a thunderstorm that seems to
go on forever.  A lot of old fashioned
fun.  No extras.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is an early Jodie Foster
vehicle from MGM (1976) that makes absolutely no sense but is a guilty pleasure
of mine.  Foster plays a smart pre-teen who just wants to be left alone to read
poetry, listen to classical music and enjoy a glass of wine but everyone -- from her
nosy, bitchy landlady (Alexis Smith) to the town's local pedophile (Martin Sheen!)
and a friendly cop -- wants the little girl who lives down the lane to do their
bidding.  She can't help what happened to what she's keeping down in the cellar
and if everyone would just leave her and her quintessential 1970s era boyfriend
(Scott Jacoby) alone everything would be fine.  But no dice.  There are some
gentle creeps along the way and Foster is in fine
Taxi Driver-era form.  No extras.
Though we're still in ghost story territory, now we're getting a BIT more violent.  
MGM has re-released John Carpenter's
The Fog from 1980 in a welcome Special
Edition.  This is obviously to cash in on the remake but stick with the original which
features John Houseman who sets the tale in motion, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet
Leigh, and Adrienne Barbeau as the sexy disc jockey.  This tale of ghostly sailor's
seeking revenge on the descendants of their murderers at a tiny coastal town has
an equal share of creepy -- and late 70s -- camp moments.

Great extra features include a new making of documentary ("Into the Mist") and
Carpenter's always welcome commentary track.
Okay, okay, enough of the tame stuff, you say, right?  Well I just have decided problems with the vividly
GRAPHIC which is why I avoided these two in the theatres.  But when Lions Gate sent out review copies of the
uncut edition of
Saw and the unrated version of High Tension my curiosity got the best of me and I'm
glad I took the risk.  The latter, an extremely gory rare horror entry from France is yet another variation on
Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  This being French, naturally, there is a twist (of the lesbian
variety) that will either delight you or piss you off -- depending on your willingness to suspend your belief.  It
borrows liberally from a lot of other movies but I'm always happy to watch a smart, Sigourney Weaver-like
heroine trying to outwit a madman (or Queen Alien).  Naturally, I diverted my eyes through ALL of the gore --
but I still heard a lot of pretty icky stuff.  Not for the squeamish but lives up to its name and then some.

Saw was not as graphic as I'd been led to believe -- though it certainly has its share of gore.  But I also liked
the diabolical twists and turns in this inventive little thriller and I loved seeing the back story in the making of
docs included on the second disc of the set.  It's like a male Cinderella story -- with the two young creators
winning Hollywood gold on their first time out.
Finally, three Halloween comedies that never fail to please.  Bette Midler appeared on Letterman the other
night plugging her new CD,
The Peggy Lee Songbook and as the appearance came close to Halloween (her
favorite holiday) she brought along her buck teeth from
Hocus Pocus.  Midler has claimed in several
interviews that she gave her most consistent performance in this 1993 flop from Disney and she's not far off
the mark (
The Rose, of course, remains her supreme hour).  There's a lot to like in this amiable little comedy
that has lots and lots of atmosphere and good support from Kathy Najimy and Sarah Jessica Parker.  And
Midler delivers a hot version of "I Put A Spell On You" halfway through the film.  Some Halloween we may
actually get a Special Edition DVD (one can wish) or a release of the delightful John Debney score.

While waiting for that I took another look at the early Tim Burton hit,
Beetlejuice from 1988 and it holds up
very well.  Michael Keaton (remember him?) is very funny as the other worldly spiritual parasite who wants to
help ghosts Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin (with a trim waist) rid their beloved home of city dwellers Catharine
O'Hara (sublimely funny), husband Jeffrey Jones and daughter Winona Ryder (a very cool example of a goth
chick).  Sylvia Sidney is droll as their spiritual advisor and the production design is to die for.  A Special Edition
is long overdue from Warner Brothers!

Finally, for you romantic comedy types who love atmosphere as much as I do there's nothing better than
1998's
Practical Magic in which Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman play grown up witch sisters suffering
from a curse -- the men they love are destined to die!  Naturally, they'll find a way to break it.  Devilishly good
support from Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest as their eccentric witchy aunts.
Knight at HOME at the Movies