Patch Picks: Halloween Movie Nights

In between assembling the perfect costume and stocking up on candy in preparation for Halloween, it’s always nice to get in the spirit of things by renting a few spooky movies, turning off all the lights and letting yourself be a scared little kid again. There are a few classics that stand out in my memory for setting the tone for the big night (or for just scaring the bejeezus out of me) through the years. Here are a few of my Halloween favorites, from classic television specials for the family to terror classics just for the grown-ups.

• “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”

50 years strong, this Peanuts gang classic never fails to get me in the mood to carve pumpkins and work on my Halloween costume. Watching Linus wait for The Great Pumpkin each year always helps to take me back to a simpler time, when all there was to worry about was getting home in time to afternoon cartoons.

• “The Nightmare Before Christmas”

Watching this film in theaters as a child, I had no idea it would produce such an enduring following almost 20 years later, but I did know I had never seen anything like it. Tim Burton’s dark children’s tale of the Pumpkin King who ventures to take on Christmas has lasting appeal thanks to its unique plot, grotesque characters and gorgeously macabre animation. These days, seeing Jack Skellington’s mug on t-shirts, keychains and novelty socks is more common than it was when the film first came out.

• “Halloween” (Original)

Of course. Though the original may not be the scariest, it’s the one that started the myth of Michael Myers so that the franchise, for better or for worse, could begin. The 1978 John Carpenter classic combines the perfect amount of horror, camp and “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper” to make it a Halloween party must-play.

• “The Shining”

A crazed and possessed Jack Nicholson will always be hard to beat in terms of terrifying facial expressions, and a classic Stephen King adaptation will always produce some chilling scenes that endure the test of time. One of the most influential horror flicks ever made, this intense psychological nightmare builds slowly but methodically to combine sweeping cinematography with scenes that will linger in audiences’ minds far longer than most modern slasher films.

• “A Nightmare on Elm Street”

Featuring the villain whose name everyone knows, this 1984 horror classic kept me from sleeping for nearly a week as a kid. Though the plot is widely known and has been parodied many times over, the concept of a stalker who seeks revenge on those who wronged him by killing their children in their dreams will never get old.