🎃 The Best
Trick 'r Treat (2009)
Trick 'r Treat (2009)
Arguably the champ of Halloween anthologies. From creepy kids to twisted urban legends, Michael Dougherty has put together one awesome anthology that’s captured the essence of Halloween. Of course the film would not be complete without the main mascot: Sam! A definite icon in horror!
STANDOUT CHARACTER: Sam, the pumpkin-headed trick-or-treater, the living embodiment of Samhain, and enforcer of the 4 Rules of Halloween, which are as follows; 1. Always wear a costume, 2. Always hand out candy, 3. Never blow out a jack-o'-lantern before night, and 4. Always respect the dead.
Creepshow (1982), Creepshow 2 (1987) & Creepshow (Series, 2019–2023)
Creepshow (1982), Creepshow 2 (1987) & Creepshow (Series, 2019–2023)
The blueprint for us to begin is from George A. Romero and Stephen King. EC Comics are channeled perfectly here. This franchise manages the sweet balance of horror and camp and with the Shudder series it continued proving Creepshow isn’t limited by its past.
HALLOWEEN SCENE: Check in the widow in Creepshow (1982) for a jack o lantern. The Creepshow series has half of episode three in season 1 named, “All Hallows Eve,” plus there was a Halloween Special titled, “A Creepshow Animated Special,” though, this one contains no iconography regarding the holiday.
+ Unofficial Sequel
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)
More of a dark fairy tale vibe than pure Halloween, but still worth mentioning for anthology fans. Unofficially considered to be the real Creepshow Part 3 by horror fans and the filmmakers.
HALLOWEEN SCENE: In the final segment "Lover's Vow" there is a very short scene of the kids in costumes returning home from trick or treating where they hug their mother near the end of the film.
Click here for more: "Watch TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE MARATHON Halloween Special Hosted by RICH LITTLE with Commercials".
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Ten anthologies stitched together into one neighborhood-wide of pandemonium. Featuring killer pumpkins to evil kids trick-or-treating this movie is clearly a love letter to Halloween. I felt like I was wandering through a haunted suburb.
STANDOUT CHARACTER & SEGMENT: A candy loving murderous entity “Sweet Tooth” haunts the neighborhoods. Kids were warned to not take candy for themselves but also leave some candy out for him or he would tear out the victims stomach for the candy they consumed.
Scare Package (2020)
Scare Package (2020)
Equal parts horror anthology and meta-comedy, Scare Package lampoons many of the tropes horror enthusiasts have come to expect and enjoy while still offering plenty of gooey gore. It is a horror lover’s paradise.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: 'The Night He Came Back Again! Part IV: The Final Kill' functions more like an extremely funny version of Halloween '78.
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
Satanic Hispanics (2022)
Absolutely terrific modern Latin Horror piece; inventive, in-your-face and packed with cultural flavour, this collection from the Spanish Americas is arguably the most original, and one of the most startling of a few years now.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: "El Vampiro" is a dim-witted vampire stumbling home blindly in the wake of his Halloween night murder spree.
The Witching Season (2015)
The Witching Season (2015)
It was made on a shoestring budget but is absolutely filled to the brim with that Autumn atmosphere. This is more scary fun than real horror; you feel as if you are watching the Halloween specials that they may have unearthed in the back of a closet on a tape.
STANDOUT SEGMENT: Episode 4 "They Live Inside Us" was remade as a feature-length Halloween horror movie. It is truly unique.
+ Spinoff Movie
V/H/S Franchise Series (2012–2025)
V/H/S Franchise Series (2012–2025)
Found-footage splatter horror. The V/H/S franchise is known for it's creative, unsettling, and horrifying short-film entries. While the series isn’t always seasonal, V/H/S Halloween (2025) may finally be the Halloween-centric entry we’ve been dreaming of.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENTS: The “10/31/98” short in V/H/S (2012) follows some friends going out to a Halloween bash and getting a lot more than they bargained for. The “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” short from V/H/S 2 (2013) was reimagined into the feature length Halloween horror sci-fi film Kids Vs. Alien (2023).
In “Storm Drain,” the short from V/H/S/94 (2021), meet Raatma, a gross half-human half-rat abomination. In this installment, you catch sight of leaves on the ground and individuals in jackets and coats. At the tail end of this sequence, a female reporter remarks on the arrival of the fall season while prefacing a report on an annual pumpkin festival. That’s all then bookended by perhaps the best finale in V/H/S history. Hail Raatma 🐀! Watch now below.
+ Spinoff Movie
3 Dead Trick or Treaters (2016)
Rent at https://videonomicon.vhx.tv/videos/3-dead-trick-or-treaters-2017-feature-film.
3 Dead Trick or Treaters (2016)
A dialogue-free atmospheric horror antho directed by Torin Langen. Paperboy finds the tombstones of three dead children and starts reading short stories involving various human-scapes, the various traditions, and the various occult rites of Halloween and more...
THE BEST PARTS: It's experimental, but it doesn't at all skimp. It goes balls out on some great, atmospheric transitions from scene to scene, utilizing brilliant, eerie-music transitions. A completely unique, disturbing vision of some scary stuff with extremely disturbing imagery that I guarantee is unlike any of you’ve seen from a Halloween-themed piece. So that's all there is.
Campfire Tales (1991)
Watch on YouTube:
Campfire Tales (1991)
An overlooked gem from the VHS era. It's a bit clunky at times, but still manages to capture the sense of someone telling a story around a campfire with some nice early 90's fashion. The horror is presented and hosted by the actor who played Leatherface in 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre', Gunnar Hansen, as the framing segment.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: 'The Hook' is a story about a killer who has no hook at all, but attacks a boy and girl on a date on Halloween Night using gardening's equivalent of a hand rake tool...
The collection is also home to a holiday short called "The Fright Before Christmas", featuring Satan Claus who on Christmas Eve punishes the man for greed, and proceeds to cut his heart out!
🕯️ The Middling (But Fun)
10/31 Franchise Series (2017–2024)
10/31 Franchise Series (2017–2024)
An indie series of Halloween shorts stitched together. They're uneven but ambitious, often delivering creative DIY scares. Great for diehards who want quantity and don't mind some rough production edges.
BEST SEGMENT & HALLOWEEN VIBES: 10/31 Part 2's segment "Overkill" is a clever and comedic story where several serial killers arrive to kill the same victim, Becky the Babysitter. There's funny dialogue between a BTK-type killer who tries to reason with a Voorhees/Myers hockey masked silent hulking killer.
Fantastic Halloween vibes and many horror throwbacks/homages with a synthwave score in most of the segments and faux trailers in the whole franchise!
All Hallows Eve (2013) & Sequels (2015–2024)
All Hallows Eve (2013) & Sequels (2015–2024)
This one is the reason that Art the Clown exists in movies! The original was scary for reasons, mostly thanks to Art making his presence known. The sequels are kinda all over the map, and while Part 2 (2015), Trickster (2023) and Inferno (2024) hit and miss they often find themselves tripping over half decent storylines.
BEST PARTS: The introduction of Art The Clown in the original All Hallows Eve (2013) who does not appear in the sequels. And Uncle Creepy Steve Barton actually produced the last two films!
The first All Hallows Eve (2013) film was spinned off into the Halloween (Parts 1 & 2) and Christmas (Part 3) Terrifier franchise.
+ Spinoff Movies
Volumes of Blood (2015) & Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories (2016)
Volumes of Blood (2015) & Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories (2016)
This is clearly one of those low-budget B movie style horror movies high in ideas, and something which is not high on my good book scale, but fans of DIY horror anthologies will appreciate the spirit. They are not perfect, and these are not going to win any awards, but still they are watchable.
STANDOUT SEGMENT: "The Encyclopedia Satanica" tells an emotional story that contributes to the scary, evil feel.
Bad Candy (2020)
Bad Candy (2020)
In an anthology connecting different scares to a Halloween radio broadcast, an air about it is good; it's looks very similar to Trick 'r Treat and Tales of Halloween, but the bad CGI effects and uneven execution hold it back. Think of it as a bag with a few fun-sized Snickers mixed in with stale candy corn.
OUTSTANDING CHARACTERS Corey Taylor from the group Slipknot and Zach Galligan from Gremlins play the 2 main radio broadcasters that keep it tied together in the wraparound. Look out for the Man Bat Demon in the spinoff/sequel, also directed by Scott B. Hansen, called Devour (2026) which also features werewolves. Expected to be released in 2026.
+ Sequel/Spinoff Movie
Holidays (2016)
Holidays (2016)
Each segment on this film focuses on a different holiday, though Halloween is one in the set. This movie is very uneven, but a few segments have such dark edge they are worthwhile.
THE HALLOWEEN SEGMENT (directed by Kevin Smith) is a story about camgirls taking Halloween vengeance on their pimp called Ian on Halloween night! It could have taken place on any day! Nothing about the story is related to Halloween, I don't even think it's a horror short.
Patient Seven (2017)
Patient Seven (2017)
A psychiatrist interrogates her patients resulting in an anthology of short films; a clever conceit, but a film that fluctuates from spooky to generic.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: “The Body”: On Halloween A murderer takes advantage of the holiday to dispose of a dead body in public. The film pays tribute to Halloween III in a funny scene that features three trick or treaters in Silver Shamrock masks.
The segment was later turned into a feature length Halloween movie in Hulu's series of holiday films called "Into the Dark" Season 1/Episode 1 also titled "The Body."
+ Spinoff Movie
Halloween Candy (2025)
Halloween Candy (2025)
Halloween Candy (2025) While the title might be an enticing prospect the segments are hardly that- the scares are limp and the timing is all off. Yet it does do a fantastic job of setting up Halloween atmosphere and you would be missing a treat if you decided not to see this.
HALLOWEEN WRAPAROUND: The wrap-round segments to this were an engrossing storyline. I thought the lead actress of Molly Gazay gave a fine performance in her lead role as Liza, who held the wraparound together as best as she could, and I do hope we will see more of this story in the upcoming sequel of this film and hopefully some better segments. I wish we would have more of TINY also.
💀 The Worst (With Some Good Qualities)
Shriekshow (2022)
Shriekshow (2022)
This anthology may have amazing Halloween vibes, but the dialogue is subpar and the staging is rudimentary. It's much more of a trick than it is a treat. In addition to all the cameos of horror scream queens Tuesday Knight (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master), Beverly Randolph (The Return of the Living Dead), and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp, Terrifier 2), there's a line regarding camping that made me laugh.
My pick for the BEST SEGMENT: "Clowns at a Party" The 3rd segment with the young man who sees the clown kill off his friends and family in front of him at his birthday party is perfectly serviceable if you are willing to look beyond the amateurish performances and clunky dialogue.
Chris O'Brocki's take on the ringmaster and wrap-around segment are fairly enjoyable as well. I love the pie in the face death scene near the end.
Tales from the Other Side (2022)
Tales from the Other Side (2022)
Marketed as a Halloween anthology but fails to deliver much of the orange & black holiday throughout its meh and unmemorable segments. Though there is a badly-made stopmotion Christmas movie that doesn’t count.
BEST WRAPAROUND: The segments are devoid of the autumnal spirit but the wraparound is gloriously Halloweenish where three kid's trick-or-treat adventure brings them to the home of the local town legend "Scary Mary" who shares the six segments/stories of the film. It has a predictable ending but I just love it.
Sharp Candy (2019)
Sharp Candy (2019)
The title is killer, the plot is awesome, and it actually comes together at the end. But boy the acting, and especially the sound quality are the only drawbacks. This feels more like a school project with blood and guts than a complete movie.
BEST CHARACTER: Baron Von Laugho the Clown delivers a hell of a performance for his efforts on a wicked cool Halloween horror pic. He was last seen in: Baron Von Laugho’s Halloween Spook-A-Thon & Baron Von Laugho’s Christmas Special. The dude playing the character, actor, writer & producer Dylan R Nix is perfect for the part and he is well poised to be the next big horror icon.
CreepTales (2004)
Watch on YouTube:
CreepTales (2004)
Bottom of the apple dunkin' barrel, even with its wonderfully trashy camp factor. It is, though, fairly obscenely, if sloppily, stitched together and with the right audience would make an entertainingly bad viewing for badness’ sake.
HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: The 4th story, "Groovy Ghoulie Garage," follows a pair of friends who discover the citizens of a place called Tower Springs have an uncomfortably intense relationship with the season.
One Night in October (2017)
One Night in October (2017)
Three different tales spun over the course of the night with an unexpected, very brief intertwining. The concept is interesting here, and there’s definitely some style but after a great build the thing gets slow towards the close and begins to stink like unwanted chocolate.
BEST PART: Axe murder scenes are awesome though!
👻 Honorable Mentions
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)
The big-screen comeback for the beloved series includes a quintet of Segments - some excellent, some mediocre - from a team of legendary directors, including Spielberg, George Miller, and John Landis. Essential and beloved film from the genre’s best and brightest minds.
UNMADE HALLOWEEN SEGMENT: To read more on the Steven Spielberg Halloween-Themed Segment of "Twilight Zone: The Movie" That Almost Was , click here! It’s a Halloween tale where some clearly-not-nice kid bully, dressed as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, goes out and bullies kids as they trick-or-treated.
The Monster Club (1981)
The Monster Club (1981)
This over-the-top romp is sort of a throwback with Vincent Price and John Carradine as horror club members. It's a real quirky and atmospheric cult film with some rock and roll thrown into the mix.
HALLOWEEN WRAPAROUND: These supposed monsters that are all rocking out on the dance floor in the Monster Club are just folks with some silly Halloween masks on.
Fun Size Horror: Volume One (2015)
Fun Size Horror: Volume One (2015)
Contains many hyper-short films. Fun out of pure curiosity. Less of a full meal, and more of a sampler platter of potential tricks-or-treats.
HALLOWEEN OPENING: It has a great Halloween animation for the opening of the film, the tales themselves were more random then spooky in the nature of the holiday.
Vampus Horror Tales (2020)
Vampus Horror Tales (2020)
It’s Spanish and shot in black and white with an all Gothic aesthetic. Atmospheric and spooky enough to watch in October.
HALLOWEEN SCENES: One story features Pennywise, the Elephant Man, and Bela Lugosi mannequin props inside a dark, creepy funhouse ride. Only for moments does some jack o’ lanterns and trick or treaters show up during the movie wraparound, arguably the film’s saving grace.
VHS Sticker by @glitch_goods buy t-shirt at robsheridan.threadless.com:
No comments:
Post a Comment