Best Electronic-Media Sources of Fright

To continue my little Ashleyverse Halloween series, I'm going to discuss what I feel to be the greatest scary movies, Halloween TV specials and episodes, and eery music ever. (Note: The following list is not a countdown. I've decided that those are just too hard in terms of choosing my fave movies, artists, songs, and books. I love 'em all!) Anyway, I hope y'all enjoy this list of fright-inducing visual and auditory thrills.

Categories, Selections, & Commentary:

MOVIES:

1.) Certain Johnny Depp films-- Y'all knew this was coming, right? Besides appearing in the original Friday the 13th film, my "fantasy husband" has also starred in a host of creepy and/or unconventional flicks, including: From Hell, The Libertine, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (along with Christina "Wednesday Addams" Ricci and the perennially awesome Christopher Walken, perfectly cast as Ichabod Crane's love interest, Katrina, and the Headless Horseman), the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Secret Window, Edward Scissorhands, and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, co-starring the late Heath Ledger. (I'm actually going to watch a "double feature" tonight, consisting of From Hell and The Libertine.)

2.) Shaun of the Dead (2004, Universal Studios)-- Simon Pegg stars as Shaun in this hilarious London-set spoof of Dawn of the Dead. Shaun and ne'er-do-well best mate Ed (Nick Frost) battle the mundaneity of daily existence and townspeople, many of whom they know personally, who morph into, well, zombies.

3.) A Thief in the Night-- I couldn't resist including this one here. This is the 1970s religious conversion film that my study group used for our adaptation of The Libertine. What's scary is that impressionable youths actually allow themselves to fall for the Religious Right's scare tactics. Another film that falls along the same lines is the documentary Jesus Camp. Kids are coerced to pray to a cardboard cutout of (thankfully!) former President George W. Bush. Now that's scary!

4.) The Shining (1980)-- I saw this a while back, and it was definitely scary. The ghost scenes in the Overlook Hotel, which author Stephen King modeled after Colorado's famed Stanley Hotel after a terrifying 1973 stay there, are perhaps some of the most frightening things I've ever seen. Just as creepy is Jack Nicholson's dissent into madness throughout the movie.

5.) Psycho (1960)-- This Alfred Hitchcock classic is the film to watch when you want to create the ultimate creepy vibe. Another haunted hotel movie, this one centers around increasingly paranoid schizophrenic proprieter Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) and his bizarro relationship with his mother. The notorious shower scene with Janet Leigh alone is enough to make any gal wonder what (or who) could be lurking behind the curtain. Mental illness, dysfunctional family dynamics, murder-- it's all here, folks!

TV:

1.) It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)-- A nostalgic, sentimental classic. The seasonal adventures of the Peanuts Gang always deliver, and this is no exception. Based on Charles M. Schultz' comic strip, the animated storylines involving Charlie Brown and friends simultaneously entertain kids of all ages and make them think.

2.) The Simpsons Annual Treehouse of Horror Spooktacular-- While the series itself has long since run out of steam (not to mention originality), this is always reliable.

3.) M*A*S*H, "Trick or Treatment (#11.2)"-- In this episode, the 4077th is confronted with the ultimate horror-- the carnage of war-- on Halloween, 1953. While Capts. Hawkeye Pierce (Alan Alda) and B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell), dressed fittingly as Superman and a clown, respectively, trade sometimes very funny, pun-laced one liners, the best dialogue is supplied by Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester III (David Ogden Stiers). For example, when his colleagues swap supernatural experiences in the O.R., Winchester retorts, "Hobgoblins are the hobgoblins of little minds!" and "I can't believe so many idiots can work in one place!"

4.) Early Roseanne Halloween episodes-- These were pretty dang good. Later on, the whole series became an overblown freakshow.

5.) Saturday Night Live: The Best of Halloween-- There's about two decades worth of laughs in this collection. My fave skits have got to be those featuring Dana Carvey as the Church Lady ("Halloween-- what is it, an innocent little night on the town for the kiddies, or a walk for SATAN!?") and the Coneheads (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtain, and Laraine Newman) ("We shall dispense the small consumables.")

MUSIC:

1.) Bob Dylan's "Visions of Johanna"-- A track on the 1966 Blonde on Blonde album, this song was rightfully named one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In fact, Dylan himself called it one of his best works. "Visions" is chock-full of amazing, super-surreal lyrics, namely "Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule." More importantly, it's extremely haunting, especially when The Bard warbles, "Lights flicker from the opposite loft, the country music station plays soft, but there's nothing to turn off." The sound lends itself to the content, and slower, live and/or bootleg versions are even more haunting than the slightly faster and more up-tempo album cut.

2.) The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album-- Released in 1967 and 1968, respectively, these two albums are perfect for playing this time of year. On the former, tracks such as Lennon and McCartney's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and Harrison's "Within You, Without You" deliver the psychedelic goods, plus the entire album concept is an experiment in surrealism (thanks to a "little help from their friends"!) to the highest power. As for the latter selection, "Helter Skelter" is the most hellatious (read: kickass) song ever written.

3.) Anything by Led Zeppelin-- Lead singer Robert Plant has a life-long obsession with Celtic mythology and the occult. The British classic rockers are at their Halloween-y best on "Stairway to Heaven." Plant's bandmates-- Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and John "Bonzo" Bonham-- are positively demonic (in a good way) on "Whole Lotta Love" and "Houses of the Holy."

4.) The Black Crowes' "She Talks to Angels"-- IMHO, one of the greatest rock songs ever. This song provides a distinctly Southern supernatural vibe.

5.) Yellow Submarine (film and soundtrack)-- The Fab Four's 1968 animated musical and artistic masterpiece contains a slightly creepy bit of social commentary. In the film, the Blue Meanies threaten to overtake Pepperland and banish all that is artistic, positive, and beautiful from the "unearthly paradise." Worse, they want to "create" a state of perpetual war. (Sound like any actual political regime we know?) Lennon likened the Blue Meanies' Reign of Terror to the Nazis' hostile takeover of Europe, including the Beatles' native Britain, during WWII. I guess the underlying message here is: Censorship sucks! As for the music, this is a compilation of the group's hits from Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). My favourite tunes (and accompanying animated videos) would definitely have to be "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and the Harrisong "It's All Too Much."