Happy Hallowe'en!

Photo from 3drt.com

Halloween was always great fun for me as a child. My favorite costume was a witch, and I dressed as a witch most years for Trick-or-Treating.

Now, not only am I grown, my kids are too old for Trick-or-Treating. We watch DVD's that seem suitable for the season. Here's a list of some we try to watch during October:

The Halloween Tree. This is a video version of Ray Bradbury's book which uses a group of trick-or-treating kids and a trip back in time to explore some common Halloween traditions. We _love_ this one and have since it first came out. It's only available on VHS right now, but we're on constant look-out for a DVD version.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. A classic. I remember when this one came out, too , and it's a long-time family favorite.

Winnie the Pooh Boo to You Too. We still get a kick out of this one even though my youngest is 16.

The Nightmare Before Christmas. I remember the controversy over this one, and there are still some well-meaning people who condemn this video, but I honestly think none of them can have actually seen it. It's a touching story and filled with glee -in a spooky kind of way.

Beetlejuice. Not about Halloween at all, but a ghost story where the ghosts aren't the scary ones.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. This is another ghost story, but not a scary one. This one is from 1947, set in 1900 and stars Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison and George Sanders. This is one of my all-time favorite movies.

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. What a romp! I'm not a big Don Knotts fan, but I've liked this one since I saw it in the theater when it was released.

The Hound of the Baskervilles. We like the Jeremy Brett version of this Sherlock Holmes story best.

King Kong. The old 1933 one with Fay Wray.

Godzilla. The old one meant for American audiences with the Raymond Burr inserts.

Phantom of the Opera. There are 2 of these we like -the older silent with Lon Chaney and the less old (g) one with Claude Rains.

Creature From the Black Lagoon.

The Wolf Man. This is my favorite of the monster movies. A classic tragedy.

Frankenstein. The Boris Karloff original.

Dracula. There are several of these. Our favorites are the Bela Lugosi one and the Louis Jourdan one. The Bela Lugosi one is the classic, of course. This entry has been edited to remove the Frank Langella joke and suggest our real preference for Louis Jourdan. This Dracula was a made-for-tv production and is nigh onto impossible to find. It is fairly faithful to the book and has some interesting 70's special effects. The Murnau classic silent Nosferatu is also well worth seeing.

The Mummy. The real one with Karloff.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We have the John Barrymore silent version.

Cat People. The 1942 version.

And there's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. But only if you've already seen the originals.

We always carve a Jack O' Lantern. The pumpkin is on the patio awaiting the moment of transformation. Here's a photo of last year's: