October Movies

At this time of year, you'll find a lot of lists telling you the "essential" or "best" horror movies to watch before Halloween. I'm not a big fan of horror movies - after a while, they all seem the same to me - but I've seen most of the classics, including Poltergeist, Night of the Living Dead, etc. I've also seen most of the well-regarded humor/horror classics, like Evil Dead, Shaun of the Dead, and The Cabin in the Woods. (A lesser-known standout in that category is one of my favorites, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. See that one if you enjoy funny horror.)

But around Halloween, I have a couple of other movies I like to watch each year to get me in the spirit. One is a zombie movie - but it's more an action comedy than a horror film, and even better, it's about people on a journey. Road trip movies are among my favorites.

The other movie is probably not on most people's Halloween lists. It is about witches, but it's really more of a romantic comedy than it is supernatural. But I love it for the relationships between the sisters - all three generations of them - and for the very end, when the town that has shunned and feared the witches for a hundred years finally overcomes their superstitious prejudice and comes together to help them out. For me, the theme of this movie is: People suck, but sometimes they come through for you anyway.

And that's not such a bad lesson. In the words of the film,"there are some things I know for certain: always throw spilt salt over your left shoulder, keep rosemary by your garden gate, plant lavender for luck, and fall in love whenever you can."