by Terrance Mc Arthur

October is a time when all the spooky comes out—decorations, costumes, and movies. I have compiled a small list of some of my favorite spooky. They may be thought of as horror movies, but they aren’t blood-and-guts fests. These are films I have seen, which leaves out some popular films like Monster Squad and Hocus Pocus. Most of these are pretty old, and not too violent. (I have a problem with slasher-monster-jump scare films.)

Here is my list, in chronological order (from the oldest to the newest):

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Paramount/Artcraft—In this silent film, John Barrymore, known as “The Great Profile,” distorted his features without camera tricks or special make-up effects for the first part of his transition from the kindly Dr. Jekyll to the evil Mr. Hyde.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Ghosts (1922)—Copies of this unauthorized German version—with names of the characters changed in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid copyright—of Dracula was supposed to be destroyed by order of the British courts. Decades later, a copy of the silent film was found, and many editions now exist. Max Shreck gives a major creep factor to Count Orlock, the vampire. The acting in silent films is usually over-the-top because they couldn’t rely on the spoken word. Nevertheless, don’t laugh at Count Orlock.

Phantom of the Opera (1925), Universal Pictures—Based on Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel, Lon Chaney starred (and may have directed a few scenes) as the masked figure lurking below the Paris landmark. Mary Philbin was the singer he mentors and kidnaps. Chaney did his own makeup. His unmasking scene was a shock to audiences. It has been remade and remade but never equaled.

Dracula (1931), Universal—Bela Lugosi starred on Broadway as the vampire in the Hamilton Deane/John L. Balderston adaptation of Bram Stoker’s book. He took a low salary to be allowed to play the role in the film. Lugosi’s Hungarian accent gave an exotic quality to the character, suave and magnetic. The strange glow in his eyes was produced by aiming tiny spotlights at him.

Frankenstein (1931), Universal—Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of a man assembled from dead parts and brought to life had been filmed in 1910, but Boris Karloff’s performance and Jack Pierce’s iconic makeup made a creature for the ages. For a Karloff double-header, you could pair it with The Mummy (1932), where Pierce bandaged up Karloff, then turned him into an aged necromancer, trying to revive his millennia-lost love.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Superscope—In a small town in Northern California, strange pods appear. People seem to change, losing emotion. What could be the cause? Long before Kevin McCarthy (the actor, not the Speaker of the House in 2023) played obnoxious and corrupt businessmen, he was the hero, a kind and earnest doctor. (The 1978 remake with Donald Sutherland and a sequence with Leonard Nimoy is pretty good, too.)

Mad Monster Party? (1967)—Boris Karloff offered his voice in one of his last projects for this stop-motion animation film from Rankin/Bass. The studio that gave us Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and other holiday shows. Baron Frankenstein (Karloff) summons famous monsters—Dracula, Hunchback, Jekyll & Hyde, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, Frankenstein’s Monster & His Mate (comedian Phyllis Diller)—to his island home. He plans to retire, elect a new leader of the monsters, and demonstrate a new destructive discovery. Into it all comes the Baron’s nerdy nephew. It’s silly fun, with all the nefarious plans for power defeated by dumb luck.

Phantom of the Paradise (1974), 20th Century Fox—Brian de Palma directed this rock & rolling musical, with songs by Paul Williams, who played a sinister music mogul. Bits and pieces of Psycho, Picture of Dorian Gray, Faust, and more show up in this tale of a ripped-off composer, horribly injured, making sure that the woman he adores is the only one to sing his music.

Young Frankenstein (1974), Mel Brooks—“Walk this way.” “Fronk-en-steen.” “Putting on the Ritz!” “What hump?” “Ahh, sweet mystery of life, at last I’ve found you!” Put Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder together, and wonderful things happened. Ads for the movie in drive-in theaters said, “Please don’t honk during the soup scene!” An unwilling descendant makes a monster, and the world is a funnier place.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Touchstone—From the mind of Tim Burton comes this Henry Selick stop-motion blockbuster. Jack Skellington (sung by Danny Elfman, spoken by Chris Sarandon), the King of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, and decides to make his own interpretation of the holiday, with disastrous results. A haunting classic.

Hotel Transylvania (2012), Sony Pictures—Adam Sandler as Count Dracula? This computer-animated outing goes for the laughs, not the scares. Sandler’s old friends get parts—Kevin James, Andy Samberg, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade—and Selena Gomez. The Count runs a monsters-only hotel, but a human (Samberg) wanders in and falls for Drac’s daughter (Gomez).

Terrance V. Mc Arthur worked for the Fresno County Public Library for three decades. He is retired, but not retiring. A storyteller, puppeteer, writer, actor, magician, basketmaker, and all-around interesting person, his goal is to make life more unusual for everyone he meets.