Horrors, Halloween.

"We are gathered here at the final end of what Bradbury called the October Country: a state of mind as much as it is a time. All the harvests are in, the frost is on the ground, there's mist in the crisp night air and it's time to tell ghost stories." And Neil Gaiman whispers a few in the New York Times.

"As a Halloween special, Cinema Strikes Back brings you a double dose of scary HP Lovecraft goodness - a review of The Call of Cthulhu and an interview with co-creator Sean Branney."

Dennis Cozzalio offers an "attempt to guide the discerning horror film aficionado, as well as the average viewer in search of a good movie, whatever the genre, toward some favorite titles that haven’t really seen their share of the limelight over the years," a list of "13 Underrated, Ignored or Forgotten Horror Movies," followed by honorable mentions of 13 more and a list of "10 Under-Appreciated Horror Films" from writer-director Don Mancini. All these titles are generously and smartly annotated, too.

Wisit Sasanatieng's The Unseeable has, in fact, been seen. Wise Kwai's caught a sneak preview: "Though Wisit restrains the colorful style he displayed in Tears of the Black Tiger and Citizen Dog, this intelligent, spooky ghost thriller still oozes old-timey Siamese atmosphere, and for that alone, it's a beautiful film to watch." Via Grady Hendrix, who points to another trailer.

Bill Gibron's been sprinting these past few days at PopMatters:

• A horror top ten, "films that function as both macabre as well as a mirror on the modern world."

• On Ganja & Hess: "When we hear it was supposed to be a combination of blaxploitation and bloodsucker, we settle in and expect the worse - or perhaps Blackula Part 2. Instead, we get a devastating art film that raises more intriguing philosophical questions than hairs on the back of one's neck."

• "Now more than ever the suffering category of scares needs jaded jesters like James Gunn. Slither is the perfect cure for such cinematic stagnancy."

• "Dead Heat is an inventive, inviting horror comedy that avoids formulas while it deconstructs clichés to make what has to be the first action-adventure-living-dead comedy ever conceived."

• On Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone: "Here it is, all you home-movie hopefuls - 100 percent proof positive that epic entertainment can be crafted out of a camcorder, a cast and crew of friends, and a great deal of cinematic creativity."

"The kind of film Maya Deren would've whipped up for Sam Arkoff, Dementia began as a ten-minute short by novice director John Parker," writes Flickhead. "Although dismissed by the New York Times for its "lack of poetic sense, analytical skill and cinematic experience,' John Parker snagged a plug from Preston Sturges, who called it 'a work of art. It stirred my blood and purged my libido.'"

Quint visits the Prague set of Eli Roth's Hostel 2 for AICN.

Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell have a horror top ten at Kamera. Nice touch: each film comes from a different country.

Tony Kay on Jack Clayton's The Innocents: "As a horror tale, as a psychological study, and as a work of art, it rivals anything produced by any major studio at the time. Only Robert Wise's nigh-peerless The Haunting comes close." As it happens, that's Edward Copeland's pick for the day: "It takes some skill to make a film this creepy when very little concrete happens, but director Robert Wise accomplished it, even with an overuse of strange camera angles and an overblown musical score by Humphrey Seale. Two factors though make The Haunting more than worthwhile: the exquisite black and white cinematography by Davis Boulton and a great performance from the legendary Julie Harris."

Scott Weinberg: "Probably best recommended only to those who already like Saw and Saw 2, Saw 3 delivers more of the same mayhem, plus an appreciable dose of dark chills, morbid thrills, and just enough in the 'ultra-sick morality tale' department to keep the brainier horror geeks happy."

Also at Cinematical:

• Jeffrey M Anderson lists the seven best black and white horror movies.

• Chris Ullrich lists a few of the worst horror films of all time.

• Kim Voynar rounds up more tricks and treats.

"Fred M Wilcox's 1956 sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet may seem an odd addition to our Halloween spectacular," confesses Reverse Shot's clarencecarter. "But I'll proudly stand up and say that my regular childhood viewings, even those on sunny weekend afternoons, were marked with liberal doses of sheer terror."

Looking for even more suggestions as to what to watch? Robert Cashill suggests that "you could do worse than watching the films listed in the 'Science Fiction' song" that opens The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

"I think watching Tim Burton movies is one of my favorite family activities. Epecially in a house decorated with cobwebs and skeletons and such, which I find pernnially comforting," writes David Lowery.

Those fluent in German who also happen to have an interest in both German media law and Dario Argento are encouraged to read Thomas Groh's tip in his filmtagebuch - and catch Suspiria on arte tonight.

Online viewing tip. "It's Halloween, Charlie Brown!" At ticklebooth.

Posted by dwhudson at October 31, 2006 12:20 PM