It's that time of year. The time when I can't change the TV to one movie channel without having the snot scared out of me. I've sat through The Sixth Sense and Beetlejuice so far this week. That's my limit. I'm not a fan of horror. At all.
That being said, however, I do have my own annual (very PG, merry not scary) Halloween DVD lineup:
It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown - Duh. This should be on everyone's Halloween playlist. I'm almost as big of a Peanuts fan as I am a Disney nut. If Charles M. Schulz would have only designed a theme park before his passing, they might be completely neck and neck. Great Pumpkin is such a classic and it stirs up so many fond childhood memories. Unlike the current 30-day cartoon channel marathons, it would air only once a year. We'd plan our night around it popping popcorn, cozied up in our fall pjs with Halloween decorations scotch-taped to the family room's picture window. (We'd repeat the tradition in December with the Christmas episode, with a color-lit tree replacing the cardboard jack-o-lanterns for ambiance.) I loved the Peanuts so much that I wanted to live in their neighborhood growing up. The children seemed to be in charge of their own independence. Grown-ups were reduced to a dull "waah-wah-waah-wah" and there was always someone to play with and something fun to do. I loved the Peanuts so much, in fact, that I was willing to overlook the improbability that Linus, who seemed the most spiritually inclined of the gang (he was the only one who could step up and tell Charlie what Christmas was all about, mind you) would also be the one to believe in a phantom oogy-boogy pumpkin man. Oh well. I guess even the most intelligent child needs one mythical being to believe in (and a blankie, of course.)
Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Disney animated version) - We used to watch this in class in elementary school and it would always come on The Wonderful World of Disney this time each year. It scared the beejeezas out of me, but I would still watch it every time. As a kid I could only hold my breath in anticipation for the scene where the thumping cattails that mimicked emerging horse hooves turned into actual emerging horse hooves belonging to THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN'S horse! Dreading this scene for so many years, caused me to miss the comical enjoyment of everything that came before it. "Who's that comin' down the street? ♫ Are those shovels or are they feet? ♫" (My nephews find that line hilarious! I'm with them on that.) Disney has a way, I'll tell ya. And, this has come to be one of my classic Disney favorites. Although, I'm having trouble convincing some of the kids that the horseman quite possibly may just be Brom Bones in disguise.- The Wind in the Willows - This isn't technically Halloween fare, but Disney's animated mini-classic following the adventures of Mr. Toad was often packaged with Sleepy Hollow. So, since that's how I remember it seeing it, we usually watch these two as a pair. Besides, once those creepy weasels take over Toad Hall things do get pretty hairy!
Garfield's Halloween Adventure - I was always a fan of the Garfield books and comic strips. But, when this animated adventure came out in 1985, it skewed my sense of Garfield-dom. This was pretty scary to me as an eleven-year-old! But, again, I watched every year out of fan loyalty. (And, come on, how cute was Odie in his pirate getup?) The story quickly turned from the familiar manipulative fat cat shenanigans into a horrific ghost-pirate haunting! (I can still picture that one ghost pirate chomping down on his jaw while in pursuit of Garfield and Odie. Eek!) I don't know how they dreamed up this storyline. I always assumed the Garfield cartoon was set somewhere in suburban Midwest. So why, when and how pirates once roamed their suburban lake is beyond me. Maybe they pillaged in circles. Maybe they were Great Lake pirates. We may never know. But, as long as this remains one of the five-year-old's favorites, it will remain in our holiday rotation. (He even begs to watch it at Christmas-time!)- Mickey's House of Villains - A newer compilation of classic Disney cartoon shorts of the likes of Lonesome Ghosts, Donald Duck and the Gorilla and Trick or Treat. The titles may not ring a bell, but the images you would definitely remember from the Wonderful World of Disney days. Witch Hazel? A gorilla on the loose during an amazingly well-timed radio broadcast "Attention all listeners! You can master any wild animal by looking him straight in the eye! That is all!" Black and white Mickey, Donald and Goofy playing real life ghostbusters? Remember? They also added some newer shorts to the mix, but even the kids prefer the classics.
Nightmare Before Christmas - Need I say more? Love the music and the scenery and artwork is fittingly classic Tim Burton. Jack Skellington makes a return appearance to our playlist at Christmas-time. This one covers all bases.
Meet Me in St. Louis - This is also regular Christmas Eve viewing for myself. If you're wondering how this also ended up as a Halloween pick, it's solely because of Margaret O'Brien (as Tootie)'s Halloween scene. I never learned more about early 1900's American Halloween traditions than by watching this movie. Kids in cross-dressing lighting piles of furniture on fire in the middle of the street. Tossing a dummy across the trolley car tracks to derail it. Throwing flour in the neighbors' faces. "I killed him!" (Her mother warns her before she leaves the house, "Try not to throw too much flour on the neighbors." ONE grain of flour would have gotten me grounded for life!) Boy, I learned so much from this flick!
Enjoy your own playlists this Halloween season. Just try to limit your intake of severed heads and rotting zombie flesh, for the sake of sweet dreams. "That is all!"
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