Seasonal Recommendations: Autumn & Halloween
Sharing Our Team's Picks For This Time of Year.
October is an ideal month for film lovers. With the leaves changing, cooler nights setting in, and Halloween right around the corner, the season has always been fertile ground for artistic inspiration. However, finding a decent film amidst the endless amount of distasteful offerings that tend to spring up around this time of year can truly be a challenge. Fortunately, we've asked our writers to share a few of their recommendations — films that capture the spirit of season while offering thoughtful and engaging entertainment.
The Corpse Bride (2005)
Directed by Mike Johnson and Tim Burton.
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Though the cool blue color palette provides a stark contrast to the expected warm autumnal colors of a fall movie, Corpse Bride is perfect for this time of year.
A sweet spooky love story bespeckled with comedy and musical numbers, you’ve got to see it to believe it. I’ll admit I have a soft spot for this flavor of stop motion animation (Nightmare before Christmas, Coraline, Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run,) and maybe that’s because the tedious, meticulous nature of stop motion production demands dedication, care, and passion - and that is evident in every single frame of the movie.
Not only that, but the music is absolutely beautiful. Two heartfelt piano scenes mark the two most important moments of the film, and they are hauntingly beautiful. And catchy. The kind of beautiful and catchy that leads you to play Youtube videos of the piano pieces on loop as you sip coffee while staring at the autumn leaves. The kind of beautiful and catchy that leads to thoughts such as “Maybe I could learn piano.”
The film centers around Victor- an anxious, timid young man utterly overwhelmed by his impending arranged marriage. An unfortunate series of events tumbles him headfirst into the land of the dead - a land far more colorful and lively and joy-filled than his own. Maybe, just maybe, it will take the dead to teach Victor how to live. Tim Burton, with his extremely recognizable aesthetic, creates something that's the perfect balance of spooky and light, heartfelt and fun, dramatic and charming. It’s a good time. It's the perfect October movie night.
Because Corpse Bride understands that all a film needs to be brought to the next level is a skeleton jazz ensemble.
Zodiac (2007)
Directed by David Fincher. Starring Jake Gyllenhall, Robert Downing Jr. and Mark Ruffalo.
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With Halloween on the horizon, many movie fans are turning their attention to the horror genre. If you are anything like me, you are generally not interested in many of the new movies hitting theaters or the titles that get promoted on streaming services in October. I am appreciative of many classics in the horror genre such as The Shining or even newer entries like The Witch, but for the most part I wholly avoid horror flicks that look to be filled with excessive gore and jump scares. It is much more impressive to me for a film to leave a lasting impression on you without relying on such tactics. While David Fincher’s 2007 film Zodiac isn’t a traditional horror movie (it’s more of a crime drama than anything), it is one I would highly recommend for this time of the year, whether you’ve seen it before or not. To be clear, this is not a fun rewatch, but I can vouch that it’s a worthwhile one in the sense that it feels completely new each time. This is due to the intricate details Fincher puts into his craft, the complexities of the narrative, the well-rounded inhabited performances of the actors, and the moral themes it leaves with you to contemplate.
Zodiac is a film about the ugliness of evil and our, often dangerous, curiosity with it. It revolves around three men - Paul Avery (Robert Downing Jr.), Detective Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhall) - and follows each in their downspiralling quest to solve the Zodiac case. While these men’s efforts take up the vast majority of Zodiac’s lengthy runtime, Fincher does choose to depict some of the Zodiac’s attacks, and they are some of the most dread-inducing ever put to screen. These scenes are terrifying, not in an over the top, “I’ve never seen something like this” way, but in the chilling plain-ness of the evil on display. The film goes on to show the fallout of such evil acts - the three main characters' careers and personal lives crumble. Graysmith, in particular, falls into the sin of curiosity and his vocation as a husband and father is shirked away. God is notably absent in the film. I’d argue that a Christian worldview may be the only way to make sense of the real events depicted in Zodiac in a way that doesn’t devolve into nihilism and despair (as most fully realized in Downing’s character). If you, like me, are generally not a huge fan of the horror genre but are looking for something to give you that deep, pit-of-the-stomach feeling, while simultaneously getting to experience an extremely talented director at the top of his game with a stellar ensemble cast, may I suggest to you Zodiac.
Coraline (2009)
Directed by Henry Selick.
By Matthew Lang
In Coraline, the title character, an only child, has just moved to a house in rural Oregan. Coraline’s parents neglect her in favor of their boring writing work. Coraline explores the house, meets the other tenants, and discovers another world which mirrors the real world, but is so much better. Her parents cook grand meals for her. They cherish her and spend time with her. The other residents are upgraded from odd characters to magnificent entertainers. The only catch is, everyone has buttons for eyes. After a few visits, Other Mother invites Coraline to stay, but only if Coraline agrees to have buttons sewn on her eyes.
It's a simple but terrifying prospect. Coraline now realizes she’s been tempted by a witch type figure. Coraline must outwit Other Mother to return to the real world. The story corresponds to our struggles with the devil’s temptations that seem so much grander than our dull lives, but fundamentally and terribly sinister. Through this struggle, Coraline learns to accept and love her simple life and flawed parents. This refreshingly contrasts to other children’s films that show backwards parents eventually acquiesce to the views of the rebellious child. There are a few occult elements, a sounding rod and divination, to be wary of, but these don’t ruin the core story.
LAIKA is rereleasing Coraline on Halloween. If you go see it, be sure to buy a 3D ticket. Coraline is a rare film worth the surcharge – with sets painstakingly built to provide a truly immersive 3D experience.
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Directed by Werner Herzog. Starring Klaus Kinski.
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Bram Stoker’s novel has been the subject of countless adaptations. Slow-moving, atmospheric, and haunting, Herzog’s remarkable 1979 version captures the Gothic spirit of the novel in ways that few others have. It's imbued with a creeping sense of dread throughout its gradual pacing, eschewing jump scares and gore for an ethereal, subtle effect that aligns with the spiritual sensibilities of Stoker’s source material. Herzog’s cinematography draws heavily from the inspiration of German Romantic painters, with breathtaking results. Nosferatu the Vampyre is truly what you would call an “every frame is a painting” kind of film. Paired with Herzog’s frequent use of Wagner's opening to Das Rheingold, the effect is utterly remarkable.
Thematically, the film leans heavily into the spiritual implications of Dracula’s sin while deftly nodding to the vampire’s many classical associations. We’re invited at times to look sympathetically upon Dracula’s undead state of torment, yet one thing always remains clear: the forces at play are of a purely spiritual nature, rendering reason and science wholly ineffectual. There’s a clear allegory between Dracula and sin, from images of infectious rats threatening to spread a deadly plague throughout the city to his utter abhorrence of the light. Only a spiritual remedy can bring an end to this pestilence.
Nosferatu the Vampyre’s restraint and lack of sensationalism elevate the film artistically, providing an eerie and meditative experience. For those looking for an atmospheric, spiritually-minded take on The classic novel this Halloween season, look no further.
Knives Out (2019)
Directed by Rian Johnson. Starring Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Plummer.
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Despite the fact that the series continued, Knives Out remains a modern murder-mystery classic that may at this point be representative of a lost" kind of film: an original, non-IP story that didn't need to be made for $100 million-plus dollars. The Massachusetts mansion setting and sumptuous cinematography by director Rian Johnson's right-hand man Steve Yelin makes every character and room pop like a Clue game. Daniel Craig plays the main detective, the eccentric Benoit Blanc, in a career-defining role that helped ease him out of his "James Bond" persona and into more comedic roles. An excellent ensemble of suspects include Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Chris Evans, and many more in this well-written and surprising thriller. At age 89, Christopher Plummer also gives a killer final performance as Harlan Thrombey, a best-selling crime novelist whose children make up the vast array of characters in the film.
The 'Burbs (1989)
Directed by Joe Dante. Starring Tom Hanks.
By Eddie Scott
It's almost a shame how much of a Halloween movie this is. It's so much fun to watch, but because it's perfect for the season, I feel obligated to save it for Halloween night. It's one of the most quotable comedies—modern in its humor but classic in its setup, complete with a Greek chorus, evil scientists, and a spooky house. Watching it is like witnessing a bad magic trick, but the magician is so entertaining that you can't help but applaud when the curtain falls.
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street, a famous episode from The Twilight Zone, reveals the self-destruction caused by senseless paranoia as a neighborhood descends into chaos due to fear of an alien invasion. The 'Burbs makes a similar argument but grants its terrorized neighbors some validity in their strange beliefs.
Looking for more seasonal recommendations? Be sure to check out the following entries on our official 100 Movies Every Catholic Should See List: #15: Prisoners (2013), #22: The Village (2004), #32: Faust (1926), #52: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), #58: Autumn Sonata (1978), and #60: A Quiet Place (2018).
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If you like fright check out The Lodger (1927), silent, this is the first of the three times the film was made. The novel was written by Hilaire Belloc's sister, Marie Belloc Lowndes.