Every year, like many others, I gather up my friends together about once a week and watch Halloween theme TV or movies to get us in the spirit of this spooky time of year. So with Halloween approaching, I thought I’d do a small list of fun, nerdy TV and movies that I enjoy every year. Maybe this might help some of you guys get ideas for what to show at your next horror movie night.
I’ll be talking about TV in this article, and I’ll be hitting the movies next time. So grab your flashlight, popcorn and some good candy, because here we go:
“The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horrors”
Since these started October 1990 the “Treehouse of Horrors” has been a yearly Halloween event for many families and friends. Unlike a typical Simpsons episode, “Treehouse of Horror” is divided into three segments. They typically lampoon famous horror films, shows, books and stories. There have many great segments in these Halloween-themed episodes, but here are a few of my personal favorites:
- “Treehouse of Horror”: A Simpsons version of Edgar Allan Poe’s the “The Raven” narrated by James Earl Jones.
- “Treehouse of Horror IV”: The Simpson family takes on “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”. Best part is Mr. Burns’s Dracula shadow doing all kinds of random funny stuff behind him throughout the whole segment.
- “Treehouse of Horror III”: “The Twilight Zone” inspired segment where the Kursty the Clown killer doll is out to get Bart.
- “Treehouse of Horror VI”: “The Nightmare of Elm St.” version titled “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace”. Groundskeeper Willie played the role of Freddy Krueger out to kill the children of the parents who killed him years earlier.
- “Treehouse of Horror V”: “The Shinning”. Need I say more.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”: Season four, episode “Fear, Itself”
There was usually a Halloween episode every season. These all are pretty damn good, but for me nothing beats “Fear, Itself” for humor value.
Using symbols from an old book, some frat guys unknowingly paint the symbol for Gachnar, a demon that feeds on fear. Soon the party guests find themselves facing their own fears in a real-life house of horrors. This episode has some great characters moments. Let’s not forget this is also where we learn of Anya’s irrational terror of bunnies.
“Community”
For me this is the funniest show on TV right now. And they have done two brilliant Halloween-themed episodes. Season One has “Introduction to Statistics”, where a Halloween party goes from fun to insane when Pierce takes massive amounts of E, assumes he is The Beast Master and has to be saved from a fort of chairs by Abed’s Batman.
Season Two gave us “Epidemiology”: At the Greendale Halloween party, a batch of bad meat causes a bunch of people to exhibit zombie-like symptoms. For any zombie fan, this could be the best inspired-zombie-love-fest ever made. It is done so flawlessly. It takes the fun of zombie franchises and showers it with love. And it’s just damn funny.
“Psych”: Season Three: “Tuesday the 17th”
A nerd show unlike any other, Psych is full of geeky humor, and many movie-themed episodes makes this one of the most geek-friendly shows out there.
But this one episode was just amazing in its tribute and love for the slasher franchise. Friday the 13th, to be more specific. We find our heroes Shawn and Gus hired by a childhood friend to find a missing camp counselor who disappeared near their old sleep away campgrounds. Every scene is oozing with details and inside jokes from all the Friday the 13th films. For any hardcore fan and film buff, this is a bucket of fun.
“Supernatural”
This show is no stranger to the movie theme inspired episodes. But in Season Four they did an amazing tribute to the classic Universal Monsters who started the whole Horror genre itself.
Enter “Monster Movie”. Sam and Dean find a host of murders that appear to have been committed by famous Hollywood monsters. The episode’s in black and white, openly giving it a classic-horror feel, and it’s one of the few episodes from the season that’s largely stand-alone. A very fun episode, watching our heroes takes on such classics monsters as the Wolfman and Dracula.
Viewes could also check ”It’s the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester”. Here, the boys need to stop the summoning of the demon Samhaim before the end of Halloween.
Honestly, this show is all Halloween, pretty much any week. But these are two of my favorites. Pretty good Scarecrow one in season one as well.
“Castle”: Season Two “ Vampire Weekend”
For those out there like a good cop mystery with a geeky vibe check out Castle. This crime drama/comedy is already full of more pop culture and geek reference than it can shake a stick at. So for all us geekswho like a good mystery, this is the show for you.
As Halloween approaches, Castle and Beckett are assigned to investigate the death of a young man found stabbed in the heart with a wooden stake. The two must enter into the world of vampires and werewolves to find the killer. It’s a pretty funny episode, with some nice geeky moments (such as shamelessly pandering to lead Nathan Fillion’s past role on geek favorite Firefly).
“Star Trek: The Next Generation”: Season 4 “Night Terrors”
Not really an Halloween episode, but it’s more of a fun horror themed one. It has some very solid scary moments that fit right into the nerd vibe. The Enterprise picks up a distress call from a missing ship found adrift in space. Upon investigation, they realize the ship’s crew all died by a result of not being able to enter REM sleep. All sorts of crazy and deadly hallucinations ensue for our fearless crew.
These are but a few episodes from shows that deal with Halloween in that special way geeks enjoy. I hope some of you check some out. Huzzah! Happy Halloween.