I have compiled a list of favorite picks in numerous catagories as a prelude to the Halloween season.
CD's - Midnight Syndicate - Vampyre
Out of the Darkness
Nox Arcana - Transylvania
Drews Famous Halloween Thrillers - 2 Disc Set Many hits including: Monster Mash
Thriller
Halloween theme
Im Your Boogie Man
Welcome to my Nightmare
Psycho Theme
Ghostbusters
Don't Fear the Reaper
Tubular Bells Exorcist Theme
Time Warp
Many others on disc two
As Seen on TV - Many classic hits including: Time Warp
Addam's Family Theme
Twilight Zone Theme
Great Pumplkin Waltz from Charlie Brown
Bewitched
Little Shop of Horrors
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Scooby Doo
Funeral March of the Marionettes
The Munsters Theme
Toccatta and Fugue from Rocky Horror Picture Show
Night on Bald Mountain
Hall of the Mountain King
The Grim Reaper
Ghosts and Goblins
Creature Feature
You Can't Escape
The End
Bram Stokers Dracula is a great Soundtrack
Lost Boys is an Awesome soundtrack
Modern Movies set in Victorian Age:
From Hell
Bram Stokers Dracula
The Wolfman
The Addam's Family
Addam's Family Values - are two great films with loads of Atmosphere, creepy sets and good music.
For Cartoons - Groovy Goolies are great fun
Scooby Doo Season's 1 and 2 are awesome with lots of the classic monsters
The Hilarious House of Frightenstein - great bits with classic monster characters and some awesome poetry from Vincent Price. Great fun, highly recommended although currently there are only four episodes available.
The Munsters - get them all! Worth every penny
The Addam's Family - have not picked this one up but sure it is worth it. The whole series is now available in one set.
Some classic comics - Werewolf By Night a favorite, go figure right?
Tomb of Dracula - the largest of the horror series
The Man Thing
Morbius The Living Vampire
Monster of Frankenstein - also known by other titles
Creepy - Eerie - Vampirella and Tales from the Crypt along with a few other off names. These are the classic comics many of us grew up with and are still around through comic shops and shows. Worth checking out. Make great horror reading for any of you newer folks who have never delved into this media.
Books: Bram Stokers Dracula - if you have never read the book DO IT NOW. You may never again look on a Dracula film in the same way you do now.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - Another must read
Moon of the Wolf - a great book, only so so movie
There are loads of other books but these are must read's. For example, I have the book The Wolf Man based on the classic Chaney film and although it is a good book why not just watch the movie?
NOT RECOMMENDED: The Monster Squad TV series - absolutely horrible, not only bad but not even a good bad. I bought the series thinking it would be campy fun but it was so bad I could hardly get through the first episode.
Classic Films with a 50's Sci Fi Theme Great for Halloween viewing: Reminiscent of those Saturday Afternoon Mattinee's on a cold fall day in a dark theater with popcorn, favorite soda and milk duds.
The Thing
The Werewolf
Tarantula
The Deadly Mantis
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
Them
Forbidden Planet
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Favorite Naschy Werewolf Film - The Curse of the Devil - maximum body count, unrated version. There are many good ones but this one is pretty good for production values.
Although there are lots of Universal Classic Films that I have not mentioned since we all know them and have our favorites anyway the above list of CD's are fun to listen to while driving and really put me in a Halloween mood. The films I have noted also take me on a nostalgic trip back to carefree days of Saturday Afternoon Mattinee's. The Universal Classics had already stopped being shown and were relagated to TV by then.
I ran a program while in Iraq showing classic Universal Monster films in a theater for the troops. Seeing many of these films for the first time on the big screen was a real treat for me. One of the few "good" memories of Iraq and the only good one I carry with me.
So enjoy my recommendations. Hope they put you in a great Halloween/Horror mood. With any luck you will be pumped and primed for the rest of the year for Halloween and be so psyched up when it gets here.
Werewolf By Night.... my favorite comic as a kid.
Yes, mine too. I now have the set of action figures based on the Marvel horror comics. It includes Jack Russell, Dracula, Frankenstein and Zombie I think. Been awhile since I saw the set. Been over in the middle east too long.
I recently picked up Essential Marvel Horror vol 2 and Essential Man Thing. Haven't read em yet but they look pretty cool.
I have over an hour in the morning before I have to leave for work so I've been reading the DC and Marvel B/W horror /monster reprints as well as 50s pre code reprints with my protein shake for 30 or so minutes everyday.