2025 has been an amazing year for getting the creeps in cinema. From Sinners and Presence earlier to Bring Her Back and Weapons during the summer, the multiplexes have hosted so many superb entries in this genre. Many of which I have reviewed if you are interested in checking them out again. Currently, The Conjuring series is wrapping up with Last Rites having been in theaters for over a month now. Some of these are also streaming and on video-on-demand for home. However, I want to talk about some classic fare you might also see scrolling through the service queues as you search.
Most don’t always associate Disney with scary. But like all entertainment companies, they have amassed a large number of Halloween-related content. There was one title that caught my eye as not being on Disney Plus before. It also happened to be a favorite of mine. Something Wicked This Way Comes is brought to us from the novel by hometown hero Ray Bradbury. It begins as a simple narrative by the older Will Holloway, describing his youth in a small town. This particular October, a train comes in the dead of night. By morning, a fairground has sprung up complete with rides and carnival games. All is not what it seems though.
Will and his friend Jim Nightshade start to see members of their town start to change when they participate in the festivities. One by one, storefronts are closed and their proprietors disappear. The children suspect Mr. Dark and his minions to be the culprits. Jonathan Pryce is devilishly good as the ringleader of this motley crew of devious carnies. One standout being Pam Grier, whose role of the Dust Witch requires little dialogue but works overtime in facial acting. Rounding out the cast is Jason Robards as Will’s good-natured father and Diane Ladd as Jim’s lonely, wounded mother. Not too scary, this is a type of movie you put on for mood. A film where the rustling night wind and changing leaves in most every scene compliments the autumnal season.
When scrolling past Sinners over on HBO Max, there are a number of older films on the TCM page just in time for October 31. Night of the Living Dead, House, and a number of Cronenberg films are just to name a few. But one of my personal favorites and an overlooked gem is Carnival of Souls from 1962. Here we have another eerie amusement park, but much like the murder in Psycho we are introduced to it only halfway in.
Instead, we first meet Mary Henry shortly after she survives a car accident. A short while after she leaves her home town in Kansas, taking a job as an organ player for a church in Salt Lake City. While driving through Utah, she happens upon an abandoned structure on the lakefront. In a flash, she sees glimpses of a ghostly white figure in a suit. Unsure what to make of it, she presses on. Once in town, she tries to settle in but to no avail. She lays awake at night, being haunted by visions of dancing figures in that building and The Man. Any attempts of getting on with her life prove futile as one strange event after another plagues her every waking moment, until she snaps.
Director Herk Harvey was working in Lawrence, Kansas as an industrial filmmaker when on a job he found the now-lost to time Saltair Pavilion. He instantly came up with a story and, working alongside screenwriter John Clifford, concocted this feature. Candice Hilligoss brings such psychological wariness to Mary, not unlike a Scandinavian heroine. Harvey himself wanted to evoke “the look of Bergman and the feel of Cocteau” and you see the arthouse influence in every frame. The ghouls themselves seem to have possibly inspired George Romero. At a scant 80 minutes, this will surely delight those looking for a mild fright with an organ score that will linger in your brain. Happy Haunting!
