what i'm watching this halloween season

it's mostly about ghosts 👻

Break out your ghost-themed mugs and your pumpkin candles, it’s October again!

While I love lists in basically every aspect of my life, I’m very much a mood reader/mood media consumer in a continued attempt to keep as much pressure off myself when it comes to enjoying things. If there’s even the faintest whiff of expectation around something, I have a magical power that turns it immediately into an obligation and turns me into a terrible person for not immediately doing that thing, even if it’s something I want to do and will enjoy.

THAT SAID every year I wish I’d engaged with a little more spoopy content in October, so this year I AM doing a list but like. low stakes. A low stakes list.

If you’re looking for some spooky media inspiration this October, here’s what’s on my radar. (And here’s what I recommended last year, if you’re looking for more halloweeny vibes!)

👻Haunted Mansion 👻

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with haunted houses as theme park rides (LOVE ghost stories and HATE jumpscares) but I’ve also always been obsessed with Phantom Manor from Disneyland Paris. I’m not going to get into the differences between the DLP Phantom Manor ride and the other Haunted Mansion rides in other Disney parks here, but Phantom Manor is gothic, creepy, and was definitely one of the foundational texts in tiny Moog’s haunted house obsession. So obviously I’m going to watch any film based on either version of the ride, and the trailer for the most recent one looks like. actually fun???? Anyway. Big creepy house, lots of ghosts, vibes out the wazoo - count me IN.

🎃Muppets Haunted Mansion🎃

All of the above but this time: MUPPETS. Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my favourite films, so I’m expecting to at the very least have a good fun time with Muppets But Make It Haunted. What will Rizzo do this time? Will I quote it as much as I quote Muppet Christmas Carol? I don’t know but I am going to huddle up with a hot chocolate and find out!!

🏚️The Fall of the House of Usher🏚️

Gothic retelling, you say? From the creator of The Haunting of Bly Manor, you say? With MARY MCDONNELL, YOU SAY? I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I first heard it was happening and now it is HERE and I am ready to jump out of my skin. I wrote last year about how much I love The Haunting of Bly Manor in all its queer gothic vibey splendour, so an anthology series from the same creator but this time adapting Edgar Allan Poe stories? Plus Mary McDonnell, my very own Laura Roslin? I am IN. I haven’t yet been able to get through The Haunting of Hill House without failing out in genuine terror, though, so we’ll see if this Mike Flanigan series leans towards Oh God Oh God I’m Never Closing My Eyes Again or I Loved This And Only Had Like Three Nightmares About It. Time will tell!!

🦇A Haunting in Venice🦇

Technically I’ll be seeing this in November, when it comes to my local cinema, but I’m counting it anyway. Both the Ken Bran Poirot movies so far have been bananas (they gave his MOUSTACHE a TRAGIC BACKSTORY and I will never be over it) and this one seems to be adding a “is it supernatural” element that I’m sure will be very subtle and mannered, in keeping with the franchise, and honestly I can’t wait. The films are terrible. That man is not Poirot. I have a blast regardless.

🪱The Lair of the White Worm🪱

And finally, a wild card! When my friend Nikki said she’d watched this on Amazon Prime without knowing what she was letting herself in for, it unlocked a deep sense memory of being like six to eight and voraciously reading any myth, legend, or folktale I could get my hands on and finding a version of the Lair of the White Worm somewhere. A brief Wikipedia search tells me it was a Bram Stoker novel but I don’t remember that; I do remember a bride also being a giant behemoth of a white worm and maybe eating her fiance. Is that what actually happens? No clue! Is this 1980s version apparently starring Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi going to be as homoerotic as the one good quality promo still I could find suggests? Who knows! But I’m going to FIND OUT. I love a creature feature and I love cheesy bonkers movies and I’m hoping this is going to be an a+ combo of the two.

Thank you so much for joining me for this cosy process! If you’ve enjoyed this email and want to support me further, you can:

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Please feel free to leave a comment with any of your recent cosy (or halloweeny) faves, or if you check out anything I’ve talked about! I don’t always have the spoons to reply, but I read and appreciate every single comment 💕

xoxo

Moog, but Halloweeny