As I mentioned yesterday, I got to an early start when it came to watching horror movies this fall. So, I’ve got a lot to talk about! First, if you haven’t already, check out a pair of lists I wrote for CBR. One’s about movies and shows to follow Stranger Things up with while the other focused on the best classic horror movies to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime!

I already covered all of the Universal Wolf movies I watched during this season, but I actually started with The Bride Of Frankenstein. I’ve only ever seen this one a few times before, so I was struck by how damn funny and weird this movie is. That whole thing with the little figures living in the glass containers is just bonkers and I love it! This is definitely one of if not the best of this bunch.

Twas the season for many a re-watch including Alien (which I still have trouble remembering, probably because I’ve still never been able to sit down and watch the whole thing all the way through), The Legacy (Sam Elliott is the best and I continue to love this lesser known strange British house film), Night Of the Comet (which I need the Scream Factory version of, stat!) and the first six Halloween movies (except the Producer’s Cut of Halloween 6). I don’t have much to add about these movies aside from the fact that they’re all still great and made for excellent watching.

Another series I spent time with was Romero’s first three Of The Dead flicks, which will take center stage in an upcoming episode of Dastardly Double Feature, the new podcast I started with a dude named Mr. Dastardly. I decided to watch a few other Romero films on streaming including Bruiser and Two Evil Eyes. Bruiser was interesting — it’s about a trod-upon guy who finally stands up for himself once a blank mask fixes itself upon his face — but kind of felt like an extended episode of Tales From The Darkside (not a dig, more of a sense of tone).

Eyes is actually a split anthology with Dario Argento, but I only watched Romero’s segment. I wasn’t overly absorbed and actually felt like this would have been better as a tight Darkside episode instead of an hour long story. Real quick, the Eye VHS box is forever burned into my brain even though I didn’t remember the name of the film and I also started Season Of The Witch, which I really like, but haven’t finished yet.

And now for the last three! Peter Hyams’ Relic with Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore was fun. It’s a lot like Guillermo del Toro’s Mimic with scientists trying to figure out what crazy monster thing is trying to kill people in a big city, but I had a good time with it.

I also checked out John Flynn’s Brainscan starring Eddie Furlong and Frank Langella. This one’s about a kid who gets an exclusive video game that may or may not be making him murder people. That alone would make this the kind of film I’d be down for, but then you’ve also got this bonkers character called The Trickster popping up in some of the best horror clothes of all time messing with Eddie’s head. It’s weird and a mash-up of some of my favorite subgenres, so I’m a fan. I’m not sure if I fell in love with Brainscan, but I sure fell in like with it, hard. I decided to specifically get this one from Netflix because my buddy Jesse sent me the soundtrack a while back and it jumped right into my mind as October came around.

Finally, I’ll close out with a film I do love: The Horror Of Party Beach! A few years back I realized that I love 60s beach movies like Bikini Beach and Beach Party, but actually reminded me a lot more of Dr. Goldfoot And The Bikini Machine. Both movies mix in healthy doses of other genres in with the usual beach shenanigans. In the case of Horror Of Party Beach, you’ve got a much more realistic look at young people who also happen to enjoy fun and sun plus a goofy looking monster in the vein of the Creature From The Black Lagoon causing a ruckus. For me, the value of this movies doesn’t come from the monster antics, but from seeing this very surface-y genre I like getting doses of realism and scares, mild though they may be!