Let the Holidays Begin: October

I haven’t addressed the holidays in a few years. And when I have addressed the holidays, I have been limited by my own experiences, which is fine by me, because part of the charm of the holidays is tradition. However, you might want to branch out beyond Elf and Frankenstein, and I might want to mix a little fresh air into the heady aroma of cinnamon and fir. So here I am, tackling the first holiday of the holiday season (in my opinion), Halloween, with my recommendations and then a list of books and movies I haven’t even tried but might just want to.

Note: My laptop broke and I was forced to put this post on the back burner for a week. We’re all good now.

October in modern America is a convergence of three things. First, the cooling off and harvesting, which gives us traditions such as pumpkin spice, jack-o-lanterns, hayrides, and apples, apples, apples. Second, we have Halloween pageantry with its costuming and fantasy, which celebrates children, candy, chili and beer, the nighttime, maybe the spiders and the bats against the moon. Third, we have the exploration of the darker side of life, which can get so dark it’s evil (the devil, demons, black magic) or can just muse on inevitable death, ancestors, the afterlife, and then there’s everything in between: from murder to decay. Of course, there’s a long history of Halloween and this time of year, but we have lost sight of the cause and now, I find, October is a swirl of harvest, Halloween, and the macabre. Therefore, you might be looking for this or that in October. While some books and movies reflect a convergence of all things October-y, many of the titles tilt toward one thing or another (and a majority, I think, toward the dark). (Oh, and there’s also Oktoberfest and The Day of the Dead.)

FYI, I don’t do slasher, I don’t do too much gore, and I don’t do occult (generally speaking). My Halloween standards involve a little creep, maybe some mild scares, and more of the schticky versions of the Halloween standards, including pumpkins, bats, fantasy witches, conflicted vampires, aliens, ghosts wearing sheets, the supernatural, poison apples, fairy tale trolls, werewolves getting their comeuppance, worms and bugs and spiders, potions, caramel and candy, etc. So don’t go looking for really scary or evil stuff here. I don’t think you’ll find it.

Book Recommendations:

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley. Perhaps the first book ever in the horror genre, it’s pretty anthropological, thoughtful, intense. It’s not anything like a slasher, but much more explorative. If you haven’t read it, it will surprise you because the modern adaptations and conceptions have almost nothing to do with the sad and beautiful story that is the original. This year, I’m going to give the Mary Shelley movie a try.
The Witches, Roald Dahl. I looooove Roald Dahl and this is his most Halloween-friendly title, obvi. There is a new movie coming out in just a few days! Some of his other books are a little creepy and a lot magical, too, like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, Matilda, The Enormous Crocodile, The BFG, Dirty Beasts, etc.
Among the Shadows, L.M. Montgomery. If you know Montgomery’s name, it’s probably as the author of Anne of Green Gables. She also wrote (besides other novels) books of short stories set in 1800s Prince Edward Island, and this one, uncharacteristically, is all about ghosts, criminals, etc.
Stephen King’s non-horror stuff: The Stand, The Green Mile, and “The Body.” Perhaps I should branch out and try a few more. And though these aren’t particularly Halloween-y, they are Stephen King and involve at least a little creepiness and grit.
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte. If you enjoy classics, these each have a certain amount of gravity and creepiness that might do it for you this October, but don’t go looking for overt Halloweenishness, just classic gothicness.
Edgar Allan Poe, known for “mystery and the macabre,” is full of what now makes up Halloween, from ravens to hearts beating under the floorboards. Get a Complete Works or Best Short Stories and dig in.
“The Legend of Sleepy Hallow,” Washington Irving. What’s Halloween without Ichabod Crane running for his life from the headless horseman? And I love classics.
Almost every October, I read the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. It could be read at other times of the year, but it does fit in perfectly to the feel of Halloween, with its world of witches and wizards, pet owls, cats and frogs, cauldrons, potions, you get it. I love Harry Potter and I love going to back to Hogwarts every fall. I am currently collecting the illustrated edition by Jim Kay.
The Twilight Saga, Stephanie Meyer. This was a suggestion by my daughter, and might be the only vampire book (series) I have ever read. I don’t highly recommend this series, but it is about vampires and werewolves and is wildly popular and addictive, which I outline in my review.
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders. I am just adding this book this time around, because I read it last year. Again, not overtly Halloween, but it is a ghost story, about death, and an excellent read.
Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels, Arthur Conan Doyle. I love Sherlock Holmes, and it qualifies for October reading because of all the mysteries, the murders, and the classic grit. And it can be followed up with Sherlock, the British Television series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, which is one of my favorites. The best novel to grab? The Hound of the Baskervilles.
The Ghost-Eye Tree, Bill Martin Junior. This is a picture book, but my favorite Halloween picture book, probably because my aunt used to read it to me in a hushed, almost-spooky voice. A great bedtime story to break out for Halloween.
Sideways Stories from Wayside School, which is my first recommendation for elementary-age readers. It’s not about Halloween, per se, or even very scary, but it always gave me this creepy crawly feeling, this iciness in the pit of my stomach. Maybe it’s just me.
Chris Van Allsburg has some creepy picture books, and for Halloween I would recommend The Stranger and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.
A Series of Unfortunate Events (thirteen book series), Lemony Snicket, is a middle grades choice for Halloween, but would probably take most much longer than October to read them. It is missing a lot of the usual Halloween elements, but it is dark, mysterious, and even a bit dysthymic with a constant theme of danger and death. But for kids. A quicker thing would be to watch the TV series from 2017-2019, which is also dark and my son and I really enjoyed it. Review forthcoming.
Another elementary school chapter book recommend would be My Teacher Is an Alien, by Bruce Coville. When we read this as a family we found it a surprisingly good read.
A picture book favorite of mine is Sesame Street’s The Monster at the End of This Book. It’s a classic at any time of year, but it is about a monster, even if it is just Grover.
Another picture book: The Berenstain Bears: Trick or Treat, by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Part of the original series of books, this is one that was in our house when I was kid and that I read to my children. I love the Berenstain Bears.
You want historical pandemic reading for your middle grades reader? Try Fever 1793.
I did not highly recommend them, but The Secret Series by Pseudonymous Bosch is mysterious and dark.
Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs, is a dark, creepy, and fantastical book filled with monsters and scares. I would recommend the first book in the series most strongly and the movie to go with it.
Some eerie but not scary reading that I would recommend for October, as well, would be Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and maybe even A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd.

Movie Recommendations:

Basically, Tim Burton is perfect for October viewing, but especially Beetlejuice, The Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and a little less so, Edward Scissorhands. Bonus: they are all great movies. I would also like to try Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, and perhaps Sweeny Todd, though that might be too scary/gory for me. Even Peewee’s Big Adventure, Miss Peregrine’s School for Peculiar Children, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland might have enough creepiness, darkness, and costuming to make them count as Halloween-appropriate.
Coraline (2009) was based on a children’s horror story by Neil Gaiman and definitely qualifies.
Donnie Darko (2001) is a cult classic, sci-fi, psychological thriller that I think fits nicely into the Halloween season. It’s funny and mind-bending, involves mental illness and perhaps some supernatural powers and it is quite dark but not scary.
Since I don’t do real horror movies, M. Night Shayamalan—who specializes in the supernatural and twist endings—is another Halloween pick for me, including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village. I would like to watch Glass, but the rest of his films I can leave.
And J.J. Abrams, in sci-fi and monster movies. For Halloween, try Super 8, Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, and The Cloverfield Paradox as well as the TV series Lost and Alias. I haven’t seen the Stephen King collaboration, The Dark Tower.
One of our absolute favorites—as gen X-ers with current teens—is the Stranger Things TV series. We’re still waiting on the final season, which has been delayed by the pandemic. Sigh. It does have some gory moments, but most of it is creepy and full of suspense and occasionally jump scares. One scene (I am not alone in this) really ticks me off, but the rest of the series is nostalgic, spot-on, well-acted, and full of Durham Easter eggs.
Another one of our favorite all-time TV shows is The X-Files, which would make great Halloween viewing, especially if you happen to land on the movies at this time of year. Aliens, yeah, but also anything that could end up in X-files, from monsters to murders. There are scads of posts, online, laying out Halloween X-Files marathons with the scariest or the most Halloween-friendly episodes. Look it up.
The Dark Crystal is pretty dark and creepy, though meant as family entertainment. If you’re a Muppets fan, this is your Halloween pick, for sure.
Warm Bodies was the first and so far only zombie movie I have ever watched. The quirky romance really appealed to me in the previews, and I did end up liking it, though there was perhaps too much gore for me. (That could be said about Kill Bill as well, but it’s such a good movie.) Sometimes I’m conflicted.
I mentioned the Twilight books, I guess I should mention the movies as well, not because they are amazing but because they are about vampires and werewolves and are very, very, very popular. I think I might like some things about the movies more, actually.
Generally, movies made from Roald Dahl books have taken his black humor and turned it into slightly creepy movies that are good family picks for Halloween, also considering the fantastical elements and the costuming. Some of the these I have already mentioned but would include Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), James and the Giant Peach (2006), and less-so Matilda (1996), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The BFG (2016). Even more appropriate are the two version of The Witches, one from 1990 and one being released to HBO Max on October 22 of this very year.
If you find murder mysteries (or vintage thrillers) have a Halloween feel for you, I would recommend Hitchcock, first and foremost (especially Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, Vertigo,and North by Northwest as well as Dial M for Murder and Spellbound) and then Murder on the Orient Express (2017) and Knives Out (2019).
Another Halloween classic which they keep playing at my gym along with Beetlejuice (which is experiencing a revival) is Ghostbusters. The biggest comedy of the 1980s which I can appreciate (and marvel at the rudimentary special effects) but gets a little too evil for me, you can stop at the first and best movie, though there is supposed to be yet another sequel out in 2021 and my daughter keeps asking to watch the girl version again.
Hotel Transylvania and the sequel. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Vlad the Impaler is no laughing matter, but these movies are cute and funny and entertaining.
One of my all-time favorite Halloween movies (though TV-special short) is It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. My kids avoid it, but I cherish the annual watching, with a nostalgic twinkle in my eye.
Another almost-too-scary scary movie that I have enjoyed is The Quiet Place. It has perhaps the most per-capita jump scares of any movie I have ever actually enjoyed watching.
If you have a family and it’s October, you might want to pull out some stuff from the Scooby Doo franchise. About as un-scary as ghosts can get, my kids loved Scooby Doo growing up. Some of the movies cross the line for most kids, but I like the TV series better anyways, both the 1969 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and 2010 Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the two series I and my kids grew up with.
One of the best October movies for the family is Goosebumps (2015). Though I had long opposed my children reading R.L. Stine, I had to eat crow a little bit when this movie immediately became a family favorite, turning the franchise in on itself to include both the author and a number of the books in one funny film. The sequel, though a Halloween-specific movie, received mixed reviews.
To honor the Day of the Dead, which takes place during the same season and has many celebrants in our country, I am going to recommend Book of Life and Coco. Though Coco has gotten more attention and plaudits over the years, I much prefer Book of Life. They’re both great, family movies.
And I saved the best for last. Though you can watch them all year round (we do), the Harry Potter movies are great to watch in October as you warm up for Halloween for all the same reasons I said it’s also a great time of year to read the books. We’ll be having yet another Harry marathon over the next three weeks and enjoying our new Blu-ray edition.

Books to Read (which I have not already or don’t remember well. I reserve the right to chicken out.):

Dracula, Bram Stoker
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Lewis Stevenson
Sandman, Neil Gaiman
In the Woods, Tanya French
The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
The Distant Hours, Kate Morton
Rebecca, Daphne de Maurier
Still Life, Louise Penny (more appropriate for Thanksgiving. No Halloween at all, but a murder mystery.)
The Sea of Tranquility, Katja Millay
The Complete Stories, Flannery O’Connor
We Were Liars, E. Lockhart
The Mockingbird Sang, ???
And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie
A Curious Beginning, Deanna Raybourn
We Have Always Lived in a Castle, Shirley Jackson
Jane Steele, Lyndsay Faye
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay
He Said/She Said, Erin Kelly
The Hazel Wood, Melissa Albert
The Crucible, Arthur Miller
The Singer’s Gun, Emily St. John Mandel
Not That I Could Tell, Jessica Strawser
Trick or Treat: A Peanuts Halloween, Charles Schultz
Gil’s All Fright Diner, A. Lee Martinez
My Crowd, Charles Addams
Witch Week, Diana Wynne Jones
The Accident Season, Moira Fowley-Doyle
Anya’s Ghost, Vera Brosgol
The Likeness, Tania French
Resurrection Bay, Emma Viskic
Labyrinth Lost, Zoraida Cordova
The Diviners and Iron Cast, Destiny Soria
Monstress, Marjorie M. Liu
Get in Trouble, Kelly Link
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
The Girl with All the Gifts, M.R. Carey
The Witchfinder’s Sister, Beth Underdown
NOS4ATU, Joe Hill
Ghost Stories and Other Tales of the Supernatural, Wharton, Fitzgerald, etc.
Invisible Man, H. G. Wells *
“A Study in Emerald,” A Night in the Lonesome October, Roger Zelazny
Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore
Strange Practice, Vivian Shaw
Maplecroft, Cherie Priest
The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, Theodora Goss
The Picture of Dorian Grey