It's Thursday evening, which means it's time for my much-anticipated special feature; Mac Halloween Favorites! 🎃 Spooky season is officially upon us and, for those of us who celebrate it, it's come at a time when we really need an escape from the COVID-19 woes, natural disasters, and social and political unrest that 2020 has brought us. If you're feeling drained, let this article be your pick-me-up! I'm going to be listing my favorite Halloween music, movies, television, theatre, and art. Some of these items are classics that you may have seen already, but others are hidden gems that I think you'll love! Maybe they'll even become new go-tos for your yearly Halloween entertainment. Let's get this spooky show on the road and take a look at the lists!
Music:
1. The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack, Danny Elfman
2. Spooky Scary Skeletons, Andrew Gold
3. Harry Potter Soundtracks, John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper & Alexandre Desplat
4. Disney Villains Medley, Peter Hollens
5. Come Little Children, James Horner/Brock Walsh
If you're anything like me, you have a dedicated playlist for each season and holiday. My entire Halloween playlist has over 70 songs, but I've narrowed it down to these five highlights. I absolutely love film scores/soundtracks, which is why quite a few of them grace the list. The Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack is a delightful musical companion to the movie of the same name and received a Golden Globe nomination in 1993. Though the Harry Potter soundtracks have been composed by four different writers over the franchise's many years (John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper, and Alexandre Desplat), they still contain the same iconic, magical tone quality. And who can't identify the Harry Potter theme song after just the first few notes?? Also on my list are Come Little Children (the song known from Hocus Pocus, the celebrated Halloween film about the Sanderson Sisters), Spooky Scary Skeletons (a zany, upbeat Halloween classic), and the Disney Villains Medley (which includes some often underrated and underperformed Disney solos). All of these songs and soundtracks can be found on Spotify and most other music streaming platforms.
Movies:
1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) Animated, Family, Fantasy
2. Corpse Bride (2005) Animation, Drama, Family
3. Tower of Terror (1997) Adventure, Comedy, Drama
4. Sleepy Hollow (1999) Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
5. The Haunted Mansion (2003) Comedy, Family, Fantasy
I'm not a big horror fan, which is why you'll mainly find family-friendly films with just the right amount spook, mystery, and darkness on this list. The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride (which also has an amazing soundtrack!) are both Tim Burton classics that I watch every year. Tower of Terror and The Haunted Mansion are lesser-known Disney, live-action, Halloween movies that are based on rides at Walt Disney World; which proves how truly creative the Imagineers are! Lastly, we have Sleepy Hollow which is the scariest of my selections. It has a great cast and explores the famous story of Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horseman. All of these movies are available on most major streaming platforms right now (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+) except for Tower of Terror. You can find its trailer and movie clips on sites like YouTube, however.
Television:
1. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Animation, Comedy, Family)
2. Halloween Wars (Family, Competition Series, Reality TV)
3. Modern Family Halloween Episodes (Comedy, Drama, Romance)
4. Good Witch (Comedy, Drama, Fantasy)
5. Halloween Baking Championship (Family, Competition Series, Reality TV)
Let me tell you a little about the two reality competition shows on the list, both of which can be found on the Food Network and Hulu. On Halloween Wars, teams of three (a cake artist, sugar artist, and pumpkin carver) compete by creating small and large-scale frightening Halloween displays, and on Halloween Baking Championship, individual bakers compete by making devilishly tasty desserts that fit the Halloween brief each week. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is an animated Peanuts' Halloween TV special aired yearly on ABC, and Modern Family has produced some of the most iconic Halloween episodes in sitcom history. There has been one in nearly every season and you can find them all on Amazon Prime Video! Lastly, the Good Witch is a Hallmark Channel original that brings us the story of Cassie Nightingale, a mysterious woman with special powers who moves to the small town of Middleton. Originally Good Witch was a series of annual movies, until its' success made Hallmark turn it into a television series. With special Halloween episodes and fall vibes abound, Good Witch is the perfect Halloween treat!
Theatre:
1. The Phantom of the Opera
2. Little Shop of Horrors
3. Wicked
4. The Addams Family
5. Young Frankenstein
There are many musicals out there with spooky content, even if the plot isn't specifically about Halloween: Phantoms. Human-Eating Plants. Witches. A Creepy, Kooky Family. Transylvania. Sounds like Halloween to me! Each of these shows are comedies with darker elements thrown in except for The Phantom of the Opera, which is mainly dark with beautifully haunting music. You can find most of these shows on BroadwayHD or Broadway on Demand and/or listen to their original cast recordings on Spotify.
Art:
1. "In Cammino Per Trasformasi Nell'istante Presente", Never 2501
2. "Halloween" Saturday Evening Post Cover, Norman Rockwell (1920)
3. "Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigar", Vincent van Gogh (1886)
4. "The Nightmare", Henry Fuseli (1781)
5. "Die Hexe", Alex da Corte (2015)
Art comes in all forms: sculpture, photography, painting, sketching, printing, installation, multimedia, graphic design, etc. I've selected Halloween art favorites from all different mediums. "The Nightmare" and "Head of a Skeleton with a Burning Cigar" show us painted interpretations of the dark and macabre before Halloween was even as big a holiday as it is today. The Rockwell "Halloween" cover is one of many he drew and painted for the Saturday Evening Post and I love it because it represents what Halloween is like for small children and adults alike in the United States of America. "Die Hexe" (which means "The Witch") and "In Cammino Per Trasformasi Nell'istante Presente" are both installations. The former was at Luxembourg & Dayan and took the viewer through five different rooms filled with tantalizing scents and imagery "from dark to light and from gothic to gothic surreal", as described by the New York Times. The latter was in the garden of the Museo Civico Archeologico Paolo Giovio and symbolizes the passing of times' affect on materials, hence the dead branches and roots we see making up the body of what seems to be a sleeping skeleton.
In order of appearance, photos are courtesy of: Ron Beck Designs, Art, the Van Gogh Museum, Wikipedia, and The New York Times
Just like that we've reached the end. I'm wishing you all a very happy, very spooky Halloween! May you celebrate it this year in a way that's festive, but also safe for yourself and those around you. I hope my Mac Halloween Favorites have provided you with some new Halloween content to watch or view this year. There's only 23 days left until Halloween, so make the most of it!
Enjoyed the article? Please give it a share and a heart. This helps us to get more readers and build our brand. You can also find Mac Claire on Instagram, Twitter, and Spotify. A Pinterest account is forthcoming! Come back Monday for my Mac Weekly Highlight, where I share the best finds from Music, Arts & Culture's past week. Thank you for being a reader and stay spooky! 🕸
~Claire
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