Image Courtesy of Michael White Productions.
When the leaves turn red, the wind starts to get colder and the mornings greet you with fog wandering around the fields – summer is saying its final goodbye. Suddenly, kitchens are filled with the smell of pumpkin soup, fully teleporting you into living out your Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls fantasy and marking the beginning of the Halloween season.
This year we have a spicy collection of camp movies for you that include charmingly weird witches, murderers, and aliens to scare away the blood-curdling part of Halloween. Because who said we needed man-eating clowns? Not me. In the end, watching a movie isn’t about hiding underneath your blanket while you are already googling the plot.
Instead, our Halloween movie selection includes funky hair, high heels, very dark humor, and many icons. Because, in the end, Halloween culture is so much more than just horror. The holiday is a celebration of being different, living out your quirkiness, and embracing your own imagination. After all, the trope of Halloween movies has inspired and influenced generations of teenagers, queer communities, how we dress, and in general everyone who has ever felt like an outcast in their life.
So, let’s skip the horror and bring the fashionable madness. Here are SLEEK’s Top 10 camp movies for Halloween:
Image Courtesy of Cinemarque Entertainment.
HEATHERS (1988)
The most popular girls in the school are the Heathers. There is Heather 1, Heather 2, Heather 3; and then there is Veronica, their strong-minded friend who seems to be stepping a little out of line. While the Heathers bully other students, Veronica is annoyed by their mean and arrogant behavior. Together with the adventurous Jason Dean, played by Christian Slater, Veronica decides to teach them a lesson – though their plan ends in a bloody mess. Our nineties sweetheart Winona Ryder embodies the perfect Veronica adding rebellious teenager aesthetics to the movie and very dark, grotesque humor.
Image Courtesy of Michael White Productions.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (1975)
Shame on everyone who hasn’t seen that classic yet. But you’re lucky, it’s not too late: In ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, the picture-perfect and newly engaged couple Janet and Brad are on their way to visit a friend when suddenly, their car breaks down out of nowhere. Scared, cold, and drenched from the rain, the couple rings the bell at an intimidatingly huge mansion, desperate for help. Before they even know what’s going on, Janet and Brad are trapped by Dr. Frank N. Furter, a mad scientist and alien transvestite from planet Transsexual. The movie includes iconic costumes, a sensual amount of nudity, and confusingly weird scenes and plot twists. While “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was a flop in the 70s, today the movie is a celebration of sexual freedom and liberation with Susan Sarandon as the female lead.
Image Courtesy of 20th Century Fox.
EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990)
When we talk about dark but fun Halloween movies, there is one name, that can’t be missed: Tim Burton. “Edward Scissorhands” is one of his all-time classics. It is the story of the artificial boy Edward, who has to live with scissors instead of hands because his creator died before he could exchange them. Lonely and hidden from the outside world, Edward lives in the castle he was created in when one day, a woman from a nearby village discovers him. Out of pity, she spontaneously decides to take him with her and tries to integrate him into society. In his newfound life with other humans, Edward learns about feeling all kinds of emotions, including happiness, hate, and love. Fun fact: this movie is the beginning of the 90s power couple Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros., The Guber-Peters Company, Kennedy Miller Productions.
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (1987)
This movie starrs Cher, Michelle Peiffer, and Susan Sarandon as three friends who are united by their disappointment in life and men. One night, they celebrate a ritual to summon a man who would embody all the qualities and character traits they wish for. Not knowing, that they are in fact witches, the three of them call for no other than the devil himself. After that, the chaos starts. Whether or not Jack Nicholson’s performance as the devil and personification of the female gaze on masculinity is questionable opens up a new topic. But still, the movie enchants with weird but dreamy scenes, dark humor, and especially with the performance of our three female leads.
Image Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
THE CRAFT (1996)
Those who were born in or before the 90s probably know this masterpiece as it influenced a whole generation of schoolgirls: In ‘The Craft” the troubled teenager Sarah moves to Los Angeles and befriends a group of outcasts at school. What she doesn’t know is that her new friends are witches who see her as the fourth and last member of their coven. After recruiting Sarah, the girls complete the four elements and earn special powers, which they use to take revenge on their bullies. But what was supposed to empower the girls, escalates quickly and ends up in a deadly fight.
Image Courtesy of Fidélité Productions, France 2 Cinéma, Mars Films.
8 WOMEN (2002)
One victim, one murderer, and eight women: It is a snowy morning in the 50s when Suzon arrives at the mansion of her family to celebrate Christmas. Everything starts peacefully until the maid finds Suzon’s father stabbed to death in his office. Because of the snow, Suzon is now trapped with seven other women, including her mother, her sister, and her grandmother. When the telephone connection is not working and the car doesn’t start anymore, they realize – the murderer must be one of them.
Image Courtesy of Warner Bros Entertainment, Fortis Film, Village Roadshow Pictures and Di Novi Pictures.
PRACTICAL MAGIC (1998)
In “Practical Magic” Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock play Gillian and Sally Owens; two sisters who are the descendants of a long line of witches. Although Gillian and Sally love each other very much, the two couldn’t be more different from one another. While Gillian wishes to fall in love and leave the village, Sally stays there, hides her magical side, and tries to be part of society. Everything changes when Gillian needs Sally’s help. Together they try to break the curse, that each time a man falls in love with an Owens woman, they will die.
Read our essay about ‘Practical Magic’, an homage to witchcraft, sisterhood, and nineties aesthetics here.
Image Courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures.
HOCUS POCUS (1993)
Talking about witches, we also have this classic for you: It’s Halloween night when teenage boy Max accidentally summons the Sanderson sisters, three witches who used to live in Salem over 300 years ago. To get immortal before the sun rises and they disappear again, the witches attempt to suck the soul of Max’s little sister. Although Max can save his sister that is just the beginning of the fight. It doesn’t matter how old you are, this is definitely a must-see for every year. We guarantee amusing conversations, a lot of excitement, and three stylish and unique anti-heroines.
Image Courtesy of New World Pictures, NBC Productions.
ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF THE DARK (1988)
Extravagant makeup, big hair, tight dresses, and a deep decollté: These are the trademarks of Elvira, the hostess of a TV show that presents cheap horror movies. After she gets fired because she refuses to sleep with her boss, Elvira decides to follow her dream and creates her own show in Las Vegas. The only thing holding her back is money. It seems like a leap of faith when her great-aunt from Massachusetts suddenly dies and Elvira inherits her fortune. But what was supposed to be a fortune, turns out to be an old mansion in a sleepy village, a dog, and a book full of witch spells.
Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
DEATH BECOMES HER (1992)
What do you do, if your husband and his ex-fiancé are planning to murder you in order to get back together? Drink a magic potion, that makes you beautiful and immortal, of course. That’s at least what Madeleine does, when Helen, the ex of her husband Ernest reenters their life. A passionate fight between Helen and Madeleine starts, in which both women want to take revenge on one another. What they don’t know yet; both of them drank the same potion. “Death Becomes Her” is a movie, that criticizes beauty standards and shallow values through macabre visuals and dark humor. So if you ever wanted to see Maryl Streep and Goldie Hawn fighting over Bruce Willis, this is your chance. And the additional cherry on top: Isabella Rossellini as a seductive witch.