As far as I can tell after months of Halloween horror movie hunting, these should be the last four flicks out there that celebrate the season for this year and get added to the complete holiday horror movies page, so let’s get right into them.
THE TOWN WITHOUT HALLOWEEN (2024)
The director of Kill, Granny, Kill! and Red River goes for more of an 80s kids’ horror movie with a very indie feel.
The autumn and Halloween vibes are perfect, and this is like a throwback to Ghoulies for sure, with little, goofy puppet creatures, but it also feels very low budget. The acting is somewhat stilted at times, however, there’s something very endearing about the cast of kids.
The plot has a lot going on. There are hooded dudes doing satanic rituals to take over the world. The little creatures appear. Adults that want to cancel Halloween are turned into zombies at the town hall meeting (with cheesy makeup and blue foam spilling from their mouths).
The kids decide they have to save Halloween, which is always a fun concept, but the film falls short in the excitement arena, which is weird considering there are hooded cult members, little creatures, and zombies at its disposal!
There are a few memorable “scary” scenes, but overall, not much happens, and the finale is quite anti-climactic…although I’m pretty sure there was a nod to Ernest Scared Stupid at the end, which is just awesome.
HAUNTED ULSTER LIVE (2023)
This 78-minute, ghost-hunting Halloween mockumentary is virtually a remake of the infamous British film Ghostwatch…and just as disappointing.
It takes place on Halloween 1998. A radio personality and television network are doing a joint, live event at a supposedly haunted house. The DJ is broadcasting from the attic, the hosts are downstairs talking to the family that live there and outside speaking with spectators and neighbors, some of them in costume.
There’s a lot of talk, they look at pictures of supposed ghosts, a psychic is brought in, a legend of Black-Foot Jack is discussed, and the medium communicates with some sort of spirit through the little girl that lives there.
The movie finally ends with some moaning in the attic, but don’t expect to see anything horrific as the film crew flees the house. Yawn.
CARVED (2024)
You can’t go wrong with a Halloween horror movie about a pumpkin carving contest gone wrong when a pumpkin comes to life and starts killing people with tentacle vines. There have been several anthologies featuring killer pumpkins, and even Scooby Doo took on live pumpkins in one of his Halloween specials.
The film unnecessarily opens with the aftermath of the pumpkin carving contest before jumping back to show us how we got there, but these days a “shocker” moment is kind of obligatory to grab an audience’s attention.
Next we meet all the major players in a small town as they prepare for the big context. There’s a reporter in town covering the event, and it’s none other than the dude who played Mr. Crocket!
Also on hand is DJ Qualls, who gets to play gay in this one, with a Black partner, which lands this one on the does the gay guy die? page.
As soon as the carving contest starts, the nonstop horror action is triggered as a gnarly pumpkin comes to life and begins popping human heads off left and right with its tentacle vines. Awesome.
The cast is likable, there’s some good humor, there’s suspense, there’s gore…it’s a Halloween blast. And wouldn’t you know it all eventually leads to a pumpkin patch. The cast may be comprised mostly of kids, but this ain’t the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Although it’s a Hulu exclusive now, I sure hope this one gets a physical release, because I’d love to add it to my Halloween horror movie collection.
HALLOWEEN MASSACRE (2024)
The 65-minute running time is perfect for this film, which has so much going for it except for the fact that those involved in making it clearly have no idea how to write a script. If you read the detailed synopsis of the film on imdb, you’ll discover that you can barely discern the plot being described in the movie, which is predominantly a montage of a killer clown doing his thing at Halloween time.
Honestly, if I hadn’t read the synopsis first, I would not have been able to pick out a plot. I guess it doesn’t matter much, because the filmmakers at least knew what they were doing when it comes to creating a Halloween horror movie vibe. In fact, this one has a fantastic grindhouse feel to it, and really reminded me of the gritty, violent style and tone of Rob Zombie’s Halloween. Adding to the atmosphere is a good throwback to 80s horror movie synth scores.
Essentially, a clown is somehow luring all these random people to his rundown house that looks like a trailer home, complete with laundry hanging on a line out front. There’s also a “main girl” out for revenge against this clown, but it’s a good thing she’s not in the movie too much, because her overacting is really distracting.
What you’re left with is a series of vicious and torturous kills, and no one is spared, including a kid and a pregnant woman. This ominous clown revels in making people’s lives miserable, and the pregnant victim is one great scream queen.
The film works in terms of delivering on the brutal horror, but there are a few weaknesses, including a totally pointless part where they keep jumping back to a guy taking a shit while singing “Old McDonald”. It added absolutely nothing to the movie.
The final battle between the over-the-top main girl didn’t do anything for me aside from making me giggle when the clown simply slaps her across the face. That was quite satisfying.
