Recommended in this episode

Poems

* Zombies

* The Corpse Less Taken

* Extraterrestrials

* Mermaid

poems by Jamie Gower

Movies/TV

Lockwood and Co. (2023) Spooky, some menace and jump scares; stream on Netflix.

One Lane Bridge (2020) Spooky, some jump scares, grown-up discussions of grown-up problems; stream on Acorn, AMC+.

Wednesday (2022) Spooky, some jump scares and violence, including a pretty upsetting attack on Thing. Mostly surprsingly sweet, though. Stream on Netflix.

Books

Dracula Daily Like it says on the newsletter, “Get the classic novel Dracula, emailed to you in real time as it happens.” Also bound in a beautiful annotated print edition.

Peeps (Scott Westerfeld) Vampirism as a sexually-transmitted parasitic infection. Spooky, sometimes scary—especially in the alternate chapters, which chronicle the queasy life-cycles of real-life parasites. The book is on back-order, but is available on Libby.

In a Class By Itself

The Bat Woman (1968) Oh, migosh, this is amazing. About as scary as the Adam West Batman, although there is a fish-man who might be scary if you’re under 11 years old. Stream on Tubi, rent on Amazon Prime Video. Also, the New York Times did a wonderful article about the movie and its star, Maura Monti.

What next?

We had a great time doing The Four Weeks of Halloween, and are wondering: should we do more? Not Halloween-specific, obviously (at least not until 2024!). But maybe we pop up for specific holidays, or on a regular monthly or quarterly cadence? What do you think? Let us know in the comments!

And as always, we’d be ever so grateful if you could recommend us to a friend. We’ve even arranged wee gifties for you if someone uses your signup link. So we hope you might be able to help.

Either way, and always, you’re the bee’s knees in our book. We hope you have a fun, safe, and delightfully spooky Halloween.

Recommended in this episode:

Poem

Dear Dr. Frankenstein by Jericho Brown. From his book The New Testament, published by Copper Canyon Press

Movies/TV

Young Frankenstein (1974) Spooky? Possibly? Maybe?; stream on Max, buy the DVD to hear Mel Brooks’ commentary (prepare to have your heart broken when he reacts to seeing his departed friend Madeline Kahn on screen again)

Werewolf by Night (1999) Legit scary, especially in the first half, but ultimately surprisingly sweet; stream on Disney

The Wild, Wild, West (1965-1969) Occasionally spooky, although the spooky element almost always turns out to be a ruse by the villain (like the steam-powered Kraken tentacle that was destroying shipping in the San Francisco Bay—seriously, that was an episode)

also mentioned:

Eureka (2006-2012) Not even spooky, sometimes tense, mostly amiable romps

Books

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots (at times scary, due to examples of the real consequences of super-hero level violence; also on Libby)

Music

What’s He Building in There? by Tom Waits (spooky, in a fun way; listen on most music streaming services)

And we recommend searching for Halloween on any music streaming service—there’s a lot of stuff!

also mentioned:

Skullcrusher Mountain by Jonathon Coulton (spooky, also in a fun way; we’d recommend anything by Mr. Coulton)

Podcasts

Limetown (spooky, some scary descriptions of violence; available via most podcast players—also a TV series on Peacock, and a prequel novel)

also mentioned:

Welcome to Night Vale (spooky, maybe a little scary?; available via most podcast players—and is the nucleus of an entire spooky media mini-empire)

Recommended in this episode

Poem

The Haunted Palace by Edgar Allan Poe

Movies/TV

Into the Woods (2014) Spooky at worst; stream on Disney, rent on most services

Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999) Not even really spooky; rent on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu

Books

The Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare and Beyond blog (be sure to search for “Halloween“)

His Face All Red by Emily Carrol (spooky; also on Libby)

Shakespeare for Squirrels by Christopher Moore (spooky, with swearing and discussion of “sexy times”; also on Libby)

Podcasts

Strange Studies of Strange Stories (discussion of spooky, the scary, and sometimes horrifying stories and novels from the first half of the twentieth century and earlier)

Old Gods of Appalachia (spooky, sometimes scary, occasionally briefly horrifying)

also mentioned:

Camp Monsters (spooky, sometimes really scary)

Recommended in this episode:

Poems

Vintage Halloween Greeting Cards by various

Movies/TV

Van Helsing (2004) Spooky, some scary; rent or stream on Apple+, AMC, Prime Video, YouTube and others

Crazy Head (2005) Spooky leaning to scary; stream on Netflix

Good Omens (2019-2023) Spooky, some scary; stream on Prime Video

Books

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (spooky at most; also on Libby)

Monster, She Wrote by Lisa Kröger & Melanie R. Anderson (non-fiction about a range of works; also on Libby)

The Weird edited by Anne and Jeff VanderMeer (spooky, some genuinely scary, one to two horrifying; also on Libby)

Podcasts

Random Number Generator Horror Podcast No. Nine (plot synopses of the spooky, the scary, and the horrifying)

Also mentioned

Too Scary, Didn’t Watch (plot synopses of the spooky, the scary, and the horrifying)

Wikipedia (another great resource for plot synopses before you commit)

*If you recognize what line from what movie I paraphrased for that last line in the intro, let us know in the comments, would you? See you there…

Recommended in this episode

Poem

The Adventures of Isabel by Ogden Nash

Movies

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Spooky, barely

Coco (2017)
Spooky, at most

Books

Mommy? by Maurice Sendak
Spooky, some scary (mostly the price—it can be hard to find)

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Spooky

Terry Jones Fairy Tales by Terry Jones
Occasionally Spooky

Games

Grim Fandango
Spooky, grown-up themes

Podcasts

Scary Stories for Creepy Kids
Spooky

Music

“Frankenstein” by The Edgar Winter Group
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music

“Fury of Godzilla” from Godzilla, the King of All Monsters by Akira Ifukube
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music

“Main Title” from Godzilla, the King of All Monsters by Akira Ifukube
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music

“The Murder” from Psycho by Bernard Herrmann
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube Music / Amazon Music

Recommended in this episode

Poem

Selections from Mother Goose (The Original Volland Edition)

Movies

Practical Magic (1998)
Spooky, some scary (abuse)

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)
Spooky at most

Spirited Away (2001)
Spooky, some scary

Penny Dreadful (2014-2016)
Scary, some horrifying

Books

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
Spooky, some scary (abuse)

Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Spooky

Which Witch? by Eva Ibbotson
Spooky

The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 1: Charmed Life/The Lives of Christopher Chant, by Diana Wynn Jones
Spooky

Witches! The Absolutely True Tale of Diasaster in Salem by Rosalyn Schanzer
Scary (actual history)

Comics

Archie Horror, an imprint of Archie Comics
Spooky to Scary, with touches of Horrifying

Archie vs. Predator II by Alex De Campi & Robert Hack, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Jack Morelli
Spooky to Scary, with touches of Horrifying

Podcasts

The Lovecraft Investigations: The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
Scary

In Our Time: The Salem Witch Trials
Scary (actual history)

Errata

In this podcast, Jamie mistakenly refers to the Archie in Archie vs. Predator II as a “robotic” Archie. It is in fact a Predator modified to look like Archie. We regret the error. We regret it so, so much.

Recommended in this episode:

We introduced a rating system for the fright level of our recommendations:

Spooky (Maybe some jump scares, but it’s more about the mood.)

Scary (Real frights, but nothing too graphic or disturbing.)

Horrifying (Blood, monsters, madness. You are warned.)

Poem

Haunted Houses by Carl Sandberg

Movies

Housebound (2014)
Mostly spooky, some scary stuff

Beetlejuice (1998)
Mostly spooky, some scary images/characters played for laughs

Books

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (also available as a graphic novel)
Spooky

Amphigorey by Edward Gorey
Spooky

Comics

The Me You Love in the Dark by Skottie Young & Jorge Corona
Scary, with touches of Horrifying

Locke and Key by Joe Hill & Gabriel Rodriguez
No rating from us—we haven’t read it yet

Podcasts

Too Scary, Didn’t Watch
Spooky to Horrifying—but told second-hand to someone who doesn’t like scary stuff.

Also mentioned

Wikipedia is your friend, often with full synopses you can check out if you want to know what a book or movie has got planned for you.

Recommended in this episode:

Poem

Theme in Yellow by Carl Sandberg

Movies

Van Helsing (2004)

The Brothers Grimm (2005)

Books

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny (also on Kindle)

also mentioned:

The Weird edited by Anne and Jeff VanderMeer

Stories to Keep you Alive Despite Vampires by Ben Acker (also on Kindle)

Comics

The Dark Horse Book of Horror edited by Dark Horse Comics (available on Hoopla Digital)

Podcasts

Camp Monsters podcast

Also mentioned:

Dracula (1931)

The Mummy (1932)

Aliens (1986)

Bullit (1968)

Only The End of the World Again by Neil Gaiman (available in the collection Shadows Over Innsmouth edited by Stephen Jones, and as a graphic novel from Dark Horse or Hoopla Digital)