The Wolf Man (Brandy) attacks Dr. Exorcio in Jess Franco's Die Nacht der offenen Särge [DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN].The above image, from one of my digital films, is a trick. But what is a Halloween treat?
DRACULA CONTRA FRANKENSTEIN is definitely a Halloween favorite simply because the Dracula and Frankenstein monsters are so patently false, they look like actors dressed up as classic Universal monsters, and that's the charm of it. Halloween is all about dress up and make believe and so are Jess Franco's essential films. He's influenced by NOSFERATU, fumetti neri, popular comic strips and Hollywood B minus cinema where the wires on the vampire bats are visible.
Sticking with JF, another favorite is his BLOODY MOON (1980), simply because it begins as a Costa del Sol version of John Carpenter's original HALLOWEEN... and you get to see Jess himself as your friendly mental institution director (THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI anyone?)
Other favorite films I tend to watch around Halloween:
DANSE MACABRE (1964), Antonio Margerhiti
THE CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980), Lucio Fulci
NECROMANIA (1971) Ed Wood
THE WIZARD OF GORE (1970) Herschell Gordon Lewis
THE MONSTER HUNTER (1981) Joe D'Amato [Another HALLOWEEN rip-off]
KILL, BABY, KILL! (1966) Mario Bava
ZOMBIE LAKE (1980) Jean Rollin [Even a kid could do a better make-up job!]
THE VOODOO MAN (1944) William Beaudine [Actually, I watch it every day of the year!]
[Forget all the HALLOWEEN follow-ups, especially the recent Rob Zombie fiasco]
I'll add some more later...
What are your favorite Halloween films?
