Halloween movies are unique creations, evoking the mystery, danger, and wonder that only the Fall time can bring. Dying leaves paint the world in orange and gold, ghouls stalk the streets, and everything feels possible as the gossamer-thin veil between the land of the living and the dead is drawn taut. It’s a magical time, the best time; a time that movies evoke better than any other media. We don’t live in New England, where a chill twists and ducks through old haunted hills, but we certainly have the cinema to cozy up with in the dark watches of October nights. Scary, enchanting, and even kooky; there’s a cinematic flavor for everyone come Halloween season, and the best place to find yours is Future Shock Video.
The only VHS tape and DVD rental store in New Orleans, Future Shock Video is a movie lover’s nirvana; with curated aisles of the greatest films of all time from Dad Classics to New Orleans set epics. What Future Shock also features is a sprawling, in-depth, and comprehensive Horror and Spooky Kids section, perfect for weekend sleepovers or pumpkin carving parties. Halloween is a time for folks to come together, tell ghost stories, and leap at weird shadows lurking in dark corners, and Future Shock Video has the finest cinematic ghost stories of all time, ready to set the mood for the season for ghoulies and ghosties of all ages, and even the scaredy cats!
Here are just a few of MY favorites:
MAD MONSTER PARTY
Brought to you by the same stop motion wizards who created “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”, “Mad Monster Party” is the perfect gateway monster fest to get kids into the Halloween spirit. Featuring the voice of Boris Karloff and a slew of creepy favorites from Frankenstein’s Monster to a Mad Scientist to Dracula himself, this delightful throwback is just what the doctor ordered.
OVER THE GARDEN WALL
Now christened as a staple of the Halloween season, “Over The Garden Wall”, a 10-episode cartoon mini series from 2014 starring Elijah Wood, is Fall personified; with crisp leaf-strewn paths, lurking horned monsters, and a pair of brothers lost in the wilds of “The Unknown”. With songs and hijinks, and more than a little bit of heart, “Over The Garden Wall” is tastier than potatoes and molasses, and that’s a rock fact!
SCOOBY DOO ON ZOMBIE ISLAND
The first of a slew of straight-to-video releases from 1998, “Scooby Doo on Zombie Island” sends Mystery Inc. down the bayous south of New Orleans in search of Ghost Pirates plaguing the remnants of an old pepper plantation. A true gateway horror staple for generations of children, “Zombie Island” has all the antics of classic Scooby Doo with a healthy dose of kid-friendly scares to boot. For my money, it’s good for kids to get scared, and “Zombie Island”, for many of us, was our first test of bravery with our ole pal Scooby.
MORGUS THE MAGNIFICENT
The preeminent horror host of the Gulf South, Morgus The Magnificent, is as Halloween as it comes, and Future Shock holds a beautiful volume of some of his best episodes. Portrayed iconically by Sid Noe from the late 1950s through the 1980s, this kooky mad scientist, alongside his executioner assistant Chopsley, fell into monstrous antics between the breaks of classic scary movies; with schemes that include using mosquitoes to provide Vampires with sustenance. A true piece of New Orleans Halloween lore, and the perfect Halloween Party backing track, Morgus is ready to be your ghost host with the most.
HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES
And now for a personal favorite. Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses is not the best movie I’ve ever seen, but it might be my favorite. Following a hapless group of teenagers who stumble upon the wrong side of a freak show gas station/murder ride run by a boisterous clown named Captain Spaulding, “Corpses” treats Halloween as sacred, spilling its playfully demented horror antics through the night itself with appropriate reverence. A stylistic trip into my particular brand of madness, I couldn’t recommend taking a trip through the Murder Ride highly enough.
GINGER SNAPS
A movie about a young woman’s coming of age via bloody werewolf transformation, “Ginger Snaps” is a delightful piece of work; equally morbid and earnest in it’s melancholy and joyful in its Halloween decadence. There are plenty of werewolf movies out there but none where you can smell the dead pumpkin mold in the air and languish in the morbid delights of the season.
TRICK OR TREAT
Not to be confused with Michael Dougherty’s classic “Trick r’ Treat”, “Trick Or Treat” is an often forgotten but rollicking good time of rock and roll horror from 1986. When his favorite shock rocker, Sammi Curr, dies in a horrendous fire, a young man is gifted the last pressing of the last record the rocker ever put on vinyl. But when it is played backwards, Sammi Curr is resurrected with murderous intent, hellbent on playing a show on Halloween night and knocking the audience dead. A heavy metal showcase, with Gene Simmons giving a wonderful performance as the local disc jockey, “Trick or Treat” has the soundtrack to keep the party rolling and rocking, and shaking all night long.
These are just a candy corn taste of everything brewing at Future Shock Video. Other movies I could recommend include:
“It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”
“The Worst Witch”
“Hocus Pocus”
“Double Double Toil and Trouble with the Olsen Twins”
“Halloween”
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”
“The Midnight Hour”
“Casper
“The Guest”
“Donnie Darko”
“Lady In White”
“Monster Squad”
“Pet Sematary”
“Silver Bullet”
“Sleepy Hollow”
“Slugs”
…AND SO MUCH MORE!
So cozy over to Magazine Street and pay Future Shock Video a visit as the wind turns crisp and thoughts turn to decay to grab yourself a trick or treat!
And don’t forget the CANDY!
See y’all in the TV glow!
Discover more at futureshockvideo.biz or visit their location at 2855 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70115.
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