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There�s nothing quite like autumn. Here in the northeastern United States, the sights and the smells are everywhere. Daylight�s duration wanes, and that unmistakable, thin October chill takes control of the evening air. The sidewalks become runways for miniature, dervishes of crimson and saffron leaves, and the air is suddenly pregnant with the scent of burning wood. All around, households catch the Halloween buzz, and for this unique window of time, once every year, become crazy for dancing skeletons, rattling chains, the flap of the bat�s wings, and the witch�s cackle. 

Being a consummate horror movie junkie, I have a yearly tradition of my own, with which I inaugurate the autumn season--- that of a personal horror flick fest. Every year, I select titles from my horror library and, with a large bowl of popcorn made on the stovetop (another quirky tradition I insist upon), and some manner of libation, take to the TV room, and get my fill of good, old-fashioned, spooky cinema.

Naturally, I reserve those titles which I consider to be the quintessential compliments to the October season for the days on and around October 31st, and for this month�s column, I intend to share a few with you. Perhaps you love a bit of the creepy, the freaky, the campy, the bloody, or even the downright cheesy--- and maybe, just maybe, you�ll read some names which you aren�t familiar with. 

Let�s start a ways back in time, and pay homage to a few of the early classics� 

White Zombie (1932) : Set on the island of Haiti, this was an extraordinary prototype for hundreds of zombie and voodoo films to come. Charles Beaumont�s marriage proposal is rejected by Madeline Short. Enraged, he enters into an agreement with Murder Legendre, played by Bela Lugosi. Madeline will be cursed, take ill, and die. Legendre resurrects her as a zombie, rendering her the love slave of Charles Beaumont.

The Mummy (1932) : The film that turned Boris Karloff into a household name. He plays the 4,000 year old Im-Ho-Tep, a priest who violated the law, and was embalmed alive as punishment. When his sarcophagus is dug up by archeologists, he sets out to find his lost love, leaving a trail of terror in his wake. 

Chamber of Horrors (1940) : In his hunger to possess the wealth of a recently deceased millionaire, which was shut away in a vault opened by seven scattered keys, a murderous plot is acted out by Dr. Manetta to lure the heirs of the fortune to his manor, down into his chambers of horror. 

House of Wax (1953) : An unforgettable performance by the late, great Vincent Price. Based on the original House of Wax from 1933, the films tells the tale of a gifted sculptor whose house of wax is burned down by his business partner who is looking to collect on the insurance. With his life�s work destroyed, and the nerves in his hands damaged from the fire, Price opens a new wax museum--- only his new creations now bear an eerie resemblance to the recently deceased in the city of London� 

House on Haunted Hill (1958) : Another banner performance by Vincent Price. Here he is in his best element as the charming but sinister owner of a mansion which is rumored to be haunted by murderous ghosts. He invites several guests, chosen with calculation, to spend the night, offering $10,000 to any who make it through the night. The doors all lock at midnight, and each guest is given a gun� presumably for �protection�.

The Screaming Skull (1958): A lesser known (but nevertheless enjoyable) film. A husband and his newly wedded (but second) wife move into his country estate. His wife is terrorized by shrieking human skulls--- which only she can see. Her fright becomes insurmountable when the ghost of her husband�s dead first wife materializes. Is she insane? 

Village of the Damned (1960): Alien technology is employed to render an entire town unconscious, and then to impregnate the women of the village. They bear children with platinum hair, who learn at an accelerated rate, and possess telepathic as well as telekinetic abilities.

Horror Hotel (1960): Christopher Lee is flawless in this film. Nan Barlow is a young college student looking to research witchcraft in New England. Upon the recommendation of her history professor (played by Lee) she travels to Whitewood, a small village in New England. The village--- save for a blind priest and his unassuming daughter--- is controlled by Elizabeth Selwyn, a 268-year old witch, who sold her soul to Lucifer, in order to escape being burned alive, during the witch trials of the late 1600s. 

Carnival of Souls (1962): Truly an underground cult classic. Here we have the tale of Mary, a woman who, when the car she and her friends are in careens off of a bridge, emerges from the river as the sole survivor. She is suffers lapses into a dreamlike state where she cannot hear the city around her, and its inhabitants seemingly cannot hear or see her. A strange, ghoulish man pops up when the sun sets, beckoning her to a shut down carnival at the outskirts of town. Very cool film. 

The Last Man on Earth (1964): One of my favorite vamp films, largely because it so unconventional, even in the present day. A virus renders the human population into a society of nocturnal predators who feed on blood. Vincent Price plays Robert Morgan--- he is the only living human left, and his blood contains the natural antibody to the vampiric virus. 

The development of the horror genre, throughout the 60s and 70s, was utterly colossal, and would require much more time than I could reasonably spend on the matter in a single monthly op-ed. Here is a list of other titles, along with their respective release dates, which I feel any fan of horror, B-cheese, dark humor, and even suspense thrillers would be well advised to look into: 

The Mummy�s Hand (1940), The Mummy�s Ghost (1944), Scared to Death (1947), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Teenage Zombies (1959), Tales of Terror (1962), Dementia 13 (1963), Children of the Damned (1963), Frozen Alive (1964), Tomb of Ligea (1965), Theater of Death (1967), The Oblong Box (1969), Scream and Scream Again (1969), Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971), Who Saw Her Die (1972), Children Shouldn�t Play With Dead Things (1972), Deranged (1974), Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973), The Tenant (1976), Good Against Evil (1977), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978), Zombie (1979) by Lucio Fulci, The Howling (1980), Just Before Dawn (1980), Happy Birthday to Me (1980), The Funhouse (1981), Dead and Buried (1981), Christine (1983), The Dead Zone (1983), Day of the Dead (1985), Fright Night (1985), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987), the Lost Boys (1987), Killer Klowns From Outer Space (1988), Texas Chainsaw Massacre III: Leatherface (1990), The Exorcist III (1990) highly underrated film starring George C. Scott, Army of Darkness (1992), Hatred of a Minute (2001), Hannibal (2001), 28 Days Later (2002), Willard (2003), S.A.W. (2004).

� and now for this year�s selection of DS� Octoberfest classics.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Rosemary�s Baby (1968)

The Exorcist (1973)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The Omen (1976)

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Halloween (1978)

Motel Hell (1980) 

Evil Dead (1982)

Near Dark (1987)

Pumpkinhead (1988) 

In the meantime, fare well this October. Celebrate and revel. Eat, drink, be merry--- and be wary of strange croakings, black cats, and cleaver wielding, masked lunatics.

Until next month, this is DS� signing off.

DS