DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
Originally televised by CBS in 1966, this is one of the two perfect Charles M. Schulz Peanuts specials – the other, of course, being the first, A Charlie Brown Christmas. And like that one, this is, at bottom, a cartoon about the value and strength of faith. This time it’s epitomized in Linus’ belief that the Great Pumpkin will visit him on Halloween, a faith that puts him, for a while, in a rough patch.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
This prime-time special is a compilation of Halloween skits from past shows – and since there are nearly 40 years from which to draw, it ought to be filled with many more treats than tricks.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
All over the TV cable and satellite spectrum today, you can see marathons of spooky movie franchises: the Halloween movies on AMC (beginning at 10 a.m. ET), most of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies on Syfy (beginning at 9n a.m. ET), even the Saw movies on IFC (beginning at 3:45 p.m. ET). But for Halloween purists, one better place, especially if there are younger eyes still watching, is TCM’s lineup of classic horror films starring Vincent Price. The action starts at 8 p.m. ET with 1961&
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
This 1984 supernatural movie comedy may be the ultimate post-Halloween TV treat. Enjoy it with kids, and have marshmallows or Smores ready to enjoy at the climax. Bill Murray stars, Dan Aykroyd is wonderful, and Sigourney Weaver is great – especially when she’s possessed.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
MINISERIES PREMIERE: This eight-part miniseries from France is a lot of things even Sundance’s promos won’t tell you. First, it’s subtitled – but don’t let that deter you. Second, it unfolds so deliberately, revealing its surprises and shocks so meticulously and patiently, that to give even the most basic summary would rob The Returned of some of its fun, and wonder, and eerieness. The less you know about this eight-part psychological thriller going in, the better,
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 

The Returned, which Sundance Channel launches in the U.S. on Halloween night, is a creepy, eerie, hauntingly memorable miniseries. But you’ll have to trust me on that…

 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
31
 
 
Here’s a Jim Carrey Ace Ventura reference to the 1963 Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” written by Richard Matheson... It’s Halloween, yet Carrey doesn't even need a costume for the impression to work...
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
30
 
 
It’s a new episode of The Middle, and Halloween definitely comes into play – as Brick is anxious to attend his school’s Halloween dance, and goes to his mom (Patricia Heaton) for advice. Not necessarily a good move.
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
30
 
 
After Monday’s victory, the Boston Red Sox have a 3-2 edge in this series, and thus two chances to win the World Series in front of a home crowd – a feat the team last accomplished in 1918, just before the end of what we now call World War I. So it’s been a while. As for the St. Louis Cardinals? The last time the Cards won a World Series in front of a home crowd was… two years ago. And the last time the Cards won it all in someone else’s ballpark? That would be 196
 
 
 
  
 
 
2013
Oct
30
 
 
This 2009 movie is an especially tasty pre-Halloween treat. It’s got loads of zombies, the hottest ghouls in the current pop-culture zeitgeist – and it’s also loaded with actors who are all-stars, or have become stars since. Woody Harrelson stars as a zombie fighter with a taste for Twinkies, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network) plays his reluctant protégé, and Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin (from, respectively, The Help and Little Miss Sunshine) play two resource