Isabel Atherton, Director of CA Ltd: Halloween is the best month of the year, in my mind, and as you can probably tell from the photograph above. Just stepping out onto the street in Mantattan you’ll come across inflatable witches, fantastically carved pumpkins and other spooky things. I love planning my costume (often costumes – depending on the number of party invitations we receive!). I said to our wonderful Digital Marketing Manager, Kate Ormand, that we had to do a number of fun spooky posts for October. This time I wanted to share mine and some of my clients favourite Halloween songs and films.
My top Halloween song would have to be The Cure’s ‘A Forest.’ You can see a 1992 live version here on Youtube: The Cure – A Forest (Live 1992)
My film recommendation for the season is and here’s a clue…
It’s the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, Oregon! Film buffs will recognise this from the exterior shot of The Overlook Hotel used in the film adaptation of Stephen King’s book ‘The Shining’ by Stanley Kubrick. As readers will see from the photograph, the day we visited, it was good and clement weather and not that spooky at all. Nevertheless, I say you can’t beat the film for festive spooky cheer. Jack Nicholson is just awesome in it. Here’s the brilliant updated 2016 trailer put together for the BFI: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (New Trailer 2016) – In cinemas for Halloween | BFI
James Duffett-Smith, author and co-owner of Creative Authors: My favourite Halloween film would have to be Alien by Ridley Scott. Because it marries sci-fi and horror really well. It has bags of atmosphere and I love the 1980s retro future vibe. Watch the trailer here: Alien Trailer HD (Original 1979 Ridley Scott Film) Sigourney Weaver
My favourite Halloween song, at the moment, would have to be the soundtrack for Stranger Things. Here’s the theme song: Stranger Things Soundtrack – Main Theme
Kate Ormand, author of Dark Days and The Wanderers: I love Halloween and spend the best part of September planning what I’m going to read and watch in October for the build-up. I love decorating and carving pumpkins and eating leftover candy. We always light some candles and watch a movie on Halloween night. It’s so hard to pick just one for this post! I love Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and The Addam’s Family, and Coraline means a lot to me. The Sanderson Sisters are always a top pick – Halloween isn’t the same without a Hocus Pocus viewing! But my recommendation has to be Practical Magic. I love everything about it, but the atmosphere in particular. Here’s a scene from the movie on YouTube: Practical Magic – Midnight Margaritas
My top Halloween song for my 2016 listening would have to be The White Stripes’ version of St. James Infirmary Blues. The song has a lot of history and coverage but I really like this version and think it’s a perfect addition to my playlist this season. You can listen to it here on YouTube: The White Stripes St james infirmary blues
Tristan Donovan, author of Replay and Feral Cities: For me nothing can beat Halloween when it comes to cool movies and music to choose from, but every year picking my favorites is a fiendish challenge.
Should my Halloween playlist rock out with Creatures of the Night by Kiss or Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast? Alternatively should it get everyone dancing like zombies to Rockwell’s Somebody’s Watching Me or Go! by Tones on Tail?
Then again Halloween is as much about camp fun as scares. So maybe Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London and Marillion’s Cannibal Surf Babe, with its Beach Boys with a Theremin vibe, should be on the playlist too. And how could I overlook After Dark, one of the numbers played by Tito & Tarantula, the vampire band in the movie From Dawn till Dusk?
From Dawn till Dusk also tops my list for Halloween movie treats but it’s got stiff competition too: The Lost Boys, The Shining, Alien, and that’s just for starters.
And, it wouldn’t be Halloween for me, without watching the original Ghostbusters take on the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man at some point: Ghostbusters – Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
But if gorging on creepy candy, spooky songs and frightening films wasn’t enough, what better way to wind up Halloween than with a game of Alien: Isolation – a video game so terrifying that I spend most of my time hiding in lockers too freaked out to leave lest the alien comes to get me.
“I cannot thank Isy enough for her utter belief in my first book, ‘Behind The Gloss,’ from the moment she met me and for holding my hand on this new journey. Not only that, but before I could take a breath there was another book deal on the table. I had two books published in 2023 and I have two new books publishing in 2025 and 2026.”
Tamara Sturtz-Filby, Creative Authors Client
