I ain't afraid of no ghost.
Welcome back to the Learn English Podcast, the podcast teaching English in context so you can learn naturally.
My name is Dr. C and on today's episode, we will be getting ready for Halloween.
We are going to get in the spooky season with five movie recommendations that you can watch before Halloween.
Now, if you are not aware, Halloween is a pretty popular holiday here in the United States, and it is celebrated on the 31st of October.
So no matter what day of the week that is, the last day of October is always when it's celebrated.
It comes with a lot of customs and traditions, which we will discuss on next week's episode.
But to prepare for Halloween and get in that spooky season, that spooky mood, we're going to discuss these five films that are considered to be Halloween classics, films that are very popular here in the United States and that people watch every year during the Halloween season to get ready for Halloween
and enjoy the holiday.
Now a little bit about these films.
These films are not necessarily very gory.
Personally, I don't like a lot of blood.
I don't like a lot of guts.
I don't like what we would call slasher films, which is where people get cut up.
That's not really what I'm interested in.
So my recommendations are not really on that side.
These recommendations are still very classic Halloween films, but they're a little bit less intense, a little bit less bloody.
And I try to include a variety.
I try to include different types of films.
So hopefully you will find one or more than one that you would be interested in watching.
I'll also leave a link in the description of the podcast for a website that you can go on and search to see what streaming platform these movies are on.
I have nothing to do with the website, but it's just a resource that I personally use.
You can put any movie or TV show on the website and see what streaming platform it's on.
If you don't live in the United States, I don't think this link will work for you.
You will have to use a different site for whatever country you're in.
But if you're here in the United States, you might find it helpful.
So let's start discussing our film recommendations.
The first movie on my list is by Tim Burton.
You're actually going to see him a couple of times on this list because he is a director who enjoys spooky, scary movies and does a lot of movies that are seen during Halloween.
Our first one by him is 1999's Sleepy Hollow.
This film is based off of the legend of Sleepy Hollow, which is a story by Washington Irving.
If you're not familiar with the story, the story centers around a character called the Headless Horseman.
So the name kind of describes this character.
This character is a ghost.
It is someone who was a horseman, someone who rode on a horse, and his head has been removed.
He's been decapitated.
Because of that, he does not have a head and he is the headless horseman.
Now in the movie, the headless horseman is terrorizing this town.
There is a lot of people who have been killed by this character, and the lead character, who is played by Johnny Depp, comes to try to investigate and figure out who is controlling the ghost and why is it that he is doing these things and hurting these people.
Besides Johnny Depp, the movie also stars Christina Ricci and Christopher Lee, who is always great in a horror film.
This movie, I would say out of all of the movies on the list, is the scariest or the spookiest.
It also is the one with the most amount of gore.
It's not a lot. It's not overly done, but just so you're aware of it, it is there.
If you don't like scary movies at all, this might not be the best option for you.
But if you're a person who enjoys being scared and wants to watch a scary movie, I would recommend this one from the list.
Our second film is also by Tim Burton, and it is Beetlejuice from 1988.
This movie is pretty iconic, and the character Beetlejuice is iconic.
The movie itself won the Academy Award for makeup, and when you see this character, you will understand why.
The plot of the film centers around a couple who get in a car accident on the way home and die, and when they return to their house, they realize that they are ghosts in their own home.
Now their home gets sold to a new family, and when the new family moves in, the ghosts want them to leave.
So the ghosts contact Beetlejuice, who is this fantasy horror character who is supposed to help get rid of the new family, the people who are still living, but living in the house.
Now this film is a little bit more on the comedy side.
It's not strictly a comedy, but it has more comedy elements.
It has more dark humor in it, we would say.
So if you are interested in that, this might be a good option for you.
Also, the film itself is pretty popular.
The character, like I said, is iconic.
It's a beloved movie, and it's so popular that other media were spun out from it.
So for example, there was actually a musical version of the film due to the popularity of this film.
There's also going to be a sequel.
So in 2024, next year, there is going to be a sequel, Beetlejuice 2, which is also being directed by Tim Burton and starring Michael Keaton.
If you're interested in seeing that film, but you haven't seen the original, I would recommend watching it.
The cast is great besides Michael Keaton.
There is Alec Baldwin, Gina Davis, a very young Winona Ryder.
So if you're interested, check it out, and then you can always watch the sequel when it comes out.
Our last Tim Burton film is probably the most popular Halloween film out of his films that he's done.
And the film is called The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Now this one is actually an animated movie and a musical.
So if you like musicals or animated film, it might be a great option.
Or if you have maybe teenagers or older children that you would like to watch with, this could be an option for you.
The film is a little bit of a controversial topic when it comes to if it's a Halloween film or not.
It's not really a very intense controversy, but some people argue that it's not a Halloween film.
And I'm going to describe the plot so you can understand why.
The movie centers around this character called Jack Skeleton.
So Jack Skeleton, like his last name implies, he is a skeleton and he lives in Halloween Town.
The movie is based in Halloween Town, but it actually takes place at Christmas time.
So part of the plot is that Jack Skeleton goes to Christmas Town and decides to try to take over Christmas.
He actually meets Santa Claus, so there's a lot of Christmas themes.
And because of that, people argue that it's actually not a Halloween film.
It's a Christmas film.
I say it doesn't really matter.
Watch it for both holidays.
Watch it at Halloween.
Watch it at Christmas.
Just enjoy the movie.
The music, I think, is really what makes this movie so iconic.
The opening song, the theme, This is Halloween, is one of my absolute favorite Halloween songs.
I play it every year and it is just iconic.
The music came from Danny Elfman.
Danny Elfman was the composer on this film, and he was also the composer on the other two Tim Burton films.
He and Tim Burton have a pretty close relationship.
So Danny Elfman did the music.
He also did the singing voice for Jack Skeleton, and the reason he was able to do the singing voice is because he was actually the front man, the lead singer of a band from the 1980s called Oingo Boingo.
If you're interested, if you like Jack Skeleton's singing voice, I would say check out that band.
They had some pretty big hits.
They were very popular here in the United States, and you can always listen to their music.
They do have one song called Dead Man's Party, which is another song that I play for Halloween.
Great song, great movie overall, and again, if you like animated films or musicals, you can check this one out.
Our fourth film on the list is not a Tim Burton film, but another classic Halloween film, and it is called Ghostbusters.
Now, this movie was a massive hit when it came out in 1984.
It was considered to be a cultural phenomena and was the second highest grossing film of the entire year.
The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, and Rick Moranis.
When it comes to 1980s comedy, you really can't get better than that cast.
The movie is more of a mixture of comedy, action, and horror, and it was extremely popular.
The plot centers around this group of Ghostbusters.
What they mean by Ghostbusters is that these are the people that you call when you have a ghost, when there's a ghost living in your house or at your work, these people will come and they will get rid of the ghost for you.
So they will bust that ghost for you.
So they're called Ghostbusters.
Like the Nightmare Before Christmas, this also has a classic Halloween song.
The song I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost is so popular, so iconic, and tied to this film.
Again, one of those songs that I play every year, and you can't get tired of listening to it.
For Ghostbusters, because it was so popular, there actually was a sequel called Ghostbusters 2 that came out in 1989.
So if you watch the first film and you enjoy it, please watch that second one.
It is another classic Halloween movie.
For the popularity that Ghostbusters had, they tried to reboot it in 2016, and they made an all -female version of Ghostbusters.
It wasn't as well -received, let's say.
It was a little bit mixed reviews, wasn't as popular, but it's a fine movie.
So if you're interested in Ghostbusters, you can check that one out.
There's also a newer sequel that's called Ghostbusters Afterlife.
So the franchise continues to live on, even though maybe they're not as popular or the newer installments aren't as well -received.
But again, if you watch this one and you enjoy it, you can check out those other films, and there's a total of four that you could watch.
The last movie on our list is Hocus Pocus.
This movie came out in 1993, and it is considered a cult classic Halloween film.
Now what that means is that when this film originally came out, it was not as well -received.
It was not like Ghostbusters.
It did not have the cultural impact.
So even though there was mixed reviews and it did okay at the theaters, it didn't become popular until after it got released on VHS and then years later on DVD when people could watch at home.
So when people discovered the movie on VHS or DVD later on, they fell in love with the film and started watching the film every year for Halloween.
So it didn't get popular until later on, and that's why it says it has a cult following or is considered to be a cult classic.
The film stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimi as three sisters who are from Salem, Massachusetts.
Now I have to say, in real life, Salem, Massachusetts has a little bit of a dark history.
It is tied to Halloween because it is the site of the Salem witch trials.
We don't have time to get into that today.
That'll have to be on a different episode, but it was a period of history where women were accused of being witches, and that's the setting for the beginning of the film.
The three sisters are accused of witchcraft and are executed in the town square.
Before that, though, there is a curse that gets put into place so that they can return on a full moon with the blood of a virgin.
After that, the movie flashes forward to 1993, which at the time was modern America, and of course the witches get released and now are exposed to modern day culture.
So this movie is more of a comedy, not really a scary, but more dealing with the antics of these women who are from the 1600s now getting transported to 1993 American culture.
Just like the other films, this movie is known for its music.
There is a song I Put a Spell on You, which is performed by Bette Midler.
If you haven't seen Bette Midler in other films or if you don't know who she is, she's a woman with an amazing singing voice.
She's a wonderful performer, and watching her perform I Put a Spell on You in this film is the highlight of the movie, at least for me it is.
It's a great song and it's a fun movie overall.
Just like Ghostbusters, because it is so popular, they did come out with a sequel.
There was a sequel that came out recently.
It's on Disney Plus.
If you have Disney Plus, you could watch it.
Not as well received, not as good as the original, but if you watch this film and you want to see how the story continues, you can check it out and you can watch that one as well.
Those are the five films on my list for Halloween movies.
I tried to include a little bit of something for everyone, so there's a scary option, action, animation, comedy.
Hopefully from that list, you can find at least one film, if not more, that you would be interested in watching.
I've said this before on previous podcasts, but I believe that input is crucial when you are trying to improve your English abilities, or really if you're trying to learn any language.
Watching TV and movies in English can help you with your listening comprehension, your passive vocabulary, your active vocabulary, and even your cultural awareness.
Those are all things that you want to improve when you are learning English.
Hopefully you have the time to watch one of these films and enjoy it and learn a little bit of English and a little bit more about the culture of the United States.
If you want more episodes like this, if you would like other film recommendations, please write a comment and let me know.
There's a lot more movies that I could recommend, so if that's something you're interested in in the future, write a comment and tell me about it.
If you're watching on YouTube, please leave a comment in the comment section below.
Let me know, what is your favorite Halloween film?
Is it something from this list?
Is it something totally different?
Let me know, I'd love to hear about it.
If you like the podcast so far, please leave a rating in whatever app you are using to listen to this podcast.
Like and subscribe so you don't miss our next episode when it comes out next week.
And until then, keep learning English.
