Halloween Movie Checklist

The leaves have turned, it's dark and rainy, and bags of candy corn and bite-sized Butterfingers fill store shelves. That's right. It's time for - oooooh! - Halloween. Since I'm too old to go trick-or-treating, as is my dear child, I must be content to celebrate the season glued to my favorite horror films and Halloween specials.

Yes, yes. I've posted about this before (check out October 2005, 2006, etc). I'm very picky about which scary movies I consider Halloween-fare (no Alfred Hitchcock, for example), so it's time to review my Halloween Must-Sees to find out how I'm doing. Because Halloween won't come if I haven't seen the following by midnight Saturday:

1. The Haunting (1963) - Nope. Turner Classic Movies has it scheduled during the late night hours on a week night. Do I stay up, or not?

2. Hocus Pocus (1993) - Check.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) - Check.

4. Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) - Check.

5. Worst Witch (1986) - Nope. This one's hard to find, but daughter has my DVD, so unless some TV network decides to reach way back in its vault, I guess I won't be following the trials and tribs of Mildred Hubble.

7. The Uninvited (1944) - Nope. Hoping TCM has it on the schedule this week.

8. It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) - Soon-to-be-Check. Airs tonight, I think.

9. Simpsons Treehouse of Horror (all o' dem) - Partial check. Have seen about 6 years' worth so far. Looking for the early ones.

10. Rosanne Halloween Episodes (all o' dem) - Partial check. Hoping TV Land gives me a Rosanne Halloween marathon before Saturday.

11. Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931) - Nope. Again, hoping Turner Classic Movies has them on the schedule.

12. The House on Haunted Hill (1959) - Nope. Still looking.

13. Sleepy Hollow (1999) - Nope. Looking.

14. Rosemary's Baby (1969) - Check.

15. Halloween (1978) - Yup. Big check.

16. Carrie (1976) - Soon-to-be-Check. I'll watch it on pay-per-view if it doesn't come on one of the freebies.

Hmm. So it seems Halloween may not come this year. There are a lot of non-checks on this list. Ever hopeful, I will stock up on candy corn and cider, just waiting to be creeped out by one of these gems. (Don't even talk to me about remakes . . .)

What cinematic wonder(s) do you need to get you through Halloween?