Employee Picks: Halloween-Themed Alternatives to Every New Release

(Welcome to Employee Picks, a series where Jacob Knight uses his day job expertise as a video store manager to recommend unique and often overlooked alternative options to the big movies hitting theaters and home video.)

Seeing how October’s my favorite month of the year (Season of the Witch!), you can expect some extra spooky selections in this edition of Employee Picks, which will pair well with that Pumpkin Ale you just picked out at the liquor store (no judgement, enjoy that themed brew, baby).

Now, enough with the chit chat. Let’s pick up our weapons of choice (be it axe, pick, machete or chainsaw) and start tearing victims apart…

The Major Release: Venom

Your Alternative: Shivers (1975, d. David Cronenberg)

“I have a parasite.” This is how Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock shrugs off a convenience store rampage in Venom, a rather ill-advised (but still fairly entertaining) adaptation of the edge-lord Spider-Man spin-off character. No such easy explanation is offered in David Cronenberg’s first “official” (read: non-underground) feature film, Shivers. An unpolished work of paranoid horror, punctuated with moments of black humor, Shivers somewhat resembles a carnally-minded Canadian answer to H.G. Lewis’ Florida-based splatter. The first cinematic example of Cronenberg viewing the human body as little more than a disposable vessel, the tenants of the Starliner Towers are possessed by slug-like parasites that were manufactured by a man looking to transform the world into one massive, mindless orgy. The fact that Cronenberg got one of Mario Bava’s favorite female horror icons (Barbara Steele), and George A. Romero refugee Lynn Lowry to play in this initial depraved sandbox was only further proof that the mad Canadian belonged in the class of celluloid lunatics (along with Romero, Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven) emerging during the 70s via these independently financed nightmares. He got better from here, yet Shivers is still essential.

Shivers is available to stream on Amazon.

The Major Release: A Star Is Born

Your Alternative: Black Roses (1988, d. John Fasano)

While certainly not playing in the same arena rock venues as Bradley Cooper’s big, muscular directorial debut (which features a killer Lady Gaga performance), Black Roses is the metal horror movie that you’ve probably never seen (and should seek out ASAP). Directed by self-proclaimed thrasher king John Fasano – who’d just helmed the Jon Mikl Thor freak out Rock ‘n’ Roll Nightmare the year before – and featuring a soundtrack filled with bangers from the likes of bands such as Lizzie Borden, Black Roses is an insane, Canuxploitation love letter to the Satanic Panic era of the ‘80s. The plot (regarding up-and-coming rockers who are also demons) is the thing of distorted lore, but what you really sign up for here is the go-for-broke exploitation attitude that’s cemented Fasano’s sophomore feature as a stone cult classic. If you haven’t seen it yet, go get your face melted this Halloween.

Black Roses is available on DVD, courtesy of Synapse Films.

The Major Release: Bad Times At the El Royale

Your Alternative: Identity (2003, d. James Mangold)

Much how Bad Times At the El Royale finds a group of mysterious strangers all converging on the titular glorious rest stop of old, James Mangold constructed a rather twisty, Agatha Christie-inspired whodunit fifteen years ago with Identity. Long before he was helping (re-)legitimize comic book cinema with Logan, Mangold made this nasty little horror movie, where nothing and nobody are quite what they seem. Though the shocking ending may be a bit too much for some folks (note: this writer loves it), there’s something refreshingly mean-spirited about this studio horror picture, which dares to kill off almost all of your favorite characters in brutal fashion. Plus, you get Jake Busey full-on channeling his dad’s characteristic crazy, while John Cusack tries to hold it all together as the ex-cop straining to keep everyone alive. This is a rather superlative, rain-soaked piece of pulp fiction that might’ve flown under your radar upon initial release, but is well worth a watch on a chilly October eve.

Identity is available on Blu-ray, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

The Major Release: Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Your Alternative: One Dark Night (1982, d. Tom McLoughlin)

Before he made the second-best Friday the 13^th movie (Part VI: Jason Lives), Tom McLoughlin crafted this little PG-rated horror movie that’s aimed squarely at adolescents. Even the title sounds like the start of a silly campfire tale, where a cadre of brats try to one-up each other via spooky stories about ghosts and ghouls. However, McLoughlin also distills the horror genre down to its purest essentials: the thrill of exploring a place that you shouldn’t be (in this case, a mausoleum), whipping up an enigmatic thrill ride in the process. For many seasoned horror pros, One Dark Night is going to be a “been there, done that, many times” proposition. But, much like RL Stine’s “training wheels” YA horror series, this will be a gateway drug for young explorers of the macabre, urging them to explore more gruesome genre offerings down the line.

One Dark Night is available to stream on Amazon.