The Halloween 2024 selection: 3 films to watch

The witches, vampires and ghosts are getting ready, the pumpkins are being carved, the weather is getting cloudy and the night is getting longer… No doubt, Halloween is coming! To get in the mood, The Pathfinder has selected three films to watch or rewatch in October 2024.

1 The Witches of Eastwick 1987

Between his many films Mad MaxAustralian director George Miller has tried his hand at other genres, from animation to fantasy. With The Witches of Eastwickit offers a typical film from the late 1980s and 1990s, in the vein of Death suits you so well by Robert Zemeckis. Macabre and fantastic black comedy, The Witches of Eastwick follows the dreary daily life of three women in a small town, who unwittingly summon the man of their dreams, played by the eccentric Jack Nicholson.

After the idyllic encounter, the three women quickly realize that appearances can be deceiving. Starring Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, The Witches of Eastwick is a feminist fable that plays with the codes of fantasy and horror. Sometimes comical, sometimes frightening, the film also uses the eroticism of its subject to add a touch of spice, making the whole thing irresistible. Some effects bear witness to the period, but The Witches of Eastwick remains a classic of the Halloween period.

2 Doctor Sleep2019

Make a sequel to Shining ? The bet is risky as Stanley Kubrick’s film has become legendary. A tall order for horror master Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, The Midnight Club), which adapts the book Doctor Sleep by Stephen King in 2019, and again follows the character of Danny Torrance – played by Ewan McGregor –, now an adult and traumatized by the events he experienced as a child. Doctor Sleep further develops the notions surrounding the psychic power of the “Shining”, while a young girl possessing it is chased by an occult group, forcing Danny to open the doors to his past.

Without getting lost in excessive nostalgia, Doctor Sleep don’t forget to be a sequel to Shining and subtly brings the events of the first film to the forefront. The return to the Overlook Hotel has its small effect and Mike Flanagan’s film uses all the codes of horror to surprise and shock: tension, jump scare, body horror, psychological horror, physical violence… Doctor Sleep is a success!

3 Sweeney Todd, le Diabolique Barber de Fleet Street2007

When Tim Burton manages to adapt a Broadway gothic reference, he delivers with Sweeney Todd one of his best films. Musical comedy created by the master of the genre Stephen Sondheim in 1979, Sweeney Todd follows the revenge of a barber with a sharp blade, and his roommate who transforms his victims into meat pies. The duo composed of Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter once again works wonders in front of Tim Burton’s camera, between extreme gothicism, unstoppable macabre humor and sincere emotion.

Sweeney Todd, le Diabolique Barber de Fleet Street also works thanks to its cult songs, and if the film is forced to remove, or shorten some – in relation to the scene – the whole remains coherent and exhilarating. Thanks to the music, the macabre is at its peak and gives the film a surreal atmosphere. One of Tim Burton’s latest masterpieces!