A new month means a new @yourtop3 contest over on the Hive platform. This time Q (the Top 3 mascot) is going for the very seasonal topic, your Top 3 Favorite Halloween Movies!

Needless to say, my reaction when I saw the topic was…

Funny thing though, even though there are so many movies I love that might be considered Halloween related, it wasn’t hard to pick my top 3, especially when I narrowed it down to those that were actually related to the holiday and weren’t just spooky films.

My initial list of favorite movies set at Halloween or with Halloween scenes was –

The Crow
Practical Magic
Hocus Pocus
Arsenic & Old Lace
Casper
E.T.

I really wanted to add The Lost Boys to that list since, as I just mentioned in my latest Tarot Tuesday, it’s the first movie date I had with hubby, and having just celebrated 31 married years together (33 total) on Wednesday, it seemed like a perfect choice. But given that the first three on my list are faves that do take place on October 31st (or in the case of Practical magic, scenes set on the holiday), I figured I’d go with those, and save my Boys for another Q round (if it fits a topic before Q rides off into the sunset… 😲 ).

So to make it official…

My Top 3 Favorite Favorite Halloween Movies

Nomination 1 – The Crow

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REASON

At some point during the fall of 1994 (I can’t recall off the top of my head if it was September or October) hubby & I decided to rent The Crow from the local family owned video store down the street from us. I know we’d wanted to see it at the movie theater but when it came out during May of the same year, my late father had just had a double knee replacement surgery (which led to a host of complications) and I discovered around that same time that we were expecting our eldest, so to say we were a bit distracted is an understatement.

As we were sitting on the couch watching, during the first big fight scene with the loud pounding music, all of a sudden I felt big movements in my belly. I’d felt some flutters before, but this was full on movement, like our eldest was mimicking Eric Draven’s combat style. I remember hubby leaning over and holding my belly with both hands (as I was doing) as we were saying, “wow” to the movie and the motions, and we were both laughing in amazement at both.

No wonder that many, many years later I ended up making reference to this movie in my Tarot interpretation for The Empress card (most recently spotted in my reading for September 8th 2020), saying (in part) – Oh, and sometimes when I see this card, I can hear Eric Draven saying (as he quotes William Makepeace Thackeray), “Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children.”

Oh, and the movie itself, about a man who comes back from the dead the night before Halloween (on Devils Night) to avenge the murders of his bride-to-be (they were supposed to get married on Halloween) and himself, is amazing, and we re-watch it nearly on a yearly basis. It’s such a strange juxtaposition though, that this film will always remind me of one of the first times I felt a connection with my first child, while it also reminds me of how short life can be (given the tragedy that befell Brandon Lee during filming).

Nomination 2 – Practical Magic

Practical Magic - Favorite Halloween Movies

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REASON

I read the book, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (which I just realized was published the same year the eldest was born – 1995!) and loved it so much I immediately reread it. So when I first heard about the movie, I was less than enthusiastic, given the cinematic versions of novels don’t always live up to the movie that plays in my brain whilst reading.

We actually got to see this in the movie theater – when it came out in October of 1998, our second baby was just over a year old, but my mother was living with us, so we were able to score a babysitter for a move date night pretty easily. I quickly forgot about the book versions of Sally & Gillian and got lost in the magic of the Owens sisters. Even the somewhat corny scene at the end, with the pointy witch hats, striped stockings, and the town gathered to watch them “fly” off their roof (I’d been a witch for almost a decade at that point) didn’t ruin the vibe for me, and this is another one we re-watch at least once a year.

Oh, and this movie also got a reference in my Tarot card interpretations – this time for the Three of Cups (most recently seen on September 29th 2020), which I end with saying, Don’t stop to try and analyze the situation – just enjoy the (practical) magic of the moment, and give in to the joy. Even if it’s something as simple as turning up the radio and dancing around in your kitchen with some midnight margaritas. You deserve this happiness.

Nomination 3 – Hocus Pocus

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REASON

I’m just realizing all three of my choices happen to be from the 1990s – too funny! And I have to admit, when I first saw Hocus Pocus (fairly certain it wasn’t until it started making the rounds during October on the Disney channel), I wasn’t terribly impressed. It was hokey, with a silly plot (a teenage boy accidentally resurrects three ancient witches on All Hallows Eve), but it was kinda fun. Then after seeing it nineteen bazillion times (again thanks to the perpetual reruns on TV during the spooky season), the Sanderson sisters really grew on me.

While I don’t quote the movie in any of my Tarot interps, hubby & I do say, “Amok, amok, amok, amok, amok!” on a fairly frequent basis. And I did create this gif to announce the creation (back in April of 2018) of the now unfortunately named @steemitwitchery account…

via GIPHY

There are my choices for Favorite Halloween Movies! And while the contest prizes are limited to bloggers on the Hive blockchain, I figure there are lots of other bloggers out there who might want to share their faves too. Instead of offering crypto prizes like the @yourtop3 crew, I thought I’d offer a little social media exposure instead.

So if anyone wants to jump aboard and write a post about your Top 3 Favorite Halloween Movies, please feel free to drop a link to it (no time limit) in my comment section, along with your Twitter handle, if you have one, and I’ll do my best to take a peek and give it a tweet!

One last thing – a big thank you to the awesomesauce peeps behind this monthly crypto contest (now with the wicked awesomesauce addition of a Champions League!) @plantstoplanks, @nickyhavey, @foxyspirit, and @cheese4ead – you guys and gals ROCK!

Image Credits: blog thumbnail created on Canva using a graphic created by @yourtop3 for this month’s post.