Sorceress of Suburbia (2011)

Director Fred Olen Ray has had one of the weirdest movie careers I’ve ever seen from any director. It’s not many filmmakers that can ride the tides of various trends creating softcore porn for basic cable, erotic thriller, cheapy horror movies, and then goofy Hallmark Channel Christmas movies in one career. Fred Olen Ray gets shit done, I guess, and “Sorceress of Suburbia” is one of his many forays in to the porn sub-genre.

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The Banana Splits in Hocus-Pocus Park (1972)

Before they became hacking and slashing horror movie characters (?), “The Banana Splits” were a niche kids program from the seventies. They were performers dressed in animal outfits that performed original pop rock like “The Monkees” and got in to various misadventures. They’d also show various animated shorts during the program. While I was never personally a fan, “The Banana Splits” were so much more interesting than “The Monkees” ever were. Their animated Halloween special is also one of the highlights of their television life, even if you’re not a fan.

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Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula (2022)

I usually have a lot of awful to say about modern Looney Tunes, but “Looney Tunes Cartoons” has at least tried to honor the legacy of the Looney Tunes. Say what you want about Warner’s handling of the Looney Tunes library but “Bugs Bunny’s Howl-O-Skreem Spooktacula” really isn’t half bad. It’s actually a pretty decent attempt to conjure up the spirit of the classic Looney Tunes as we remember. It has its finger on the pulse of the comic timing and classic raunch we know and love about the old shorts. It’s funny that Bugs Bunny gets the title of the program since he only has one short in the end of the program, meanwhile Porky has two that he shares with his usual foils.

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Mickey’s a Tale of Two Witches (2021)

“A Tale of Two Witches” is a weird special in that it involves Mickey telling the story that becomes the center of the entire short. There’s no reason why we have to keep jumping back and forth from Mickey telling Pluto the story, and getting to the story. I don’t know why this couldn’t have been just a stand alone Halloween tale. In either case, “A Tale of Two Witches” is a fun and simple Halloween special that has a good time celebrating the holiday.

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