Movies With Memorable Halloween Scenes (Part 1) Quiz

Answer:

Here are the films that have a Halloween scene in the story:

The last scene of the 1991 film "The Addams Family" features a memorable Halloween scene in which the Addamses celebrate Halloween with family and friends. Trick or treaters come to the door and when the butler Lurch answers the door they look up at him, scream, and run away. Morticia (Anjelica Huston) remarks how happy she is to spend Halloween with her reunited family after Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) recovers his memory. And when the daughter Wednesday is asked "Where is your costume?" she replies, "This IS my costume. I'm a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else." The Halloween celebration culminates with their game, "Wake the Dead" in which everyone heads out to the family cemetery, carrying shovels. They call out, "Wake up, Grandpa Addams, it's Halloween!"

Adapted from the hit Broadway play, actually every scene in "Arsenic and Old Lace" (1944) takes place on Halloween as the film encompasses the day and night of Halloween. A title card at the beginning announces, "This is a Halloween tale of Brooklyn, where anything can happen, and it usually does." The original play however was not set during Halloween; that was something that director Frank Capra added for the film, in which Cary Grant plays drama critic Mortimer Brewster surrounded by murderous relatives, some kindly and some sadistic.

In 1995's "Batman Forever", the Halloween-night sequence marks a tumultuous plot shift. After bona fide trick or treaters rang Wayne Manor's doorbell and Alfred greeted them warmly with candy, the Riddler and Two-Face then show up wearing masks. The two villains had discovered Bruce Wayne's secret identity as Batman (Val Kilmer), and when Alfred opens the door, the Riddler knocks him unconscious with his question-mark cane, shouting "Trick!" Barging inside, they proceed to wreck and wreak havoc inside, including the Batcave, where the Riddler destroys Batman's equipment. They also kidnap Bruce's girlfriend, Dr. Chase Meridian.

The film "Casper" is about Casper the Friendly Ghost, and in this live-action with animation movie, the film ends with a Halloween party at the haunted Whipstaff Manor. There is an emotional encounter between the film's Kat Harvey (played by Christina Ricci, also in in "The Addams Family") and Casper whereby thanks to a magical wish, he is allowed to briefly take human form and share a dance with Kat.

We all remember the iconic Halloween scene in "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" when Elliott (Henry Thomas) and his brother and sister use Halloween trick-or-treating as the perfect opportunity to hide E.T. from the adults, since everyone in the neighborhood looks just as unusual in their costumes. The famous in-joke that director Steven Spielberg inserts is when E.T. spots a trick-or-treater dressed as Yoda from George Lucas's "Star Wars" film franchise, and E.T. thinks "Yoda" is one of his own kind-an alien.

The film "Hocus Pocus" opens with a 17th-century prologue, but the rest of the entire film, like "Arsenic and Old Lace" takes place on Halloween night in present-day Salem, Massachusetts. The Sanderson Sisters, Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy), and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) are resurrected after 300 years when a teenage boy named Max Dennison lit the Black Flame Candle. The three witch sisters then proceed with their ghastly plan to steal the life force from children to regain their former youth and power. They crash a Halloween party at the town's high school, and cast a magical spell over the partygoers while they perform the song "I Put a Spell on You."

A school Halloween pageant scene at Billy's (young Justin Henry) school, marks a sign of how Ted (Dustin Hoffman) has evolved as a caring father in "Kramer vs. Kramer." The scene occurs at a point where his wife has already left him, and he is in the audience watching the Halloween presentation in which his son, dressed as what has been described as a sort of vampire/pilgrim, is the announcer. Billy starts out, "Ladies and Gentlemen..." but then finds himself on shaky ground suffering from stage fright. From the audience his father comes to rescue whispering loudly to Billy, "Welcome to our Halloween Pageant." Billy continues with a bit more help from his teacher with cueing him, and Billy gets to the key moment, "... With ghosts and goblins, and ghostly ghosts and wicked witches and spookety spooks" at which point the bed-sheet "curtain" saying "HAPPY HALLOWEEN" parts and reveals his classmates in costumes.

In the comedy "Mean Girls", the new girl at the North Shore High School, Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), is invited by her crush, Aaron Samuels (Jonathan Bennett) to a Halloween party. Present at that party, is a trio of mean girls known as The Plastics-they are Regina George who is costumed sexily as a Playboy Bunny, Gretchen Wieners who is dressed sexily as Catwoman, and Karen Smith who is dressed sexily as a mouse in a black negligee. But poor Cady came dressed as...a zombie. Sure, it's appropriate for a Halloween party but the Plastics scoff that she was trying too hard, and sarcastically call it "so scary." Regina kisses Aaron right in front of Cady, and this is the turning point that spurs Cady's plane for revenge.

"Ordinary People" follows the emotional dysfunction of the Jarrett family-father Calvin, mother, Beth and their son Conrad. They're all trying to cope with the boating accident death of their older son, Buck, which has led to the emotional collapse of Conrad. The Halloween scene happens after Conrad returns home from the hospital, still however, in emotional distress. His mother, Beth, is home greeting trick-or-treaters at the door, cheerily giving them candied apples, and making sweet comments about their costumes. The warm festive vibe serves as a stark contrast to the inner turmoil the family members are suffering, a turmoil that rises up again so soon after the door closes on the Halloweeners. The holiday is the perfect metaphor for what the family is going through-mourning the deceased during this Day of the Dead, and putting on a mask of propriety and control when inside their guts are churning.

"A Perfect World" begins with Kevin Costner's Butch escaping from prison on Halloween night-a perfect metaphor as Halloween is when ghosts escape to roam the world, but it also will signify Phillip's escape, the young boy that Butch kidnaps and journeys with as he stays ahead of the law. That young boy is also escaping an oppressive homelife under the thumb of his Jehovah's Witness mother. Butch will wind up stealing a Casper the Friendly Ghost Halloween costume which Phillip will wear when trick-or-treating which he was never allowed to do. Butch is a "ghost child" himself in a way, as he recalls being an eight-year-old without a father and living with his mother in a brothel. He recalls also shooting a man who was beating up his mother. By the way, director Clint Eastwood who plays the lawman on Butch's trail-also plays himself (uncredited) in the movie "Casper" which is among the films in this list with a Halloween scene.

And now here are the films in this collection, that do NOT have a Halloween scene in them"

The animated film "Coraline" maybe have a spooky vibe, but Halloween is never mentioned, nor depicted.

"Dressed To Kill" is a psycho-sexual thriller with murder and suspense, but no mention of Halloween settings or events.

The holiday during which "Edward Scissorhands" takes place is explicitly Christmas, in a suburban town, with notable scenes featuring snow and Christmas decorations.

Neither "Ghostbusters", nor its sequel, "Ghostbusters II" have any Halloween scenes. The animated TV series "The Real Ghostbusters" though, did have several Halloween episodes with villain even named Samhain.

It would be a good Halloween film to put on your Halloween list of films to watch that night, however, there are no scenes in "The Sixth Sense" that depict Halloween.