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Welcome to Halloween, part one! All through the month of October, we'll be looking at some horror films you may or may not have seen, but you should! Our first pairing focuses on the lighter side of horror, films listed as "Horror Comedy." First up, it's the movie that brought to us the idea that zombies want brains, in 1985's "Night of the Living Dead"-inspired "Return of the Living Dead!" Directed by Dan O'Bannon, and written by John Russo (who wrote the screenplay for George Romero's original 1968 zombie classic), this film is Russo's version of a sequel! The movie follows a gang of punk-rock teens as they hang out in a nearby cemetary, waiting for one of their group to finish work at the nearby medical supply company. Unfortunately, at work, we discover that (supposedly), "Night of the Living Dead" was based on actual events, and the proof of those events is currently being stored in the basement! After a mishap while investigating the supposedly stored zombies, and a bad decision at a crematorium, the dead begin to rise from the nearby graveyard and go on a brains-seeking spree, all while the ever-dropping number of survivors try to figure out how to escape! With an ending ripe for sequels (and there were two), this is campy zombie fun at its earliest!

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Our second film focuses on the cause of the civil war, and the passage of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which outlawed slavery once and for all. In "Lincoln," directed by Steven Spielberg, the story follows President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he seeks to ensure passage of the 13th Amendment in the House of Representatives during the lame duck session of Congress before the results of the recent election take effect. His Secretary of State, William Seward (David Strathairn) is supporting his attempt, but his wife Mary Todd (Sally Fields) is in ill-health, and still grieving the loss of one of their children. The war within the White House, between the good of the nation and what's best for his family, is a constant backdrop to a tale of politics, back-room deals, and what it takes to get otherwise good men to publicly step up and do the right thing. The film also features Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, John Hawkes, Jackie Earl Haley, Bruce McGill, Jared Harris, Lee Pace, Gloria Reuben, and Jeremy Strong. Plus, the trio reveal what their first of two "Month of Halloween" horror pairings will be!

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The war between the states was like no war ever fought before, or after, in the United States of America, and it is to that war that we turn for this pairing. First up, the film that includes in its credits "And introducing Denzel Washington," the story of the Massachusetts 54th, the 2nd "colored" regiment in the Union. In "Glory" (1989), Edward Zwick directs a script based on surviving correspondence from the Civil War. The story follows Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) who is given the rank of Colonel and command of the Union army's first all-black company. With his second-in-command, Major Cabot Forbes (Cary Elwes) by his side, and aided by training officer Sergeant Major Mulcahy (John Finn), the pair oversee the training of a large squad of volunteers, including Sergeant Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), Private Trip (Denzel Washington), Private Jupiter Sharts (Jihmi Kennedy), and Corporal Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher). Fighting the indifference of the rest of Union command, the antipathy of other union soldiers, and the corruption of wartime officers occupying "enemy" territory, Colonel Shaw and the brave fighting men of the 54th prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all men deserve to fight for their country.

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We conclude our salute to director/producer George Pal with the film he was invited by the H. G. Well estate to make after his success with "The War of the Worlds." It's not space that is the subject of this film, however, but the fourth dimension: Time! In 1960's "The Time Machine," directed and produced by Pal, with a screenplay written by David Duncan, the story followed H. George Wells (played by Rod Taylor) who arrives late for dinner with his friends David Filby (Alan Young), Dr. Phillip Hillyer (Sebastian Cabot), Anthony Bridewell (Tom Helmore) and Walter Kemp (Whit Bissel), after housekeeper Mrs. Watchett (Doris Lloyd) has already served the meal. George is dirty, his clothing stained and torn, and he relates then his tale of creating a machine to allow him to travel through the fourth dimension of time as we would through the other three dimensions. He encounters World War I, then World War 2, then an Atomic War, after which he is entombed in solid rock. Eventually, after some 800,000 years, he arrives in a time of seeming idyllic prosperity and leisure for humanity. He witnesses a young woman drowning in a river, and watches as none of her companions even seem to notice, so he leaps in to save her. Weena (Yvette Mimieux) becomes his guide to the future society, helping him learn how humanity got this place. But she falls afoul of the grim underground dwellers known as the Morlocks, and they also take his machine, trapping him in the future. George must figure out how to gain access to the Morlock's subterranean domain, rescue Weena, and retrieve his machine, if he has any hope of ever return to his own time! And the trio reveal which American war serves as the backdrop for the next film pairing!

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