Halloween is just around the corner so it’s about time we pull out the popcorn and candies and sit on the couch to rewatch the most ooky pooky spooky Halloween movies ever made with the spirit of celebrating Halloween. Here are some of our (and your) favourite Halloween specials to watch this season:
Wellington Paranormal (2018- 2022)
Officer O’Leary, Sergeant Maaka and Officer Minogue (From left to right)
Created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, Wellington Paranormal is a spin-off series to their internationally renowned franchise- ‘What We do in the Shadows.’ In the show we follow officers O’Leary and Minogue of the Wellington police force, two characters that were first introduced in the 2014 feature film- ‘What we do in the Shadows.’
In the show, the officers are entrusted by Sergeant Maaka to solve cases which are paranormal in nature, around the greater Wellington area. While in the tv show version of ‘What we do in the Shadows,’ the documentary film crew follows the shenanigans of four new vampires and their familiar in Staten Island New York. In Wellington Paranormal, the show expands on the different types of supernatural entities existing in Wellington, New Zealand, by incorporating creatures existing in Maori folklore with vampires, ghosts, aliens, werewolves and much more.
Flight of the Conchords
It is a hilarious tv show which follows a mockumentary format. The humour is very similar to another show- ‘Flight of the Conchords,’ which was incidentally also created by Jemaine Clement along with Brett McKenzie and James Bobbin. The show is a healthy mix between ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ and ‘The X-Files.’ I particularly really enjoy the dead-pan delivery, constant self-deprecation and awkwardness, along with good ol’ Kiwi civil sensibilities.
If you really enjoy ‘What we do in the Shadows,’ the short film, the featured length film and the television show, then Wellington Paranormal is a hoot but it is also a hoot as a stand-alone show as well.
BBC’s Ghosts (2019- 2023)
BBC’s Ghosts is created by- Mathew Bayton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard and Ben Willbond, or as they are more commonly known as, ‘the six idiots,’ best known for creating CBBC’s Horrible Histories, a show meant to educate children about world history with main focus on British history based on the books by Terry Deary and Peter Hepplewhite.
In Ghosts, the show follows Alison and her husband Mike who inherit Alison’s distant relative’s mansion called the ‘Button House.’ The two bright-eyed young individuals, decide to turn the house into a nice boutique hotel. However, the ghosts that haunt the house aren’t so happy with this intrusion and cause a minor accident which was devised to scare the couple but which ends up giving Alison, the power to see and talk with the ghosts.
The show mostly follows the living and the dead navigating day-to-day life with minor hindrances. The show has a unique blend of humour and educational quality, with each ghost belonging to a different era in British history.
It also depicts how boring life can be as a ghost, cohabitating with the same ghosts for centuries and all the little activities they enjoy to-ward off boredom such as watching ‘FRIENDS,’ or learning how to weave a basket theoretically (because the ghosts can’t actually hold anything tangible). My favourite ghost amongst all of the ghosts is ‘Mary’ a woman who was accused of being a witch and was burnt at the stake during the witch trials.
Mary played by Katy Wix.
All in all, BBC’s Ghosts is a very funny, and a very wholesome series.
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace (2004)
The only Tv programme on our list which was deemed, “so radical, so risky, so dangerous, so goddamned crazy, that the so-called powers that be, became too scared to show it.”
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, might be one of the shortest series on this list, it is however, one of the most creative and inventive shows, I have ever seen.
The show follows Garth Marenghi, a horror novelist, whose 1980’s show Darkplace is finally getting televised in Britain. Darkplace which is “based on the melodies originally whistled by Garth Marenghi,” follows Dr Rick Dagless, Dr Lucien Sanchez, Dr Liz Asher and hospital administrator Thorton Reed as they try their best to ward off the evil that looms around Darkplace, due to a portal opened to Hell. With added commentary by Garth Marenghi, his publisher/ producer/ the man who plays Thorton Reed- Dean Learner and actor Todd Rivers who portrays Dr Sanchez, in each episode they commentate on their acting choices, the story behind the episode and how it was so radical.
Created, written and starring Richard Ayoade and Mathew Holness, the show was adapted from their stage show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. And although, when the series originally aired, it wasn’t an instant hit, it slowly built a cult following in the DVD market.
Garth Marenghis’s Darkplace is about a show within a show filled with intentionally bad acting, editing and special effects. The series has an official spin-off chat show called ‘Man to Man with Dean Learner,’ which is equally funny and available to watch for free on YouTube, so is Darkplace. I can’t recommend this show enough, it is so good and so funny.
