The tube speeds toward Halloween with ever more movie terror, plus series scares (and silliness). There's everything from Lon Chaney's silent chillers to the trashy trick-or-treat of Roseanne.
Fright films are running nonstop through Sunday's holiday on AMC (FearFest is already in high gear) and Turner Classic Movies (starting Thursday at 8 p.m. ET).
Among TCM's trickiest treats -- kid Jodie Foster creeping out Martin Sheen in The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Thursday night at 12:15 a.m. ET), Hammer horror night (Friday 8 p.m.-2:45 a.m. ET), and Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera (Sunday night at 1:30 a.m. ET, all on TCM).
AMC hosts its own gems -- Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (Saturday at 8 p.m. ET, Sunday at 6 p.m. ET), Sam Raimi's Evil Dead II (Saturday at 10:15 p.m. ET), and John Carpenter's original Halloween (Sunday at 8 a.m. ET, all on AMC).
Other channels chip in with the likes of Jaws (Thursday at 7:50 p.m. ET, Encore Action), The Fly (1958/1986 Saturday at 8 p.m./10 p.m. ET and midnight/2 a.m. ET, Fox Movie Channel), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Sunday at 4:50 p.m. ET, Encore). Not to mention 12 runs of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (every two hours Sunday 6 a.m.-Monday 6 a.m. ET, Fox Movie Channel).
TV keeps pace with 24 hours of Twin Peaks (Saturday 6 a.m.-Sunday 6 a.m. ET, Sleuth) and the short-lived Matthew Fox series Haunted (Sunday 6 a.m.-5 p.m. ET, repeated 5 p.m.-4 a.m. ET, Universal HD).
Sitcoms worth watching include both of those '60s monstercoms -- The Munsters (Saturday 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET, Hallmark; Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. ET, WGN America), and my personal fave, the kinkier comedy of The Addams Family (Saturday 6 p.m.-3 a.m. ET, Hallmark).
But no show ever understood the adult appeal of Halloween better than Roseanne (late Saturday/early Sunday 2-4 a.m. ET, Sunday 6-7 a.m. ET, late Sunday midnight-3 a.m. ET, TV Land).
And if you're lucky enough to have access to two less-than-pervasive channels, enjoy New York's live Greenwich Village Halloween Parade (Sunday 7-10 p.m. ET, WPIX/11) and the ballyhoo movie salute Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story (Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Documentary Channel). Psych up first with five Castle flicks (including Homicidal and Mr. Sardonicus) Saturday 11:45 a.m.-8 p.m. ET on TCM.