Your queue: Halloween Netflix Recommendations

Happy Halloween, boys and girls!

And happy birthday, Heroine Jones!

A little over a year ago, I kicked off this bookish blog with a list of classics for Halloween, but a lot of good that list will do you today.  It's Halloween right now.  You don't have time for books!

But I bet you might watch something terrifying tonight.  And if you don't have something in mind, I'm here to help you out, boys and girls.

Jarrod has a soft spot in his heart for horror films, zombies, and anything Stephen King, and while I have come to enjoy Stephen King and most horror films are manageable with an unmentionable amount of wine, I have found that I really prefer psychological thrillers to classic horror films.  You know the real creepy ones that leave you feeling slightly ill?  The ones that went where you weren't ready to go?

That's what this list is about. I've put some movies I've streamed from Netflix recently on a creepy continuum, starting with the safest and ending with the weirdest things I've possibly ever seen.  These aren't the heart-pounding, armrest-gripping, involuntary-jumping scary movies.  These are the creepy ones that a lot of Netflix scary movie round-ups I've seen have forgotten.  And remember that creepy doesn't often coincide with Academy Awards, so buckle up.

Creepy Fun

The Nightmare before Christmas (1993)

I bet you've seen this movie already, but I'm here to remind you it's available on Netflix. Tim Burton is so good at making you feel a little uncomfortable without feeling like you can never be in a room alone again, and this is the kid version of that, so it's totally safe.  It's just some good family fun with wonderful music and a cute ghost dog.

Corpse Bride (2005)

Tim Burton again with another melancholy kinda-dead girl hopelessly in love with a tall, skinny guy. There's also an arranged marriage gone morbidly wrong and some more fun musical numbers.

Creep Only a Cult Could Love

Donnie Darko (2001)

Cult classic. Troubled boy. Rogue airplane engine. Pills. Adult bunny costume. Last day of earth scheduled for Halloween. Kinda creepy but you'll be fine afterwards.

A Young Doctor's Notebook (2012)

A British miniseries with Daniel Radcliffe as a doctor in his residency in a small village hospital and Jon Hamm as the older morphine-addicted version of Radcliffe (that guy grew about a foot from his late 20s to his 40s! Remarkable!)  This is for people who are into dark British humor and comically gory surgery scenes.  Normally I wouldn't recommend this since I'm not sure if I ended up really liking it that much, but it could be a funny, gross 90-minute series to watch on Halloween.  (Has anyone seen this besides me?  I haven't heard anyone talk about it. What did you think of it?)

Creepy Mysteries 

The Paperboy (2012)

Not so much horror as suspense, this movie has Nicole Kidman, John Cusack, and Zac Efron, along with Matthew McConaughey in a role similar to his Mud character and set in swamp country like True Detective.  Kidman's character is in love with an incarcerated creep who was wrongly convicted for the murder of a sheriff.  Efron and McConaughey are brothers who get caught up in the case with a journalist friend.  Despite its great cast, The Paperboy did not get rave reviews across the board, but I found it interesting and definitely creepy.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Decades-old rapes, murders, and a disappearance mystery center around one unusual family in a small Swedish town. A male journalist and a gifted but troubled girl team up to solve this creepy mystery by delving into a creepy family's past.  (Heads up, there's a lot of weird sex stuff in this one, and actually The Paperboy has some, too.  This is the Creepy Mysteries with Some Weird Sex Stuff category, I guess.)

Creepiest Movie Ever Candidate

We Are What We Are (2013)

Proof that a scary movie can be made on a tiny budget, this independent film will leave you horrified.  Two socially-isolated sisters are forced to carry out their cannibalistic family's absurd interpretation of a Bible passage.  The ending will sort of make you wish you'd never watched it, which means it's probably a great film for Halloween.  Watch this one at your own risk.

Skip the candy and go straight for this salted caramel apple martini. 

Your queue: Netflix recommendations

Have any of you been jonesin' for some heroines?  I've got your fix!  I've been watching some (a lot) of Netflix recently, and I naturally gravitate toward strong female protagonists.  If you have Netflix, or even if you don't (the library I work at has all of these too), you should give these a try.

Lovelace (2013)
This follows the intriguing story of the porn star Linda Lovelace, played by Amanda Seyfried.  It first shows Linda's "success" as a young porn star and then backtracks and tells the more personal, behind-the-scenes story of how Linda was forced into the business.  In the end it is a powerful portrait of a girl trapped in the porn industry by a greedy, loveless husband and how she eventually escapes.

Call the Midwife, Seasons 1 & 2
This amazing British series tells the story of a group of midwives and nuns serving women in London's poor East End in the 1950s.  It is based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth.  The heartwarming show paints a beautiful picture of motherhood and sisterhood.  It shows the wonderful and also the painful, heartbreaking parts of becoming a mother and demonstrates the power of women helping women.  You will fall in love with the strong, compassionate characters and feel so warm and wholesome after each episode.

Miss Representation (2011)
This is a documentary about women's representation in the media and politics and how it influences America's youth and therefore our future.  It has shocking statistics about women in American government.  While the intensity level makes it seem like mere feminist propaganda, almost every point made is indisputably important.  This one affected me the strongest out the three Netflix selections because it is about the plight of women in the here and now, in my own country and my own generation.

Have a movie night! With popcorn! This sriracha butter popcorn is my current nighttime snack obsession.  So salty, spicy, and crunchy.  Maybe have some hot cocoa, too.  Let me know of any other Netflix heroines I should check out!

Review: Mr Selfridge

The fairly new ITV series Mr Selfridge follows the true story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, department store revolutionary.  The American moved to London, founded, and managed Selfridge & Co, and forever changed the way the world shops.  The talented cast includes Katherine Kelly, Aisling Loftus, Frances O’Connor (love her!) as Mrs. Selfridge, and Jeremy Piven as Mr. Selfridge.  The first season aired this spring with 8 episodes, with a second season set for 2014.  The show centers not only around the history and innovations of the store, but also the personal lives of the Selfridges and of several key employees, such as the ambitious shop girl Agnes Towler, window display artist Henri Leclair, chief of staff Mr. Grove, and aspiring entrepreneur Victor.

The excitement of the shopping world in London in the early 1900s is contagious, and the personal drama that the energetic Selfridge kindles is not as intense as, say, Downton Abbey or Mad Men, but it has a realistic quality that the melodramatic Downton Abbey cannot boast.  PBS advertised Mr Selfridge as something to stave off Downton Abbey withdrawal, and as another British-made Edwardian period drama, there are many similarities.  However, I would boldly say that I enjoyed Mr Selfridge more than I enjoyed the most recent season of Downton Abbey.  Because Mr Selfridge is based on historical people and their real lives, the characters are more relatable and much less irritating. *cough Lady Mary cough* The characters of Mr Selfridge are less self-pitying and self-engrossed than the DA bunch, making the show more upbeat even when unfortunate circumstances arise.

Most other critics of the show, including this NY Times reviewer and this Boston Globe reviewer, would disagree with me when I say Mr Selfridge is in many ways better than Downton Abbey.  They have called Mr Selfridge a guilty pleasure that lacks the focus and character depth of DA.  I say they are equally guilt-free entertainment.  Pretty Little Liars and The Big Bang Theory are guilt-worthy TV shows; the loosely historic Mr Selfridge is not.  While the quality of acting in Mr Selfridge is something to be desired at times, I thought that certain characters were well-done, including Agnes Towler and Rose Selfridge.  Actor Jeremy Piven seemed out-of-place playing the lively salesman at first, but he grew into the role when the darker and more personal sides of Harry Gordon Selfridge were explored.   By the end, I almost didn’t mind that there was no Maggie Smith.

From a feminist criticism perspective, Mr Selfridge does a remarkable job of expressing the powerlessness of women of all classes and situations of the time.  For example, even the highly persuasive and slightly conniving Lady Mae, with all her personal connections and love affairs, relies on her absent husband’s consent in all monetary affairs.  In the end, Lady Mae, a former show girl, only gained her persuasive power over important men like Selfridge and Selfridge’s backer because of her husband’s status.  The show also incorporates the British suffrage movement and depicts the store as a progressive supporter of the cause.

Overall, if you are a fan of Downton Abbey or other period dramas such as Mad Men, you should give Mr Selfridge a go.  The second season will be set in 1914 leading up to World War I, so it will resemble Downton Abbey even more, if that’s your cup of tea.