Bay Meadows

Fall is in the air and that means Halloween is just around the corner. It’s time to cozy up on the couch or bundle up and gather under the stars to watch your favorite flicks of the season. Planning to binge on your favorite fall series? Load up your Netflix or Hulu queue, take home some seasonal growlers from Fieldwork Brewing San Mateo, grab a pint from Humphry Slocombe in Bay Meadows Town Square and nosh on your favorites from the Autumn menu at ROAM Artisan Burgers. Find a few of our favorite movies sure to get you in the Halloween “Spirit”.

The Classics

1. Dracula: The ancient vampire Count Dracula arrives in England and begins to prey upon the virtuous young Mina.

2. Frankenstein: An obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses.

3. Bride of Frankenstein: Having survived the ordeal in Frankenstein, the good Dr. Frankenstein (goaded by an even madder scientist) builds his monster a mate.

4. Night of the Living Dead: George Romero’s masterpiece introducing a new genre that is still going strong today.  A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.

Scary Stuff

5. The Shining: A writer becomes caretaker of an isolated hotel and soon discovers the hotel’s dark secrets, transforming him into a maniac terrorizing his family.

6. Halloween: Halloween all but invented an entire sub-genre of slasher horror movies, those that take place on All Hallows’ Eve.  There is a bit of gore, but the suspense is what defines this John Carpenter classic.

7. The Haunting: A scientist doing research on the paranormal invites two women to a haunted mansion. One of the participants soon starts losing her mind. It’s an oldie, but a goodie.

8. The Conjuring: Paranormal investigators work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their farmhouse.

9. The Others: A woman who lives in a darkened old house with her two photosensitive children becomes convinced that her family home is haunted.

Kid-Friendly

10. Hocus Pocus: Three witches who are on a hunt for eternal youth on Halloween. A heroic young trick-or-treater falls into their clutches when her older brother wakes them from a deep sleep.

11. ParaNorman: The main character, Norman, is just your average kid who sees dead people.

12. The Nightmare Before Christmas: Tim Burton’s now-classic film is one of the rare movies that works well as both a Halloween and a Christmas movie.

13. Monster House: Overall this is a fun movie that does not shy away from being just the right amount of scary for kids.

14. Hotel Transylvania: When monsters want to get away from it all, they go to Count Dracula’s Hotel Transylvania, a lavish resort where they can be themselves without humans around to bother them.

15. Frankenweenie: The movie is not only a wonderful homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein, but also to B-horror movies of the 1950s.

16. It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: This holiday treat from the Peanuts gang focuses on Charlie Brown’s right-hand man, Linus, as he waits for the mysterious Great Pumpkin.  A classic.

Not-So-Scary

17. The Addams Family: They may be creepy, mysterious, and spooky, but above all, they are kooky — making this a fun flick the whole family can watch.

18. Edward Scissorhands: Tim Burton’s masterpiece. A gentle man, with scissors for hands, is brought into a new community after living in isolation. Danny Elfman’s soundtrack really makes this a wonderful movie. Bring a hankie.

19. Young Frankenstein:  A hilarious twist on a creepy classic. If you loved Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, then this one can’t be missed.

20. Caroline: A young girl discovers another world where the grass seems greener—but is soon tormented by the twisted beings within.  A new twist on the Alice-In-Wonderland story.

Load up your watch list and queue to kick off the season! Happy Hauntings.

Walkscore.com rates Bay Meadows high on the list for walkable locations to live on the San Francisco Peninsula and for good reason! Why? Because we are steps from shopping (Hillsdale Center), groceries (Whole Foods), parks, and an easy bike-ride from downtown San Mateo with its burgeoning restaurant scene. And the Hillsdale Caltrain Station is a quick stroll from anywhere in the neighborhood. Learn all about connecting the dots for your many transportation options with Connect San Mateo.