Pre-Halloween, choose horror in place of candy

Above : A scene from the 1988 French horror/mystery “The Vanishing” (“Spoorloos”). (Rottentomatoes.com)

Halloween this year is likely to be far different than in Octobers past.

It’s not as if people won’t be wearing masks while they go trick or treating. It’s just that they’re likely to be wearing the wrong kinds of masks.

Unless they’re dressed up as doctors or nurses.

And that, of course, is if they choose to go out at all, masked or not.

Halloween is more than stuffing your face with candy, though. It’s about being scared. And nothing scares some of us more than horror movies.

Just off the top of my head, here are three scary moments that, even though some are decades old, still freak me out:

• The closing shot in “The Blair Witch Project.” And I wasn’t the only one freaked out. I saw the film with a sold-out crowd in Pittsburgh, and when the curtain went up everyone just sat there stunned.
• The scene in “Burnt Offerings” when a crazy-eyed Karen Black jumps out of a chair and attacks Oliver Reed. And “crazy-eyed” when it comes to Black isn’t just redundant.
• The final scene in the original version of “The Vanishing” (or “Sporloos” ), which I won’t describe because … well, you just have experience it to feel the full impact. No spoilers.

By the way, that last film, which was directed by French filmmaker George Sluizer, is a perfect example of why when it comes to horror, Europe typically knows best. Even though he himself directed the American version, the finale of the remake (which stars Jeff Bridges) was a complete copout – which is evidence that the producers didn’t believe that U.S. audiences were ready for true horror.

But don’t take my word for it. Just go online to www.kinonow.com and see for yourself. Kino Now is the video-on-demand site for Kino Lorber , the New York-based film distributor that releases some 25 films theatrically every year (except, perhaps, for 2020).

In addition, it boasts a library of what its own publicity department describes as the “finest art-house and international titles.”

They aren’t exaggerating. Some of the films that I have seen through the Kino Lorber subsidiary Kino Marquee include the Brazilian mind-twist “Bacurau” (courtesy of the Magic Lantern), the British drama “Sorry We Missed You” and, just this week, the American-made documentary “Oliver Sacks: His Own Life.”

But I was talking about horror, right? And Kino Now boast a whole collection of some of the most bizarre European horror films ever made.

How are these for intriguing titles? “A Virgin Among the Living Dead,” “Dracula’s Fiancée,” “Hatchet for the Honeymoon,” “Lips of Blood,” “The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein,” “The Living Dead Girl” and “The Nude Vampire.”

Europeans clearly love to conflate weird sex with their horror.

I can see how the coming weeks are going to shape up around my house. Renting these Euro Horror movies isn’t particularly expensive (“The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein” costs a mere $1.99 to rent through Kino Now).

But even if they were to cost more, I should be able to afford it. After all, I probably won’t be spending a lot on candy this year.

Not to give out, anyway.