Whether you squirm at the thought of a scary movie, are sick of the clichés of the horror genre, or are just looking for something to watch that’ll put you in the Halloween spirit, you’ve come to the right place! Each day from now through Halloween day, I’ll post about a movie or TV show that is emblematic of the season, free of slashing, spurting, or exorcising. The only requirements are thus: it must be available on a major streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, or Disney Plus), and it mustn’t be a well-known blockbuster. Sorry, Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Entry 7- The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Imagine that one of your friends convinces you to traverse the terrors of a haunted house. The very thought of the commercialized horrors waiting for you make your knees buckle, but you trust this friend unreservedly, so you pay the fee and slowly enter the doors of the diabolical mansion. Smoke pours through the entry way, the door slams behind you, and a crazed zombie suddenly appears. Knuckles whitened and teeth clenched, you brace for the worst. But then the zombie pulls up a barstool and starts telling jokes about being undead. This isn’t a haunted house…. This is a parody haunted house! You breathe a deep sigh of relief and enjoy the spooky journey immensely, not only because it’s legitimately funny, but because there’s a deep sense of catharsis that comes from laughing at something that mere minutes ago you deeply feared. These feelings of fun and relief are why I love parody horror, and one of my favorite examples of this genre (a tame example though it may be) has to be The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken follows Luther Heggs, ambitious reporter for The Courier Express, but more importantly, renowned goof within the small town of Rachel, Kansas. When the chief editor of The Courier Express asks for a volunteer to spend the night at the cursed Simmons Mansion on the 20th anniversary of its famous murder-suicide, Luther jumps at the opportunity. Luther spends a terror-filled night at the mansion, rife with all sorts of real horrors. However, these revelations are complicated by Luther’s boy-who-cried-wolf reputation, as he reported several outlandish stories in the past that all turned out to be comically false. Luther must take matters into his own hands and overcome his reputation in order to prove to his fellow townsfolk that his disturbing observations from that night in the mansion are all too real.
First and foremost, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a comedy, led by famed funny man Don Knotts, so this movie at no point tries to scare its audience. However, the classic haunted house elements are all there, from the creepy (and watered down) imagery, to the mystery surrounding the house, to the terrorized victims who dared to enter the mansion’s halls. The mystery element of the story is sufficiently engaging, and the campy humor is consistently great, with even a few genuine laugh-out-loud moments. You can feel that everyone in front of and behind the camera know exactly what kind of movie they’re making, and the charisma and silliness shine through effortlessly. If you’re looking for a halloween-centric comedy that’s more spooks and laughs than scares, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is the flick for you.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is streaming now for free on Peacock.
So that’s the list! What did you think? Let me know in the comments below, and if you missed part of the list, check out each entry in the menu tab above. Happy Halloween, everybody!
The(o)nly Movie Blog 