Greetings, fellow fright film fiends of friendly Winchester. 

The air is brisk and candied with the aroma of burning leaves as we venture out in what is now officially, “sweater weather.” I’ll stick to my old reliable hoodie. 

The nights come upon quickly, and its darkness wraps us in its mysterious embrace, holding us a little bit longer each day as the sun disappears on the horizon.

This light switch change of the season means one thing: Halloween is lurking about in the shadows waiting for Oct. 31.

For as long as I can remember, October has always and always will keep me excited.

The decorations, haunted attractions, costumes, the countdown to trick or treating and, of course, the scary cinema classics, make it a fun time for the kid at heart. 

This year, those old fun, fright-filled feeling have returned full force with this week’s release of “Halloween” (2018).

Here are some haunting films to consider this season.

To catch you up to speed, the original “Halloween” (1978) was the blockbuster slasher film about Michael Myers (the guy wearing the painted Star Trek William Shatner mask and wielding a knife) returning to his hometown of Haddonfield after escaping a mental hospital just in time for the 15-year anniversary of murdering his older sister on Halloween in 1963. 

Old habits die hard and so do residents and baby sitters of Haddonfield as they fall prey to the emotionless killing machine, Michael. 

Michael is on a mission to kill Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) all the while being being hunted by his obsessed psychiatrist. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance), will do everything he can to save Haddonfield from Michael’s hand of doom. 

“Halloween” and its writer/director, John Carpenter of Bowling Green, were instrumental in not just my excitement of older horror films, but with cinema itself. 

Then came some so-so sequels, the rank reimagining’s, the far-fetched backstories to keep the franchise going, but I digress. 

The new “Halloween” sees Jamie Lee Curtis return as Laurie with her final confrontation with Michael 40 years after that frightful Halloween night when he came to Haddonfield to take her life.

I’m not going to lie, I am looking forward to this one, and that doesn’t happen to me anymore with Hollywood’s releases in the past decade. 

What is promising about this “Halloween” is that is portraying itself as the only sequel after the original and is dismissing the rest of films within the franchise. That’s an impressive approach and others must have agreed, as John Carpenter gave his blessing and on as executive producer.

But if “Halloween” may be too scary for you, then swing by Bluegrass Community and Technical College tonight at 6:30 p.m. for “tent or treat” for the kiddies with their final Moonlight Movie Night screening of “The Greatest Showman” (2017). 

If this isn’t enough for you, word around the pumpkin patch is BCTC campus director, “Don’t Bring Me Down” Bruce Manley is looking for volunteers to sit with him after the movie until Halloween.

He is sure this is the year The Great Pumpkin will be coming to give presents of all the boys and girls of Winchester. 

If you’re good, Bruce will even share the secret recipes for his spider cider and deadly donuts, they are to die for. That Bruce is one kooky cat.

Have a fun film-tastic Halloween.

Rick Baldwin is a writer, filmmaker and film/music historian. He is president of the Winchester-Clark County Film Society (facebook.com/WCCfilmsociety). Find more from Rick on Facebook at facebook.com/ricksrhetoric/ and online at theintestinalfortitude.com/category/reviews-editorials/ricks-rhetoric. He is on Twitter @rickbaldwin79  and can be reached by email at rickbaldwiniii@hotmail.com.