Freeview's Halloween Highlights

27 October 2011

If you like being scared to death or seriously spooked, you’ll be glad to hear that Freeview is providing the thrills throughout this Halloween weekend. With the host of horror films, scary specials and freakishly good documentaries, we recommend you have a cushion or two to hide behind.

Saturday night and Sunday morning

BBC2 will be showing a TOTP2 Halloween Special at 11.25pm with thriller-themed Top of the Pop clips from Michael Jackson and Automatic.

Kicking off the freakish festivities at 12.25am on BBC2 is the one and only classic, Halloween, written and directed by John Carpenter. Made in 1978 and still regarded as the ‘best horror movie ever made’ by many horror fans, the film has been replicated but never beaten. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a babysitter who is stalked by a knife-wielding killer wearing a mask. If you like your horrors with a dose of classic movie making, then the original Halloween will be right up your street.

Over on ITV1 and ITV1 HD at 1.35am is Friday the 13th, a modern-day remake of the 1980 film that put even more fear into the dreaded calendar date. The first Friday the 13th tells the story of Jason, a young boy who was killed in lake but returns to murder a group of friends on a camping trip. The original horror was so successful, the franchise continued and a further 11 movies were made.

If you like your horror with a bit of comedy, James Corden and Matthew Horne star in Lesbian Vampire Killers at 9.45pm on BBC3. The light-hearted scare-fest sees two friends go hiking the UK only to end up in a cottage filled with lady-loving, blood-thirsty, female vampires.

Sandra Bullock stars as Linda, a housewife who wakes up every morning next to her husband after being told he was dead. With a mix of real-life and supernatural circumstances, Premonition is a great thriller and perfect for those who fancy a thrill but are scared of too much blood! More4 at 11.10pm.

Sunday, Halloween Eve

If you’ve had any sleep after last night’s nerve shredding, Channel 5 will be showing The Ghost of Greville Lodge at 4.25pm. The story is about James, a teenage orphan who goes to stay in a mansion owned by a distant family member. But the mansion is not what it seems and the old dark house has many secrets.

Following on from the original Halloween last night, BBC2 will be showing Halloween 6: the Curse of Michael Myers at 11.50pm.  Yes, you’ve missed the other four but does blood and gore really need to be followed in succession?! This time Michael is back and on the hunt for another family member… his niece’s baby. Shudder.

Dead Set is the horror series written by Charlie Brooker starring Jamie Winstone and Davina McCall. The series is set around a zombie-infested Britain and a Big Brother house full of inmates. The housemates don’t know what’s going on outside the house and the flesh eating zombies want to get in. Make sure you look out for a dead Davina McCall who makes a very good, very scary zombie. The Dead Set series will be shown in full as a one-off show from 11.40pm on E4.

Monday, Halloween

Agetha Christie Poirot: Halloween Party is on at 10pm on ITV3. As always, where there’s a killing, there’s a Poirot! After witnessing a murder many years ago and boasting about it at a children’s party, a young girl is found dead, bobbing with the apples.

BBC4 will be showing the Psychoville Halloween Special starring Dawn French, Eileen Atkins and Steve Pemberton at 11pm. With creepy characters and very scary storylines, the comedy takes on a rather dark Halloween theme.

Straight after Psychoville is A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss: ‘Frankenstein goes to Hollywood’. The League of Gentleman star takes a look back at the early days of horror and how classic tales such as Frankenstein created the taste for being scared by the big screen.

To finish off Halloween weekend, Halloween Resurrection starring Busta Rhymes and Tyra Banks is on at 11.20pm on BBC2. Jamie Lee Curtis returns almost 25 years later when six danger-loving contestants agree to live in the Myers household, under the watchful eye of cameras. It was a great idea until Michael decided to return home….

If you do not like the idea of being scared out of your wits, check out the Freeview Blog  for the week's entertainment, full of fun and frolics, and not a witch in sight. We promise.