American Movie Classics starts off extremely early by scaring you out of bed with The Amityville Horror (AMC 6:15 a.m.). Actually, it's not very scary, but at 6 in the morning, who knows? Amityville 2 starts at 10 a.m. Amityville: The Demon follows at 12 p.m. Other arguable “classics” featuring numerals, roman or otherwise, include: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (AMC 2 p.m.), Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (AMC 4 p.m.), Scream (AMC 6 p.m.) and Scream 2 (AMC 8:30 p.m.).
The original Halloween pops up on USA at 7 a.m. The network follows up with the original Exorcist (USA 11 a.m.) and the recent TV update of Frankenstein (USA 3 p.m.).
Turner Classic Movies seems to have the classiest lineup of the day. TCM opens with classic horror courtesy of The Creature from the Black Lagoon (TCM 10 a.m.) Other highlights throughout the day include: Wait Until Dark (TCM 11:30 a.m.), The Bad Seed (TCM 1:30 p.m.), Spellbound (TCM 4 p.m.), The House on Haunted Hill (TCM 6:30 p.m.), The Haunting (TCM 8 p.m.) and The Phantom of the Opera (TCM 10 p.m.)
If you're only looking for the highlights (or if you're too scared to watch entire movies), Bravo starts their day with “The 100 Scariest Movie Moments” (Bravo 10:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.).
Much like your fourth grade teacher, History Channel mixes a bit of chills in with today's educational lessons. “Haunted History” (History 10 a.m.-12 p.m.) looks at ghostly locations like Savannah, Ga., and Tombstone, Ariz. “History's Mysteries” (History 12 p.m.-3 p.m.) explores places like Amityville and legendary figures like Bigfoot and Dracula. “Bloodlines: The Dracula Family Tree” (History 4 p.m.) takes a look at the modern-day descendants of the famed bloodsucker. “The Haunted History of Halloween” (History 5 p.m.) takes us on a tour through the evolution of this spooky holiday.
Sci-Fi Channel starts us off with the (still creepy) original 1979 mini-series Salem's Lot (Sci-Fi 8 p.m.), followed by the other missing pieces of the Halloween puzzle: Halloween II (Sci-Fi 11 a.m.) and Halloween III: Season of the Witch (Sci-Fi 1 p.m.).
Comedy Central gives us a day of horror comedies such as Young Frankenstein (Comedy Central 9 a.m.), Ghostbusters II (Comedy Central 11 a.m.) and Scary Movie 2 (Comedy Central 9 p.m.).
Nickelodeon appeals to the kids (and discerning adults) with a day-long marathon featuring horror-themed episodes of toons like “Rocko's Modern Life,” “Rugrats,” “Angry Beavers,” “The Fairly Oddparents,” “Spongebob Squarepants” and others (Nickelodeon 10 a.m.-8 p.m.). Later that night, the net appeals to the adults (and discerning kids) with a run of Halloween episodes from “Roseanne” (Nickelodeon 8 p.m.-10 p.m.).
For homebodies uninterested in scary stuff, Food Network offers up “Emeril Kicks up Halloween” (Food Network 6 p.m.) and “Spooky Treats Unwrapped” (Food Network 7 p.m.). There's also Home and Garden TV with “Extreme Halloween” (HGTV 3 p.m.). Finally, there's the home makeover show “Monster House” (Discovery 11 a.m.-2 p.m.), which isn't really scary, but does feature three spooky theme houses: Jurassic House, Fright House and Mad Scientist House.
