Happy Halloween! Nothing is scarier than unrestrained government, of course, so here are four Halloween films on the subject. Enjoy!
Ghostbusters (1984)
This popular classic tells the story of an entrepreneurial ghost-removal service — Ghostbusters — that runs into opposition from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other creatures of evil. It seems that all hell is breaking loose, as it were, in New York City — ghosts are showing up everywhere. The Ghostbusters succeed in capturing many of these renegade spirits, for a fee of course. But then a blundering, high-handed EPA official arrives at their office and mistakenly releases all they’ve captured. The release in turn awakens an ancient, evil god. It’s up to the Ghostbusters to save the day. Among libertarian Halloween films, this is the only comedy and for my money would be the top choice.
“Ghostbusters is the most libertarian Hollywood blockbuster of all time.”
–Washington Examiner
Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)
As we learn in the opening, Clonus is a medical facility where human clones are created, raised, fattened, and harvested for their organs. Most of the clones are given a dumbing down treatment at early birth, so they aren’t clever enough to realize what’s going to happen to them ultimately. They’re told that all the healthy stuff they’re made to do—eating a strict diet, exercising, etc.—is just a preparation for being sent to a sort of far away heaven. And who are these harvested organs for? Entrenched politicians.
Yes, as if the efforts to obstruct term limits weren’t bad enough, in Parts: The Clonus Horror we are exposed to the very real horror of them all living eternally “for the good of the people.” At one point a senator involved in this cloning program attempts to justify his personal harvest of flesh by pointing out how different the world might have been if only Franklin Roosevelt had been able to live a few hundred years. That image alone justifies the film’s R rating.
“Parts: The Clonus Horror has the distinction of being the only libertarian horror movie of which I am aware.”
–MissLiberty.com
The Omega Man (1971)
The Omega Man presents a post-apocalyptic world following a devastating international germ war, in which a scientist battles a gang of anti-technology crusaders as he tries to save mankind. What makes the film all the more delicious is that at the head of the rabble opposing him is none other than a former television news anchor. My favorite line occurs near the end of the film, when the scientist has apparently been defeated. As he lies at the feet of his hideous captors, ready for death or torture, he quips: “Tell me something. Are you fellas really with the Internal Revenue Service?”
“An extremely literate science-fiction drama starring Charlton Heston.”
–-Variety
The Bleeding Edge (1971)
If the foregoing aren’t scary enough, The Bleeding Edge tells the story of a young Western tech executive who gets a heart transplant in China, only to discover afterward that the heart was taken from a Chinese prisoner as part of China’s organ “harvesting” program. Although the story is fictional, the horror is unfortunately real and has been brought to light in several recent documentaries, including Hard to Believe and Leon Lee’s own Human Harvest, as a well as an undercover BBC expose.
“This is a film that stays with you after the end, not only because it’s a story well told, but because the horrors it describes are happening right now.”
–-MissLiberty.com
In addition to these Halloween films, here’s comedian Tim Slagle’s classic bit on how to teach your kids about taxes on Halloween…
Also Bob Hope on zombies and Democrats…
And lastly, Remy’s outstanding Halloween Trigger…
