I was thinking this morning about certain movies that I like to watch every year during fall and winter, and of course, in October, the horror films dramatically increase. Sure, we watch horror films just about every weekend anyway, but in October, the DVD player is constantly looping through old favorites and new finds.

One movie that I really get in the mood for this time of year is Amadeus, and while thinking about getting my DVD out and watching it for about the 40th time, I thought about how this film is actually a horror film for me.

The story is based on a Viennese urban legend in which a "mediocre" composer, Salieri becomes consumed with jealousy and driven to murder. The film kicks off with Salieri's graphic suicide attempt, which is visually tattooed into my brain forever. At the core of Salieri's thorough and masterful murder plot is the "ghost" of Amadeus' father, represented by a creepy mask. When Salieri denounces God and the Christian church, the scene is very similar to Coppola's Dracula, in which Dracul laments about the very same betrayal. Even though Salieri doesn't shape shift into an enormous bat-demon, he looks just as monstrous in those scenes, and the venom he spouts is just as chilling.

Then there's the whole musical underscore. The haunting sounds of choir boys in churches; the frightening scenes from one of Mozart's darkest operas, Don Giovanni, in which the huge ghost bursts through the walls and sings his horrifying refrain. The somber movements of Mozart's Requiem, a funeral mass written for his dead father resounds throughout, and it really gets under the skin.

The movie is haunting and disturbing, but so incredibly beautiful at the same time. I even remember our drive home after having seen it in the theater in the '80s. It was dark, cold, rainy and foggy, like the closing scene of the film, and I was thoroughly creeped out to my core.

It's a masterful film and absolutely mood-drenched and veiled in what seems like many, many ghosts from Mozart's life, both real and imagined. I highly recommend seeing it if you have not... especially on a cold, rainy night.

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