Halloween Movies
 

Each year, as Halloween approaches, I like to watch loads and loads of Horror/Sci-Fi movies. I have a list of what I've watched so far this year. (These are the original versions unless notated otherwise.)

Do you have any to add? I can use some recommendations.

Halloween
Friday the 13th
The Thing
The Thing (remake)
The Mist
Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Psycho
The Amityville Horror
The Fog
Dawn of the Dead (remake)
The Exorcist
Shaun of the Dead
The Sixth Sense
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Host
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
Rosemary's Baby
The Omen
Freaks
Jaws

Ones I have that I have yet to watch:
Let the Right One In
The Orphanage
The Ring

My Bloody Valentine
Silent Night Deadly Night (that also fits as a good Christmas movie, too)
House of 1000 Corpses

The Orphanage! I love it.

What about The Shining? Pan's Labyrinth? The Others?

Amusement park fans always enjoy a trip through a Dark Ride

...and don't forget the original dark-ride horror, The Funhouse (Book lovers will know that "Owen West" who wrote the screenplay, is actually Dean Koontz !!)

Nightmare Before Christmas is a must watch for us every year

IT.

And as much as I despise the franchise, the original Saw is decent - it's not torture porn.

The second one isn't gorenography, it's the third one that goes there...

Dead Alive
Bride of Reanimator
Hellraiser
Phantasm

and I love it so much, I'll say it again - DEAD ALIVE!

The Worst Witch, a wonderful, horrible, cheesy, 80's, delightful predecessor to Harry Potter, with Charlotte Rae in a dual role, Fairuza Balk, Diana Rigg, and Tim Curry - a young Tim Curry.

Hilarious, horrendous, and wonderful. Gotta love the "music video" segment starring Tim Curry with a plethora of bad 80's effects.

No really, I freaking love this little movie.

• Fright Night
  Chris Sarandon, his "special friend", Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed who later went on to make gay porn, and a pre Married with Children Amanda Bearse!
• Vamp
  Grace Jones as a vampire. 'nuff said

You watched IT!?! With your clown phobia?I can't say it better than Shawn McHorse "As near as we can tell, someone had access to a video editing machine with a number of different effects and was determined to use EVERY SINGLE ONE of them in this segment."

Enjoy the Velveeta here.

Does Not Compute.... Does Not Compute....

It's basically Dr. Frankenfurther and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcloak ;P

Just watched it. I bet Tim cringes when reminded of it. :blush:

But it's hilarious when you think about what else he's done, isn't it?

Totally - I wish I could come over to watch it with you. Can someone please win Lotto so I can come over the the USA more often? K Thx.

You need to enter a contest where we can, um, vote.

One I would like to go back to see if it was as good as we (Susan and I) remember is Saturday the 14th

Gemini - don't hesitate for a moment to check out Let The Right One In. It's tween-age romance is just as chaste as the one in Twilight, but this movie flushes away that twaddle with style to burn and a disturbing, surprisingly affecting story.

I still get freaked out by the 5,000 fingers of Dr. T *shiver*

Practice Makes Perfect! I adore this movie!

Elevator to the dungeon

Where all the screechy violinists, etc. get sent

Not to forget, do-mi-do duds

I love this film!

STOP THAT!

He was so good in "Annie."

A young Tim Curry, you say? That tripe was made four years after "Annie."

Pretty sure that's the reason for my clown phobia (really not fond of popping balloons either... or fortune cookies if I think about the movie). The giant spider bothers me more than Pennywise.

Watched IT when it was on TV in 1990. Read the book shortly after (not allowed to read Sweet Valley High because they might kiss or talk about drugs, but I could read about killer clowns... and VC Andrews w/ its incest story lines).

Oddly enough it may be the only movie I can watch with a clown in it and it's one of my favorite books.

I have a list a mile long. Many of those were supposed to be watched by Isaac and myself as part of his cinemaducation program. But mega-party planning has kept us too busy. I hope we can get one or two of them in, but I'm doubting it.

Are you sharing pics as you did last year, that party looked awesome.

I totally will. I usually watch films* I've already seen while surfing the net, writing etc. When it's a new film, I sit and watch it and do nothing else. I haven't had time to do that yet with all my job hunting action going on. But I plan to watch LTROI (and The Orphanage) before Halloween. :)

*Also, if it's a foreign film I've already seen I sit and watch it and do nothing else so I can read the subtitles.

Am I the only person that really doesn't like horror/slasher movies? They don't scare me - they bore me silly.

Yes.

I see it as any other genre of movie. Lots of times it's the same plot, but that could be said about a lot of Westerns, Romantic Comedies, etc.

I hate slasher movies, except for the original Halloween.

Even the rest of the horror genre rarely scares me, though some of them creeped me out the first time, yet I love repeating my faves without that sensation.

Some "horror" movies were never scary, i.e, vampire flicks, but I love the genre.

Other movies that originally scared me, such as Poltergeist and Return of the Living Dead, are fortunate enough to have copious comedy elements that please me forever.


Alas, Return of the Living Dead is the only one Isaac got to see this year, and that was in preparation for the awesome Hollywood Zombie Walk last weekend.

We're supposed to go thru Creepshow, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Sweeney Todd, Young Frankenstein, Shadow of the Vampire, The Hunger, The Others, The Orphanage, Wolf, and The Blair Witch Project. All films on my list of some 25 Halloweenish films that Isaac has never seen.

If we were to hit only one or two, any suggestions??

Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of my favorites.

GD is not a fan either but for different reasons.

I used to watch horror films all the time, but the idea of watching movies alone, now THAT bores me, though I've resigned to that a few times here and there. Perhaps on the Friday before Halloween when I have the day off...

I'll admit it, I'm a mega wimp when it comes to horror movies. The creepy factor definitely gets under my skin, full nightmare-inducing effect. I think The Ring was the last real horror movie I watched. It's too bad because on some level I really see the appeal of the genre, but not enough to suffer the loss of sleep.

The Ring scared the piss out of me when I first saw it. So much so that I really never wanted to watch it again. But I needed a line or two for my Halloween CD awesomeness, and I had to watch the movie again to pick out a couple. Not scary the second time. Whew.

I'm an apologist for horror movies - I'll defend the genre against all comers, but I'm rarely frightened by them (and, to be frank, most of them aren't that good). I mostly agree with iSm that slasher movies (after the first Halloween) tend to suck. There were a handful of so-f'ed-up-that-they're-worth-it slashers from the 80s - Maniac springs to mind as one - but they deviate so far from the horror genre that they really ought not be considered in the same conversation.

I mentioned this as an aside earlier, but I can't stress enough that Quatermass and the Pit creeped the crap out of me.

I had avoided The Ring for ages because I saw and liked Ringu and kind of scoffed at the idea of seeing a U.S. remake. But I plan on watching it after hearing so much about it.

I used to be freaked out by horror films to the extent of nightmares and all that. But after studying film for several years, I think I became immune to being sacred by horror films. (You know, the 'oh that's ketchup' and 'oh that's latex' etc.) Yes, I still leap out of my seat when there's a particularly unexpected jump scene in a film but as for the content freaking me out... it's rare. I think the last movie I was truly disturbed by was Se7en. What happened I think was that the movie leaves a lot up to your imagination and as always one's own imagination is always the best at freaking you out.

Halloween doesn't seem like a slasher, really. It isn't so much about the gore, it's about the spooky music, the use of depth-of-field and light to reveal "The Shape" - or, as in Jaws, not to reveal him too closely for most of the movie. I love it SO MUCH and if there wasn't a fun party to attend, I'd be at Hollywood Forever watching it on the mausoleum wall next Saturday.

I love horror movies. Though I prefer them when they're ghostly, or otherworldly, with more "thriller" scares than gore effects.

I officially hate Cinespia for scheduling Halloween on Halloween. :p

One of my film professors classified Jaws as a sci-fi flick and not a horror flick. I tend to agree with him in that horror flicks deal with things that are supernatural and couldn't ever be explained by science and sci-fi flicks could plausibly happen now or in the future. But ultimately, what classification a movie is is neither here nor there to me.

One might argue that a lot of the things in Jaws couldn't happen, but I think a lot of it could. (Except didn't the shark growl at one point? Or did that happen in one of the craptacular sequels?)

Ooh. I forgot all about the deleted piano wire scene. I wonder if it's on my DVD copy of Jaws.***



***It is. I just checked it out. :)

Good ol' Bruce lets loose with a pretty healthy lion's roar in one shot of Jaws. The shark rears up its head as it eats through the line by which the three hunters are trying to drag it to shore. It occurs at 1:43:54, for those of you with a DVD handy. The sound effect in this case was probably intended to have more of a psychological effect, rather than reflecting actual shark reality. (I'm told that sharks actually can make a vocal noise, but it's not at all roar-like. I'd love to know more.)

The execrable Jaws: The Revenge is the movie that really abuses the shark roaring motif - but then, that is truly the least of its many problems.

Jaws as science fiction? I'd beg to differ, but then, semantics is not my favorite game. I'd call it action/adventure, or thriller, and certainly horror of the "nature run amuck" category, alongside The Birds. Now, if the shark were rampaging because of exposure to human-caused pollution or radiation or genetic manipulation, then yes, I'd call it sci-fi.

All that really matters, though, is that I love Jaws like it was my first born child.

Sci-Fi? Your professor was a quack.

I just watched it. It's definitely a lion roar. Interesting.

Yes, it should have been scheduled on Easter

I expect complete reality in my shark movies.

Mega Shark VS. Giant Octopus is a great Halloween movie :D

Deborah Gibson's "acting" is uproarious, but there just wasn't enough shark or octopus in it for me. (Virtually every effects shot is in the trailer)

The Descent
Mirrors
Quarantine

For campy scary fun-
Dead Snow
I Sell the Dead

Donnie Darko!

(I loooove Donnie Darko. I think it was that film or October Sky where I developed my undying attraction to Jake.)

Anyone see Drag Me to Hell? I would love to get it on DVD but it's like $30 for a regular DVD...

Very cool movie - Less than $20 on dvd at amazon.com

Oh God- that is so time I want to get back. I have enjoyed other Sam Raimi films but seriously- this one was so...not.

CM gives it thumbs up. I give it thumbs down. Seriously-not enough campy horror to laugh, not enough scares to care....lots of gross for no reason and a scene any animal lover will hate and anyone with a brain sees coming a mile away.

Just....not good. Yeah-rent before you buy IMO

(although the goat was funny)

Drag Me to Hell was gross-scary enough for me to discover it was too soon after real life gross-horrifying to see fake-gross-scary. But I bet I'd have enjoyed it last year.

Hee hee.
Poltergeist is on TCM right now. Completely uncut. Face peeling scene and all. Nice!
I don't know if it's cool or sad that I know almost all of the movie's dialogue by heart.
:D

How any self-respecting channel could show a horror film with the horror edited is beyond me...and how anyone could watch said edited film is further beyond me.

Especially Poltergeist, one of my near and dear favorites.

Hear hear! I second that emotion.
:)

I admit, watching Poltergeist these days makes me kind of maudlin, since both of the daughters in the film came to early ends, one at the hands of a violent boyfriend, and the other to disease at a tragically young age. I haven't bothered with either of the sequels since they came out - they were pretty forgettable, but the first movie lives quite vividly in my imagination. I think of the Freeling family as real people, like neighbors I once lived near. Hmm, sounds like its time to watch it again.

I'll never forget getting really REALLY high in the bathroom of the long-gone Plitt Theater in Century City with my friends Laurie and Mark, and then viewing a preview version of Poltergeist that had like 4 more seconds than the version released a week or so later. I was so scared, I couldn't sleep that night ... and over time, as we saw it many times that summer, it also became a comedy classic.


I probably saw it 20 or so times in the theater. I love Poltergeist.

Most scary movies don't scare me. I generally find them boring. Or they do the SUDDEN LOUD NOISE! scare substitute, and that just annoys me. Thus, I've never seen most of the classics - no Halloweens, no Friday the 12ths, etc.

Pru... we got our screen up this past weekend - I'm going to temporarily bring the couch up from the living room (until I can afford the sofa I really want) - and I have a ridiculously large collection of good horror flicks. Movie night will start soon (though it will start, as planned on July 4, with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang).

No showing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang while we're in Florida! I love that movie sooooooo much.

I watched Ginger Snaps last night. Neat little Canadian indie monster flick from a decade or so ago. A perfect antidote to the latest spate of teen angst vampire dross.

We watched the 1978 Halloween last night- it was made especially fun by some loud mysterious noises outside at inopportune times (neighbors doing home improvement at 10 at night)

If anyone is interested... Night of the Creeps is released to DVD and BD today for the first time ever.

Thrill me.

I wanna see 'Night of the Lepus' and 'Night of the Creeps' as a double feature.

If you can wait until after Halloween...

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is on today! Yay! One of the yearly traditions of mine. That and the Disney version of Sleepy Hollow.

The Haunting (the original) is on TCM later on today. I love this movie.

Oddly enough I used to be unfazed by horror movies. We would watch Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Hellraiser, Friday the 13th and Faces of Death (before we knew they were real) at slumber parties in Jr. High.

Now? I can deal with the originals but I prefer to not watch them.

South Park. Was right. Everyone in Charlie Brown cartoons. Talk like this. It's kinda cool. I guess. I never noticed. How boring It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is. You blockheads.

:D

You.Are.Fired.

And all the kids in South Park talk in that clipped rat-a-tat style. However, South Park and the Charlie Brown cartoons both use the pleasing device of a group of kids just walking around together not necessarily saying anything.

And the device of barely animating to save tons of money.

The Charlie Brown vocal style sounds uncannily like children without formal training reading lines off of a page, one clause at a time. I find the slight disconnect between content and (lack of) intent in delivery to be quite charming.

Utterly charming, yes.



* * * * * *

On another note, I am supremely disappointed we got to watch only one Halloween movie this year, and that was in specific preparation for the Zombie Walk.

My roommate's dire need for Cinemaducation laid out the perfect inspiration for a full slate of Halloween horror films all month long, but party planning wrecked havoc with that concept.


A missed opportunity. My cheese is sad. :(

I'm one of those Halloween lasts all year long types, so I say, keep scarifying your roommate until he begs for mercy.

I dunno if that will work. But maybe Vampires in November.


BTW, Rotten Tomatoes list of the 25 best-reviewed vampire movies ever does not include The Hunger.

Fail.

Huh, and I thought it was iSm that's usually in position to be begging for mercy.

The Hunger, the movie that answers the question "How do you kill a vampire?" with the oddest answer.

Like our friend in Florida, I do horror movies year-round. Expect some unofficial scary movie nights, along with a couple of Buffy marathons.

So odd is that answer, I couldn't really tell you what the heck was supposed to be going on. Coincidentally, I just watched The Hunger again two nights ago. It falls apart at the denouement for me, and some of its visuals have become so cliche they're like a parody of 80s music videos, but this is still a supremely enjoyable movie, with incredibly beautiful people rubbing up against, licking, nibbling and biting each other. A nostalgic turn-on that I enjoy very much.

A remake has recently, and inevitably, been announced.

PS - There are two sequel novels by Whitley Streiber, which I haven't read, but if anyone has, please review. The novels don't jibe with watching the film, though, because:

Trick-r-Treat

Last night at about 11pm, I tried to watch the 1976 Squirm, but found myself drifting off. Truly a crappy movie. I don't remember the MST3K version, but I'm sure it was great, because this movie is all set-ups begging for a punch line. I'll watch the last half hour tonight... just to finish it.

I think I will indeed pull a vampire-fest after Halloween. I can't watch The Hunger because I don't have it on DVD ... but I netflixed three vampire flicks I haven't seen before, Thirst, Near Dark, and Let the Right One In. And I think I'll round those off with Bram Stoker's Dracula, Shadow of the Vampire, and - for giggles - The Lost Boys.




Itinerary subject to change without notice.