With Halloween right around the corner, I thought I’d share some of my top ten favorite horror films because, let’s face it, horror movies are meant to be watched during Halloween. Now by no means is this a greatest of all times list, but I do feel the films included can be put in that category. Many have been replicated throughout the years and changed the way people view and make horror films. If I were doing a greatest films of all times list, I could be here all day and obviously would have included a lot more films. Nevertheless, here are my top ten favorite horror films for this Halloween.
-
- When traveling on the road, the best thing to probably do is stick to the main roads and don’t take any short cuts. If you’ve seen this movie, you’ll know why I say this because you never know what’s lurking around. In the case of The Hills Have Eyes, a family runs into a tribe of savages that live in a desert wasteland who prey on innocent people that happen to come on their territory. This family attacks, rapes, and massacres most of the Carters, and there are a lot of scenes that will have you saying, “No way.” What I like about this film is that it walks a fine line between what is self defense and full-blown sadistic revenge. It’s a classic fight or flight scenario, and for the Carter family, we see how far they can be pushed until they fight back with such bloodlust they didn’t know existed inside them. We witness it throughout the film, but one scene that I remember is when Bobby Carter sets a booby trap to have a camper explode and seeing the excitement he had instead of the relief you would expect. You’re either going to love this it or hate it, but as a horror film, The Hills Have Eyes is a horror flick that you should see at least one time.
-
- By the time A Nightmare on Elm Street came around, slasher films were a dime a dozen, and so were films about a bunch of teenagers who were stalked by a masked killer; everyone was regurgitating the same sequences and trying desperately to come up with new ways of killing someone on film. Then Wes Craven came along and gave us an evil killer that was not only a monster in life, but also in death. A Nightmare on Elm Street was a new take on slasher films and gave us a peek into another world and blurred the line between life and death. Freddy Krueger did not wear a mask like everybody else since his burned and scarred face was his mask. He did not use a knife or chainsaw to kill his victims. Instead, his fingers were his weapons that could shred through anything. What really set Freddy apart from other horror icons was that he came after you in your dreams. When he was alive, he was a real-life monster, but being murdered by Elm Street citizens made him vow to return from the dead to seek his revenge. This set up the whole tone for the film, and since he was killing in the dream world, it left a whole world of possibilities for scares. We see what he is capable of early on when Tina is brutally ripped apart and dragged along the ceiling of her bedroom while her boyfriend stands there in terror. These type of scenes leave us with a feeling that there’s no where to hide because we all have to sleep, and something that stuck with me growing up was the song that started off like this: “1,2 Freddy’s coming for you.”
-
- From the people that brought you The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Toby Hooper) and E.T. (Steven Spielberg) comes the ghost story Poltergeist. While it was not the first of its kind by any means, it did take things to a whole new level. The setting for the film wasn’t in some isolated town or had a house that was located in the middle of the woods. Rather, it was set in a bright and sunny suburban community in Southern California where you wouldn’t expect a haunted house to be. It gave the film a very creepy feel because anyone’s home could be haunted and anyone’s family could be tormented by spirits that were not at rest. The film is unsettling, whether it’s Carol Anne speaking through the TV or the fact that the home was built over a burial ground, making you pray that your home isn’t located on top of someone’s grave. Some of the creepier moments involve a clown doll coming to life and a scene where a guy tears off his own face, creating images that are not easily forgotten. One character that you can’t forget is the medium, Zelda, who is brought in to help save Carol Anne. Even though she is there to help, there is something very eerie about her, and it’s this mystery that adds to the film. Poltergeist is one of those horror films you have to appreciate… including the curse surrounding the entire film.
-
- This has to be one of my favorite horror films for many reasons, but the main reason is that when you don’t have a huge budget, you have to rely on your imagination. Some might say The Evil Dead is corny, but you have to understand that the film had a tiny budget, yet they created a classic that spawned many cabin in the woods films. The film centers around a group of friends who drive to a remote cabin for the weekend where they discover an ancient text, unleashing an evil force in the process. One by one, they become possessed, leaving only Ash to resorting to some very violent things to survive. There is a lot of gore that is meant to disgust you, but it’ll more than likely make you laugh because of how low budget it is. However, there is one scene in the film that I’m sure will have you talking that involves one of the female characters and a tree that comes to life. With all the blood, shotgun blasts, and evil, there is a bit of comedy to this film that wasn’t seen before in horror films.. The Evil Dead will make you both laugh and jump – a definitely classic horror film for the ages.
-
- Rosemary’s Baby shows what isolation and paranoia can do to a person. Rosemary, an expectant mother, moves into a new apartment in New York, only to learn that the people closest to her and are not whey seem to be. For example, her loving husband, a struggling actor, is not the man she thought she married, and her sweet innocent neighbors are anything but. Is it all just paranoia? Is there something evil going on in Rosemary’s life? Is someone plotting to take her down? Little does she know that she moved into an apartment full of Satan worshippers as she starts to unravel the diabolical plot. As she learns more and more, you’re able to figure out what is really happening to Rosemary and her baby. Her loving husband let Satan have his way with her for a shot at movie stardom. The sweet couple next door only wants the baby so the Devil can return to the realm of the living. Once the truth is revealed you go, “What the fuck?!” and then it all begins to make sense.
-
- You can’t talk about horror films and not mention Halloween, which gave us one of the most recognizable faces in horror. Michael Myers is now embedded in the culture – he is synonymous with Halloween, and his blank white mask has scared many since first hitting the screen. The film did not create the slasher genre, but it did inspire all the films that came after it that have tried to copy its formula of seeing what happens when a group of teenagers are stalked by a killer. This killer is made up of pure evil that just can’t seem to be stopped, no matter what you throw at him. The film starts off with young Michael murdering his family, and seeing him without his mask makes you realize that he’s not ordinary. You get a sense that even though Michael was so young, there was something dark inside of him, and as the film progresses after each kill, you see how dark his soul really is. The way he stalks his victims and how he moves in silence without ever saying a word really makes this film scary. It’s one thing to hear your killer coming and knowing what to expect, but it’s a totally different experience when you don’t even know he’s in the same room.
-
- Before The Walking Dead and World War Z, there was Night of the Living Dead. It wasn’t the first time people saw zombies on film, but it set the standard for what we see now. If you are a fan of the zombie genre and haven’t seen this film, you are truly missing out, not only because it’s a great film, but for the social commentary that shows up throughout the film. At the heart of it is the theme of community and working together to accomplish anything, even surviving a zombie apocalypse. By today’s standards, Night of The Living Dead is pretty tame and doesn’t offer the gory scenes we’ve been accustomed to seeing in typical zombies films, but it still offers some chills. One of the more memorable scenes that really shows the creepiness of this film is when the sole child, Karen, is discovered in the basement devouring her father. The film is shot entirely in black and white, which I think makes the film feel older than it actually is. Night of the Living Dead taps into our human behavior by showing us that we could possibly be worse off than flesh-eating zombies.
-
- Growing up, there was one thing I knew that I never wanted to happen, and that was getting lost in the back roads of Texas. That reason was because before I knew any better, I thought Leatherface and what happened in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was real. Before 1974, a film of this caliber was never seen before, and unlike its predecessors, it was packed with originality and pure intensity. Dubbed as a true story and based on actual events, you can say that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre changed the game for slasher films with its level of gore and pure psychological terror. First off, the character Leatherface literally wears the face of his victims, and wielding a chainsaw is just pure terror. Along with his family of cannibals, Leatherface wreaks terror throughout the film by torturing Sally and her friends in so many ways. Not only is she affected physically by the whole ordeal, but it’s how she’s psychologically eafected that really make this a truly scary film. Imagine seeing all your friends being killed one by one with no hope of ever escaping, and once you’re captured, you’re seated at the dinner table instead of being killed. The scene where Sally is tied up to a chair made up of human remains and forced to have dinner with a family of sadistic flesh-eating killers is true horror. This film is plain scary and a horror classic that gave birth to one of the genre’s most terrifying icons ever.
-
- If you haven’t seen this film, you more than likely don’t enjoy horror films. If you don’t know what the hell The Shining is, you probably have been living under a rock. There are so many memorable quotes and unforgettable scenes that The Shining has invaded popular culture. Two images that I always remember are the blood-spilling elevators or seeing the ghostly little girl twins, because nothing is scarier to me than ghost kids. Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a struggling writer that takes a job at the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Mountains where the previous person holding his job went insane and murdered his entire family. However, this doesn’t stop Jack from moving into the hotel with his wife and son, Danny, who happens to have a special gift. The two soon start communicating with the inhabitants of the old haunted hotel, and things start to take a turn for the worst. Danny starts seeing visions that might be from the past or showing the unfolding events of the future. As for Jack, he begins to spiral into a complete psychological breakdown and ends up on a quest to murder his family. One thing’s for sure: after seeing this film, it’s probably best not to ever go into room 237 no matter what.
-
- When it comes to horror films, The Exorcist takes the cake, and is the one film that has scared me the most. I’ve seen it on VHS when those were still around, and I had a chance to see it in theaters when it was re-released for a short period. It’s not a film that I watch regularly or even care to because it gives me the creeps. There are too many scenes that have literally scared the crap out of me or has had me yell out, “Holy shit” from my seat.Whether it’s Regan’s head spinning 360 degrees, when she crab walks down the stairs, or even just the evil in her eyes, this film is filled with so many haunting images. It’s more than just a film about good and evil as we see the devil trying to take an innocent girl’s soul; it’s a film about the battle with one’s self when the other characters are fighting their own demons in the form of questioning their faith. The film really brings faith into the forefront, and depending what you believe in, will either scare you or not. Unlike other characters in other films, we don’t ever actually see the villain’s face, but an innocent girl who is being controlled by something beyond belief. It’s the unknown that truly makes this one of the scariest horror films I’ve seen.