Halloween Movies

Hello there, everyone!  To kick off my Halloween week, I thought I would go through some of my favorite Halloween movies.  Nothing gets me in the spooky spirit faster than a good spooky movie.  I have compiled a list of my top ten Halloween films: half of which are scary, half are not.  If you’re having a night in or need something to watch with your friends, read on to see what I’d recommend!

Not Scary

1. Hocus Pocus

It doesn’t truly feel like Halloween until I’ve seen the Sanderson sisters run around early 90s Salem.  When the Sanderson Sisters come back from the dead, they have one night to suck the lives out of as many children as possible.  The kids who accidentally brought them back to life take it upon themselves to remedy their mistake.  This movie is an absolute joy to watch.  It’s completely over the top in all the right ways.  (Who doesn’t love Bette Midler singing “I Put a Spell on You?”)  Hocus Pocus, to me, is the quintessential Halloween movie.

2. Coraline

Based on the Neil Gaiman book, Coraline tells the story of a girl who is unsatisfied with her life.  Her family has moved to a strange town, her parents are always busy and constantly ignore her, and there is absolutely nothing to do.  Things get interesting when Coraline finds a door to another house that looks just like hers, only better.  This new and better world can be hers for the taking… for a price.  This story is a classic “be careful what you wish for” tale.  The stop motion animation in this movie is absolutely stunning.  Although this movie isn’t set during Halloween, its creepy themes and imagery bring to life everything Halloween is all about.

3. Nightmare Before Christmas

This is another movie that I have to watch this time of year.  Even though Tim Burton recently stated it’s a Christmas movie, I strongly believe it is both.  Bored with the usual Halloween celebrations, Jack Skellington finds inspiration in Christmastown.  To give “Sandy Claws” a break, the residents of Halloweentown are going to take over Christmas and deliver the presents for him.  As you might have guessed, things do not go as planned.  The music and animation are brilliant, making this movie a classic.

(Fun Fact: I was Oogie Boogie in a summer camp and performed his song from the movie.  I know, I’m amazing.)

4. Shaun of the Dead

This movie is for all my zombie fans out there!  The movie follows a group of friends in England trying to survive the outbreak.  This movie brilliantly makes fun of the zombie genre while also being a perfect representation of it.  There are a few scary moments, and it does get a little gory, but overall it’s a comedy.  Simon Peg and Nick Frost keep you laughing the whole movie, despite the creepy zombies desperately trying to eat their brains.

5. Cabin in the Woods

Like Shaun of the Dead, this movie brilliantly makes fun of the horror genre as well as wonderfully representing the genre.  I won’t go too much into the plot in the event I accidentally give something away.  Basically, friends go to a cabin in the woods.  Weird things happen.  Any horror movie buff will really appreciate this movie.  There’s references to other movies, subversions of typical plotlines and character tropes, and a great twist.  This movie definitely has some scary moments, but it’s more of an action/comedy than a straight horror movie.

Scary

1. The Conjuring

We’ll start of the scary category with this movie!  Set in the early 70s, two paranormal investigators are asked to come check out a house where some strange events have been disturbing the family that lives there.  This is a great movie to watch with friends in someone’s basement.  It’s a great ghost story without being too hammy.  There are plenty of quiet scary moments as well as effective jump scares that will scare everyone watching.

2. Alien

We’re going to go all the way back to 1979 for this one!  This movie tells the story of a crew out in the depths of space that are being stalked and killed by an extremely aggressive extra-terrestrial being.  Alien is a classic in the horror genre, giving you the famous black bodied, too many teeth to count, absolutely goddamn terrifying creature.  While I did not find this movie particularly scary, I know some people out there will.  Actually, my dad got a little peeved at me that I wasn’t scared.  Oops.  Anyway, this movie understands how to build tension.  Ridley Scott uses silence perfectly to put the audience on edge and begging for release.

3. It Follows

I saw this movie a few weeks ago and I had to put it on this list.  The premise to this movie is really interesting.  After a sexual encounter, the main woman is pursued by an evil entity.  This being is walking at a constant pace and can look like anyone, and it is coming for her.  If it catches her, it will kill her.  The only way to survive is to pass the “curse” on by sleeping with someone else.  My boyfriend and I jokingly agreed this movie should be shown in sex education classes.  All kidding aside, this movie is quite scary.  This movie doesn’t rely on a big budget to scare the audience.  Beautiful photography, great actors, and a rockin’ soundtrack are all this film used and needed.

4. The Woman in Black

Daniel Radcliffe stars in this movie as a lawyer who needs to handle an estate of a recently deceased woman.  She has no family *cough*PLOT DEVICE*cough*, so Radcliffe’s character must travel to the creepy house and sort everything out.  He soon finds that he’s not the only one in the empty house…  This is another perfect movie to watch with friends.  It has a lot of subtle touches that will make half of your friends scream and the other half wonder what the heck they just saw.  I saw this in theaters the weekend it premiered and it was one of the best theater experiences I’ve ever had.  The audience feeds off of each other’s fear, making the moments of silence in the movie absolutely deafening. 

5. The Babadook

I’m going to say something very bold: This is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen.  The Babadook is an Australian film in which a mother and son are tormented by an evil spirit after finding a book titled Mister Babadook.  The movie does not rely on jump scares or cheap gore.  It makes you think because you’re wondering if the Babadook is even real.  It makes you uncomfortable because it shows you something disturbing and forces you look at it longer than you should.  And on top of all that, it also has a brilliant story about the effects of grief on a family.  It’s the perfect movie to scare your pants off and to analyze the heck out of.  If anyone has seen it, please, let me know!

What movies do you like to watch during the Halloween season?  Let me know in the comments!

Until next time,

Rachel