Holloween Horror Film Guide
It's Time again for Slasher Flicks and Supernatural Thrillers
With the scariest holiday of the year fast approaching, what movie are you going to grab to get you in the spirit of the season?
With Halloween just around the corner, millions of pimply adolescents, and pimply adolescents at heart, are no doubt rooting through video store shelves (and the bowels of NetFlix) in search of their favorite horror films. The problem is that a great scary movie is a rare thing indeed, and classics are few and far between. If you’re stumped on entertainment for your upcoming Halloween party sink your fangs into this foolproof guide.
Classics
You can’t go wrong with a flick that’s stood the test of time. As long as there’s teenage angst, there will be Carrie. As long as there’s an ocean, there will be Jaws. A true classic usually builds around a basic fear. The Blair Witch Project worked so well because it was about people hopelessly lost in the woods. Sure, the shaky, documentary feel added a layer of realistic spookiness, but this was only a little lacquer on top of a solid structure that made it really shine.
Another top notch choice is The Shining because, lets face it, who does crazy better than Jack Nicholson and when is he ever crazier than in this Kubrick classic based on a Stephen King novel. Another no-loose pick is the queen of all scary movies, The Exorcist. Supremely creepy, it still holds up after more than thirty years. Sure the 360 head turn looks a little cheesy compared to today’s special effects but the split-pea vomit is still really, really gross.
Slasher films
Slasher pics can be a really tricky endeavor. The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a good one because it strips the genre down to its bare bones exposing the animalistic survival instincts of the victims in the most frightening of situations. The first A Nightmare on Elm Street is worth it just because it has Johnny Depp when he was an unknown.
The problem in recent years is the confusion between outrageous gore and a real scare. A great example being the recent The Hills Have Eyes Remake. Certainly a nuclear mutant rape scene is unsettling, but it doesn’t do much other than shock and disgust.
Final Considerations
One way to go is a film that’s not traditionally thought of as being in the “horror” genre. Seven is one of the creepiest, moodiest, and most clever frights ever put on celluloid. Still, it tends to be categorized as a thriller, or a suspense film. The Nightmare Before Christmas has some of the most awe-inspiringly eerie settings and animation, but it often gets dismissed with a “kiddy film” rap. But, recently re-released in 3D, Nightmare is one to catch this season.
Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention the best horror film of the last five years. Cabin Fever is frightening, funny, and completely original. Sure, director Eli Roth has fallen in with the gore-for-gore’s-sake crowd with his Hostel series, but you can’t deny him this one chilling cinematic pleasure.
