One of my favorite things about October — or, as we like to call it at my house, “Monstober” — is the plethora of horror movies on TV. Unfortunately, last night I suddenly realized we’re half-way through October and I’ve yet to get my scare on! WTH?!? So I informed the hubby that this weekend we are doing a scary movie marathon. The question now — what should we watch?
I’m generally not into the slasher films like Friday the 13th or Nightmare on Elm Street or the other iconic horror flicks of their ilk, so there’ll be no marathons involving Jason or Freddy at my house. But give me a movie featuring vampires, ghosts, or werewolves, and I’m good to go! And if you can throw in a psychological horror/thriller or anything with a creepy kid as the villain – even better!
There’s no shortage of fun horror flicks out there from recent years, but if you’ve seen all 5,000 Final Destination movies and are looking for something else, don’t be afraid to go digging back a bit through the decades for some oldies but goodies. Or even go out on a limb and try a foreign horror film (with subtitles, natch) — Asian movies are particularly awesome!
If you need some ideas, here are a few of my all-time faves:
1) The Changeling starring George C. Scott (This one is the awesome sauce, y’all.)
2) Silver Bullet starring Corey Haim (Love this one. And, honestly, let’s just throw in any of the good adaptations of a Stephen King novel, such as Carrie, The Shining, It…)
3) Poltergeist starring JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson (Okay, so the special effects are totally cheesy by today’s standards, but I saw this when I was a kid and had to sleep in a sleeping bag in my parents’ room for about a month.)
4) The Bad Seed starring Patty McCormack (Chilling – see above regarding creepy kid.)
5) The Omen (1976 version) starring Gregory Peck (A classic. Ditto on the creepy kid.)
6) Gin gwai (The Eye) starring Angelica Lee (Skip the Jessica Alba remake; this one’s better.)
7) The Ring starring Naomi Watts (Okay, admittedly, this isn’t that old and is probably one you’ve already seen, but it freaked the bejeezus out of both the hubby and me. And, if you’re brave enough, watch the original from Japan.)
8) The Fall of the House of Usher starring Vincent Price (Come on! It’s Vincent Price doing an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe. Need I say more?)
9) Rosemary’s Baby starring Mia Farrow (A classic. Very creepy stuff.)
10) The Exorcist starring Linda Blair (Because what list of horror films would be complete without this one?)
Honorable mentions: Either of the “American Werewolf” movies, The Thing, Ginger Snaps, Zombieland (or pretty much any zombie movie, old or new), The Amityville Horror — I could go on and on!
So, how about you folks? Have any you’d add to the list?
Oh, you’ve brought up some great scary memories here. Patty McCormack and her creepy braids. Gregory Peck digging up the grave in that old Italian cemetery and finding out about you-know-what. Rosemary’s Baby proving you can’t even trust your nearest and dearest.
Another one that scared the heck out of me was Shutter about someone haunted through photographs. The Descent was a good one, too. And honorable mentions to 28 Days Later and The Mist. I’m feeling the need to pull an all-night horror movie fest at Chez Meader!
@Kate M. – I don’t think I’ve seen Shutter. I’ll have to add that one to my list. Sounds like an awesome premise! And I have to say, 28 Days Later seriously messed with my head. I actually had nightmares after watching that one.