Saturday, October 22, 2011

TOP HALLOWEEN MOVIES


I'm only going to name one. This isn't my favorite movie of all times-it's not even the best scary movie ever made. But this movie is the epitome of what I absolutely love to watch in terms of spookiness, and this story is very well told. Now I'm positive that I will be met with disagreement because this happens to be a remake and the original is iconic--yet this one effects me much deeper than the original. The movie is Halloween. But Rob Zombie's Halloween.

*Dodges the eggs being thrown at me* So let me explain. In the original, it opens with a young Michael Myers killing his entire family. He gets thrown into a mental hospital for the criminally insane and then upon escaping he has developed these super human abilities--like being shot and bludgeoned and burned--with absolutely no explanation as to why he can continue to live! Oh yeah, in subsequent Halloweens they talk about Samhain and provide a vague explanation but lets be honest here, if a kid really is going to kill everyone in his family, shouldn't we get a little bit of the back story? Was he molested? Was he disowned and his inheritance taken? Did his parents catch him in a 'compromising' position?

No back story. Then he just walks very slowly and catches people who are running. Really? How does that work? Has anyone ever seen Michael Myers run? How does he always catch people? Well anyways, its not about believability--it's just that Rob Zombie satisfied my curious nature. Pure and simple.

If you haven't watched the remake, you'll note that Michael starts out as a very normal kid. He's really sweet and cute but he's picked on at school and has a severely dysfunctional family. When the kids in school discover that his mom works in a strip joint it seems to finally push him over the edge and he snaps. There are two opposing sides to this kid and they don't seem to be aware of each other. When his Mom comes to visit him in the mental hospital he begins to ask her if everyone at home is okay--like maybe he has an inkling that they aren't. And when he's told that he's done bad things he cries and denies it. Then he begins to beg to go home. 

I think the explanation for how disassociated he becomes is understandable. It's not quite believable how he tracks his sister down--however, it lacks the odd paranormal twists which makes it scary in a more believable way. Scary like...hey that kid next door might be the next Michael Myers. Maybe you don't want to push that shy kid that everyone enjoys picking on...

So that is my vote for my top Halloween story. Tell me yours and why. Oh, and on a quick note...I said I'd only do one but Shaun of the Dead is equally as important to Halloween just for it's sheer tongue-in-cheek at the horror-zombie genre.

16 comments:

  1. Hmmm I can't say what my Top Halloween movie is, although I must admit that even at my age I still look at an awful lot of ScoobyDoo cartoons during this time and oh that one animated movie, "Monster House. It would not be Halloween if me and my cousin did not watch that movie at least once,lol. But I will say that watching the Syfy channel for what I deem as their 'bug day' when they play all movies pertaining to deadly bugs like 'Locusts' 'The Swarm' 'Arachnophobia' and any other bug movie that's been produced into a t.v. made movie special for the Syfy channel.

    -392OhMyGoodness

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  2. Don't judge, but I'm a 90s baby so the first movie that pops in my head when I think of Halloween movies is the Disney channel's Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, etc. That seriously was my favorite Halloween movie as a kid. I loved how it was Halloween-y without trying so hard to be scary (I've never been a fan of "scary movies") and of course I LOVED the scene where Bette Midler sings "I've got a spell on you" lol.
    A close second would be the Disney channel's Tower of Terror movie... Or A nightmare Before Christmas...
    Yes, I watched a lot of Disney as a kid LOL

    -- CeruleanIncubus

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  3. One word: "Poltergeist". I watched that movie with my family when I was a kid. It's funny as now when I watch it, I enjoy it for what it did to the horror/thriller genre and I let my son watch it and told him that this is what a real scary movie is.

    And yes to this day..I don't like clowns. That scene still makes me shudder

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  4. Ha clowns! I despise clowns. Why in the world would my mother buy me a stuffed clown toy as a child??? I was too scared to put it in the closet because I was too afraid I'd wake up and it would be just sitting there. So I sat it somewhere where I could clearly keep my eye on it. I'd wake up every few hours to make sure it hadn't moved.

    So that scene in Poltergeist was fucking scary. And that kid's reaction was perfect. I'll have to put that on my 'must watch scary movie list'.

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  5. Hocus Pocus is a totally cute movie that I have watched over and over--and it's not just because me and my daughter watched it together, I just really love it.

    I really like Tim Burton movies and I think Jack Skellington is the coolest thing in the world. My list of must watch movies is growing.

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  6. @OMG, I can't say that I have any attraction for movies with bugs, worms, sharks, etc. But Friday I had gone out drinking with a friend. #1 I don't drink much. #2 I'm too anti-social to go to bars. I'd already had a glass of Moscato, half a glass of Merlot, a cup of warm saki, a screw driver and a shot of stoli and redbull. All like in a 3 hour period. So for me this is a lot.

    So I was basically kind of messed up. Anyway this nasty bar had the tv playing the horror movie marathon on AMC. There were these creepy wormy things and a massive Jabba the Hut-like creature. And for some strange reason it was the most interesting thing in the world...

    But I digress...

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  7. even though i enjoyed zombie's version of halloween, my preference during the actual 'season' is to watch the old hammer horror films. one of the lost classics is 'the legend of the 7 golden vampires'. imagine kung fu theater 70s style mixed with 70s style british horror. win win.

    as far as just scary is concerned, it is the original halloween only because i saw it as a five-year-old and it flippin' traumatized me for years. i think i was in college before i could hear john carpenter's theme and not have to turn on lights.

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  8. Oooo The Legend of 7 Golden Vampires is available per Netflex. Added to the list...

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  9. I know it's a fad now, but I saw The Blair Witch Project as a preview when it first came out; just before Halloween. Didn't sleep the whole night and absolutely trollied my job interview the next day. I'd have picked Poltergeist, but I refuse to watch that the whole way through. Refuse.

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  10. I would have to say my favorite Halloween movie is "It". That movie put me off clown for life. I can even look at a clown without getting a little freaked out,lol

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  11. Billy, I absolutely will not watch Paranormal Activity 1. I realize that its not real or true in any way and a few years ago I had made a decision to watch it. Then a few days later my sister called me and asked if I'd seen it. She proceeded to tell me that it scared the ever-loving-shit out of her and I decided against it yet again. So this year I'm going to try to watch it and my daughter has agreed to watch it with me. I'll give a full report.

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  12. Chris, I love IT! I loved the book and the movie. Yeah, the clown thing creeped me out and I will tell you that my daughter and teenage nephews are terrorized by that clown...and strangely enough, Candyman.

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  13. I like The Fog, I've seen it about 8 times. I like both the new and old version. It has ghosts and pirates, what more is there?

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  14. lol I love 'It' oddly enough Pennywise the Clown never scared me, it was the music... I don't even have to be looking at t.v. but once I hear the music I instantly know that its on. I've read the book and I've seen the movie countless times. I can even recite some of the lines by heart lol. But with 'Candyman' I never really liked it. I guess even as a kid I always felt sorry for him, getting chased down by racist folks, getting his hand sawed off and then the honey and bees was too much. I was just like 'aaaww that's so sad what they did to him. all cause he fell in love with someone.' The one movie that freaked me out was Stephen King's 'The Mist'- just cause of the huge bugs. My mom and I rented the movie and we were both sitting in the front room just itching and scratching while watching the movie. I tell you I have never ever watched that movie ever again. And 'Paranormal Activity' did the same thing to me too. I watched it during day light hours and I about had to sleep with the lights on cause I swore the shadows in my room kept moving.
    Sorry to keep going on and on, but one movie I would recommend is 'Fragile' its a scary movie starring Calista Flockhart. I saw it on one of those movie channels and it was pretty good. It's not a slasher movie, it's like a little bit of a haunting/poltergeist film.

    -392OhMyGoodness

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  15. Okay sooo... I'm a bit ashamed to admit thet I attempted to watch a movie called Dr. Giggles when I was like 17 and had to turn it off it scared the crap out of me. When I first married my husband he tried to get me to watch some movies that he loves, after Dawn of the Dead I could not sleep and he had to escort me wherever I wanted to go especially after dark. He never made me watch any creepy movies again.

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  16. Me and my brother love zombie movies. We will watch any kind of zombie movie and we always end up in a huge debate on how to survive a zombie attack.I am huge slasher movie fan. I recently watched Student Bodies late night on cable. I love it. It was far from scary but I love the corniness of the whole movie.I will be doing a Halloween and Friday 13th marathon this weekend

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