Happy Halloween!

I am a big fan of horror/scary movies. So in the spirit of my last post and because I’m still feeling Halloweenie, I thought I would share some of my all-time favorites. Even though I love zombies, devils & demons, and serial killers, I find that the movies that truly scare me as opposed to just making me jump or recoil from the gore, the ones that keep me up nights afraid to move or open my eyes, the ones that really stick with me giving me nightmares are ghost stories. For some reason, I have a visceral reaction to these types of movies and honest to god, if they are made right, they scare the shit out of me. Maybe it’s because ghosts can be anywhere, watching you, locking doors and shutting the curtains will not keep you safe. It makes you question every little temperature change or strain to identify every little squeak or bump as you lay in bed. They can only seek to harm or they could be reaching out for help or they could be little more than an echo of a long dead person whose death caused them to imprint. Regardless of what they are, the concept is frightening. I believe in ghosts and this probably adds to the terror I feel when I watch a good ghost story. Not to say I wouldn’t be willing to stay in a “haunted” hotel or do a little amateur ghost hunting, I’d actually jump at the chance, the fear is exciting. Once last summer a friend was trying to finagle us a night in the deserted and supposedly haunted Goldfield Hotel, the suspense was palpable, I wanted to so badly but unfortunately it never came to pass. http://www.legendsofamerica.com/nv-goldfieldhotel.html

 

Before that, we stayed in this beautiful house in St. George Utah that was built around the turn of the last century and used to be a bed and breakfast before it became a private vacation residence. It has a stream running through the front yard and old abandoned buildings that litter the property. We were told it was haunted but alas no spirits chose to present themselves to us. It looked spooky sitting behind huge iron gates as we drove up to it but was beautiful on the inside including suitably creepy suits of armor and afforded us nothing more than a wonderful weekend. So in the end, I have never had traffic with the spirit world but I always listen to those who say they have and I must get my ghostly thrills vicariously, which means movies.

           

 I will start with some of my favorites from when I was a kid/teenager during the 70s & 80s. Honestly, thinking back, I’m shocked that I was allowed to see so many of these at such a tender age. It explains a lot. They are not all ghost stories but there is a preponderance of ghosts here.

Burnt Offerings

The Sentinel

Trilogy of Terror

The Amityville Horror

The Legend of Hell House

The Car

The Haunting – A classic and absolutely frightening.

The Changeling – I never thought a ball could be so menacing.

Ghost Story

Salem’s Lot

The Shining

Nightmare on Elm Street

Night Gallery

Poltergeist – I’ll never forget the man ripping his face off or that clown doll.

Prince of Darkness

Alien

The Fog

Not all of these have aged well but I still will watch them from time to time if only for the nostalgia. A few are just as good now as they were when I first watched them, they are horror classics.

As I got older I found it was harder for movies to deep down scare me. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy them or that when I was watching I didn’t hide my eyes or jump at the appropriate places but once the movie was done that was it, it didn’t follow me home or haunt me if you will. Some movies that stand out for me are:

The Others

The Blair Witch Project

The Ring

Stir of Echoes

Session 9

Signs

The Sixth Sense – This one actually kept me up for several nights after seeing it for the first time and gave me nightmares.

Scary movies are fun and Halloween is great for an excuse to bust out old favorites or to find some new movies that could become future favorites. I will end this post with a wish to all for happy & safe Halloween!!

A Halloween Post

This is the first Raimi movie I ever saw and it blew me away. I remember seeing it for the first time when I was still in high school. It was a dark, cold and stormy Saturday night and my brother rented it on VHS tape, telling me I'd love it. And I did, I really did, while developing a severe crush on Bruce Campbell as well. The scariest scene was when they were playing cards and the one girl started to name them from across the room only to turn around all demonified and the delicious havoc did ensue. The sequel was great too, no one can do slapstick like my Bruce. Since it is Halloween, I do like to watch my scary favorites and this is one. I must say that I was laughing at all the sly references to this classic that the newer movie The Cabin in the Woods threw out. When the 5 college kids drove up to said cabin, I piped up with "that looks just like the Evil Dead cabin", not realizing that it was kind of an homage. (Cabin in the Woods is very good by the way and if you haven't yet freeze the screen and check out the betting white board and see all the choices they have to kill our protagonists for a laugh.) There is also a big budget remake being made now that unfortunately has decided to remove one of the best things about this version and the follow ups, its sly sense of humor. They really should leave well enough alone and this movie does not need any remakes. If you like this movie series as well, check out this website that is all things evil and dead http://www.bookofthedead.ws/website/the_evil_dead_synopsis.html. The internet really is great for these kinds of things, I feel like I have found a little treasure.