Top Halloween Flicks

Margaret Files Guest Writer

Indulge me as I combine two of my favorite things: Halloween and movies. The following list is far from comprehensive or even a best-of, but aims to provide a variety of suggestions around a theme of horror, with special attention to classic films you’ve probably heard all about and you’d better have a really good excuse for not seeing yet. A bonus: all films are available on DVD or VHS in our library.

The Exorcist (1973)
If you can get through all the dragging parts of priests conversing, this movie’s famous disturbing images and the demon’s freaky voice provide some excellent classic horror. If I’ve failed to convince you, try this on for size: according to imdb.com, evangelist Billy Graham claims “an actual demon was living in the celluloid reels of this movie.”

The Shining (1980)
If you combine Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, and Jack Nicholson, you get some pretty scary shit. This movie contains cliché horror elements like a mysterious hotel and an oddly prescient child, but throws in some very original and scary scenes. You’ve heard “Redrum, redrum!” and “Heeeere’s Johnny!” But if you haven’t seen them in context, what are you waiting for?

Carrie (1976)
I would be recommending this Stephen King flick solely for its pop-culture value, but Sissy Spacek earns a well-deserved Oscar nomination in the title role as a teen girl with a crazy mother and telekinetic powers. Like all good teen movies, the climax is set at the prom. Like all good horror movies, lots of people die. A delightful combination.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)
This masterful thriller scored five Oscars, including Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins as “Hannibal the Cannibal,” though he spent less than 17 minutes onscreen. His performance sends chills down your spine like no mutilated corpse ever could, though you get a few mutilated corpses, too. While it’s Hopkins who steals the show, I have a special place in my heart for the slurred purring of the movie’s overshadowed ‘actual’ villain, the serial killer Buffalo Bill.

The Ring (2002)
While some film buffs prefer the Japanese original of this film, Ringu, I think the American remake is the more purely terrifying version. Naomi Watts stars as a reporter uncovering the truth behind a string of mysterious deaths supposedly caused by watching a supernatural videotape. The first time I saw this movie, I was so scared I cried. I am not kidding.

Psycho (1960)
Of course a top thriller list has to include Alfred Hitchcock, king of suspense. A pretty young woman stays at the shady Bates Motel, where there is definitely something not quite right about Norman Bates and his mother. Personally, I found Psycho to be considerably less frightening than I’d always heard, but the famous murder in the shower, complete with blood swirling down the drain, is still chilling in spite of its familiarity.