Watch the spookiest flicks this October
Scary Films
“Halloween”
The “Halloween” franchise consists of 11 films, and ten of which surround one psychopath murder machine, Michael Myers. On top of that, two new “Halloween” films have been given release dates, so this would be a great time to catch up if you have not seen the others. The original film that came out in 1978 is my favorite. Myers goes on a murderous rampage to kill anyone standing in his path as he pursues to kill his sister. The film may not have been the first to use the masked serial killer trope that would be portrayed much after as “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” was, but it became the template and made the killer nearly unstoppable. Some films that came from this idea include “Friday the 13th,” “Scream,” “The Stranger,” or “Trick ‘r Treat.”
“It”
This original film has undergone a reboot, and two films were created from it (no pun intended). The most recent addition to the franchise, “IT Chapter Two,” gives one good reason to go back to the original and see how the film has evolved over time to fit this generation. The original film is about an extraterrestrial creature, primarily taking the form of a clown, seeking to feed on children’s fears with their greatest nightmares. The creature is defeated though by a group of friends and a supernatural turtle that work together in vanquishing the beast with courage.
“The Cabin in the Woods”
“The Cabin in the Woods” is a film about five teenagers that try to survive their weekend in a secluded cabin because unnatural occurrences start to happen. They later find out that these horrifying events are being caused by some outside forces. This film also deals with common horror tropes. Some of the tropes used for the characters are stupid jock, slutty female, shy virgin, and pothead. Tropes used for the strange occurrences are cursed objects, zombies, extraterrestrial creatures, and giant animals.
Family Films
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”
This film successfully intertwines Christmas and Halloween into one film. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is about the king of Halloween, Jack Skellington, trying to share something different with the other creatures of Halloween. This leads him outside of Halloween town and into Christmas town, where he meets Santa Claus and later tries to imitate the ideas of Christmas with little insight about what the holiday consists of. For anyone that loves Halloween or Christmas, this is the film for you because it finds a balance between the two holidays, and one never seems to overshadow the other as the title suggests.
“Coraline”
After moving to a new area, a little girl named Caroline finds a door in her new house that leads her to a mirror world where everyone’s eyes are replaced with buttons. Soon after, she thinks that the world is perfect, but she later finds out that the world isn’t all that it appears. Her other mother wants her to replace her eyes with the buttons and live there forever with her. This film expresses the importance of not taking for granted what you have and that things may not always appear as they seem. The film uses aspects of our wants in a distorted way creating a creepy children’s film that all ages can enjoy.
“Hocus Pocus”
After moving to Salem, a brother and sister find an abandoned house in the woods where they unleash a group of witches who formerly lived there. With the help of a new friend and a supernatural cat, the siblings must work together to stop the witch sisters from performing a ritual to make them immortal. This cult classic children’s film uses supernatural forces to give children their very own horror movie with murderous witches, empathetic zombies, and cursed cats.