Ohhhh…my favorite time of year, the Fall. The best time to blast the Misfits in your car, driving around town, while watching the leaves change colors and smell the air as it bleeds the scent of burning wood. Watch the world put on its mask and hear Danzig sing “candy apples and razor blades”--the best of the seasons is here and it’s now time to get into horror movie mode.
With Halloween approaching, I decided to compile a list of 31 films to commemorate the countdown to Old Hallow’s Eve. I tried my best to avoid including all the obvious movies on here. Do I think Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the top 5 horror films ever? Yes. But you will not see it on this list. You will not see any Nightmare on Elm Streets, Friday the 13ths, no Exorcist, no Jaws, no Shining; I'm not even putting Psycho on this list! Of course, I can't make this list without some of the obvious classics, but I’m certainly being select in doing so.
Just remember, this isn’t my list of top horror films ever made. This is me being a complete (as Socrates might say) “GEEK!”, looking at each day in October and making a “playlist” of horror films to take you from October 1 through 31. I hope you get the chance to check some of these out and enjoy them. I promise, they are all worth your time. “What-iz-a-geek?”
October 1st: Evil Dead II “Dead By Dawn” (1987)
Let’s start the month off right with the ultimate classic; Evil Dead II. There’s not much I can say that hasn’t already been said about it. This movie will always be a classic and will always be fun to watch. Has anyone seen the Evil Dead musical? If so, comment below and let me know how it is.
October 2nd: House of the Devil (2009)
Written and directed by Ti West. This is the best horror movie I’ve seen in many years! HOD takes place in the 80’s and for once it feels like you are ACTUALLY in the 80’s (no 2003 Hondas driving by in the background or extras walking by in fubu clothing head to toe.) West does a great job relying on suspense and atmosphere making this into (my opinion) a classic horror film. Incidentally, Ti West is currently working on a movie called the Innkeepers about a haunted hotel going out of business… can’t wait!!!
October 3rd: The Willies (1990)
Poodle in the microwave!?!? Oh yeah! Here's my question to you; are you a "family man?” Do you have to watch the kids tonight? Do you want to introduce them into the horror genre but don’t know the right movie to show them??? Well, the Willies is the perfect family film. Three boys camp in the backyard and tell each other horror stories in the style of Tales from the Crypt. Or you can go the route my Uncle did and show me Faces of Death in the 3rd grade. Mikey from Goonies is also in it... cool.
October 4th: The Invisible Man (1933)
Claude Rains and Gloria Stuart are amazing in this classic which really holds up to this day. “Power, I said! Power to walk into the gold vaults of the nations, into the secrets of kings, into the Holy of Holies; power to make multitudes run squealing in terror at the touch of my little invisible finger. Even the moon’s frightened of me, frightened to death!”
October 5th: Brain Dead (1989)
If there are a few movies you haven't seen on this list and you decide you are only going to pick one of my many awful recommendations...PICK THIS ONE! Brain Dead was written by Charles Beaumont (contributing writer to the original Twilight Zone) and stars Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton and the legendary Bud Cort. Is this all a dream? That is the question, what is real, what is "fantasy?" You can watch this film over and over again and never cease to pick up new things, or new perspectives. I don't really want to tell much of anything about this movie; I want you to sit down and watch it!
October 6th: Dead Alive (1992)
Before all those damn Lord of the Ring movies, Peter Jackson made some pretty wild films; Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, Heavenly Creatures, and The Frighteners to name a few. Dead Alive, to his true fans, may just be his masterpiece. This has humor and gore, and it made me never want to look at rice pudding again without puking my brains out. If you love the Evil Dead movies then you probably have seen this. But if you love them and haven’t, check this out. Seriously, WATCH IT!
Oh, and if you’re like me and happened to cut lawns throughout your entire high school career, then upon graduation traveled the world for more than ten years, thinking you were doing something amazing with your life, only to move back home and get a job at your old high school and for extra money start cutting the same lawns you cut in high school prompting you to look really hard into the mirror one day and say "what the fuck happened to you JB!?!?”— then you'll really love the lawn massacre scene at the end.
October 7th: Nightbreed (1990)
From the imagination of Clive Barker...don't you hate when shit starts out this way...From the imagination of Pizza Hut...From the imagination of Zubaz Pants Wear...From the imagination of Chad Kroger comes; Nickelback! Anyways, I think Nightbreed doesn't get the credit it should. It's a really cool movie and the effects and make-up still look great. Nightbreed is a movie about not fitting in, it’s a movie about good versus evil, about the average-looking man and how he just might be the real monster (Chad Kroger.) Is that even the dude’s real name, Chad Kroger! ?...I can obviously google it right now, but would rather waste time writing here and wondering if it is or it isn't. A friend of mine’s band played a festival with Nickelback and smoked a marijuana hoo-hang with Chad. I guess it was Kroger's first time tokey-toking...a few hours later they saw CK by an ice cream vendor with the mad munchies, holding a chocolate ice-cream cone with choco all over his goatee, poor Krogey. Back to Nightbreed; I think this is a good and fun way to end the first week of October and it has an excellent performance from everybody’s favorite, David Cronenberg.
Check back next week for week 2 of the 31 Fright Flicks of Halloween.
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