JUNKFILM

With only days left to the culmination of my favorite time of year, I decided that with these last few remaining moments, I will give you a list of movies to choose from that are some of the scariest and most Halloween-worthy. Many of these titles are not the normal type of horror films I would recommend for truly scary viewing, but I also understand that not all of you like the kind of movie that will keep you awake for a few nights or the kind of movie that makes you want to throw up from graphic violence. I do.

So this following list is a good example of a collective of various styles of scares and horrors and terrors and nightmares. Just do yourself the favor and pick something up this time of year and treat yourself.

THE SHINING (1980)

Without a doubt, Steven King’s best, and just another Stanley Kubrick masterpiece. It’s creepy as hell and unlike many horror film, has not aged one day.

THE EXORCIST (1973)

This is one of the few movies that ever made me sleep with the lights on when I was a kid. Plus, the director’s cut has the girl walking backwards down the stair case….eeehhhhh

NIGHTBREED (1990)

Innovative and creative, Clive Barker brings us another story of pure freakishness. Scary at times and friendly at others. The villian has one of the creepiest masks I have seen in a movie ever.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1974)

The original and still so damn good it hurts to think they would remake it. While tons of people think this was a blood bath, there was only blood in small amounts in very small scenes. Very little violence is actually in the movie, making it a great terror film.

SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

Not really a horror film, more of a thriller, but still, reeeaaaally creepy and scary at points.

JAWS (1975)

The single movie that made you not want to go to the beach. Can you believe people weren’t afraid of sharks as they are now until this film was made?

THE RING (Ringu) (2000)

While the American remake is…alright…the original is spine-shivering. Low budget problems made the crew innovate and make a better script.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Arguably the first slasher film ever made. See where all those terrible clones come from in probably the best of them all. Fun trivia, the killer, Michael wasn’t named until part 2. In the first he nwas simply called “the Shape.”

PSYCHO (1960)

Hitchcock was the master for a reason. It’s gooooood.

SE7EN (1995)

Again, like Silence, not a horror film, put the creepy factor is still pretty high. See Brad Pitt as a slowly-going psycho cop on one of the most gruesome investigations in cop-film history.

ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)

I don’t wanna have kids….

POLTERGEIST (1982)

aka. the scariest PG film ever made. This movie is STILL scary by today’s standards…and your little sister can watch it.

28 DAYS LATER (2003)

Reinventing the zombie film to a fast, actioner survival piece. However, this is technically a zombie film in theme, there are NO zombies in the movie..they are infected.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984)

The first of many. The best of the series. STILL the scariest of them all.

THE THING (1982)

One of the very few remake films in history that outshines the original.

EVIL DEAD (1982)

I touched on the sequel earlier, but truth be told the original, ala part 1, is damn good on it’s own. See where it all began and see how they made a movie with no money, a lot of passion, and missing actors.

CARRIE (1976)

Pig blood? Check. Fire starting ability? Check. Psycho mother? ….everyone raise your hand.

THE OMEN (1976)

Don’t mistake that travesty of a piece of shit remake for this good, scary older film. Similar to how piss poor the remake of Wickerman was compared to the original, The Omen remake was god-fucking-awful. But this 1976 gem is one that stands the test of time and still creepy.

An AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981)

One of the greatest werewolf movies aside from the Wolf Man and the Howling. Oooh, the Howling,..that was a good one too.

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (1986)

The reason this flick is so damn creepy is that the main character takes his killing very nonchalantly and yet methodically at the same time. He can seem like someone you know in real life, and yet you don’t ever want to know him.

BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999)

Come on…when you first saw it, you were freaked. It was scary at first. Some people thought it was real…then again..why would you think it was real if it came out to theaters? That’s dumb. I guess it was freaky because of all the ad campaigns they ran the year prior to build up an awareness of the film….yeah..that’s what was really scary….

BLAIR WITCH PROJECT AD CAMPAIGN (1999)
Before the movie was released to theaters the Blair Witch ad campaign was already in effect. They made a fake documentary about the witch on Discovery Channel, they released copies of the movie on unlabeled VHS tapes, word of mouth, books, tourist shit…..they were fucking smart. Which in turn, made the movie that much creepier because everyone said, “Hey, I remember seeing something about this…it might be real.”

SAW (2004)

While the rest of the series took a giant dump on itself, the first is still pretty well done. Just have to look past the obviously terrible last 10 minutes of so where the entire movie unravels and falls apart; everything from direction to script, acting to production design, all right down the shitter in the final act. A creepy movie for the main stream horror audience.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

While I have already discussed Night of the Living Dead in a previous post, Dawn is just as good, if not scarier… This movie is every survivalist’s wet dream. Stuck in a world full of shit you can kill…while you’re inside a mall full of stuff to survive on.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Possibly the best remake in film history aside from All Quiet on the Western Front, The Thing, and Night of the Living Dead….wait a minute, scratch that last one… Dawn remade is tight, concise, and Zak gets exactly what George was aiming at.

THE HILLS HAVE EYES (1977)

While the remake is not terrible, there’s some grainy and gut-wrentching about the original, and I think it’s made all the more scary that we don’t find out why they are torturing this poor family.

Day of the Dead (1985)

Personally, my favorite of the original Living Dead trilogy. While Night is freaky as hell and tension building, and Dawn is the biggest zombie fantasy and scary, Day makes the best of a terrible situation: the living are now PISSED as hell at each other. And when you pit scientists vs military….yay.