Alright, all you weirdos. We went to town and mapped out our most favorite Halloween movies. We realize this is a very controversial and highly discussed topic, so if you see something that just HAS to be added, let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate.
These are written from personal experience, so keep the grammar police at bay.
Nightmare on Elm Street
All of the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” movies because they’re campy, awful, and great to laugh at now as an adult after spending most of my grade school years with a stuffed animal at the end of my bed because my mom (although she swears she didn’t) let me watch “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare”.
Halloweentown – NOT 4
Halloweentown 1,2, 3, and NOT 4. The first two were the best, 3 was okay, and we don’t talk about “Return To Halloweentown”. Sorry, but Sara Paxton was not a good substitute for Kimberly J. Brown. A travesty really. If you were a kid growing up in the late nineties and 2000’s Disney Channel original movies (pre-high school musical, sorry y’all) were the BEST way to spend the weekend. Whimsical and just spooky enough, this movie had us wanting to be a part of this ghoulish town and for some of us, our first crush was a troll because of it.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I’m sure you’ve all deduced the oldie who put this on the list. The fright was real when I saw this movie. First of all, really with the hook? What a terrible way to die and I can’t get over the fact that he was always wearing the poncho or whatever the fishing gear was called.
I was in high school when I saw it and I remember getting home late from work one night and I noticed the light was on in our barn, which was set back away from the house. We always had to park by it, and I knew I needed to go turn that damn light off but we lived in the country and it was PITCH black, minus that light. I ran to the barn, threw open the door, hit the switch, and ran as fast as my teenage legs would carry me back to the house. I swear someone was right behind me breathing down my neck. I haven’t watched that movie since.
The Monster Squad
Universal movie monsters, kid monster hunters and classic lines like “Wolfman’s got nards.” Make one great movie. This classic 80’s gem didn’t do well in the theaters and not many people have heard of it. It only grew in popularity with those who had HBO growing up. The movie is about 3 friends who have a monster club. They find themselves up against Dracula, The Gill Man, The Mummy, Wolfman, and Frankenstein’s Monster who arrive in town in search of a magic amulet. I love this movie. I saw it when I was 8 years old. It was scary and funny at the same time. I loved the idea of kids taking on monsters without the help from adults. There were no movies about kids saving the world at that time. I watch this movie every October.
Signs (2002)
I was eleven years old. My dad and older brother both thought it was a good idea to take me to see my first “scary” movie in theaters. To be fair, so did I.
I had seen Halloween 1 & 2 at this point. In truth, those also messed me up, but I was able to hold it together. The occasional run-up-the-stairs-as-fast-as-I-could moment, but nothing drastic.
That all changed when I saw Signs. The opening titles start with a gentle chromatic violin chord, droning along as the actors’ names appear on the screen. Then out of fucking nowhere a crescendo blasts the theater with those terrifying three notes that, in all honesty, still make me a little uneasy. So little me was already shitting bricks.
The whole movie put me on edge. The small glimpses of the aliens’ hands, shadowy figures on the roof, and those disgusting clickity-voices over the baby monitor—I was done. But the scene that really got me was when the news channel played a home tape of a kid’s birthday party and we, for the first time, got a glimpse of one of the aliens in their entirety. THAT SHIT BLENDED IN PERFECTLY WITH THE BUSHES. I couldn’t do it. Then they made it worse and just paused on it while those damn three notes kept strumming along in the background. Fuck.
True story here. My mom asked me to vacuum my room not long after I saw the movie. The blinds to my window were open; of course, there were bushes and woods staring straight back at me. Needless to say, I did not clean my room that day.
Scary movies give us life. How about you?
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