Before I can start this list, I feel it must be made clear exactly what a "Halloween" movie is. In this case, its a monster movie; does it need to be scary? no, Does it need to take place on Halloween? not necessarily, but it helps, Are all horror movies Halloween movies? no. These movies need an antagonist, preferably of supernatural origin that kill humans with no regard for life. And since it is Halloween, I figure why not end the month of October with a list of movies that do this well. However I must admit, this is not one of my favorite genres, so I may miss one of your favorites simply because I have not seen it.
10. The Omen
This movie barely scrapes onto the list, not because its not as goo of a movie, but because the Damian simply is not a classic Halloween monster. However when I was a child, my mother did not allow us to celebrate Halloween because she claimed that it was the "Devil's Christmas" and my first Halloween was when I was 10. So naturally when I watch this movie I'm reminded of that. The kid who plays Damian in this is perfect, and even now this movie has the power to scare me, under the right circumstances. I have yet to see the remake, but judging as how I never heard much about it after its release, it is not as good.
9. Evil Dead
This movie is so low on the list because it took me a second viewing to figure out what the hell was happening. This is the movie that spawned the franchise, and made Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi famous. A little know fact here is that the budget for the movie was whatever the cast and crew had in their pockets, and yet it was still amazing. There is going to be a remake of this, and I severely hope it lives up to the legacy.
8. Drag Me To Hell
The second Raimi film to make the list. I almost skipped this one because of how stupid and generic it looked. And boy am I glad I did not. This movie has all of Raimi's trademarks that we expect, and it was his first horror movie he did after his Spider-Man trilogy. Even the ending was perfect, it was not cliche, and in fact made me laugh a little. However if you get grossed out by things, you may want to avoid this one, EVERYTHING that can goes into our heroin's mouth.
7. An American Werewolf in London
This movie introduced an interesting concept, what if a werewolf got into a highly populated area? Not only that, but it came up with some cool ideas for the werewolf as well, like their victims can never move on until the werewolf is killed. As the movie went on, and especially at the end we feel bad for our hero/monster who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The sequel however ruined all this, only watch it if you must.
6. Dawn of The Dead
Both versions of this movie are good. This is one of the only times I feel the remake did its job in modernizing a classic. For me personally I feel the remake is better, simply because of the generation I am a part of, plus I know where the sequels went, sure the remake of Day of the Dead was bad, but Romero destroyed his legacy with Land of the Dead.
5. Army of Darkness
I know what you're thinking, "Why is this rated higher than the original?" I'll tell you why, yes the original was ground breaking, and yes this one is not a horror movie, but this one is more fun to watch, I like the craziness of this movie, how much more fleshed out Ash is, and the boomstick line still makes me laugh. Plus this is the movie is where Ash becomes his own unique character, everyone knows him as the guy with a chainsaw hand, and this is the only one he really has it.
4. Shaun of The Dead
I feel I don't need to say much more here, but I will. This movie gives no real explanation for the zombies, they just sort of show up. Also instead of the everyman hero, we get the slacker man-child hero. It was a comedy, but it also managed to scare people, when this movie came out my brother was 10, to this day he refuses to watch it because it terrified him. Plus the plan in this movie is smart, the heroes decide to hide out until the government arrives. Usually the heroes of these movies are too stupid to form coherent thoughts.
3. Fright Night
Until very recently this was number 2 on the list. Strangely the only vampire movie on the list, both the original and remake are here because separating them would have taken multiple spots on the list. These are fun movies, they have suspense, great acting, and a plot that keeps you watching. Personally again I prefer the remake here, mostly because I felt the acting was better, and the whole generation modernizing thing again. Plus David Tennant as the vampire expert, nuff said.
2. Cabin in The Woods
This movie was fantastic, it satirized everything that is the Horror genre, and did it well. This movie is scary, and entertaining in its own right, but even better when you catch all the things they openly mock. They even say in the movie how stupid things are, and how predictable other horror movies can be.
1. Zombieland
Let's be honest, was there ever any doubt on this one? Zombieland is awesome, like
Cabin in The Woods and
Shaun of The Dead it pokes fun at other movies in the genre, but it balances the thrills and comedy really well. The movie shows a zombie apocalypse some time after most of the population is killed, and the survivors seem to have a grasp on living pretty well. Also unlike
Cabin in The Woods the movie does not keep beating you with the fact its a parody, but rather a comedy that happens to have zombies in it.
Disagree with my list, feel I forgot a movie, or simply want to comment, feel free to post in the area below.
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