Guest Blog Fear the Dark: The Best Horror Movies for Halloween by Julie Thibodeau

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  Fear the Dark: The Best Horror Movies for Halloween

by

Julie Thibodeau

Whenever I browse the internet searching for the best horror movies and come across a Top 100 list of best horror, I always find myself frowning. Some of these lists include films I would never watch while ignoring or omitting some of the better though lesser-known, greatest horror movies ever made.

I don’t pretend to know what’s wrong with Hollywood’s long dry spell of good scary movies. The beginning of jump-scare movies which original drew viewers to the theatre has saturated the horror film market making anything truly frightening obsolete.

Seriously, when jump-scares or gratuitous violence are the backbone of your film, your audience is going to get very, very bored if the story and plot aren’t the best they’ve ever seen. And let’s face it, the average filmmaker doesn’t pour a lot of money into producing the best ever horror film. Unless we’re talking about Ridley Scott, Clive Barker, John Carpenter or Guiermo Del Toro, horror is still produced on a low budget with a lot of CGI, jump-scares, shaky digital camera filming and blue-screen acting.

But that’s not what predominates this list. I’ve been watching horror movies since I was in my mid-teens and horror films have yet to make a comebackof the kind of blockbuster horror movie-goers got in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s and has yet to turn this genre around. So without further delay, here are my lists of best horror movies for Halloween or whenever you’re wanting to scare yourself silly.

 

Ghosts, hauntings, curses and possessions: House on Haunted Hill, Ghost Ship, 13 Ghosts, Paranormal Activity (2007), House, The Conjuring (2013), The Ring or the original: Ringu (1998), Silent Hill, Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Others (2001), The Fog (1980), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and The Grudge.

Creature Features: The Relic, Resident Evil, American Werewolf in Paris, Cloverfield, Resident Evil, Phantoms, Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Forgotten, The Happening, Slither, The Cabin in the Woods (2012), The Babadook (2014), Ginger Snaps (2000), The Descent (2005), Lights Out (2016), Krampus (2015) and Prometheus.

 

Classic Horror/ Cult Classics: Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), The Exorcist (1973), Fright Night (1985), Amityville Horror, Halloween (1978 and unrated remake), The Thing (1982 and the prequel), The Shining (1980), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Christine, Carrie (1976), American Werewolf in London, Poltergeist (1982), Psycho (1960), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), Village of the Damned, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), The Birds (1963), Halloween (1978), The Omen (1976), The Stuff (1985), The Prince of Darkness (1987) and Hellraiser (1987).

 

Zombies and the Undead: Evil Dead (remake), 28 Days Later, The Crazies, Shawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead ,

Dawn of the Dead, Army of Darkness and Zombieland,

Last but not least, Neflix has a few good low budget flicks available as well as a small selection of big-screen flicks, though these are from Canada’s Neflix selection. Other countries will have different titles available. It Follows (2015), Occulus, As Above So Below, Evil Dead (remake), The Rezort, Re-Kill, Under the Bed, Harbinger Down, Insidious 3, The Last Days on Mars, Infini and The Descent.

So there you have it, a massive selection of horror movies I believe are “must-sees” for any lover of a good scare or horror movie aficionado. With any luck, you’ll find something here you haven’t yet seen.

 

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