Here are my five best horror films to watch this Halloween season.
5. The Thing (1982)
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John Carpenter’s underappreciated classic was mind-blowing to see on a giant drive-in movie screen when I was that perfect age of 11. That’s when you cannot get enough gore and know the special effects artists’ names because you read a magazine called Fangoria that is all about blood splatters and severed limbs and gruesome transformations. The Thing, which was inspired by Carpenter’s own childhood fascination with the original, is nothing short of demented. In one scene a guy’s head separates from his body and the head sprouts spider legs and scampers away. The practical pre-digital effects hold up very well in 2022, forty years later. I watch this movie at least once a year.
4. Poltergeist
Easily the best haunted house movie of all time and really it’s not even close. Everything that happens in the movie you do not see coming. And even after you know the creepy clown doll is about to get up to some mischief it’s no less unsettling. Jobeth Williams is sensational as the mother whose daughter gets sucked into the Other Side (and Williams is also pretty easy on the eyes). The effects are great and the ghost hunters who show up with the little psychic lady in tow provide some mid-film tension building. Plus, “this house is clean” is the greatest false victory ever.
3. Halloween (1978)
Tepid by today’s standards but scared the bejesus out of my when I saw it much too young. The idea of an unstoppable killing machine who is pure evil is a pretty gnarly concept when you think about it. Michael Myers takes a hail of bullets and falls two stories in the climax and then just…vanishes. Forget that moments before a simple wire hanger to his eye had him retreating. That never made much sense but who cares with a main title theme that plays in various forms throughout the movie and is second only to the Jaws theme for that kind of impact.
2. Alien
A monster movie set aboard a giant space ship. That’s the elevator pitch. Except oh by the way the monster keeps changing throughout the movie and has acid for blood. And you never know where he is or when he’s going to pop out. Speaking of pop out, mind if I just rip my way out of your body, John Hurt? Bonus points to filmmaker Ridley Scott for tricking the audience into thinking Tom Skerritt was the hero only to see his character perish about halfway through the action. Which sets up Sigourney Weaver’s character Ripley as the eventual hero (and briefly, underwear model) who bests the Alien in a thrilling conclusion. Which sets up…
1. Aliens
It’s the greatest horror movie ever. It has humor, extremely believable science fiction elements, sociopolitical commentary, jump scares, creepy crawly scares, scary scares, Paul Reiser as a sinister corporate toad, a little girl in distress, Ripley protecting the little girl, and only one of the most kick-ass moments in cinema history when Ripley literally goes toe to toe with the Alien queen. “Get away from her, you BITCH!” absolutely brought the house down back in 1986 when I saw Aliens at the shopping mall in Jackson. Whoops and hollers and applause. I think I may have stood up and fist pumped. Aliens is that rare movie sequel, Star Trek II, Spider-Man 2, Empire Strikes Back and Godfather 2 being the others, that absolutely outguns the original in every way possible. It should be required viewing in any film school.
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