10 of my hidden Halloween-time movie gems

[MichaelWinicki]

The Sentinel (1977)-Remember watching it on HBO soon after the movie was released. It was scary and featured some odd characters.

Hell Night (1981)-A Linda Blair monster/slasher film that doesn't get enough credit today. Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption/The Mist/The Walking Dead) had a hand in making it.

Humongous (1982)-A lower budget "Hell Night" but an interesting story none-the-less.

The Relic (1997)-Don't know why this movie doesn't get more love. Great cast of actors. Solid story.

Rituals (1977)-A Canadian entry starring Hal Holbrook. Sort of a slasher version of Deliverance.

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)-One of the very few Zombie-the dead get up and eat the living-movies post Night of the Living Dead. Low budget but with great atmosphere. Wonderful story also. If there is a solid thread with all these movies is that the stories are generally better than your average horror film.

Black Christmas (1974)-Another Canadian entry that seems to have influenced the movie Halloween.

Carnival of Souls (1962)-A movie that took quite a while for it to be recognized as a good horror flick.

It The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)-The movie scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. When watching it you can see some influences on "Alien".

Abominable (2006)-Love this movie. Classic "man in a suit" monster with some great gore and violence.

 

[Tabascocat]

Good list but it is missing the original Fright Night

 

[cowboyec]

spanish version of the classic dracula.
filmed at night on the same set while they filmed the bela lagosi classic during the daytime.
the nighttime filming adds a layer of creepy feel to it.

don't know if its "hidden" but it just might be the best of the dracula films...tho i do love lagosi.

 

[Denim Chicken]

Event Horizon is a another. Good horror in space movie.

 

[DallasEast]

The Relic (1997)-Don't know why this movie doesn't get more love. Great cast of actors. Solid story.

One of the movie's stars, Penelope Ann Miller, has had an under rated film career. The Relic ending was climatic but that has not stopped Hollywood from conceiving sequels out of similar conclusions, even for original movies that do not fare well at the box office. I thought Miller had a (not great but) good chance of landing a franchise like Jamie Lee Curtis or Sigourney Weaver in the genre.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

One of the movie's stars, Penelope Ann Miller, has had an under rated film career. The Relic ending was climatic but that has not stopped Hollywood from conceiving sequels out of similar conclusions, even for original movies that do not fare well at the box office. I thought Miller had a (not great but) good chance of landing a franchise like Jamie Lee Curtis or Sigourney Weaver in the genre.

Agree.

I thought the movie checked every box...

-Story
-Cast
-Good monster

I don't know why the movie didn't click with audiences.

"Mimic" came out the same year and while it didn't set the world on fire either, did generate a couple sequels.

The 1990's were tough for the horror genre. We were past the "slasher" era... We were past the first wave of zombie movies.

Other than "Scream" and "Blair Witch" the 1990's are fairly barren and those movies scored partially because they were so different from what we had seen before.

 

[Khartun]

Agree.

I thought the movie checked every box...

-Story
-Cast
-Good monster

I don't know why the movie didn't click with audiences.

"Mimic" came out the same year and while it didn't set the world on fire either, did generate a couple sequels.

The 1990's were tough for the horror genre. We were past the "slasher" era... We were past the first wave of zombie movies.

Other than "Scream" and "Blair Witch" the 1990's are fairly barren and those movies scored partially because they were so different from what we had seen before.

Mimic is great and very underrated.

 

[CouchCoach]

"The Relic" is one of my top 5's. I read the book first and it was well written with a really interesting origin story. The casting and directing was first rate and the score was perfect. Peter Hyams directed it and the only other horror film he did was "End of Days", also a well made film of this genre.

One other element that is necessary for me on my horror and creature features, no stupid attempts at humor to break the tension. That's why I like "Alien", "Predator" and "The Relic" once the tension gets set, it is relentless. Unless it is a Bruce Campbell horror film with his trio and the way underrated "Bubba Ho-Tep".

I am a "Jaws" fan but the humor for me is completely misplaced. Dreyfus making clown faces and the foam cup scene were stupid to me. Brody's line "you're going to need a bigger boat" was not in the script but really perfectly matched to that moment.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Mimic is great and very underrated.

Agreed.

It's one of the few movies where children are killed–That doesn't happen often in horror flicks.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

"The Relic" is one of my top 5's. I read the book first and it was well written with a really interesting origin story. The casting and directing was first rate and the score was perfect. Peter Hyams directed it and the only other horror film he did was "End of Days", also a well made film of this genre.

One other element that is necessary for me on my horror and creature features, no stupid attempts at humor to break the tension. That's why I like "Alien", "Predator" and "The Relic" once the tension gets set, it is relentless. Unless it is a Bruce Campbell horror film with his trio and the way underrated "Bubba Ho-Tep".

I am a "Jaws" fan but the humor for me is completely misplaced. Dreyfus making clown faces and the foam cup scene were stupid to me. Brody's line "you're going to need a bigger boat" was not in the script but really perfectly matched to that moment.

Yep, "The Relic" is a great movie. Just came out at the wrong time in cinematic history I guess.

I like the humor in Jaws. For me that was one of the magical things that sucked me when when I first saw the film as a teenager during its original run.

For example, Chief Brody is looking at the shark book with pictures of what damage a shark could do, and he sees his son Michael in the boat by the dock. He immediately yells at the kid to get out of the boat. His wife then gets on the Chief about yelling at the kid saying the boat is right next to the dock– Then she sees a couple of the images in the book, get's scared and she begins yelling at the kid to get out of the boat.

As a teenager that resonated loudly with me.

 

[Fredbeard]

Relic and mimic are both good movies . I think they are both on tubi. I might watch them tonight.
Another horror film I feel is underrated is "from beyond" it is a little silly and over the top but there were several scenes I found disturbing that got under my skin

 

[quickccc]

The Sentinel (1977)-Remember watching it on HBO soon after the movie was released. It was scary and featured some odd characters.

Hell Night (1981)-A Linda Blair monster/slasher film that doesn't get enough credit today. Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption/The Mist/The Walking Dead) had a hand in making it.

Humongous (1982)-A lower budget "Hell Night" but an interesting story none-the-less.

The Relic (1997)-Don't know why this movie doesn't get more love. Great cast of actors. Solid story.

Rituals (1977)-A Canadian entry starring Hal Holbrook. Sort of a slasher version of Deliverance.

Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)-One of the very few Zombie-the dead get up and eat the living-movies post Night of the Living Dead. Low budget but with great atmosphere. Wonderful story also. If there is a solid thread with all these movies is that the stories are generally better than your average horror film.

Black Christmas (1974)-Another Canadian entry that seems to have influenced the movie Halloween.

Carnival of Souls (1962)-A movie that took quite a while for it to be recognized as a good horror flick.

It The Terror From Beyond Space (1958)-The movie scared the bejesus out of me as a kid. When watching it you can see some influences on "Alien".

Abominable (2006)-Love this movie. Classic "man in a suit" monster with some great gore and violence.

Count Yorga
Return of Count Yorga
Vampire Circus
Let the Right One In ...
City of the Living Dead
Beast of Bray Road
The Devil's Candy
i saw the Devil
Night Breed
Midnight Kiss
Gargoyles
Kingdom of the Spiders
Scanners
The Descent
Graveyard Shift - aka Central Park Drifter (vampire)
Village of the Damned (C. Reeves)
Fido

 

[CouchCoach]

Agreed.

It's one of the few movies where children are killed–That doesn't happen often in horror flicks.

Turnabout is fair play since we kill the children of animals.

I think that's what sent so many people spinning when Salem's Lot first came out and creeped them out. King knows no boundaries with putting children in peril or taking them out.

When the TV movie with David Soul came out and we watched it, it wasn't the scene of the vampire that made my wife shudder, it was seeing that little boy vampire drifting toward the window. She got up and left the room.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Turnabout is fair play since we kill the children of animals.

I think that's what sent so many people spinning when Salem's Lot first came out and creeped them out. King knows no boundaries with putting children in peril or taking them out.

When the TV movie with David Soul came out and we watched it, it wasn't the scene of the vampire that made my wife shudder, it was seeing that little boy vampire drifting toward the window. She got up and left the room.

Yeah, that sequence in "Salem's Lot" is terrific.