Halloween Favorite Movies

[SuspectCorner]

Elvis woulda been a cool vampire...already had the great hair and sideburns,the cape,high collars and cool persona...woulda been awesome.

Flesh out a script and it could make for a hella good campy horror movie. 'The King... of the Vampires.'

 

[cowboyec]

Flesh out a script and it could make for a hella good campy horror movie. 'The King... of the Vampires.'

shoulda been a premise for one of those 60s movies.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

To keep these from becoming my list of "Greatest horror films" I'll list 5 lesser known horror films that IMO are pretty good and don't get a lot of mentions...

"It the Terror from Beyond Space" A black & white film from 1958. A rescue rocket is sent to the planet Mars to bring back the survivor of a previous mission–With the possibility of the survivor being charged with the murder of the rest of crew of the previous mission. Unbeknownst by the crew of the rescue rocket a creature climbs up the side of the rocket and enters a supply hatch– And the rocket takes off with the creature aboard. The creature then starts killing the crew of the rescue mission. If the plot sounds familiar it's because this low-budget horror film served as a influence for the movie "Alien". I first saw this movie in the late 60's and it scared the bejesus out of me. It's not scary in 2018 but it's still an entertaining b&w flick.

"Horror Hotel" (Also known as "The City of the Dead"). Another black & white gem from 1960. A college student goes to a very small town in Massachusetts that has a long history of witchcraft (on the prompting of her college professor played by Christopher Lee). A very different movie in that the supposed "star" of the film is killed off in the first half of the film. Great special effects for a low budget flick. Another film that I watched in the late 60's that scared me. And one I watch every once in a while when reminiscing about the "old" days.

"Hell Night" made in 1981. Stars Linda Blair as one of a group of college students who is forced to spend the night in a haunted mansion which was the scene of multiple murders several years prior. Saw this at the movie theater and it gave me several jump-scares. While horror movies from that era like "Halloween", "Friday the 13th" and "My Bloody Valentine" get a lot of mentions, this flick while just a notch down from those is hardly talked about. It's a good Halloween movie to watch.

"Humongous" made in 1982. Another movie I watched at the theater (probably a mid-night showing). A gal is attending a party on a small island and is violently raped. She ends up pregnant and somewhat insane. She gives birth to a deformed male who grows up having to live in the basement (at this point only the mother and son are living on the island). The mother dies and the kid (now an adult) is left to his own devices and kills/eats the wildlife that is left on the island. Lo & behold a boat of over-sexed teenagers land on the island and I'm sure you can figure out what happens. It's one of the better slasher films of that era.

"Abominable" from 2006. Many "big-foot" films have been made over the years. IMO this one is the best outside of "The Legend of Boggy Creek." The creature is a guy in a suit as opposed to CGI and because it's a very good suit, the result is outstanding. A couple good jump-scares in it and the level of violence/gore escalates throughout the film with the last couple of kills very original and graphic. I love this film.

 

[cowboyec]

To keep these from becoming my list of "Greatest horror films" I'll list 5 lesser known horror films that IMO are pretty good and don't get a lot of mentions...

"It the Terror from Beyond Space" A black & white film from 1958. A rescue rocket is sent to the planet Mars to bring back the survivor of a previous mission–With the possibility of the survivor being charged with the murder of the rest of crew of the previous mission. Unbeknownst by the crew of the rescue rocket a creature climbs up the side of the rocket and enters a supply hatch– And the rocket takes off with the creature aboard. The creature then starts killing the crew of the rescue mission. If the plot sounds familiar it's because this low-budget horror film served as a influence for the movie "Alien". I first saw this movie in the late 60's and it scared the bejesus out of me. It's not scary in 2018 but it's still an entertaining b&w flick.

"Horror Hotel" (Also known as "The City of the Dead"). Another black & white gem from 1960. A college student goes to a very small town in Massachusetts that has a long history of witchcraft (on the prompting of her college professor played by Christopher Lee). A very different movie in that the supposed "star" of the film is killed off in the first half of the film. Great special effects for a low budget flick. Another film that I watched in the late 60's that scared me. And one I watch every once in a while when reminiscing about the "old" days.

"Hell Night" made in 1981. Stars Linda Blair as one of a group of college students who is forced to spend the night in a haunted mansion which was the scene of multiple murders several years prior. Saw this at the movie theater and it gave me several jump-scares. While horror movies from that era like "Halloween", "Friday the 13th" and "My Bloody Valentine" get a lot of mentions, this flick while just a notch down from those is hardly talked about. It's a good Halloween movie to watch.

"Humongous" made in 1982. Another movie I watched at the theater (probably a mid-night showing). A gal is attending a party on a small island and is violently raped. She ends up pregnant and somewhat insane. She gives birth to a deformed male who grows up having to live in the basement (at this point only the mother and son are living on the island). The mother dies and the kid (now an adult) is left to his own devices and kills/eats the wildlife that is left on the island. Lo & behold a boat of over-sexed teenagers land on the island and I'm sure you can figure out what happens. It's one of the better slasher films of that era.

"Abominable" from 2006. Many "big-foot" films have been made over the years. IMO this one is the best outside of "The Legend of Boggy Creek." The creature is a guy in a suit as opposed to CGI and because it's a very good suit, the result is outstanding. A couple good jump-scares in it and the level of violence/gore escalates throughout the film with the last couple of kills very original and graphic. I love this film.

Id give you a 1,000 likes if I could for your reference to The Legend of Boggy Creek...that movie ignited my interest in the big-fella.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Id give you a 1,000 likes if I could for your reference to The Legend of Boggy Creek...that movie ignited my interest in the big-fella.

Love the film. Another I saw in the movie theater. A movie that's fun to watch even today.

 

[cowboyec]

Love the film. Another I saw in the movie theater. A movie that's fun to watch even today.

there was another film I saw...similar style...but centered in the pacific NW...70s...I think it was called Sasquatch....it was one that would be shown on late night tv...very good.

I dont think Ive seen Abominable...I'll have to check it out.

 

[lukin2006]

Scream is easily my favourite slasher movie of all-time.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

there was another film I saw...similar style...but centered in the pacific NW...70s...I think it was called Sasquatch....it was one that would be shown on late night tv...very good.

I dont think Ive seen Abominable...I'll have to check it out.

Yeah, if you're into "squatch" films you need to see "Abominable". Lot's of big-foot movies over the last 15 years or so... Most range from awful to "Well it's watchable." Horrid stories... bad CGI... Most are simply not good.

Here's a couple more that I think are decent big foot films:

"Snowbeast" from 1977. A made-for-TV gem that has Clint Walker as one of its stars. Clint Walker made anything he was in better. lol

"Creature from Black Lake" from 1976. Not a lot of actually seeing the creature, but great atmosphere and a couple good scares.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Scream is easily my favourite slasher movie of all-time.

I think "Scream" is a fantastic flick.

One of the best last 30-minutes of any film period. The build-up to the end was simply outstanding.

If I had to rate the best endings to horror films without thinking a lot about it, I'd go with these...

"Scream"
"Rosemary's Baby" (Seeing the baby in the basinet with those funky eyes... great scene)
"The Shining" (Jack in the 1921 picture... What a great way to end one of the greatest flicks of all-time no matter the genre)
"Saw" (the ending just blew me away)

 

[MichaelWinicki]

For Halloween type horror movies, I gotta go with the standards

Halloween
Friday the 13th
Nightmare on Elm Street
Scream
Night of the Living Dead

It or Hey, stop clowning around.

And Scream might fall into DE's suspense/thriller mode because there is no supernatural element to it but it's still a hell of a lot of fun.

World War Z was a very much under-rated movie and I am not a Zombie movie fan except for the original.

I can't get into WWZ… It's OK, but it didn't grab me. Probably because I read the book and was very disappointed the movie did not follow the book. I will say the special affects on WWZ are excellent.

The zombie flicks at the top of my list would be:

"Dawn of the Dead" (original)
"Night of the Living Dead" (remake 1990)
"Zombie 2"
"Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things"
"The Dead"

 

[MichaelWinicki]

How about all those great Hammer films. Every time I watch Lord of the Rings with Christopher Lee or Star Wars with Peter Cushing, I flashback to those great movies. The Scars of Dracula was the best of the vampire ones, imo.

And for vampire movies, Fright Night, both versions, was pretty creepy. But for having the scariest vampire, I will go with Salem's Lot.

Boobs & blood. Hammer films are great.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Son of Frankenstein was a great one too.
Lagosi was SO CREEPY in that movie.

The last time Boris Karloff would put on the Frankenstein monster's costume.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

i grew up in the '60s and '70s watching the classic B&W horror movies Universal Studios put out during the '30s and '40s. You listed some really great examples. 'Son of Frankenstein' is another of my favorites.

There was as great rebirth of monsters in the late 60's & early 70's. The Universal monsters, Kaiju films. Aurora plastic models. The "Dark Shadows" soap opera. A variety of Saturday night monster genre movies. It was a great time to be a fan of horror films.

 

[SuspectCorner]

There was as great rebirth of monsters in the late 60's & early 70's. The Universal monsters, Kaiju films. Aurora plastic models. The "Dark Shadows" soap opera. A variety of Saturday night monster genre movies. It was a great time to be a fan of horror films.

Many local TV markets of that era had their own scary-movie 'host' in cheesy over-the-top makeup. In El Paso it was our CBS affiliate station weatherman Hal Eurich (he was also Bozo the Clown for the El Paso market).

 

[cowboyec]

Many local TV markets of that era had their own scary-movie 'host' in cheesy over-the-top makeup. In El Paso it was our CBS affiliate station weatherman Hal Eurich (he was also Bozo the Clown for the El Paso market).

thats what Elvira did.
here in Okla City it was Count Gregor.

 

[Tabascocat]

Elvira still looking hot too

 

[DanteEXT]

Does Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein count? I just watched that last night on Svengoolie.

 

[Sarge]

I watched the Exorcist yesterday for the first time in probably 30 years. It’s not a movie that has “aged” well and not nearly as scary as I had remembered. Still a pretty scary movie though.

I have to watch Halloween every year at this time........it’s ritual. The best Halloween movie ever.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Many local TV markets of that era had their own scary-movie 'host' in cheesy over-the-top makeup. In El Paso it was our CBS affiliate station weatherman Hal Eurich (he was also Bozo the Clown for the El Paso market).

We did not have the scary-movie host in our TV viewing area (wester NY state), instead we had two channels out of NYC that offered Saturday night scary movies... "Creature Features" and "Chiller".

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I watched the Exorcist yesterday for the first time in probably 30 years. It’s not a movie that has “aged” well and not nearly as scary as I had remembered. Still a pretty scary movie though.

I have to watch Halloween every year at this time........it’s ritual. The best Halloween movie ever.

No, it hasn't aged well. But I do enjoy it as far as getting that early 70's vibe with the cars, the way people dressed and such.

It's funny both "Jaws" and "The Shining" which came out just a few years after "The Exorcist" have aged much better.