Christopher Lee, “The Horror of Dracula” (1958) Photo Courtesy Hammer Films / The Hollywood Archive
[dropcap]G[/dropcap]houls and Goblins, Deranged Killers and Demons, everyone loves the thrills and chills of a scary movie, right? Especially in the comfort (and safety) of your own home. Well then, what better time to be scared silly than on Halloween?
It’s a ritual of sorts, as we all re-visit Halloween festivities on a yearly basis, some more religiously than others. But, really, what is Halloween. Has it always been about the Dead…or the Undead?
History tells us that Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve, is a yearly celebration observed in a number of countries on the evening of October 31st. Typical festive Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (and / or the related “guising” in costume), attending costume parties, decorating, carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted house attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories and watching horror films.
But it was not always about trick or treating and such. According to many scholars as well as the Library of Congress (American Folklife Center), All Hallows’ Eve is a Christianized feast initially influenced by Celtic harvest festivals, with possible pagan roots, particularly the Gaelic Samhain (festival.)
Max Schreck “Nosferatu” 1922 / Ian Holm “Alien” 1979 (Photo Courtesy FA Guild and 20th Century Fox/The Hollywood Archive)
However, other scholars maintain that it originated independently of the Celts and has solely Christian roots. It initiates the triduum (a religious observance lasting three days) encompassing the Western Christian observances of All Hallows’ Eve (Hallowe’en), All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’) and All Souls’ Day (the time in the liturgical year dedicated to remembering the dead.) The traditional focus of All Hallows’ Eve revolves around the theme of using “humor and ridicule to confront the power of death.”
So, setting aside this analytical approach to a beloved Holiday, why not just curl-up on the sofa this Halloween and try to muffle your screams while watching a host of terrifying films on the small screen. Pull your curtains and lock your doors and, if you’re afraid of the dark, …don’t watch alone.
Have a look at this top horror list of ‘Old School’ movie favorites from a Hit Fix poll of readers… These are movies prior to the 1980’s decade for classic film fans and newbies wanting to venture out beyond the more current fare.
Gunnar Hansen “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” 1974 / Linda Blair, Max von Sydow and Jason Miller “The Exorcist” 1973 (Photo Courtesy Bryanston Dist. and Warner/The Hollywood Archive)
- The Exorcist (1973) 12-year-old Regan MacNeil begins to adapt an explicit new personality as strange events befall the local area of Georgetown. Her mother becomes torn between science and superstition in a desperate bid to save her daughter, and ultimately turns to her last hope: Father Damien Karras, a troubled priest who is struggling with his own faith.
- The Shining (1980) Jack Torrance accepts a caretaker job at the Overlook Hotel, where he, along with his wife Wendy and their son Danny, must live isolated from the rest of the world for the winter. But they aren’t prepared for the madness that lurks within.
- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) Five friends visiting their grandfather’s house in the country are hunted and terrorized by a chain-saw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals.
- Rosemary’s Baby (1968) A young couple moves into an infamous New York apartment building to start a family. Things become frightening as Rosemary begins to suspect her unborn baby isn’t safe around their strange neighbors.
- Alien (1979) During its return to the earth, commercial spaceship Nostromo intercepts a distress signal from a distant planet. When a three-member team of the crew discovers a chamber containing thousands of eggs on the planet, a creature inside one of the eggs attacks an explorer. The entire crew is unaware of the impending nightmare set to descend upon them.
- The Thing (1982)Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills.
Harvey Stephens “The Omen” 1976 / Jack Nicholson “The Shining” 1980 (Photo Courtesy 20th Century Fox and Warner/The Hollywood Archive)
- Halloween (1978) A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets.
- Psycho (1960) When larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Bates cares for his housebound mother. The place seems quirky, but fine… until Marion decides to take a shower.
- Night of the Living Dead (1968) A group of people try to survive an attack of bloodthirsty zombies while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse. Although not the first zombie film, Night of the Living Dead is the progenitor of the contemporary “zombie apocalypse” horror film, and it greatly influenced the modern pop-culture zombie archetype.
- Jaws (1975) An insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, The police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the bloodthirsty beast.
Boris Karloff “Frankenstein” 1931 / Tippi Hedren “The Birds” 1963 (Photo Courtesy Universal/The Hollywood Archive)
…and here are a few other selected Horror Flicks to quench your bloodthirst.
- Nosferatu (1922) Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter’s wife. Silent classic based on the story “Dracula.”
- The Omen (1976) Immediately after their miscarriage, the US diplomat Robert Thorn adopts the newborn Damien without the knowledge of his wife. Yet what he doesn’t know is that their new son is the son of the devil. A classic with Gregory Peck
- Dawn of the Dead (1978) During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
- Frankenstein (1931) Henry Frankenstein is a doctor who is trying to discover a way to make the dead walk. He succeeds and creates a monster that has to deal with living again.
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) The first remake of the paranoid infiltration classic moves the setting for the invasion, from a small town to the city of San Francisco and starts as Matthew Bennell notices that several of his friends are complaining that their close relatives are in some way different. When questioned later they themselves seem changed, as they deny everything or make lame excuses. Classic case of extraterrestrial invasion.
- Freaks (1932) A carnival barker displays a sideshow freak called the Feathered Hen and tells her story. Cleopatra, a trapeze artist with the carnival, is adored by a midget named Hans. Frieda, Hans’ fiancée (also a midget), warns Hans that Cleopatra is only interested in him so that he will give her money. Cleopatra has an affair with Hercules, and when Frieda lets it slip that Hans is to come into an inheritance, a scheme is devised with…
- Dracula (1931) The legend of vampire Count Dracula begins here with this original 1931 Dracula film from Bela Lugosi.
- The Brood (1979) A man tries to uncover an unconventional psychologist’s therapy techniques on his institutionalized wife, while a series of brutal attacks committed by a brood of mutant children coincides with the husband’s investigation.
- Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Bride of Frankenstein begins where James Whale’s Frankenstein from 1931 ended. Dr. Frankenstein has not been killed as previously portrayed and now he wants to get away from the mad experiments. Yet when his wife is kidnapped by his creation, Frankenstein agrees to help him create a new monster, this time a woman
- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) An eerie German silent film from 1920. This classic expressionistic film is known as a landmark in film history becoming famous worldwide from it’s exceptional new wave style of well built and painted grotesque scenery with contrasted lighting along with the painted effect of light and shadows. The film tells a surrealistic story with an unusual end that was a result of censorship
- Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) A scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River discover a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. The explorers capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. The Gill-Man returns to kidnap the lovely Kay, fiancée of one of the expedition, with whom it has fallen in love.
- The Devils (1971) A dramatized historical account of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft following alleged demonic possessions of sexually repressed nuns.
- Dracula (1958) After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle, the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker’s fiancée. The only one who may be able to protect them is Dr. van Helsing, Harker’s friend and fellow-student of vampires, who is determined to destroy Dracula, whatever the cost. Classic Christopher Lee as the vampire
- The Mummy (1932) An Ancient Egyptian priest called Imhotep is revived when an archaeological expedition finds Imhotep’s mummy and one of the archaeologists accidentally reads an ancient life-giving spell. Imhotep escapes from the archaeologists and prowls Cairo seeking the reincarnation of the soul of his ancient lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon. Boris Karloff stars
- The Legend of Hell House (1973) A team consisting of a physicist, his wife, a young female psychic and the only survivor of the previous visit are sent to the notorious Hell House to prove/disprove survival after death. Previous visitors have either been killed or gone mad, and it is up to the team to survive a full week in isolation, and solve the mystery of the Hell House
- Carrie (1976) Prom Night from hell starring Sissy Spacek
- The Birds (1963) A Hitchcock Classic. Chic socialite Melanie Daniels enjoys a passing flirtation with an eligible attorney in a San Francisco pet shop and, on an impulse, follows him to his hometown bearing a gift of lovebirds. But upon her arrival, the bird population runs amok.
- Phantasm (1979)A young boy and his friends face off against a mysterious grave robber known only as the Tall Man, who keeps a mysterious arsenal of terrible weapons with him.
“Night of the Living Dead”, 1968 / Angus Scrimm Phantasm” 1979 (Photo Courtesy Continental Dist. and AVCO/The Hollywood Archive)
…or look up other great Halloween films at IMDB and have a blood-curdling evening.