There's no better way to enjoy Halloween than with a scary, or not-so-scary, movie. Thousands of films have attempted to shock us to our very bones, but FOX 13s Rich Bonaduce picks out the flicks that do the tricks... or treats.
HALLOWEEN STANDARDS
When a girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter.
This is the great-grandaddy of all horror flicks for me. Although slow-paced by today's standards, it still remains a benchmark by which other flicks of its type are judged. And considering how hard it's been to capture that original lightning in a sequel bottle, and with the passing of director William Friedkin, the success of this 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty's novel may never be repeated.
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.
Although very different from Stephen King's original novel, "The Shining" delivers its own version with zeal due to director Stanley Kubrick's vision and Jack Nicholson's performance.
#3 - Alien (1979 -R)
The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating an unknown transmission.
Although I personally consider it more sci-fi than horror, "Alien" blended the two genres in a way that is often tried but rarely duplicated.
#4 - The Thing (1982 - R)
A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.
"Halloween" king John Carpenter returns with another killer score and flick, but one that was written off at the time as more of an "Alien" knockoff than a remake of 1951’s "The Thing From Another World."
Ah, Critics. Whadda they know?
#5 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978 - PG)
When strange seeds drift to Earth from space, mysterious pods begin to grow and invade San Francisco, replicating the city's residents one body at a time.
Amazingly ate a mere PG at the time, this remake boasted a stellar cast and a creepy premise whose treatment still holds up today.
HONORABLE HALLOWEEN STANDARD MENTIONS
#6 - Dead Ringers (1988 - R)
#7 - The Descent (2005 - R)
#8 - The Wicker Man (1973 - R)
#'s 9 and 10 - Halloween (1978 - R) and Halloween 2 (1981 - R)
HALLOWEEN NEWBIE CLASSICS
A journalist must investigate a mysterious videotape that seems to cause the death of anyone after a week of viewing it.
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators.
#3 - Se7en (1995 - R)
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
#4 - Let the Right One In (2008 - R)
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
#5 - Goodnight Mommy (2015 - R)
Twin boys move to a new home with their mother after she has face-changing cosmetic surgery, but under her bandages is someone the children don't recognize.
HALLOWEEN THOUGHTFUL CREEPERS
A widowed mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.
#2 - The Witch (2016 - R)
A family in 1630s New England is torn apart by the forces of witchcraft, black magic and possession.
A young woman is followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
#4 - We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011 - R)
Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly dangerous things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.
#5 - It Comes at Night (2017 - R)
Secure within a desolate home as an unnatural threat terrorizes the world, a man has established a tenuous domestic order with his wife and son. Then a desperate young family arrives seeking refuge.
HALLOWEEN FOR KIDS
After three centuries, three witch sisters are resurrected in Salem, Massachusetts on Halloween night, and it is up to two teenagers, a young girl, and an immortal cat to put an end to their reign of terror once and for all.
#2 - Monsters, Inc. (2001 - G)
In order to power the city, monsters have to scare children so that they scream. However, the children are toxic to the monsters, and after a child gets through, 2 monsters realize things may not be what they think.
#3 - Hotel Transylvania (2012 - PG)
Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count's teenage daughter.
When a shy groom practices his wedding vows in the inadvertent presence of a deceased young woman, she rises from the grave assuming he has married her.
#5 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
The Peanuts gang celebrates Halloween while Linus waits for the Great Pumpkin.
An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.
Three teens discover that their neighbor's house is really a living, breathing, scary monster.
A misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies, and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse.
#9 - The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993 - PG)
Jack Skellington, king of Halloween Town, discovers Christmas Town, but his attempts to bring Christmas to his home cause confusion.
A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts.
