When I was ten years old I saw the trailer for the Slender Man movie.
I had nightmares for a month.
I decided then and there that I would never watch a horror movie as long as I lived.
Unfortunately for my younger self, I’ve broken that oath more times than I care to count. I have developed an affinity to turn on a horror or thriller movie whenever I’m with friends, especially around Halloween.
With the holiday quickly approaching, here are some of my favorite horror movies to celebrate the spooky season.
Scream 5 – “Sweetie, you’re not the hero. You’re the villain.” -Ghostface
Welcome to Woodsboro, the hometown of Ghostface. The fifth installment of the film franchise begins just like the first: a girl picks up a phone call from a stranger while home alone. This phone call, and subsequent attack, kicks off the film with a fright. Despite being the fifth Scream movie, you don’t need to watch all of the prior movies to pick up where the original characters left off. Instead of following the original cast, Scream 5 follows the children of the original protagonists and killers. The movie stars modern horror sweetheart, Jenna Ortega, as Tara Carpenter, the sister of Samantha Carpenter. Although their connection to the original killings is murky at the start of the film, all will be made crystal clear by the end. Despite being set 25 years after the first killing, people are still adorning the mask to make their mark… and possibly inspire the next Stab movie.
The Conjuring- “Everything you see in here is either haunted, cursed, or has been used in some kind of ritualistic practice.” -Ed Warren
The Conjuring was the second horror movie I ever watched, and it still gives me goosebumps three years later. It is the epitome of the characters doing everything that shouldn’t be done in a horror movie, including going into the basement. Based on the real lives of Ed and Lorraine Warren who were paranormal investigators, the film follows the investigation of the Perrons’ family home where things have gone amiss. The Perrons decided to contact the Warrens after their dog mysteriously died and one of the daughters, Cindy, was attacked by a spirit. Upon further research into the home, the investigators learn that the house was the scene of a multitude of deaths and one curse. The Perron family are face-to-face with the curse on their land and the fate of their lives depends on the Warrens.
Fear Street Part 1 (1994) – “Shadyside, small-town America. But among locals, a history of horror has earned it another nickname, ‘Killer Capital USA.’ And last night, tragedy struck again.” -TV Reporter
Taking place in Shadyside, a small town eclipsed by a long history of gruesome and mysterious murders, Fear Street Part 1 centers around five teenagers who hold the future of their town—and their lives—in their hands. The movie kicks off with a masked killer attacking a bookstore worker in the local mall, Heather Watkins, along with multiple other people. Fear Street is the perfect combination of paranormal and slasher horror to kick off the trilogy of movies. The second and third Fear Street movies deserve an honorable mention as they build upon the story of the first movie going all the way back to when everything in Shadyside went sideways.
While these aren’t considered Halloween classics yet, keep these three movies in mind while choosing what to watch on the spookiest night of the year.
