October is a special month where it quickly becomes apparent that the days are getting darker and the weather begins to get a little bite to it. The days of frolicking in the warm summer weather have come to an end and it’s not yet time to be subjected to two months of never ending Christmas songs. October is the perfect month to relax at home or a friends house and watch some horror movies to get into the true spirit of things.

Some people don’t like horror movies and this seems fair because some people don’t romantic comedies. We put together some highlights of horror movies that may or may not be worth a watch in these final days of October. A horror buff will probably have seen most of these at least once, but we hope this might offer some suggestions for a night time Halloween movie experience.

Creature Features

A lot of older horror movies began with creatures like the Wolf Man and the Mummy. Creature movies are still fun to this day and add are often some of the more exciting films in the horror genre.

Trollhunter
A film crew meets a man who claims to hunt trolls and they find a whole world of secretive beings of all shapes and sizes. If this movie had been made years earlier or had less of a budget, then it’s possible it might suffer from poor CGI. The film is fun and action packed and a must see creature film.

Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan

Where Trollhunter shined, The Wrath of Paul Bunyan suffered. It has barely watchable acting, script, gore effects and CGI. It’s obviously not even filmed in Minnesota and is mildly insulting to the legend.

The Mist

This film displays how people handle crisis situations as much as it features some amazing creatures who lurk out in the mist. Stephen King once again puts his mark on another truly must see monster movie.

Alien

The Alien(s) movies are the perfect mix of sci-fi, action and horror. The must watch highlight of the movies is of course the first film, “Alien.” We’d hope you’ve already seen it. Of course the strong character, Ellen Ripley, pulls all of the movies together, especially in the first two.

Sharknado

Kind of like The Wrath of Paul Bunyan, this disaster/creature movie has plot holes and inconsistencies. The difference is that the movie is so ridiculous that it’s actually fun to watch as it just gets more and more over the top with each scene.


Recommended Creature Features:

Slither (2006)
C.H.U.D. (1984)
Tremors (1990)
The Thing (1982)
Feast (2005)

Psycho Killers

Although there are plenty of things that can go bump in the night, man is perhaps the most dangerous and unpredictable.

Maniac

One of the more interesting slasher movies that we’ve watched recently is Maniac, released in 2012. For one, the killer is Elijah Wood, so get used to Frodo doing some messed up stuff. The other unique thing about the movie is that it is largely shot in the first person perspective. The viewer usually only sees Wood’s character when the character himself is looking at his own reflection. This movie is a remake of the 1980s film with the same title.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

There are more horror movies that deal with backwoods hillbillies terrorizing and hacking apart teenagers. This movie puts a fun twist on the usual formula as Tucker and Dale find themselves in a fight for their lives.

Motel Hell

This is probably one of the funnest slasher movies ever. This movie, released in 1980, doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still has some mildly disturbing parts. The chainsaw fight in the end is epic.

Slumber Party Massacre

This 1982 horror flick that was intended to be a parody of   a slasher film but ended up being shot as a straight horror film. The results are amusing and this movie is much less brutal as the name lets on.

Essential Slashers:
Halloween (1978)
Friday the 13th (1980)
Child’s Play (1988)
Wolf Creek (2005)
American Psycho (2000)

The Dead Walk the
Earth: Zombie Movies

There is something especially terrifying about the notion of a zombie apocalypse and it is often viewed as one of the craziest of survival situations a person can find themselves in.


World War Z

This newly released to video zombie flick is the most expensive film of it’s kind to date. It’s an intense ride and a must watch.

28 Days Later

Zombies aren’t supposed to run fast…watch them. This film broke some rules from typical flicks with fast running zombies who are virus plagued humans rather than the living dead.

The Walking Dead (TV Series)

We might be wrong but The Walking Dead television series on AMC is probably one of the most detailed zombie viewing experiences ever. From creating characters that the viewer actually cares for to amazing gore and and zombie effects, this series based on a comic book series stands out and will take hours to get through.

Dead Alive

This movie mixes humor, intense graphic violence and gallons upon gallons of fake blood. Before Peter Jackson became known for The Lord of the Rings, this gem of a horror movie was made and released in 1992. You’ll never look at a lawnmower the same way after watching this one.

Zombieland

Funny, brutal and non-stop action can be found in this movie. Between Woody Harrelson (the tough guy) and Jesse Eisenberg (the nerdy hero), this film is highly entertaining.

Zombie Flicks of Note:

The Vanguard (2008)
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Planet Terror (2007)
Dead Snow (2009)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)


Remake Insanity

In the last year or so there have been a number of remakes of classic horror movies. Here’s a few examples, we’d recommend watching the originals first because they are often better.

Texas Chainsaw 3D

The original “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is arguably one of the more terrifying horror movies of all time and was banned in several countries when originally released in 1974.  

There have been numerous sequels and remakes of this movie. The latest take on the film, released in 2013 is technically a sequel that picks up right after where the original movies left off. This movie, like many of the other sequels, just falls short of coming close to the original.

Evil Dead

The remake of Evil Dead that was released in 2013 is interesting. The original first two Evil Dead movies and the closely related Army of Darkness are both creepy yet light. Bruce Campbell’s character, Ash, truly makes the original Evil Dead movies. What happens with the remake is that it takes away any humor or strong or memorable characters. Some young adults take their friend to a cabin so she can rehabilitate from a drug addiction. Of course they find evidence of the cabin’s dark past and ineptly resurrect the evil of the cabin and surrounding forest. The humor of the older movies has been replaced with brutal violence which is often self inflicted. The good news as that Army of Darkness 2 is scheduled to come out in 2016 and guess who’s going to be in it.

Carrie

Again, the remake of Carrie which is still in theaters falls short of the original. Instead of adding to the original story line, they made an average horror flick that falls flat and has much more violence than the original.

Rapey Remakes

Two of the more well known “rape/revenge” movies from the 70s, I Spit on Your Grave and The Last House on the Left were later remade in the 2000s. It seems kind of pointless to remake these movies other than to make movies with vicious rape scenes in them. What’s even more perplexing is that they made I Spit on Your Grave 2 in 2013 which seems to just abuse the title of the 70s original. As far as the genre goes, the only movie like this we might recommend would be the silent 2004 film, Defenceless: A Blood Symphony.

Other Remakes of Note:

Halloween (2007)
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The Crazies (2010)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Village of the Damned (1995)