Mushy’s Ten Halloween Flicks He Would Take to a Deserted Island
Well folks, it’s that time of year again so that means it’s time to break out my Halloween Movie list. These are 10 movies that I try and watch every year around October 31st, although honestly, I usually watch all of them once throughout the year. Some of the movies on the list are scary, some are not but the point is they get you in the spirit of Halloween!!!
So sit back and read “Mushy’s Ten Halloween Flicks He Would Take to a Deserted Island”...
Yes, you read that correctly! This film also gets my vote for the best Halloween movie out of the series. It is scary, it is paced well and the John Carpenter soundtrack is a work of art. Sure, Michael Myers is nowhere in site but Tom Atkins is and that makes all the difference.
Another movie scored by the illustrious John Carpenter (he directed this film as well). This tale of a car possessed by the man who died in it, is also a terrific read by our beloved friend Stephen King. Rumor has it that King hated this movie, but if you want true terror, witness the change that Arnold Cunningham makes after he purchases this car.
Marc “Skippy from Family Ties” Price is obsessed with a heavy metal superstar. When said superstar dies Marc “Skippy from Family Ties” Price resurrects him and all hell breaks loose. Ozzy and Gene Simmons make cameos. The really sad thing is that I will bet that 90% of the people who make the “metal” sign with their hands, have never heard of this movie. Not very scary but a lot of fun to watch.
Michael Mann’s disturbing tale of agent Will Graham’s search for a serial killer called “The Tooth Fairy,” is just as disturbing today as it was when it came out in 1986. For those who may not know this, this film also gives you the first glimpse of Hannibal Lecter.
Just released on DVD here is the plot of this movie. Eddie Dutra (James Spader) asks out Abby (Lori Loughlin). Abby says “No.” Dutra, scorned (as he has known Abby a whole two minutes) decides that he has to kill her. So strong was his performance as a villain, that this movie would relegate James Spader to bad guy roles until 1989’s Sex, Lies and Videotape. The New Kids isn’t very scary but if my synopsis intrigues you, you probably won’t care too much about that.
#6: It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
What would Halloween be without this tale of Charlie Brown and his friends?
John Carpenter’s (are you starting to see a connection?) music makes his movies and this film does pretty well on just a visual level (he directed his one too). So imagine his trademark, note by note synthesizer score slowly creeping up on you, as the main characters in this story try and figure out who is human and who has “the thing” inside of them.
This movie scared the hell out of people when it came out in the 1970s. It scared me when I watched it for the first time in the 80s. It scared people when it was rereleased in 2000. William Friedkin’s tale of a young girl laying in a bed, vomiting, cussing and being possessed is just one of those films that will always be scary. Period.
This movie scared me so much as a kid, I remember staying up nights crying just because the commercials on “ON TV” made me afraid to go to sleep. I hadn’t even seen the movie. To this day, this film which looks at the “true” story of a house being possessed, still scares me. I have only watched it once all the way through and that was during the day when I was 12. Rewatching back in 2004, I had to turn it off because it was scaring me so much. Lets just say, this is one of those movies I will NEVER be comfortable with.
Okay, I admit that this might be a weak movie to end my Top Ten on, but for pure thrills and chills, this movie, when I first saw it at least, was a very visceral moviegoing experience. It subverted the genre so much that that’s why I think people don’t see it as a “real” horror movie. When I first saw it in the movie theater back in 1996, the scares were very real.
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