31 Days of Halloween - Part 2 of 4

Part 1

Week 2

Halloween (2007) – I know I might get some blowback from this, but like the Friday the 13^th series, I also enjoy the Halloween series. It had some duds (Season of the Witch), but overall the 111 kills Michael Myers has committed lends itself to some good films. The reason I picked this version as my favorite is partly because of the vision Rob Zombie brings to it. The kid playing Michael is creepy and the 6’8″ Michael (played by Tyler Mane) is formidable on screen. I met the man once and he is huge. So I like it because of the creepy kid (Daeg Faerch), creepy adult (Tyler Mane) and of course no Rob Zombie movie would be complete without his lovely wife Sheri Moon Zombie as Michael’s mother. To me, this version is the best of the series with no disrespect to the first one.

A Nightmare on Elm Street – The original movie came out in 1984 and I saw it that same year. This is one of my favorite movies but the series (other than Freddy vs. Jason) was a disappointment. These movies provided a bit of humor to the slasher genre and for once we had a killer who spoke, but the graphics and stories in the additional movies within the series were too cheesy for me. Freddy had a low kill count of 42, but that is more because he played with his victims. I love the idea of haunting or controlling people’s dreams (I have used this as my answer to what superpower would you have questions). Sleep along with food and water are the things we need the most. The scary or interesting part of the story is Freddy’s ability to control dreams. With that power, you control the person, which is what I loved about it. Even Johnny Depp appearing in his first movie made this a good movie, but the franchise overall except for this movie was a dud to me.

Night of the Living Dead – This film was released in 1968, but the version I like the most is the 1990 one. I have both the color and black and white versions of the 1990 release and of course the black and white are my favorite. With no disrespect to the original, the 1990 version was more gripping to me. I loved the acting, the fact that they were stuck in a house (and some in the basement), and finally the way the movie was filmed I felt like I was there. Don’t forget “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!”

Cabin In The Woods – This is one of the newer movies on my list. It was released in 2011 and pays homage to Evil Dead by having many of the same elements of the movie at the beginning of this one. It does have its spin on the movie, however. Like most on the list, there are woods, a cabin and evil things hunting the main stars of the movie. This, however, has a twist of a corporation running the killers and even placing wagers on who dies and how. It is very entertaining and one I have watched over and over.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre – For this series and multiple remakes, the original 1974 version is my favorite. I saw this sometime in the ’80s and the cinematography is what drew me in. The villain (Leatherface) was a normal size guy, the location was believable, and the story though demented seemed very possible. The original makes my list of must-watch movies around Halloween.

Candyman – This lesser-known film that many of you probably never have seen ranks highly on my list. Based on an inner-city (Cabrini Green), the killer can be summoned by looking in the mirror and saying Candyman 3 times. It is based on an urban legend, and the film uses real-life to prey on those. Empty apartments, public housing, empty stairwells, gangs, public restrooms, all add to the allure of this movie for me.

Hellraiser – In the late ’80s, this movie came out and changed the horror movie business for good. It was one of the first with massive amounts of blood and one particular scene (stolen by Supernatural) that had hooks and chains in the flesh of the victim. I mentioned I don’t like massive gore, but this was the first time I saw it on film, and also the story of the box that trapped and released Pinhead and his buddies is what draws me to this movie.

Until next time,

Tim