What’s your favourite Halloween movie? We’ve been talking in the office about what scary movies we like the best. Here’s the films that have made it to our top 10…
1. Night of the Living Dead – This is a 1968 American independent horror film, now an archetypical zombie movie, directed by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo. The story follows seven people who are trapped in a rural farmhouse, which is under assault by an enlarging group of flesh-eating, undead ghouls.
2. The Conjuring – This is Lotty’s favourite horror film! This is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan. The film focuses on a family that moves into a farmhouse where they experience paranormal phenomena. They consult demonologists to help them get rid of the evil entity haunting them. Lotty likes this movie as it is loosely based off true events and it covers a lot of different horror themes, such as a haunted house and possession. Lotty also likes that the film has a lot of spin offs, such as Annabelle (2014).
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas – This is a 1993 American stop-motion animated musical dark fantasy film directed by Henry Selick, produced by Tim Burton, with Danny Elfman composing the score. It tells the story of Jack Skellington, the King of “Halloween Town” who stumbles upon “Christmas Town” and becomes obsessed with the holiday. Not a particularly scary film, however David still can’t finish it.
4. The Blair Witch Project – This is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers who take a hike in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. The three disappear, but their equipment and footage are discovered a year later. The purportedly “recovered footage” is the film the viewer sees. This film made our list due to its unique marketing campaign which listed the actors as either “missing” or “deceased”.
5. Labyrinth – This is a 1986 musical fantasy film directed by Jim Henson with George Lucas as executive producer. A girl, Sarah, embarks on a quest to reach the centre of an enormous, otherworldly maze to rescue her infant half-brother Toby, whom she wished away to Jareth, The Goblin King. Again, not a hugely scary film, but David still disapproves.
6. The Addams Family – This is a 1991 American supernatural black comedy film based on the characters from the cartoon created by cartoonist Charles Addams. The film focuses on a bizarre, aristocratic family who reconnect with what they believe to be a long-lost relative, Gomez’s brother Fester Addams, who is actually trying to swindle the Addams out of their wealth. There have been lots of remakes of this movie since, such as the 2019 animated movie, which have got great reviews, and a new Netflix show focusing on Wednesday Addams soon to be released.
7. Paranormal Activity – This is a 2007 American supernatural horror film produced by Oren Peli. It centres on a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. They then set up a camera to document what is haunting them. The film has a lot of sequels and spin offs, and gets its frightening horror element from the realism in the film.
8. Ghostbusters – This is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman. The film focuses around three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. A great family Halloween film due to the comedy aspects. Since this film, there has been a 2016 remake with an all female cast, and a sequel in 2021, featuring some of the original cast.
9. The Silence of the Lambs – This is a 1991 American psychological horror film directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Ted Tally. A young FBI trainee who is hunting a serial killer, who skins his female victims, seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer to help her catch him. It is regularly described as the greatest and most influential film, and a great watch for Halloween.
10. The Shining – Another classic, this is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel of the same name, and focuses on an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position as a caretaker of an isolated historic hotel with his wife and young son, who is gifted with psychic abilities named “shining”. After a winter storm leaves them snowed in, Jack’s sanity deteriorates due to the influence of the supernatural forces inhabiting the hotel.
Have you got any more Halloween movie favourites? Let us know what we should add to the list: 0113 288 3245 | [email protected]