Fall has always been my favourite time of the year. If I could trade in all the other seasons to forever keep decaying leaves and chilly sweater-weather-worthy mornings I would. Along with loving the season, I’ve always been into slightly scary things. I am by no means a horror movie buff. I’m not a fan of films that rely heavily on jump scares and it’s a solid “NOPE” from me when it comes to any dead or possessed people crawling or “slithering” down a set of stairs or across floors (e.g. ‘The Ring’, ‘The Grudge’, ‘The Exorcist’, etc.). I’m also still traumatized by the film ‘Candyman’ because I once stayed up too late at the age of 10 or 11 and flipped through channels I probably shouldn’t have.
That said I’m a 90’s kid who grew up watching ‘Goosebumps’ and ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ religiously on Saturday nights. I lived for films like ‘Under Wraps’, ‘Little Monsters’, ‘The Witches’ and ‘Beetlejuice’ being shown on the Family Channel. Or shows like ‘Freaky Stories’ and ‘Tales from the Cryptkeeper’ on YTV (Sidenote: Canada made great horror content for kids, eh?). I want to say I even started watching films like ‘Jaws’ and ‘Poltergeist’ at the age of 8 or 9. Maybe not in full, but definitely snippets of them if my parents had it playing in the background on TV.
That all said, I thought I’d make three separate posts about the films I very often watch in and around the “Halloween” season. I’m never able to watch all of them, but I try to get to the ones that really get me pumped for the celebration of freaks.
Below are what I’d consider to be more “adult” films on my list for one reason or another. I’m sure I’ve forgotten a whole bunch, but here are twenty-one that I love in no particular order:
Shaun of the Dead – A parody of a zombie movies featuring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, what’s not to love? This one is definitely a comedy before anything else.
It: Chapter 1 – A film about a shapeshifting clown monster that preys on children from Derry, Maine every 27 years. This was my celebratory film after passing my road test. Since I don’t really have any friends that dig horror films, I dragged my parents along for the ride. My dad and I laughed throughout the entire film like it was a comedy, which is how we usually approach horror films in my fam jam. After all, majority of horror films are FICTIONAL (thankfully). This film contains multiple jump scares, but the cast of characters bring major ‘Goonies’ vibes and it takes place in the 80’s, so I let the jump scares slide. I’m not someone who has ever feared clowns, so I was hooked from the moment Pennywise said “I’m Pennywise, the dancing clown”.
It: Chapter 2 – I might have even liked the sequel more than ‘Chapter 1’. Mainly for the adult versions of Eddie (portrayed by James Ransone) and Richie (portrayed by Bill Hader). See this film for those two alone. Again, jump scares galore, but if you’re like me you’ll be laughing immediately following the shock.
Ginger Snaps – A Canadian cult classic about werewolves. If there was ever a feminist coming of age horror film this has to be it. Two sisters obsessed with death encounter a werewolf one night after Ginger starts her first period. She is bitten and symptoms progress. I remember seeing this film on TV for the first time and thinking it was wicked. I also had a lowkey crush on Sam (portrayed by Kris Lemche).
The Dead Don’t Die – This film is about ghouls and stars a whole bunch of famous people, including Bill Murray and Adam Driver. It’s better to know very little going into it, but if you like weird humour this might be right up your alley.
The Return of the Living Dead – I’ve stated a few times that I have a fascination with punk culture. Combine that with the 80’s, comedy and zombies and you’ve just created one of my favourite “horror” films of all time. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen this movie, I still cry laugh when Burt says: “Be brave, Frank, goddamnit!” This film had a profound impact on zombie films and culture. As I understand it, before this film existed zombies were primarily known for eating flesh. This film solidified their obsession over brainssssssss. (It also has a pretty epic soundtrack).
This is the End – Don’t you love when you laugh so hard that your stomach hurts? That’s exactly what happened when I saw it at the theatre. Jam packed with celebrity cameos all playing versions of themselves, it’s not exactly a horror film, but it does feature Satan and an apocalypse, so that’s something. It also features one of my favourite memes of all time: Seth Rogen trying to repair a massive crack in the wall with duct tape.
The Craft – A film about four friends who are super into witchcraft and problems ensue when one struggles with having too much power. I guess we’re supposed to side with Sarah, but let’s face it, it’d be a lot more fun to be a Nancy. This film also features Skeet Ulrich! That’s FP Jones from ‘Riverdale’ for all you youngin’s.
Practical Magic– Another witch movie, this time starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. They play sisters who live with their bizarre witchy aunts after their parents die. Their aunts like to make margaritas in the middle of the night and avoid the fact that a curse plagues their family, wherein the men they marry all die. It’s a fun and whimsical watch and, hey, if you decide to make some margaritas and dance around in your pyjamas to Harry Nilsson’s ‘Coconut’ in the middle of it, no one is judging you.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show – I mean, you’ve heard of this one, right? It’s one of the greatest musicals ever. One day I hope to attend a live performance of it. If you have no idea what ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ is I’m going to leave you THIS LINK to a trailer. Give yourself over to absolute pleasure and click away.
The Lost Boys – In high school, people much cooler than me always talked about this film during play rehearsals, so I watched it to better understand what it meant to be cool. I’m a cooler person now having watched this film. You could be cooler too if you watch it! It’s a vampire movie, but they don’t sparkle like Edward Cullen. Michael and his younger brother Sam move into town. Michael joins this gang of vampires and his younger brother Sam joins some vampire hunters. Their mother gets the hots for the lord of the vampires. You see the dilemma unravelling here, right?
Poltergeist (1982) – A family whose house is built over an ancient burial ground is haunted by spirits. You’re lying if you’ve never experienced the heebie-jeebies when your television suddenly goes static or lightning outlines that giant tree outside your window at night. As a child I had some disturbing hope that the chairs would suddenly stack themselves in our kitchen. Alas, they never did. Maybe one day!
Halloween – This isn’t a film I own, but if it’s ever on television I usually leave it on. A classic slasher film that features the notorious killer Michael Myers (not Mike Myers) wielding a knife and fully committing to staring up at Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis)’s window through his mask after escaping from the sanitarium. If you don’t know the movie you definitely know the iconic theme song.
The Burbs – Not necessarily horror, but definitely a comedy starring Tom Hanks. Do you need another reason to watch? I’ll give you two: Carrie Fisher plays Tom Hanks’ wife and Corey Feldman portrays a punk kid living in the neighbourhood. The film centres around a strange family that move into a cul-de-sac community that all seem to know each other’s business. Only these new neighbours are never seen during the day. Tom Hanks and his neighbour Art (Rick Ducommun) are suspicious and attempt to take matters into their own hands, as prying neighbours do. Hilarity ensues.
Little Nicky – This movie receives a lot of flak, which is probably why I choose to love it so much. Adam Sandler plays the kind-hearted Nicky…son of Satan. When his two evil brothers escape Hell to the world of the living he must go after them and kick their butts back down to Hell in order to save their father who is deteriorating. The film is wacky and filled with crude humour that you’d expect from an Adam Sandler film. I’m just obsessed with the concept.
Trick ‘R Treat – An anthology of short horror stories that all cross paths. It features this little trick-or-treating kid named Sam who is basically the boss of Halloween and makes sure everyone follows the rules. If ‘Goosebumps’ or ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark’ was geared for adults, this might be it.
Jeepers Creepers – The synopsis is basically this: a demonic creature known as ‘the Creeper’ comes to hang out every 23rd spring to snatch body parts from people in order to freshen up his own. Oh and he’s also an art connoisseur, because he likes to sew things out of human flesh to hang on the walls of his dwelling.
The Shining – A classic Stephen King book to film adaptation. A struggling writer brings his wife and kid to this big ol’ hotel and proceeds to lose his dang mind. His kid, Danny, also has these peculiar psychic abilities to see into the past and witness all the horrors that happened at said big ol’ hotel. This is the film that has the blood flood, the “Kubrickian” carpet, the sketchy twins at the end of the hallway and Jack Nicholson axing his way through a door whilst yelling “Here’s Johnny”! And me? I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that “murder” spelt backwards is “red rum”.
Pet Sematary (1989) – I recently read the book and watched the remake of the film on Netflix. I’m personally still a bigger fan of the 1989 version. The concept is simple. If you bury something at this particular cemetery, it comes back, but it doesn’t come back the same and then bad things happen. This one always succeeds in creeping me out. It’s even more fun now that I have a cat.
A Nightmare on Elm Street – A slasher film. Freddy Krueger (not Chad Kroeger), a killer who burned to death, haunts these teenagers through their dreams with this fashionable leather glove adorned with razorblade claws that he wears. After viewing this film a new sense of urgency sets in place when someone smacks your arm and tells you to stay awake.
Jaws – I usually watch this one in the summertime, but I felt like I should include it on here. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen this film, because it’s one of my all time favourites. Are you ready for the synopsis? A killer shark. That’s it, that’s the film! As a kid I was freaked out over simply sitting in the bathtub after watching it. The sequel is decent. Anything after the sequel is an abomination.
There you have it. Some of my favourite “adult” films to view during the season. Are you a horror enthusiast? What are you favourite adult Halloween films? Stay tuned for a post on family Halloween films and a post on “Who are these actually for?” Halloween films.