Saturday Night Movie Review: My picks for the best scary movies

Saturday, October 22, 2005

In honor of Halloween being next week, I decided to do a little something ghoulish with my Saturday Night movie review - a look at the best scary movies. At least in my opinion in any case. Everyone is going to have their own choices, and feel free to jump in with those choices in comments or in your blogs. Just let me know if you post in your blog, so I can drop by and visit!

My list of the best scary movies for Halloween (in no particular order):

The movie that started it all in my mind is the first and original Halloween. A young boy goes suffers a mental break and kills his older sister. At the age of six, Michael Myers was already crazy, and he was locked away for life. However, at some point, he is transferred somewhere for an impending court date, and he escapes, returning to the home he left behind and once again wrecking havoc on the small town of Haddonfield. This is by far the best of the series that has spawned eight sequels. The newer films are almost laughable, but Halloween stands the test of time. This movie is as scary as it was when I saw it many years ago. It never gets old. To read more about the movies in this series, visit The Official Website of Michael Myers.

Movie available at: Amazon and J & R

Friday the 13th is another classic scary movie. How many of us have seen the story of one Jason Voorhees play out on movie screens over the years? They are still making movies because Jason for some reason is still marketable to the masses. However, once again the newer films are laughable and are only shades of what was started in the original. The original film tells the story of how Pamela Voorhees, Jason's mother, kills a group of camp counselors that are set to reopen Camp Crystal Lake, the site of Jason's drowning as a child. Subsequent films show Jason going on killing sprees at the camp, and then elsewhere. Jason has even joined forces with another horror legend, Freddy Krueger, in Freddy vs. Jason. The original and early sequels of this series are what good scary movies are supposed to be about. These movies scared me to no ends. To read more about these films head on over to Friday the 13th The Website.

Movie available at: Amazon and J & R

Nightmare on Elm Street, the story of Freddy Krueger, a man charged with killing children but set free. Only to then be dealt with by the parent's of the town. The man then takes on a life of his own returning in the dreams of those teenagers in the town, killing them one by one in their sleep. The only one strong enough to fight him is the sheriff's daughter Nancy, and in this film she is successful. Only to have him return again and again in future movies. This is another case where the original is the best, but I did enjoy future movies in this series. The Dream Master, part four of the series, immediately comes to my mind as being good as well. In this movie, we get a look back at the past of Freddy Krueger and see why he became the man he did. For more Elm Street fun, check out Nightmare On Elm Street Movie.

Movie available at: Amazon and J & R

My next film is Aliens. Now I know this technically doesn't fall under the horror movie category. To me it is more action adventure and science fiction, but this movie scared me silly at times. Every time the alien made an appearance the first time I saw this film nearly twenty years ago, I jumped. Out of all the Alien movies, this is by far my favorite of the series. Sigourney Weaver is awesome in this film, and I think she was even better here than she was in the original. Subsquent movies were okay, but this movie to me stands out to be the best in the series. for more on this movie check out Aliens Official Site.

Movie available at: Amazon and J & R

My last film is The Ring. You have 7 days ... kidding! This movie scared me, and still scares me. I haven't even seen the sequel yet. The videotape, the phone call, the girl crawling out of the television screen at the end. All of it is just classic horror at its best, but this isn't a classic. This a movie of today. Horror has taken a whole new meaning in my mind these days. Horror now equates to gore these days, and that doesn't have to be the case for a movie to be scary to me. Yes, all the movies above have some level of goriness to them, but they are quick about it. Movies of today like to extend the gore out where the movie just turns gross more than actually scary. To check out more about The Ring visit The Ring - Official Movie Site.

Movie available at: Amazon and J & R

All of the above movies in some way scared me. They are movies that immediately come to my mind when I think of horror films, and everyone has their own definition of horror and scary, so tell me what movies would you have on your list?