Today is Halloween, and for many people that means candy and scary movies. Here now are ten of my favorite films to watch during the Eve of All Saints (in no particular order):
1. Halloween(1978): The story-a masked serial killer stalking a group of babysitters on Halloween night-became the template for all the slasher movies which peppered the 1980s.
2. The Bride of Frankenstein(1935): Universal basically cornered the market for horror in the 1930s through 1950s-and it’s greatest achievement may have been this film, the followup to its classic Frankenstein(1931). Boris Karloff reprises his role as the Monster & Elsa Lanchester is cleverly cast as both his intended and his (literary) creator Mary Shelley.
3. Horror of Dracula(1958): Like Universal, Hammer Films became the ‘go-to’ people for horror, and their crowning triumph was this, the first Dracula film in color with Christopher Lee rivaling Bela Lugosi with his take on the count.
4. Night of the Living Dead(1968): At virtually the same time Sergio Leone was redefining the western, George Romero was redefining the zombie film with this tale about a group of people trapped in a house while the title monsters roam the surrounding countryside.
5. The Exorcist(1973): This film became famous for the jolting scenes involving Linda Blair, who plays a girl possessed by a malevolent force. Equally memorable, though, is Jason Miller as the priest who tries to save her while fighting his own internal demons.
6. House of Wax(1953): This became the biggest hit from the 1950s 3D craze, with a star-making performance by Vincent Price as a wax museum curator who kills people before encasing them in wax and putting them on display.
7. Jaws(1975): The film which put director Steven Spielberg on the A-list. John Williams’s shark music, the editing and the performances from Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss as the trio who set out to kill the shark terrorizing an island community are all great.
8. The Shining(1980): Stanley Kubrick’s version of Stephen King’s novel- a hotel caretaker becomes insane- became controversial for its deviations from the book, but is still creepy with Jack Nicholson as unhinged as ever.
9. Psycho(1960): Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous film about motel owner Norman Bates(Anthony Perkins) and his unique connection with his mother made psychosis a household word.
10. Poltergeist(1982): This haunted house story took its classic setting from an ancient castle to a suburban home.