With Halloween just around the corner the time has come to grab some popcorn and hunker down for a night of horror.
Watching scary movies is a pastime as American as, um…Scott Baio (TV’s “Charles’ in Charge!”).
Horror movies have evoked screams from audiences for decades.
Kids of all ages can enjoy these Hollywood gems.
The secret, an iffy plot, stereotypical, shallow characters, lots of sex and lots of gore and voila! You’ve got yourself a classic horror flick.
It’s a formula used over and over again.
A young girl fights with her boyfriend after having sex in a dark, heavily wooded area.
She wanders off alone, and then stumbles upon his bloody stump of a head only to turn around and be confronted with a grotesque monster-like beast.
I fall for it every time and so do you! (Somebody’s in denial).
This is not always the case, but some of the most entertaining horror movies share these elements. They allow the viewer to become engrossed in the story, and be caught off guard.
Some horror movies leave you yelling at the main characters, “Don’t go in there, dumb ass!” or “Check the closet!” and sometimes, “Don’t check the closet. Just RUN!”
This is all part of the experience.
Here is a list of some of the all time great scary movies that have been kid tested and mother disapproved.
The more popcorn spilled, the better the scare!
– Scream 1, 2, & 3 – Neve Cambell is scary.
– Halloween– This one’s a classic!
– Nightmare on Elm Street– Freddy Krueger’s face looks like regurgitated cat
food!
– Night of the Living Dead – This will leave you with a bad taste in your
mouth. It’s a finger biter!
– Carrie – Watch out for the pig’s blood!
– The Exorcist – You’ll need an old priest and a young priest to get through this movie!
– The Shining – One of the best and the scariest!
– Interview with the Vampire– Who wouldn’t want to be bitten by Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise or Antonio Banderes?
– The Sixth Sense– If seeing dead people is a crime, I am guilty!
– Glitter– Who wasn’t terrified by Mariah Carey’s chilling portrayal of herself?
A good Horror movie can be like walking through a haunted house. You become the main character, blissfully ignorant of what lies before you.
But unlike the main character, the viewer has the advantage of being able to hear the scary music.
The music is so important in a scary movie.
It acts almost as a narrator.
When you are introduced to a new character, the music will tell you whether he or she is trustworthy or not.
Music can sometimes compensate for bad acting by providing the information that the actor fails to portray.
It also creates an ominous and downright creepy atmosphere that every good horror movie needs to be successful.
Movies like “The Sixth Sense” and “Interview with the Vampire” may not be considered “horror” movies, per say, but they have what it takes to send a chill down your spine.
The scare factor is, oh so important.
There is nothing worse than a lame attempt at cold-blooded killing to “kill” the mood of a movie.
Senior, Kate Hagenbuch remembers watching “The Exorcist” for the first time as a kid, “my friends were freaking out but all I could do was laugh. The vomit just wasn’t realistic.”
Sometimes, even the most unrealistic of stories can be believable with enough convincing.
For instance, I truly believe that Haley Joel Osment can, in fact, see dead people.
For a story such as that one, good acting and a good script are a must.
But who can turn their back on the cult classics like Halloween and Friday the Thirteenth?
There may not be good acting, the script may be poor, there may be blatant sex and violence, but there is a certain something that draws us to these movies.
So this Halloween when you’re sitting around, waiting for the little, candy consuming beggars to arrive, pop in one of these classic scary-tales and turn out the lights.
Make sure you check the closets first!
Milli Protheroe can be reached at Bobhope@temple.edu
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