31 Horror Movies for Halloween – THE SHINING

If you haven’t watched THE SHINNING we can’t be friends. No, I’m serious. Close out of this page. Delete me from Twitter. Block me. Whatever. We must never communicate.

I love THE SHINNING. I love the book. I love the movie. There’s been quite a lot of rumor behind the film, including that Stephen King does not care for the adaptation.

Bonus, if you have watched THE SHINNING and are interested in Stanley Kubrick and what he may or may not have done to this film watch the documentary ROOM 237.

31 Horror Movies for Halloween – CRY OF THE WEREWOLF (1994)

I watched this as part of my Saturday evening ritual, and my Saturday evening ritual includes me making a bowl of popcorn and sitting down at 7pm to watch Svengoolie on MeTV where he shows horror classics. I usually watch Svengoolie with my 5-year-old and so if you are my 5-year-old’s kindergarten teacher you have read that wrong…ugh, my son is NOT watching scary movies with me….

The movie synopsis – a young woman is raised by gypsies and she must hide a secret…and that secret is that she’s a werewolf.

What makes this movie interesting is that the woman is a werewolf! There are some pretty strong female characters in this, considering it’s from 1944.

It’s thought that this is the first major film to cast a woman as a lead who transforms into a werewolf. Also, the shifting all occurs in shadow and the actual werewolf is a wolf – so not half beast half human, but the animal – dog/wolf.

I did enjoy this one because of these unique qualities. Maybe we need a modern female werewolf movie?

31 Horror Movies for Halloween – THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003)

I like THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) remake. Fight me.

Look, I’m not saying it’s better than the original. The original THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE directed by Tobe Hooper is a masterpiece. Period. There’s no challenging the terror that was created with the set, the scenes, the screams, and of course Gunnar Hansen’s gory, looming, creeping Leatherface. The original THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is a horror movie in every scene.

I would like to state that THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (2003) remake is a pretty solid horror film in it’s own right. While it’s called a reboot, I would like to challenge that it should be considered as a standalone, but within the Chainsaw Massacre universe. This movie is grim, and grimy. You feel unclean as you watch Leatherface picking through moldy jars of tools and…parts.

I also want to say that Jessica Biel is amazing in this as not just a scream queen, but a horror survivor and horror hero.

Can we create a petition somewhere to demand Jessica Biel make more horror movies? Please?

31 Horror Movies for Halloween – CHILD’S PLAY

When those batteries fell out of the box I nearly screamed. I love that scene. I love CHILD’S PLAY (1988). Why has it been so long since I’ve seen it?

“Hi, I’m Chucky. Wanna play?” When the doll says this after the mother uncovers that it does not have batteries installed, and all panic sets in…I love it.

This is such a great movie. I also forgot it was filmed in Chicago. I love those gritty 1988 Chicago street scenes.

The original CHILD’S PLAY is great fun, a great horror movie. I personally think it’s aged well.

CHILD’S PLAY also is a pretty significant horror movie franchise. I believe I’ve only seen the first and second, but did you know there are 7 movies in the franchise, with a reboot in the works? To put it in perspective there are 9 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREETS, including the poorly received 2010 reboot.

31 Horror Movies for Halloween – THE QUIET ONES

I could not get into this one no matter how hard I tried. It was on SyFy, so why not? I should have watched something else. It was too slow for me, and the relationship between some of the characters just seemed inappropriate considering one of the characters was supposed to be a fairly young girl. The entire thing just is…odd.

A college professor wants to prove the supernatural exists, and to do so he takes in a ward…a young girl who just generates strange phenomena.

So, an old professor has a young girl…locked in a room…and he brings in students to film her. It’s just…no, wasn’t for me. I didn’t like this idea of taking a young girl from a mental health facility and locking her up in your house for observation.

I get the concept – pressure someone into generating psychic phenomena, but the age difference and approached felt lazy and poorly executed.