The spookiest time of the year is coming! Halloween is Tuesday, October 31st, and if you like to celebrate the date (just like me) or prefer to stay inside rather than trick-or-treating, you are planning to watch some scary movies to get in the mood. Check out 5 movies that will turn your night even more frightening!
Halloween
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis (her debut) and Donald Pleasence, Halloween is a slasher film from 1978, directed by the famous producer John Carpenter. It can be considered a cliché, but the movie is a classic horror production and it is still a reference when it comes to scary movies from the 70’s. Its iconic main theme, also composed by the movie director, is timeless. It only takes a few beats of the soundtrack to recognize it.
The plot centers around Michael Myers (Will Sandin and Tony Moran), a mental patient who escaped from a sanitarium where he was committed to murdering his sister Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson) on Halloween night when they were younger. The story is set in the fictional town of Haddonfield, Illinois. Fifteen years later, the killer returns to his hometown and starts stalking the babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), and her closest friends. After the murder’s escape, his psychiatrist Dr. Samuel Loomis (Donald Pleasence) starts chasing him. On his return to the town, Michael murdered a lot of people, turning Halloween into a truly terrifying night.
The movie became so popular that there are thirteen movies in the film franchise. Its most recent one is Halloween Ends, launched in 2022 with the older Jamie Lee Curtis character. Also, the Michael Myers costume is a hit. You probably have already seen someone wearing a white mask with blue coveralls.Â
Scream
“What’s your favorite scary movie?”. The famous Ghostface line is still popular among scary movie fans. Scream is a slasher film from 1996, directed by the well-known scary movie producer Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson.Â
Starring Drew Barrymore (who sadly has a short screen time), David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Matthew Lillard, Rose McGowan, and Skeet Ulrich, Scream’s plot is about a serial killer who calls to their victims and starts to play a Quiz about scary movies before killing them. The police investigations begin and the next serial killer target becomes Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a high school student whose mother Maureen Prescott (Lynn McRee) was murdered a year before. On Maureen’s death anniversary, Sidney is terrorized by the masked killer, who attacked the neighbors of Woodsboro and later her friends. The movie is full of plot twists that turn the story facts even more deadly.Â
Scream was a huge success! There are six sequels to the movie franchise, the most recent one being Scream VI, released this year. The popularity of the film also inspired the 2000s comedy parody Scary Movie.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Are you a fan of well-written vampire stories? So this one’s for you. Dracula is a mixture of romance and horror. Directed by one of the best filmmakers of the time, Francis Ford Coppola, the movie was released in 1992 and it is based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker from 1897. Starring Winona Ryder (the It-girl from that decade), Anthony Hopkins, Gary Oldman, and Keanu Reeves, the film opened at the first position in the USA.Â
The plot follows Jonathan Harker (Keanu Reeves), a young lawyer who accepts a job in Transylvania, Romania, traveling to Dracula’s castle. Arriving there, Jonathan is held captive after Dracula (Gary Oldman) finds a picture of his fianceĂ© Mina Murray (Winona Ryder). He believes that she is the reincarnation of Elisabeta, his wife who committed suicide after being falsely reported about Dracula’s death (at that time named Vlad Dracula) in his campaign against the Ottoman Empire, in 1462. Willing to meet her, Dracula travels to England and makes Mina’s friend Lucy (Sadie Frost) his victim. As she turns into a vampire, Van Helsing (Anthony Hopkins) tries to end Dracula’s reign of horror.Â
A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place is a post-apocalyptic science fiction film from 2018. Directed by John Krasinski, who also plays a role, and written by Scott Beck, Bryan Woods, and John Krasinski, the movie also starred Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmons, and Noah Jupe. The first one was a success, becoming a trilogy. The third movie is going to be released in 2024. Even Stephen King, the renowned fiction author, posted on the internet about how A Quiet Place stands out among the nowadays productions.Â
Imagine living in a place where you can’t make the slightest noise without being in danger. The movie plot is about a family that struggles to live in a world taken over by aliens with sharp hearing. Most of the human population was killed by them. As an alternative, the parents Evelyn (Emily Blunt) and Lee (John Krasinski) raise their children on an isolated farm and teach them how to survive in this new reality. Because of the world’s condition and their daughter’s deafness, they communicate between themselves using American Sign Language. However, one of their children Beau (Cade Woodward) gets attacked by the creatures after playing with a noisy toy. One year later, the mother gets pregnant. And how will they raise a baby in a silent world?Â
M3GAN
Can robots destroy the human race? M3GAN is a science fiction horror film directed by Gerard Johnstone and written by Akela Cooper. Starring Amie Donald, Allison Williams, and Violet McGraw, it was launched in 2022. The movie has a resemblance to the classic Child’s Play Chucky, but in a more modern way in which the toy is AI-generated.Â
The movie plot follows Cady (Violet McGraw), an eight-year-old girl whose parents died in a car accident. She starts to live with her aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), a roboticist who is working on a humanoid robot doll powered by artificial intelligence called M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android). The doll becomes her niece’s best friend, helping Cady get through her loss. However, things don’t go as planned. It becomes much more than just a toy to her. Cady develops an emotional attachment to M3GAN and the robot starts to act more independently, attacking anyone who tries to break this bond.Â
The article above was edited by Julia Tortoriello.
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