The Review’s Arts/Entertainment reporter — and resident scary movie junkie — Luciano Marano, unveils here his second annual list of the five horror movies you should be watching this Halloween.
Anyone can celebrate the spookiest time of year by cranking up “Nightmare on Elm Street” AGAIN, or “Halloween” for the millionth time. Yes, they are great movies and classics of the genre, of course.
But, if you’re fed up with Freddy and can’t stand the thought of one more oblivious babysitter, maybe this year you should start a new terrifying tradition and check out one of these lesser known, or unfairly forgotten, fright flicks.
1. “The Conjuring” (2013)
This chilling offering from director James Wan (he of “Saw” infamy) seems to have slipped by a lot of fright fans, and that’s a shame because it’s a good one. Based on the actual accounts of famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, the story follows the demon-fighting couple as they work to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in their newly purchased eerie country estate.
With a sequel supposedly due out early next year, now’s the perfect time to check out this cult favorite to be.
2. “We Are Still Here” (2015)
In the cold, wintery fields of middle of nowhere New England, a lonely old house wakes up every 30 years — and demands a sacrifice.
The demonic domicile’s newest residents, Paul and Anne, have moved from the city looking for some privacy and a fresh start after their teenage son is killed in a car crash. But the grieving couple and their visiting New Age hippie friends quickly come face to face with the house’s horrifying spirits.
Truly worth a watch, this movie combines a foreboding sense of doom with a stark atmosphere to be terrifying before a single line is even spoken.
3. “Let the Right One In” (2008)
The U.S. remake was hailed by critics and fans alike (including Stephen King himself) as awesome. And it was. But, if you haven’t already, you owe it to yourself to check out the Swedish original.
Based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, “Let the Right One In” relates the story of 12-year-old Oskar, a meek and often bullied boy who innocently befriends his new neighbor — a little girl named Eli, who is actually a vampire.
This one is truly terrifying, as the young friends’ relationship blooms and then quickly rots into a putrid partnership of shared hate and violence.
4. “Wolfen” (1981)
It’s not often that a monster movie attempts to impart a higher moral lesson to us and doesn’t come off as preachy, but they got it right with this one in ‘81.
Based on the novel by Whitley Strieber (the author of “Communion”), this is a totally novel kind of werewolf movie, one with an effective environmentalism kicker to boot. Albert Finney plays a cop on the trail of a mystery animal responsible for several unusual deaths. Tracking it through the desolate, dreary underbelly of abandoned buildings and urban ruins of early ‘80s New York, he begins to believe the murders may be the work of a creature from American Indian legends, one with the body of a wolf and the mind of a man.
5. “Psycho II” (1983)
I know. I know. Just hear me out.
Everyone remembers how the original ends, but I’m willing to bet you never gave the sequel much of a chance — and that was a mistake.
Picking up 22 years after Alfred Hitchcock’s classic left off, Norman Bates is being released from the asylum and returning home to attempt to pick up his life and be normal.
But the arrival of a beautiful young girl to his melancholy motel, as well as the bullying of the man who has been running the business in his absence (a marvelous turn by the peerless Dennis Franz) and the insistent specter of the notorious Mother Bates herself, soon combine to drive ol’ Norman Bates back toward murder.
