What Are Your Favorite Halloween Movies and Books?
Hey there gang – I was just contacted by someone promoting a movie entitled Evolution – a foreign film that just seems beyond the pale – and thought hey, Halloween is upon us, why don’t we find out what are your go to movies for Halloween. I’ve got a couple faves that are usually my go to obvious choices that I’ll share, and then it is your turn to share with us your faves. Ok? Great.
Obviously there is the Shining – the book and the movie. Personally, I prefer the book by a factor, not because the movie isn’t any good, but because Stephen King’s book is just the single greatest piece of horror fiction ever written. I’ve told the story here before about my first time reading The Shining and how I stopped and came back to it 10 years, when I was 23 and able to handle the impending doom of it all.
A while ago I went looking for the best and scariest books out there and came across a book entitled House of Leaves that I absolutely adored. And yeah it was a mind altering experience. Definitely perfect for Halloween. Highly recommend that particular book.
But what about movies? I’m not a huge fan of the stereotypical anything really. Not a huge fan of horror flicks per se. They are fine. But regimented and very obvious when it comes down to it. I did enjoy the phenomenon of the Blair Witch Project and just the cool independent nature of how that film gained cult status.
Oh, another recent flick that I really enjoyed that set a foreboding tone was 10 Cloverfield Lane. Highly recommend that movie. And now we are hearing that J.J. Abrams’ God Particle is actually another movie in the Cloverfield series. Have you guys heard that too? Totally cannot wait to see how Abrams continues to pull in different shards of this same story in new and interesting ways.
If you like your craziness to be in a more Sci-Fi bent, then The Signal is definitely the movie for you. We have talked about that one for quite a while here – but I’m sure most of you still have never seen it. You can join in on that conversation here. If you like your horror movies more on the dark surreal side then the movie for you this Halloween is definitely The Lobster. That movie gave me nightmares unlike any other. Seriously. Smacked me upside the head in the scariest of ways.
Want another trippy/scary headjob of a movie? Then go watch They Look Like People on netflix pronto. I just watched it, and will be doing a write up on it very soon I am sure. Absolutely adore this movie. Basically the concept is that one guy is hearing from the resistance movement that is attempting to fight a global take over movement by evil forces. And his friends basically think that he is going insane. Which could very well be. It’s unclear! Brilliant little indie flick. Slow-boiler, and very different. Which is why I mention it.
And my latest recommendation is one that hasn’t quite hit the theaters yet. Have you guys heard of this movie called Evolution yet? I was just given a promotional copy and after watching the trailer I think I might be just a little tripped out by the whole thing? The only residents of young Nicholas’s seaside town are women and boys. When he sees a dead body in the ocean one day, he begins to question his existence and surroundings. Why must he, and all the other boys, be hospitalized?
So the story is about a boy that sees a dead body on the bottom of the sea floor. Frightened, he begins drawing what he saw, and trying to work through it. His mother is talking him through it and asking about the starfish he saw. And we see very quickly that something sinister is going on here. Something horrifying. And before the boy knows it, he’s going under the knife for a surgery of some sort or another.
This is the sort of movie that will be utterly fantastic or mind alteringly depressing. Or both. Evolution made a pretty long festival run throughout 2015 – and now it’s scheduled to finally hit theaters in New York on November 25… it will also be available on demand and digitally at the same time. Well, as soon as I get an hour available for this thing I’ll let you know what I think of it. If any of you have had the opportunity to see it I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Definitely still unsure if my unstable psyche will handle this thing or not! hahah.