Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. I thought this would be a fun way to share a condensed version of potential rambles and thoughts that I have.
This Week’s Theme:
Top Ten Movies To Get
In The Halloween Spirit
Initial Thoughts:
(I’m alive!)
When I think of Halloween, images of Fall weather and dark subject matters are conjured first. So with this in mind, I tried to come up with a balanced list for all ages. But with this particular genre, it’s mostly about the interest and propensity to sit through mind boggling and heart-pounding scenes that seem to matter most. Some are creepy, some hurt your brain, and some are just funny—but many listed are worthy viewing experiences because of the notoriety that comes with it.
All images link to their respective Rotten Tomatoes review (because I couldn’t think of anywhere else to link to.)
Halloween (1978) / Scream (1996)
While I don’t mind acknowledging American Psycho being Papa-slash-thriller, I think the popularization of the sub-genre flourished with the likes of the Halloween and Scream franchise. The initial installments were the better of the bunch, in my views.
Evil Dead (1981/2013)
I think with gore and shock effect movies; it’s really apples and oranges as to whether the remake is better than Sam Raimi’s version. I don’t even know why I do this to myself. Blood is like…omgno.
Gremlins (1984)
Gizmo won my heart; especially when he mimicked Rambo with the bow and arrow (made of office supplies) omgmyfeels.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
I think I’d hurt myself a thousand times over if I was him.
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
It’s kind of intense, just sayin’.
Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) / James and the Giant Peach (1996)
Tim Burton, Tim Burton, Tim Burton. Nightmare is the ideal Halloweenchoice but James’ is a choice that, I feel, is very fall inspired and a movie with wickedly creepy visual aspects; especially if you watched it when you were like 5 years old. I actually have more attachment to James than Jack Skellington.
Shaun of the Dead (2004) / Zombieland (2009)
Zombies have never been funnier.
Coraline (2009)
Because Gaiman.
ParaNorman (2012)
This movie was actually a surprise for me. Pretty sure I went to the theatres with the intent of watching something else but said movie ended up being sold out so I watched this instead.
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
This is like the horror movie to end all horror movies. The overall writing is extremely clever and while it may not be Whedon’s best, I still found it to be pretty rad. To some degree, you could summarize all the previous nine listed movies into this single movie as the content just fits into the narrative of what Cabin in the Woods attempts to sell. It’s probably the movie out of the lot that I’d recommend the most; and if you are interested and haven’t seen it yet, it’s best to go into this movie without much context. It’s actually kind of hard to explain why I enjoyed it because most people I know who has watched Cabin didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. So it’s probably one of those films…
Afterthoughts:
Also, Twisty the Clown (AHS) has visited my dreams twice since the season started. WHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYY?!
Hope you’ve all been swell in my absence!
Cheers,
Joey
thoughts and afterthoughts. 
Halloween was in my list too, the original slasher movie and still capable of making me jump! I haven’t seen The Cabin in the Woods but have heard it’s pretty good.
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With the right mood set, I think most movies still give me the jolts of scare despite having watched them numerous times! Cabin definitely has it’s mixed reviews but I found it to be more humorous than true horror (if that helps convince you otherwise!)
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Shaun of the Dead is one of my favorite zombie movies. Because every apocalypse should come with a sense of humor.
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Definitely. Especially if everything has gone to the crapper, at least you’ve got humor on your side!
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We have several similarities on our lists. Zombieland! How did I forget that one. I suppose I didn’t think of it because it’s not strictly Halloween-themed. What a great choice though!
My TTT
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Haha, I definitely just thought of great horror-ish inspired movies for this list! I’m sure I could have also lumped Warm Bodies into the same category of humorous zombie flicks!
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I forgot about how creepy James and The Giant Peach is, but you are totally right! Good choice! I’m a little nervous about this new season of American Horror Story because I’m frightened to death of the idea of Twisty. I’ve seen pictures and just don’t know if I am ready for watching it fully… but the rest of AHS: Freak Show looks so good and I don’t want to miss out!
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Oh my goodness Twisty. Our first introduction of him is solid proof of why me and clowns are not friends–not even acquaintances!
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Glad to know you’re still alive!
I’ve only seen the animated ones out of this list!! Is that bad?!
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Haha, yay to living!
Not bad at all–they’re all superb movies!
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This reminds me that I still haven’t actually seen Coraline. Read the book, yes! But the movie, gah, yeah, I should get into watching that.
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It’s a good kind of different and I thought the changes they made were legit for the most part!
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Great choices.
Lynn 😀
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Glad these movies have the Lynn stamp of approval then!
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I’ve never seen Gremlins, is it cute or scary?? A couple on here made my list for scaredy cats too – and Silence of the Lambs is a good pick, I don’t “do” scaries, but I can handle that one!
My TTT: http://confessionsofabookgeek.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/top-ten-tuesday-halloween-movies-for-scardey-cats/
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Gremlins can be both cute and scary. It’s PG-13 rating I think but it’s still a pretty funny movie. It’s as dark as that spider baby in Toy Story, I’d say!
I think Silence was more of a psychologically taxing movie than gore horror; and sometimes those are the scariest movies available.
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Awesome list! I took the what character’s you’d want to dress up as route for this TTT because I didn’t think I’d come up with a good movie list, but I love most everything you mentioned. I remember being a little bit intimidated by Gremlins as a kid, but then when I was in middle/high school I devoured horror films. Halloween is one of my favorites. I’m not much of a slasher style girl, but I love a good psychological thriller.
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The movies that mess with your mind are sometimes the best–but definitely great in moderation.
It’s funny cause I don’t often actively seek out wanting to watch horror movies before everything else available but I somehow find myself watching the trailers over and over again and then I’m suddenly watching the movie haha.
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Love Edward Scissorhands! I did not, however, love Cabin in the Woods. I thought it started so interesting and then the end just was crazy. I am not a Joss Whedon disciple, though, so what do I know?
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That’s understandable. It’s definitely not a conventional horror film and I have many friends who share your opinions on Cabin as well!
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Ha, I just rewatched Gremlins recently with my 12-year-old, and it was awesome! I’ll never get tired of the bar scene, LOL. Oooh, Cabin in the Woods — the ultimate horror movie! It’s so over the top, and it’s hilarious. Great list!
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Yes!! The alcohol, the cigarettes, the rowdiness, the pimpin’ flasher! So much greatness in one scene!
I just love the shoutouts in Cabin to specific horror movies!
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Definitely, although I’m sure I missed a lot of the references. But death by unicorn? Now that’s unique!
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Haha yeah, when I first saw that I was definitely wondering where that came from! Although, I’m sure if I was one of the scientists who wanted a kick out of the whole ritual, I’d get a total kick out of “death by unicorn” or perhaps even “death by My Little Pony.”
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ParaNorman is a great movie that I think is pretty underrated…I’ve heard Cabin in the Woods is quite good but I’m not good at watching horror/scary movies (although I do love Chris Hemsworth, haha)
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ParaNorman was definitely a surprise; especially when I was affirmed that it was Anna Kendricks voice in the movie!
If you’ve seen the trailer for Cabin, it’s definitely not as horrific as the trailer might make it out to be–the humor balances everything out!
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Good to see you post. I love your list. I absolutely adore Edward Scissorhands. Tim Burton is a genius!
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Burton is indeed a genius! I want to see how he ends up envisioning Miss Peregrines home for peculiar children!
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Fantastic list! I absolutely love Edward Scissorhands — I definitely cut myself all the time if I were him. I feel like I haven’t seen a lot of the movies on your list; I know Silence of the Lambs is a classic but for some reason I have yet to watch it.
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Haha, I guess we wouldn’t be able to reap the benefits of having scissors for hands!
My list was definitely my best attempt at choosing a well-rounded selection of movies; some of which have become pretty classic to the horror genre (even if it’s a children’s movie!)
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I’ve see Halloween in so many lists and I keep thinking . should I know that? I feel like I’m seriously lacking in the horror movie deparment. Also, 100% agree on Edward Scissorhands, I’m pretty sure I would have straight up killed myself on day 1.
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Halloweens been a franchise for about 30 years with remakes but it’s understandable if you aren’t one to follow horror films. I’m pretty on-and-off with this genre too (although I find myself watching horror movie trailers more than any other genre…)
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I watched a lot more of them when I was younger but to be honest they felt increasingly sillier until I was just sort of meh about them. Now I’d mostly like to watch the horror “classics”, see what I’ve missed out on!
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That sounds awesome! I feel there are some viewers who have been spoiled by increasing production value in recent post-2000 movies that the simpler designs (i.e. in the 80’s) are often regarded as cheap and cheesy and therefore not as good/cool/what-have-you.
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Boy I have definitely been watching the wrong kind of post-2000 movies. Actually the wrong kind of horror movies altogether.
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As you saw from my list – I love the Halloween movies! I haven’t seen Cabin in the Woods, but you’re making me want to try it. I tried finding it on my DirecTV line up but they aren’t showing it, which is a bummer. I needed a new scary movie to watch. I don’t have Netflix, but maybe I need to get it.
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It’s definitely a traditional horror movie but also unconventionally portrayed. To me, it was more of a satirical horror film than something straight up doom and gloom with jump scare tactics. But it’s also one that has extreme mixed reviews from close friends so who knows if you’ll enjoy it! But definitely go into it with as little information as possible!
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Great list! I can remember Silence of the Lambs scaring me to death when I first saw it years ago. I love Edward Scissorhands too, although I only watched that for the first time quite recently 🙂
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I think Scissorhands has that timeless quality to it that works for all ages, but I’m happy that you enjoyed it!
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