Halloween is here; it’s time for my final article recommending horror movies for you to watch. I’m going to talk about what I consider to be horror classics. The movies that brought the horror genre to life.
Friday the 13th (1980)-this is the first movie in one of the longest running horror movie franchises with twelve installments rivaled only by Halloween. That doesn’t mean all the movies are good, after the first few it gets very repetitive and predictable. Fans don’t care about that they just want to see Jason to go after a group of teens with a variety of sharp objects. This movie is a product of the slasher restoration of the 80s prompted by Halloween. So, by the time the eighth film came out it was nearing the 90s and that combined the five Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street movies this type of slasher movie was played out and starting to get old. But right now, we’re going to be talking about when these slasher movies first came out and were all the rage.
The movie starts off like most slashers, with teenagers. These teens are camp counselors who are in the middle of the woods for the re-opening of Camp Crystal Lake. The warnings from superstitious locals did not stop these counselors from setting up the summer camp. Although Crystal Lake has a history of murder the counselors went through with opening the camp. They don’t heed the warnings of the old-timers, soon the find themselves being stalked by a vicious killer. The counselors struggle to stay alive as they are slashed and tormented by their ruthless foe. This movie is somewhat gory and rated R so be sure to get permission before watching.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)- This is another big horror movie franchise with nine installments. Some of the movies get silly and aren’t that great; the first movie is good especially for a slasher. The nightmare movies are not like your typical slasher movies. Freddy Krueger is one of the most recognizable figures in all of pop culture, unlike any other slasher villain; he can invade you and literally haunt you in your dreams. This makes for some really cool kills and dream sequences.
The opening scene of this movie shows us Freddy’s origin story. He is turned into a disfigured dream demon who preys on teens as they sleep, which kills them in reality. One of our protagonists has a dream a Freddy, after telling her friends, they shake it off as just a nightmare. After talking more about it later she realizes that two of them had a similar dream with the same knife glove wielding killer. This small friend group is hunted and tortured by the dream demon, they start to suspect a dark secret kept by friends and parents may be an important piece to solving this mystery. This is probably the goriest movie that I have recommended make sure to get parent permission before watching because it is rated R.
Halloween (1978)- This is the staple Halloween movie; it even shares the same name. While it was the first slasher movie it jump started the slasher craze in the 80s. A low budget film about a masked man stalking babysitters is now the longest running horror film franchise. There are thirteen installations of the Halloween franchise. All with one thing in common, Michael Myers. Except of course Halloween 3 but that is the only movie without Michael Myers. This is because the Halloween franchise was supposed to be an anthology series, it was going to be about random tales that take place on Halloween. After the success of the first movie and love for Michael Myers he came back for more killing. Some later films try to give reason as to why Michael is killing, fans don’t want an explanation, its much scary to just have a deranged man killing babysitters.
The first movie starts in a small town in Illinois. We open with a first person shot looking into the Myers’ house through a window on Halloween night. We follow this first person shot all around the house and eventually upstairs where this person kills their older sister right in her bedroom. We follow this shot down the stairs and out of the house as the camera zooms out, we find out this is six-year-old Michael Myers. He stands outside his house holding the bloody knife looking blankly into the distance, just as his parents get home and see him, wondering what horrors were committed. After being institutionalized for fifteen years, Michael escapes the night before Halloween. No one will be safe the night he comes home. This movie is a classic, I definitely think you should watch it. It’s not that gory but there are jump scares and it is rated R so make sure to get parental permission before watching.
