Oct 30

Oct 30 It's Spooky Season: A Collection of Halloween Movie Lists (from My Friends)

It’s that time of year; All Hallows’ Eve is just a couple days away. Since it falls on a Sunday this year, I figured I might as well have a movie marathon to bask in the spooktacular ambiance that only exists during this time.

I decided to reach out to my friends for movie recommendations, but then I realized that I’d quickly be inundated with too many options to choose from. How would I choose? I’m the kind of person that embodies “analysis paralysis” so if there are too many options, I know I’ll just choose something that I’ve seen a thousand times and waste a great movie marathon opportunity.

To aid in my selection process, I reached out to a (large) selection of friends for their Top-10 Halloween Movie Lists and analytically, I figured it could make the choosing process easy. These are the friends that I go to for movie recommendations so I trust that their Top-10 lists will be worth a viewing at least. Only a few responded, but I’ll take what I can get.

I’m naturally a jumpy person - anxiety and paranoia always at an 11 so many of the selections on these lists that include too much torture, gore, and Roman Polanski will be passed over for movies that focus more on black comedy and/or psychological thrillers.

My Top-10 List:

Young Frankenstein
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Beetlejuice
The Sixth Sense
Little Shop of Horrors
Scary Movie (1, 2, & 3)
SAW
Signs
The Descent
Split

Mikey’s Top 10 List:

Halloween (2007)
1. “Unpopular opinion among Halloween fans but [Rob Zombie’s] version is highly underrated. I think he successfully introduced the Michael Meyers character to the modern era.”
The Ring
1. “Terrified me when I was little. Anytime the phone rang, I would freak out. Or a static TV.”
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
1. “Just simply terrifying.“
The Shining
1. “Simply a Classic.“
IT (Parts I & II)
The Conjuring 2
The Strangers
Insidious: The Last Key
The Ritual
SAW

Bob’s Top-10:

Nightmare Before Christmas
The Shining
Evil Dead (2013)
Cabin in the Woods
Halloween (1978)
Scream
The Conjuring
Hocus Pocus
Trick R Treat
The Final Girls

Chris’ Top-10:

I Saw the Devil (2010)
The Witch (2015)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Hereditary (2018)
Train to Busan (2016)
The Shining (1980)
Trick r' Treat (2007)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
It Comes At Night (2017)
Get Out (2017)

Kristina’s Top-10:

Train to Busan (2016)
The Host (2006)
Hereditary (2018)
Midsommar (2019)
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Scream (1996)
The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Audition (1999)
I Saw The Devil (2010)
The Ring (2002)

Michael’s Top-10:

The Evil Dead (1981)
The Descent
Rosemary’s Baby
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Carrie (1976)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Conjuring
Sinister
Green Room
Silence of the Lambs

Squirtgunmcgee’s Top-10:

Beetlejuice
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Halloween
Child's Play
IT (the mini series)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Addams Family
Hocus Pocus
Nightmare on Elm Street
The Curse of La Llorona

Kimmie’s Top-10:

The Tunnel (2011)
Scary Movie (1, 2, & 3)
Ginger Snaps
American Psycho
Strangeland
Sleepy Hollow
The Ring
Hush
Final Destination (entire series)
Human Centipede

Ruth’s Favorites:

Hellraiser
The Omen (1976)
Rosemary's Baby
Close Your Eyes (2002)
Us
Get Out

Jon’s Favorites:

Shaun of the Dead
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Cabin in the Woods

Bryan’s Favorites:

Beetlejuice
The Shining
Nightmare Before Christmas
Paranormal Activity
Hocus Pocus
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Alyssa’s Favorites:

Hocus Pocus
Disney’s Halloweentown
Halloweentown 2: Kalibar’s Revenge
Halloweentown High

My Take Aways

So I’ve learned a few things from the lists here:

“Hocus Pocus” and “The Shining” were the most common films appearing on 4 lists each. “Beetlejuice”, “The Conjuring“, and “The Ring” appeared on 3 lists each. 14 movies appeared on 2 lists. I expected a lot of vampire movies but surprisingly, I didn’t see one on anyone’s lists. Also, Alyssa appears to be sponsored by Disney so I’m looking at her list with more suspicion and scrutiny and the others. I’m surprised “Twitches”, “Under Wraps”, and “Don’t Look Under the Bed” weren’t on her list! (I’m sure the only reason “Return to Halloweentown” didn’t make her list is because they replaced the main actress and that’s a line you don’t cross with Alyssa)

There was a large variety of films and that surprised me. Out of the 99 films that appear on these lists, 71 are unique. And of those 71, I’ve seen only 29 so there’s a lot to choose from…

For an all day movie marathon, 5 movies is a solid day - 6 might be pushing my limits. So 5 movies with a reserve/replacement at the ready is the ideal amount for me. For my movie marathon, I need to whittle down this list a bit…

I have a strict rule against Roman Polanski films (even though Rosemary’s Baby is the one I’d like to see the most) so that’s “out” purely on principle. No Disney Channel Original Movies, so the two Halloweentown sequels can “poof” off the list. I don’t want to spend my whole day watching a single franchise, so Final Destination and the accompanying No Good, Very Bad Days are gone (5 movies). Even though a new movie is out, I don’t feel like starting the Halloween franchise, so take those two out. For similar reasons, “Scream”, “Child’s Play”, “Insidious: The Last Key” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” can be scratched. Evil Dead 2 & 3 are the campy, fun ones and since those didn’t make the list, I’m removing “The Evil Dead” and it’s 2013 remake. I want to save the Korean movies (“I Saw the Devil”, “The Host”, and “Train to Busan”) for another time since I’m learning Korean and I’ll probably watch them several times for practice. I watch foreign films regularly so I’ll put “The Audition” and “The Curse of La Llorona” on my watchlist for this winter. I’m trying to be efficient with my time, so some of the older movies that don’t really interest me (“Carrie”, “Close Your Eyes”, “Hellraiser”, “Human Centipede”, “Strangeland”, and “Sleepy Hollow”) will have to wait for another day. I’m bored at the thought of contagious disease so “It Comes at Night” is off the list. I’m watching this movie marathon alone and since I’m not one to poke fun at the idea of possession (just in case it invites some of the baddies my way), “The Exocism of Emily Rose”, “House on Haunted Hill”, and “Paranormal Activity” are gone.

So after all of that, I’m left with the following films:

Get Out
Ginger Snaps
Green Room
Hereditary
Hush
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Midsommar
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Shaun of the Dead
Sinister
The Conjuring
The Final Girls
The Omen (1976)
The Ritual
The Tunnel
The Witch
Trick ‘r Treat
Us

I like the list so far, but let’s whittle a bit more…

I want a classic film to watch so between “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, “Night of the Living Dead”, and “The Omen” I choose the alien film over the zombie and Antichrist films. “Green Room”, “Hush”, and “The Ritual” look very interesting so they make the list. I also want a super scary film to see while the sun is out and my blinds are open. Between “Sinister”, “The Conjuring”, and “Hereditary”, the team at Broadband Choices ranked the 35 scariest based on the average heart rate of participants. “Sinister” came in at the top spot with 86 beats per minute (bpm) with a spike of 131 bpm (obviously a jump scare which I’m not thrilled about) so that’ll take the spot. Needing some humor “at the ready” in case of emergency, I flipped a coin to decide between “Shaun of the Dead”, “The Final Girls”, and “Trick ‘r Treat”. I made a bracket for choosing between those three and since it was too complicated (and involved 150 flips), I’ll spare you the details.

So the final list is: