Top Ten Picks For Halloween Viewing 2013

I look forward to October all year. The autumn leaves,  the chill in the air and of course Halloween. I look forward to Halloween like some people do with Christmas. I build up a good selection of horror films, some favorites mixed with a few classics and a bunch of never seen before ones. So here we are again, it's almost that time.

10.) Cropsey (2009)  

The horror genre is filled with boogeymen. You have your Micheal, Jason and Freddy plus countless others. When done right they can be creepy as hell. But those are only movies, the boogeyman isn't real right? Sadly boogeymen are real. The documentary Cropsey looks at the popular urban legend and Andre Rand a suspect in the disappearance of several children in Staten Island. The filmmakers leave it up to the viewer if Rand is guilty or the victim of mass hysteria. They also present several theories as to why he killed these children, the craziest and creepiest of those involves a Satanic cult linked to the Son of Sam!

9.) Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural (1973)

After first seeing Lemora it quickly became one of my favorite horror films. A truly haunting little film that mixes Lovecraft, vampires and Little Red Riding Hood. Like Messiah of Evil, Suspiria and Let's Scare Jessica to Death (Three of my favorite '70's horror films), Lemora creates a  eerie atmosphere that pulls you into it's world and keeps you transfixed to the screen. Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith is perfect as young Lila Lee and considering how her life would end it makes her character somewhat tragic. I'm still not sure what the heck is up with the film's ending, but that's one of the joys of '70's horror.

8.) Silver Bullet (1985)

Two of my fondest memories growing up pertain to this movie. The first one indirectly, I remember a warm summer night (My favorite time to read horror novels btw) sitting on my grandparent's porch reading Stephen King's Cycle Of The Werewolf. The second one is watching the movie on VHS with m dad. My parents where weird, I could watc h R rated films as long as there was no nudity or sex. Gore? No problem! Silver Bullet for me is one of those films that's a time machine that takes you back to a certain time and place in your life every time you watch it.  Also Gary Busey vs.a werewolf!

7.) Terror in the Aisles (1984)   

Before there was YouTube to watch your favorite movie clips there was Terror in the Aisles. A fun compilation of horror clips hosted by Donald Pleasence and Nancy Allen. They watch a variety of horror film clips in a packed movie theater and discuss the effects scary movies have on the viewer. Friday The 13th, Alien, The Thing, Halloween and Alone in the Dark are featured among many others.

6.) Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973)

When I first saw Children a friend had it on VHS (That'll tell you how long ago it was!) cassette. I watched it in a group setting and found it boring. At an hour and a half we're not treated to any zombie goings on till the last thirty minutes. There's really no likable characters. The thing is at the time I couldn't appreciate the weirdness of '70s horror. Many, many moons later I really love the stuff! In fact the more bizarre the better. Children isn't for everyone. It takes it's sweet ass time getting to the goods. But there's ample strangeness and bad fashions to get us over the hump. If your a fan of the stranger side of horror, dodgy acting and zombies Children is a good way to go.

5.) Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)

The Citizen  Kane of bad movies. Ed Wood's masterpiece should mandatory October viewing.

4.) Alone in the Dark (1982)

It seems I come back to this film every October. One of my favorite '80's slasher films. It blends slasher thrills with some very dark humor. Four very insane men escape an asylum and terrorize their new doctor. There's some very interesting characters on hand. Donald Pleasance's Dr. Bain is pot smoking new age psychiatrist nut, every bit as crazy as his patients. There's the "Bleeder" who's nose bleeds when he kills and dons a hokey mask in one scene to do some slashing. Jack Palance and Martian Landau both chew up the scenery like it's going out of style as two of the escaped crazies. Plus any film that features a band called “The Sick Fucks” who preform a song called ‘Chop Up Your Mother’ is a must see.

3.) The Hollow (2004)

This one's a definite guilty pleasure. It's fun, never dull and features Kaley Cuoco from The Big Bang Theory.  

2.) The Black Cat (1934)

Here's a film I can watch multiple times a year. Karloff and Lugosi's first film together and they completely knock it out of the park. One of Bela's few roles as a good guy, his Dr. Werdegast  is so emotionally scarred he seems capable of all most anything in his vendetta against Karloff's Hjalmar Poelzig. Poelzig is a architect and occultist. The role gives Boris the opportunity to play an incredibility creepy and mannered villain. His castle is a high-tech, art deco masterpiece of set design. A truly amazing and dark film and one of my all time favorite Universal horror pics of the '30s.

1.) Halloween II (1981)

For me this is a classic slasher film. Near perfection. It's in my October rotation every year.  I love it more then the first film. It doesn't hurt that this was the first one I saw in the franchise.