To Watch from a Darkened Room

  

I took the time a while back to start a Pinterest board of horror films and TV shows, because sometimes we forget the ones we enjoy and sometimes we're looking to discover something new to watch. Click on the pic to be taken to the board!

From time to time, even I peruse it when I'm looking for something fun!

ShellHawk's Favorite Flicks For Hallowe'en

EDIT: I STARTED THE DRAFT OF THIS POST A FEW YEARS AGO. I haven't changed it much because I'm busy with adulting!
Don't shame me. It's been a tough few years! Lol!

As you know, it's been interview season for me-if you can call two interviews a "season," that is. Both interviewers asked for my top horror films, and I could only give a few. With characteristic delayed intelligence, I thought of a few more after the interviews were over, and I thought I might share these with my fiendish readers. These are in no particular order, and possibly reveal me as a child of the 1980s. 

Christmas Ape, or Chris Aype to his Facebook friends, mugs at his favorite movie location.

1. The Fog (1980) Those of you who have followed me for awhile know how much I love this film. The Fog was John Carpenter's second major release, and the initial cut of the film just didn't work. He and producer Deborah Hill went back through the movie, added some scares, and re-shot many scenes. The film begins with a fabulous scene of John Houseman telling the story of the doomed ship, the Elizabeth Dane, to a group of kids by a campfire. It is the centennial year for Antonio Bay, and legend has it that the dead crewmen of the ship will come for their revenge on the "twenty-first of April." Of course, they do.
   
   
2. Halloween (1978) Does anyone not know about the ill-fated babysitter's tale? This is the one which taught us never to drink, do drugs, or have sex if we wanted to survive the night!
   
3. Poltergeist (1982) Such a beautiful, happy, normal family in a lovely suburb. The Freelings thought they had it all, until little Carol Anne hears voices coming from the TV set which shouldn't be there. (I love this one even more, now that I work for the man who did the visual effects for the movie!)
   
   
4. Jaws (1975) The movie that started the feeding frenzy of all things shark! Amity is terrorized by a hungry Great White during the height of their big tourist season, and the town sheriff is forced to enlist the help of a marine biologist and a grizzled fisherman to hunt down the man-eater and end its reign of terror!
   
   
5. Shaun of the Dead (2004) The first installment of the Cornetto Trilogy, Shaun of the Dead is a landmark zombie comedy! One must watch it multiple times to uncover all of the layers of this gem!
   
6. The Legend of Hell House (1973) A perfect Gothic ghost story for those who love them! A scientist is hired by a wealthy old man to discover if there is life after death, and takes a crew with him to a very haunted house.
   
   
7. Dracula (1931) Arguably the second vampire to show his face on the screen, this one gave us the iconic formal-dress blood-drinker we've come to know and love! Bela Lugosi stars as Count Dracula, newly arrived in town to seduce young women and drain them of their blood!
   
8. Trick 'r Treat (2007) Never released in theaters, but don't let this straight-to-video tag put you off! It's a tightly-written, gripping, horror anthology set in a sleepy little town which comes alive on Halloween night with serial killers, werewolves, vengeful zombies, and the Spirit of Halloween, incarnate!
   
   
9. 1408 (2007) As a Stephen King fan, I have to say this is one creepy and terrifying offing from one of my top five masters of horror. A young writer demands to stay the night in the Dolphin Hotel's haunted room 1408. What follows is a mind-bending and mind-rending tale of terror.
   
10. The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) A lawyer is contacted to defend the life of a Priest who has performed an exorcism on a young woman, with fatal consequences.
    
    
11. The Omen (1976) An American diplomat's young son seems to have a strange effect of those around him. Could he be -- SATAN?
    
    
12. The Changeling (1980) A chilling story of a man, haunted by the tragic death of his wife and daughter, who moves into an empty, old house when he starts his life anew. Strange events reveal there's a child ghost in the house, and he will not rest until his story is known and his revenge is complete.
    
13. Ghost Story (1981) Deliciously frightening, Ghost Story brings to the screen Peter Straub's terrifying story of a vengeful ghost who has seduced the son of one of her murderers.
    
    
14. Sleepy Hollow (1999) Tim Burton's twist on Washington Irving's classic short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," finds Ichabod Crane, a budding New York detective, searching for the culprit in a series of grisly beheadings.
    
    
15. Alien (1979) Ripley and her friends are awakened from cryo-sleep to go on a rescue mission, but when they arrive on the planet, they find only a strange and predatory creature has invaded their ship.
    
16. The Haunting (1963) Eleanor Vance is contacted by an ESP researcher to spend some time in an old New England house with several other test subjects. The house has plans for Eleanor, though, and things start a sideways slide into insanity from the moment they arrive.
17. The Exorcist (1973) One of the all-time most terrifying movies ever made, about the possession of poor little Regan, and the man who would exorcise the demon from her.
18. House of Wax (1953) An arsonist destroys a talented wax sculptor's life's work, driving the artist mad. He soon discovers a way to re-populate his wax museum.
19. An American Werewolf in London (1981) A pair of backpacker best friends cross the moors of England and are attacked by a wolf on the full moon. One is killed, and the survivor must discover what, exactly, has killed his friend. 
20. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Clarice Starling, a student at the FBI academy, must interview Hannibal Lecter, a charming cannibal, in order to track down the killer, "Buffalo Bill" before he kills again. A psychological thriller, this movie is the one that changed the horror genre forever, and is not to be missed!

I hope that gave you a nice list of things to watch when you're alone. In the night. In the dark...