Listen Here
Dylan Frazier
Halloween may look a little different this year with no parades, masks being worn by (hopefully) everyone, and candy being passed out differently than any year before. If you decide you must go out, be safe and sensible about it.
For those who want to stay inside during this spooky time of year, you may ask yourself “What’s a good horror movie?” I’m glad you asked because I love horror movies, it’s such a creative genre. Yes, some horror movies are abysmal but at least they try out new things more than any other genre. With, here are my top three horror movies ever made.
But before we get to that, I want to note Scream, the original one, just missed the cut. What a goofy slasher movie. Ghostface was such a clumsy serial killer and the fact Matthew Lillard, who I can’t look at as anyone but Shaggy, was one of the killers still makes me laugh. Great horror movie.
Now, here we go…
3. Midsommar (2019)
A brief synopsis:
“A couple travels to Sweden to visit a rural hometown’s fabled mid-summer festival. What begins as an idyllic retreat quickly devolves into an increasingly violent and bizarre competition at the hands of a pagan cult.”
You have religious sacrifices, a prodigal son writing the prophecy, and at its heart, it’s a breakup movie. So many horrible and graphic deaths in this movie, but the twist is that it’s all during that daytime. The camerawork is great, the very minor details that matter so much, and the tension throughout the movie makes Ari Aster’s sophomoric film one of my favorite horror flicks of all time. This introduced me to Florence Pugh who is one of the best up-and-coming actresses in Hollywood, she was great as the May Queen. The visuals and camerawork were top notch and I’m ready for whatever Aster does next.
WHERE TO WATCH: PRIME VIDEO
2. Hereditary (2018)
A brief synopsis:
“When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.”
This was the movie that first got me onto Ari Aster’s movies, as you can tell I love his work. The complete opposite. A death in the family leads to getting their loved one back from the dead and it spirals out of control after that. Toni Collette was snubbed of an Oscar nomination for this movie. The trailer does such a good job of hiding the twist in the movie and when I saw it in theaters, it was nothing like the movie. A dark, twisted, satanic, and all-around horrific movie… I’ve never gagged in a theater before, but I did when I saw this movie. Man, I love Ari Aster movies.
WHERE TO WATCH: PRIME VIDEO
Before I give my number one favorite horror movie of all time, I want to note that I went back and forth on what a horror movie was. If you consider The Silence of the Lambs to be horror, well Silence of the Lambs would be not only my favorite horror movie ever but also one of my favorite movies of all time. But to avoid any discrepancies as to what a horror movie is, I went with the first horror movie I had ever seen. Thanks, Dad because without you, I never would’ve gotten hooked on horror like I am today.
1. Halloween (1978).
A brief synopsis:
“On a cold Halloween night in 1963, six-year-old Michael Myers brutally murdered his 17-year-old sister, Judith. He was sentenced and locked away for 15 years. But on October 30, 1978, while being transferred for a court date, a 21-year-old Michael Myers steals a car and escapes Smith’s Grove. He returns to his quiet hometown of Haddonfield, Illinois, where he looks for his next victims.”
Can’t go wrong with the classics, right? This movie, even 42 years later, still holds up. The score, the suspense, the senseless murders of teenagers, and the Boogeyman coming home, Halloween is just as good as it was when I was 12 when I saw it the first time. John Carpenter is one of the best minds of the horror generation. I love this movie and always will.
WHERE TO WATCH: AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE
Enjoy yourself this Halloween weekend, but also be safe.
