It’s here. Spooky Season is in full swing. This time of year comes with a lot of ways to celebrate. You’ve got trick-or-treating with friends. A pumpkin patch date is a must have. Halloween parties can be a fun way to meet people and show off your dazzling costume. But for me, an introvert who is scared of the dark, I find October to be a great month to grab a pumpkin spice flavoured something, wrap up in a blanket, and flip on some spooktacular movies.
- Hocus Pocus
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Starting off strong already. This 1993 Disney masterpiece is a movie a lot of us think of when we get into Halloween feels. The Sanderson Sisters really put a spell on us every time we watch them on screen. For those who haven’t indulged in this classic: After moving to Salem, Mass., teenager Max Dennison explores an abandoned house with his sister Dani and their new friend, Allison. After dismissing a story Allison tells as superstitious, Max accidentally frees a coven of evil witches who used to live in the house. If you are looking for some lighthearted spooky vibes, I definitely recommend following Max, Dani, and Allison as they try to save the children of Salem from having their life taking out of them by the witch’s potion. To top it all off, the three are aided by a 17th century speaking black cat. I honestly could watch Hocus Pocus everyday of October and still laugh at the Sanderson Sister’s antics, sing along to “I Put a Spell on You”, and shed a tear for Thackery.
- BeetleJuice
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While this one isn’t a Halloween flick, it is still filled with ghosts and demons and a giant sand worm. Yeah you heard me: giant sand worm, keep up. After Barbara and Adam Maitland die in a car accident, they find themselves stuck haunting their country residence, unable to leave the house. When the unbearable Deetzes and teen daughter Lydia buy the home, the Maitlands attempt to scare them away without success. Their efforts attract Beetlejuice, a rambunctious spirit whose “help” quickly becomes dangerous for the Maitlands and innocent Lydia. This movie is diected by the one and only spooky movie king, Tim Burton (You’re going to see him a lot on this list). A bit of a more mature step up from Hocus Pocus, with its suggestive and raunchy humor, Beetlejuice is still a lighthearted movie that won’t really scare you into keeping a light on for a while.
- The taking of deborah logan
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Now I’m not the biggest found footage style film lover, but this one is a beautiful exception. This movie is the first one on this list that I will call scary. Watch at your own risk. The film follows graduate student Mia who records the daily lives of Deborah, a woman supposedly suffering from a rough case of end stage alziemers and her daughter Sarah as part of her thesis. As the days progress, strange things happen around Deborah, and it becomes apparent something has taken control of her. I can’t get into too much detail without giving anything away, but I can say that it’s much worse than any mental illness. When I watched this one for the first time, I found myself on the edge of my seat and I might have lost some sleep over it.
- House of 1000 corpses
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Listen, if you have a weak stomach, skip this one. You’ll thank me later. Now, I’m not sure who let Rob Zombie direct a movie, but oh boy is it a ride and a half. The synopsis I found was this: An empty fuel tank and a flat tire lead two couples down a terror-riddled road to the House of 1000 Corpses. “House of 1000 Corpses” is at its core a story of family – a cast of twisted individuals who, with each slash of a throat or stab thru the chest, add bodies to their sick human menagerie. This description seems pretty gruesome to begin with, but if you sit down and endure all 89 stomach turning minutes of this movie, you’ll understand that this synopsis barely covers it. Rainn Wilson, whom we all know and love as Dwight Schrute from The Office actually stars in this movie. But uh, don’t get too attached…
- SleepAway Camp
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In all honesty, this movie is not one of my favourites. The movie follows Angela, a shy, silent, young girl attending a summer camp with her cousin. Shortly after her arrival, some sinister things begin to happen and the camp’s residents start dropping off like flies. Now, you may be wondering why I included this one if I don’t really love it. That’s because it’s a staple of spooky season. Sleepaway Camp has a massive cult following as one of the biggest slasher flicks of the eighties. It has everything you need for a classic 80’s horror movie: Teenagers going wild, a mysterious murderer, and a weird twist at the end that makes you question what the heck you just watched.
- THe Conjuring
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This one is one of my favourite ghost movies. The entire Warren franchise is one I would definitely recommend, but this one is my favourite out of all of them. The Perrons and their five daughters have recently moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has made itself known. Though the manifestations are relatively benign at first, events soon escalate in horror and a terror ensues. The Conjuring film is definitely one of the more tame horror films, in my opinion, nevertheless it is still a classic spooky movie.