Now that the month of October has officially arrived, it is the perfect excuse to watch all of your favorite spooky movies! Here are a few of my personal favorite scary movies to get you started into fall the bone-chilling way!
- The Shining (1980)
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Based on Stephen King’s book, The Torrance family takes the job of caretakers at the Overlook Hotel during the wintertime. The husband and father, Jack, sees this as an opportunity to focus on his writing for a book. Jack’s son, Danny, is a special child who has the ability to see the past. Danny is able to see what has really happened at this mysterious and eerie hotel before he and his family arrived. As the family becomes isolated from the world in a hotel stuck in a huge snowstorm, Jack Torrance begins to go mentally insane and the past of the Overlook Hotel begins to shine right through.
- It Chapter 1 & 2 (2017, 2019)
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Based on another Stephen King novel, the It movies take place in a small, quiet town of Derry, Maine. The character Pennywise the clown makes an appearance in the town of Derry to terrorize all children who possess fear every 27 years. The clown mainly focuses on a small group of kids and goes for their personal fears to make it all more traumatic. In the first movie, the kids also known as the losers club first learn of Pennywise and try to defeat him. As for the second movie, the kids have now grown up and face even more demons as Pennywise returns for another battle.
- The Scream Series 1-4 (1996, 1997, 2000, 2011)
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The Scream movies are best known for the ghost-faced killer. The film is set in the town of Woodsboro following a girl named Sidney Prescott. The high school teenager battles with losing her mother to a gruesome murder that happened nearly a year ago, but it is finally coming back to haunt her in all sorts of ways. As the movies continue to be released, you are faced with wondering who is the killer. The scream series is one to keep you on the edge of your seat.
- The Purge (2013)
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Although there are several movies in the purge, the classic first one is by far my favorite. This is a movie that brings the definition of creepy to a whole other level. The purge was designed for American families to perform their duty and participate in the annual purge. The purge allows 12 hours of crime to be committed without consequences. As for seeking help, you are left defenseless till seven in the morning. This movie follows a wealthy family who had created the purge. The husband created a top-notch security system that would help families prepare for survival. The most bizarre masked faces with machetes and guns are ready to do whatever it takes to seek retribution. Will the family have what it takes to survive through the night?
- In the Tall Grass (2019)
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Based on yet another Stephen King book, brother and sister, Becky and Cal are on a road trip to San Diego when they decide to stop on the side of the road next to a very large field. Becky hears a little boy named Tobin yelling for help and follows his voice. As Becky ventures in the field thinking she is getting closer to help, she discovers that she is nowhere near Tobin and is stuck in the field. Cal goes after Becky and starts to see a turning of events. They both eventually find Tobin and he lets Becky and Calvin know that the grass does not move dead things. The grass begins to take over which unfolds a series of events that will shock everyone.
- The Conjuring (2013)
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There are three movies in the Conjuring series. The first one has always scared me the most and this movie was based on real-life events. The Perron family moved into a farmhouse with their five daughters in Harrisville, Rhode Island. The kids are the first to learn that there may be more than just them living inside the house. While playing games, the girls find a cellar, and that is when the paranormal comes out to play. Roughly every night at around three in the morning strange events would occur. Carolyn who is the wife decides they need to end this once and for all, so they contact demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. As the dynamic duo conducts the investigation they realize that there is a dark history hiding in these rickety walls. The events begin to get more sinister and start to take over the bodies of the Perron family. It then starts to lead into another investigation that all starts with this one house.
- Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
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This movie is a pure horror classic. Freddy Krueger will haunt your dreams with his knives for fingers and a face that forever stays ingrained in your brain. Many people are followed in this movie and all share one thing in common, the fear of falling asleep. The characters all end up somehow finding one another and trying to save themselves from being taken in their sleep. Some think they dream while they are awake, others cannot fight the urge. Some characters realize that they have been battling Freddy longer than they thought specifically, Nancy. The group bands together to pull Freddy into their reality so that they can end it all.
- Friday the 13th (2009)
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This movie takes place at a camp called Crystal Lake. The film is known best for Jason Voorhees who is a killer with a white hockey-mask. Jason as a child watched his mother get brutally murdered by a camp counselor and years later he comes back seeking revenge. As other camp counselors move throughout the woods to try to seek help, Jason follows them to make sure nobody will outlive him and his machete.
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)
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Erin and her boyfriend head to a concert but are met by some unfriendly hitchhikers. The hitchhikers tell them a story of a man who brutally murders people with a chainsaw. Erin and her boyfriend go against the leather face killer in an attempt to fight for their lives and be on their way, but what they do not know is the murders’ mother is not to be trusted either, as she is just as dangerous if not, worse.
- Get Out (2017)
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Chris a man of color who is dating a white girl named Rose, and they are both going to meet up with her family for the weekend. The vibe is cringeworthy with the parents making uncomfortable comments, but what Chris did not know is that it was about to get sicker and more twisted. Chris is convinced to be hypnotized into a trance that completely paralyzes him with fear. When pulled out, he becomes completely unaware. The events start to get even weirder when the family invites all their wealthy white friends over who all look at Chris like he is a piece of meat. The cult-like aspect of this movie will send chills down your spine.
Hopefully, some of these short movie summaries encourage you to watch or rewatch these horror classics if you’re not too frightened! All of us at Her Campus are wishing you a happy haunted Halloween!