It was the month of October, you hear the rusty fall leaves scraping against the cold pavement, you hear the witches laugh from their old eerie houses stirring up their witches’ brew. You hear a faint whisper of a ghoul coming behind you, sneaking up on your nightly stroll through the neighborhood. You look up and see a full moon upon the sky and hear a loud erupting howl echo through the air sending a chill down your spine. You watch as all the children dress up as creatures of the night, to fill their sweet tooth. You feel this excitement starts to spur up in you, and you finally realize – it’s officially Spooky Season!
If you are as big of a Halloween/fall lover as me, you know that this is the season that everyone has been waiting for since the middle of quarantine. Being that there are still precautions being taken whilst we are still in a pandemic, that does not mean you cannot still be festive and bring the Halloween spirit to the joy of your home. Everyone has their own different ways of celebrating Halloween either that be decorations, parties, and dressing up as different personas each day of the month. My personal favorite are the spooky movies that set in that melancholy feeling of this joyous season! For this article, I would be speaking on the top 5 Halloween movies to binge for this year specifically for this spooky season!
1. Paranorman
Of course, we have to start off the list with a bit of nostalgic feeling with the film ParaNorman! This movie has all the features of what Halloween is all about down to the witches, zombies, and even spirits. Young Norman Babcock (played by actor Kodi Smit-McPhee) possessed the gift of speaking amongst the dead which makes him an outcast in his small town called Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts. Norman had a daily routine of speaking to his deceased grandmother living in his home, and other ghosts that he finds on his path to school until one day Norman receives a message from his strange Uncle Prendergast (John Goodman). The message entails that a centuries-old curse that is a told tale about the town is true and about to take wrath upon the townspeople, and the only person who can stop it is Norman. When the curse becomes activated, the undead rise from their graves, Norman must ball up all his courage and push his paranormal abilities to save his town.
2. The Lost Boys
If you are an 80s fanatic like me, you will love this next film! The Lost Boys directed by Joel Schumacher is a classic when it comes to Halloween. The adventure begins off when two teenage brothers Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam (Corey Haim) move with their mother to a small town in northern California. When settled in, Sam makes new friends Edward (Corey Feldman) and Alan (Jamison Newlander), while Michael who is much more of an angst rebel child is swoon by the beautiful Star (Jami Gertz) in which he later finds out Star is in loops with David (Kiefer Sutherland) who is the leader of a gang which Michael then discovers is actually vampires. Sam, Edward, and Alan then have to come up with a plan to try to save Michael and Star from David and his crew. Now, if you watch this movie you will not only fall in love with the charms of Corey Haim but also the film’s soundtrack is also a big hit as well featuring big hits like “Cry Little Sister” by Gerard McMahon and “I Still Believe” by Tim Capello.
3. Jennifer’s Body
Now if you were a pre-teen during the 2000 era, you know this film was one of those films that either scared you or awakened a certain question that has been on the back of your mind regarding your sexuality. This film is all about demons, sacrifices, rock and roll, gore, and the typical stereotypes of the popular girl who is best friends with the outcast of the school. The plot begins where Jennifer (Megan Fox) and Needy (Amanda Seyfried) decide to go out to a bar to meet a local band called Low Shoulder and let’s just say things did not go too well after that. Jennifer becomes possessed with a demon that preys on any man that comes into an encounter with her, when Needy begins to figure out what exactly Jennifer is – she must come up with a plan to stop her best friend by doing anything necessary to put an end to her killings.
4. Practical Magic
This is a movie for all my little spiritual/witchy friends! This film showcases the importance of sisterhood, true love, and the definition of sugar and spice makes everything nice! When I first watched this movie with my mother and sister, this film gave us a sensation of unity and bond between not only family but also that sense of unity amongst us just being women. Two sisters Sandy (Sandra Bullock) and Gillain Owens (Nicole Kidman) were born into a long bloodline of witches, but they grew up only knowing bits and pieces of the powerful magic that each possessed. It was until one day Gillain abusive boyfriend, Jimmy Angelov (Goran Visnjic) dies unexpectedly, and both Sandy and Gillian take a dive into dark magic to try and revive him back to life, but the spell goes wrong. The Owens family is now being taunted by his dark spirit that promises to put an end to the family line, with a now detective Gary Hallet (Aidan Quinn) now tailing along Sally and Gillian to get to the bottom of the disappearance of Jimmy – they must find a way to cast out Jimmy’s spirit without letting their family secret be publicized.
5. Coraline
This was one of those films that stood with you as a child, now if you asked anyone who grew up around this movie, they would tell you this movie either scared the living crap out of them or they felt a weird but luring excitement about this film. This film has many hidden messages and conspiracy theories about it going far as she thinks she makes it out of the other world, but, she never did … OOPS!! spoiler alert. Coraline Jones (Dakota Fanning) moves into a new house with her workaholic parents, while exploring the house she finds a secret door behind it lies a whole universe that closely resembles her own – but much better… at first. Coraline feels bliss with the new life she has made in the other universe until the Other Mother (Teri Hatcher) and the family decide to make Coraline’s visits more permanent by trying to keep her there forever. Coraline must use all her strength and fearlessness to make it back to her real family. Now if you decide to watch this film, I highly recommend watching YouTube videos on the conspiracy theories related back to it – and I kid you not it would make this film even scarier.
I hope you enjoyed my top 4 movie recommendations, if you have any recommendations feel free to comment your go to spooky movies!
Happy Halloween! MWAHA