Halloween Movies

Ok, ok, I know- a hokey, stupid blog entry given the fact that is indeed Halloween but I thought it best to line up my favorite Halloween movies and give a brief little detail as to why they are in such high regard with yours truly. For anyone who gives a shit, please feel free to comment.

This is a ranking in terms of the best - in my opinion- not based on character, dialouge, story, or anything else - just pure Halloween flavor films.

10. Halloween- Of course. Michael Myers. The classic movie. The screamer. A very impactful film - especially when you're 7 and sitting home alone on the night before Halloween. I didn't go outside for two weeks afterward and to make matters worse, the house I grew up in was painstakingly similar to the house in the movie. And the kid across the street: his name was Michael. He was a big kid. He did spend time in a mental asylum. And yes, his sister was hot. The parallels between my life and this movie is what the scared the shit out of me- not just the movie itself.

9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind- Not what you think as being a scary movie, right? Ok. Now- ask a kid who is 5 years old and looks a lot like the kid in the movie that gets abducted by the aliens if this is a scary movie. I still remember shaking from fear during the kitchen scene when the kid gets pulled through the dog door. We had a dog door. I looked like the kid. My mom- she looked like the mom. It was all so connected. And I hated that connection. You remember best what it hurts worst- I guess.

8. Poltergeist- Growing up in the 1980's in the Midwest, you noticed a lot of things wrong with the world you grew up in and the fact that the kid who gets choked by a toy clown in a movie has the same name as you is one of these things. His name is Robbie. My name is Rob- but when I was younger- you guessed it- it was Robbie. He had a toy clown. I had this big ass stuffed bear. In the movie, he wakes up screaming while the clown is dragging him under the bed. After this movie, I destroyed all of my stuffed animals and vowed, much in the same nature as a recovering heroin addict, to never return to the stuffed animal conspiracy again. Since then, I've always considered what could really happen if these fucking things come alive??

7. Slaughter High- 14 years old. A lot of naked flesh. A lot of sex. Enough said.

6. Night of the Living Dead- Watched this for the first time when I was 10 on New Year's Eve. I remember the reality of the film- the whole documentary aspect of it- and how incredibly real it seemed. It scared the shit out of me. I was sitting in my Grandmother's house, the lights off, around 2am, the only other person in the house being my 75 year-old grandmother who in no way, shape or form, could help me defeat a pack of wild zombies if need be- and I felt, for the first time, a fear from a sense of isolation. Thank you George Romero for creating a beautiful movie and initiating a whole new genre of film.

5. Audition- Japanese horror film. Highly recommended. Don't see it with a squeamish college girl. Don't let it be your first date. It will be your last date with her.

4. Drag Me to Hell- This is new, but I have to give props to Sam Raimi- a brilliant horror film director and I will even say this- beyond horror films- he is still a brilliant director. See "A Simple Plan" if you don't believe me. Drag Me to Hell is just another masterpiece in an already gifted line of work. See Army of Darkness, Dawn of the Dead, everything this man does is genius.

3. Halloween -Rob Zombie film- Not a remake. This is a new perspective on an old classic. Zombie is a genius and artistically, a Da Vinci of our time- when it comes to transformation of something into another form. He does it in such a way that the viewer accepts it as a pure source of energy and the story development is just perfect. See all of Zombie's films. He will someday be regarded as the generational leader when it comes to horror films.

2. Silence of the Lambs- Another tie into my life. Saw this for the first time on pay vision at a hotel in, guess where...Memphis. Ha! The same location where Hannibal Lecter is taken to be interviewed for the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill. Beyond this, the story developing over a series of murders in the midwest and the faces put on the victims as well as the perpetrator is so stark, so real- that you feel as though it's not a film- and it really is happening.

1. The Exorcist- This film couldn't be more perfect. It's not just scary, it's well directed, well acted, well written. Not to mention the usage of light in certain scenes to enhance the feeling of the scene. The genius of the Exorcist is of course, how it is made to stick in your mind. A brilliant film.