By: Norma Loya
October is the time for baseball playoffs, overdosing on candy and *gasp* scary movies. Though the list is a tad “cliché”, there really aren’t that many super scary movies to choose from. So grab a bowl of popcorn, turn off the lights and get ready to scare your pants off.
Child’s Play
Some people think it’s ridiculous to be deathly afraid of a small, fictional doll. But Chucky is no joke—he’s a freaking killer doll! Not to mention the fact that he is a ginger. Charles Lee Ray, a murderer, escapes from the police by possessing a Good Guys doll. The said doll is then gifted to Andy Barclay for Christmas. Long story short: Andy realizes his Chucky doll is running without batteries and is indeed a killer looking to possess Andy’s body. Poke fun all you want…this film still managed to ruin my childhood innocence.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity took the world by storm just a few years ago delivering one of the most terrifying movies in quite some time. When a couple starts hearing mysterious noises in their house, boyfriend Micah Sloat decides to video tape anything and everything during the following weeks. Day by day, the happenings become increasingly louder, more physical and poop-your-pants scarier. The reason this film is so terrifying is because it’s filmed like a documentary, you never actually see any killer and it takes place mainly in the safest place in the world—a bedroom.
Texas Chainsaw MassacreBe it the 1974 version or the 2003 version, Texas Chainsaw Massacre puts a whole new meaning to slaughterhouse. What originally was supposed to be a road trip with five friends soon turns gruesome as the group encounters a family of cannibals. The creepy guy who chases teenagers at corn mazes originated from this movie. Leatherface, human-skin masked killer, takes the spotlight in this thriller as he slices his victims for food…and decoration.
Halloween
*cue creepy piano music*
Oh Halloween, a holiday for chocolate-addicted children and masked serial killers. In this movie, Michael Myers is not the voice of a green ogre but instead the name of a demented man dressed in a white mask and blue jumpsuit. In the film, Myers returns to his hometown of Haddonfield to kill his sister. Spoiler alert: he fails. However, he does kill her friends, neighbors and other town people. On the plus side, this movie has a theme song.
Blair Witch Project
Almost a prequel to the Paranormal Activity era, Blair Witch Project takes three friends on a camping trip deep into the Maryland woods in attempt to discover more about an urban legend—the legend of Blair Witch. Stories claim that in the 1940s many children missing in the woods and never came back. During the film, eerie noises illuminate the night, stones are left in mysterious formations, wooden dolls hang from trees and even human teeth are found next to the tent. After a group-member goes missing, the others realize how dire the situation is…but I won’t spoil the ending! However, this movie will make you never want to camp again in your life.
ITThose who are already deathly afraid of clowns, don’t watch this movie. Stephen King creates this story about Pennywise the Clown, a shape-shifting child-killing demon who terrorizes the lives of seven children. After the kids defeat Pennywise in the sewers, “IT” returns 30 years later to murder even more youngens. That’s when the original seven kids—now grown up—come back to defeat the demon once again.
Scream
After about a decade long drought of horror films, 1996 came alive with Scream. In this film, the stereotypical “rules” of scary movies are set in place: 1. Don’t engage in intercourse, 2. Don’t drink/do drugs, 3. Never say “I’ll be back.” As “ghost face” kills off several high-school students, his ultimate goal is to eliminate Sidney Prescott. In the end, the girl lives and the killer is…well, killed. Scream changed the game for killers because this masked murderer isn’t a burned freak or creepy doll—he’s hot.
Nightmare on Elm Street
Another movie about a pedophilic killer makes the list. Freddy Krueger, a clawed murderer, tortures his victims then invades their nightmares and kills them in their sleep. After the main character suffers many sleepless nights, she discovers a way to bring Krueger into reality and put and end to his world. This movie introduced the then-beautiful Johnny Depp and freaked out anyone who lived on the hundreds of “Elm Streets” in the universe.
Friday the 13th
*cue a different creepy theme song*Summer camp never seemed as terrible as in this movie. Counselors at Camp Crystal Lake are being picked off one by one by the hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees and his mother. Again, if the people in this movie only followed the basic rules of horror movies, they might still be living. Alas, that would make for one pointless film. Because of this movie, Fridays that land on the 13th day of the month are forever marked as unlucky. In a nutshell: a lot of people die, one chick survives, and Jason’s mother loses her head—literally. *cue maniacal laughter*…so punny.
Pet Sematary
After a picture-perfect family moves into a seemingly normal house, they soon discover they live by secret Indian burial ground. When the family’s cat is run over by an obnoxiously large semi, they bury poor little Sprinkles *not actual name* in the nearby burial ground. Well, sure enough, the little kitty comes back as an evil cat. Later on, the family’s 19-month old baby boy is also run over on the road and is also buried in the burial ground. Alas the baby–Gage–returns for his own vengeance. Muahaha. The ending is bizarre and not very scary, just strange and creepy.