My Top 11 Favorite Horror Films for Halloween
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Halloween is just around the corner and most teens & kiddos out there loves trick or treat,
only, some malls, events, parties and exclusive villages here in the Philippines hosts trick or treat but just the same you can do your own trick or treat with your friends by just wearing your best spooky costumes.
I look forward to Halloween because of the horror movies, Of course you can watch horror movies any day but it gives you the thrill when you watch it during the Halloween season. So, here goes my my top 11 favorite horror movies. I have watched most of the best horror films but there are times I still need someone to accompany me to watch it, (covering my eyes won't do it especially if the sound effects is much horrifying than the movie).
In no particular order...
The Sixth Sense
I love this movie and I can watch it over and over again. The famous line
"I see dead people" came from this movie.
Bruce Willis plays Dr. Malcolm Crowe, a gifted therapist who specializes in children. The night he receives an award for his work, a former patient breaks into his house and shoots Dr. Crowe and then himself. Months later, Dr. Crowe is still very shaken. He feels that he can't communicate with his wife. He is treating just one patient, a boy named Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), who reminds him of the patient he believes he failed. Malcolm gradually wins Cole's trust, and Cole confides that he sees "dead people." At first, Malcolm thinks this is a symptom of deep psychological disturbance, but then he comes to believe that Cole really does see the spirits of people who have died and he must find a way to make that experience less terrifying for him.
What I like about the movie is that, it doesn't go into the gory details, you really have to get in tune with the story. The ghosts that Cole sees are of people who died violently and they are gruesome, even shocking, in appearance; you'll see a shooting, a suicide, a poisoning, people hanging, and more. Some of the dead are children, one killed by her own mother.
Shutter
For me, “Shutter” is one of the most cleverly crafted Asian film ever. The director knew how to build up the tension and the perfect time to unleash the horror. The eerie atmosphere was greatly emphasized that as an audience you’ll feel like you’re in the scene.“Shutter” Thai horror movie easily fits in the ranks as one of the finest Asian Horror genre. Great blend of thriller and drama.
Tun and his girlfriend Jane were driving home one night after a reunion with his buddies. However the couple went a bit frisky that Jane took her eyes off the road. As a result, she accidentally run over the woman crossing the road. The car crashed into the billboard and left the woman lying on the road. Tun pressured Jane to flee the scene. The next morning, both of them tried to move on and forget about the incident. Tun continued on to his work as photographer. However, things started to go wrong with his films, photographs. Then his girlfriend starts having nightmares about the woman. Determined to find out the identity of the woman they supposedly killed, she went to a university to find out. Meanwhile, Tun friend’s Tonn looks disheveled and disturbed as he barged in to Tun’s apartment. There’s something that’s trying to kill him. Frustrated that he can’t find the photos, he fled the apartment. Tun tried to help his friend but it was too late as Tonn leap to his death. That night, the widow of his friend told him that their other two friends committed suicide by jumping off a high building.
SCREAM Series
One of the things I love about this movie is that the stars in these movie are my favorites.
Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore & David Arquette.
Althoug, Drew Barrymore was killed first but the rest of the characters gets to be in the movie till the 4th movie. The 4th installment, Hayden Panettiere, & Emma Roberts were added in the cast. It's a typical slasher film yes but I love the thrill that Scream gives me. It has a great combination of suspense and terror in it with a tinge of humor.
Final Destination 1-5
sn't
I've watched all the series from Devon Sawa to the latest installment. The movie is all about subsequently detailing the survivors' ongoing (and increasingly futile) efforts at staying alive after experiencing a grisly vision of their deaths. It actually gives me the creeps though after watching this movie, like riding a roller coaster or even train but of course I don't let it go to my head :-) The deaths of each character here are very sadistic and gory but after watching each installment, I get the hang of it. Final Destination is an unstoppable series, I think they will release another series next year or so.
The Ring
Who wouldn't get over this movie?You will never look at video tapes the same way again or watching TV alone after watching this movie. It actually gave a week or so to completely get this movie out of my system.
TV reporter Reiko (Nanako Matsushima) investigates a disturbing story about a video that has disturbing occult images and puts a death-curse on the viewer. After it is finished, you will receive a silent phone call, and one week later, you will die. Reiko watches it - and, trust me, you will jump out of your skin when that phone rings. There is something about Japanese horror mythology that always seemed to involve young girls from watery places with black hair creeping up behind you with a weird creaky-groaning sound which is actually very effective.
The Grudge Ju-On
Ju-On puts an interesting spin on the old haunted house genre. We are told simply in the opening credits that the Ju-On is “The curse of one who dies in the grip of a powerful rage”; in this case the rage is through a man who dies after brutally murdering his wife (and the pet cat and possibly his son, I wasn’t too sure) when he discovers she has cheated on him and his son may not be his. This leaves the house haunted by the woman, the young boy and cat (though the cat and boy may in fact be the same entity) and anyone who enters the house immediately becomes destined to die at the hands of these pallid complexioned ghosts.
The tale opens as our “main character” as such, young welfare worker Rika (Megumi Okina), is assigned a job to go and check up on an infirm old lady. Her old welfare officer cannot be contacted and neither can the old lady’s next of kin. Rika reluctantly accepts. It will probably not surprise you to learn that the old lady lives in the haunted house and it is from here the story unfolds.
Seriously, between The Ring & The Grudge..both of these movies almost gave me a heart attack.
Shake, Rattle and Roll's middle and undoubtedly best portion is Ishmael Bernal's Pridyider (Frigidaire).Pridyider bases its horror from an inanimate object, a refrigerator (the Filipino term is gathered from the most popular brand of the home appliance) which has murderous and lustful intentions. A family moves into a house mysteriously left vacant for a number of years. The family is composed of the stern matriarch (Charito Solis), the beautiful daughter and target of most sexual intentions (Janice de Belen), the household help, and the stuttering distant male relative (William Martinez) who was asked to accompany the family of mostly females by the father who is working in the Middle East.
Bernal has a competent hold of the wild concept. The refrigerator remains immobile for most of the film (except for the occasional door swings and shakes --- just to make sure that the inanimate has some sort of mobility) yet despite that, holds considerable power. First and foremost, the refrigerator has become an appliance of necessity and second, because of the unbearable heat, the appliance has garnered a sort of seductive and sensual quality. When one is made uncomfortable by a gush of heat wave, one can't help but stand near the opened doors of the refrigerator.
Mysterious things start happening. The mother starts seeing chopped human parts inside the refrigerator. Things get more gruesome as one by one, people are getting killed. As the police enters the scene, Pridyider starts failing with the threat of a possible need for a logical explanation to the refrigerator's evil deeds. Indeed, Pridyider does give a rational story behind everything which somehow lessens the haunting impact of the film.
This is actually one of my favorite classic horror movie of all time. It's just sad that some of the recent installment of Shake Rattle & Roll doesn't have that "edge" anymore that will make you scared at least for an hour or so after watching the film.
Feng Shui
I'm a big fan of Chito S. Roño and I love all of his films. This movie also gave me the creeps. It actually made Kris Aquino the reigning Queen of Horror Movies!
Joy found the bagua on a bus when its owner left it. Ever since she got the bagua, she became very lucky and prosperous.Joy becomes worried because ever since she found the bagua, mysterious deaths began happening around her. It is later found that whoever looks into the mirror of the bagua will die and the subsequent death will result from an an animal in the Chinese calendar depending on what year the victim was born.
Insidious
I really don't intend on watching this by myself and scaring the hell out of me but I want to know what goes on about the movie so there I watched it.
Insidious is probably best compared as Paranormal Activity meets Case 39 with a side order of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell. It tries very hard to pay homage to classic ghost stories like Poltergiest and Amityville Horror while still offering something fresh and unique.
The first half of Insidious is quite creepy all be it not horribly different from any other ghost story movie from the last 30 years. Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson both deliver powerful performances and with a great supporting cast and strong ambiance the film works for the most part as we slowly gather steam and head towards a final showdown with an evil force.
A Tale of Two Sisters
Su-Mi and Su-Yeon are two young girls recently released from a mental institution. They have returned home to live with their brooding father and neurotic stepmother. Instead of a placid place to aid their recovery they find themselves having to cope with not only their slightly unhinged stepmother’s increasing cruelty but the possibility that a restless ghost may be present in their home. Strange occurrences, sounds and visions plague the girls and the stepmother. But with the two girls and the stepmother all either mentally ill or on medication, is the whole thing just in their minds, are the mysterious goings-on in the house real or is nothing what it seems to be at all?
A Tale of Two Sisters is undoubtedly the first real answer to M. Night Shyamalan we are seeing from the Asian market. A quite complex psychological tale, it twists and turns in so many directions that it took me a while after watching it to fully work out exactly what had been going on. There is an obligatory twist (that many might see coming from this type of movie) but it occurs about halfway in, complicating the story line instead of resolving it. Even when the final wrap up comes around, it is only in the final minutes of an extended act that we’re finally given any insight into the truth of what we have seen and still nothing is clear-cut without a little thought on the viewer’s part.
1408
1408 is a lot like an extended length episode of ‘The Twighlight Zone’. The plot is simple and the characters in it exist only as long as they’re in frame. John Cusack plays Mike Enslin, a debunker of the supernatural and born skeptic who walks into a hotel room and finds himself not only trapped but suddenly and utterly convinced of the existence of otherworldly forces. Unable to escape, Mike spends in an hour in what the hotel manager, played perfectly by Sam Jackson, describes as “an evil fucking room”, and we’re along with him as room 1408 drives him past the point of terror.
The movie is based on a very short story by Stephen King, which perhaps explains the unusual simplicity of its framework.
Simple the movie may be, but yeah it’s really scary. It’s not just that it’s scary, it’s the way in which it’s scary. It gives you goosebumps especially when the song "we've only just began.." started playing on the background..he encounters an old clock radio that unexpectedly plays 'We've Only Just Begun' giving it quite the spooky effect due to the situation Enslin finds himself in. This means that the terror that this room has to offer has only just begun.
Stephen King’s story is disturbing and Mikael Hafstrom’s movie manages to make it even more so. After a lot of restraint, the movie goes a little CGI crazy at the end, but by then you’re so wrapped up in the story all that computer generated excess doesn't hurt.
So there you have it. What's on your list? Care to share some?
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