Wednesday, October 24, 2001
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Wednesday, October 24, 2001 |
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Mike's guide to spooky movies for Halloween By MICHAEL
BOYLAN Halloween is a week away. To celebrate what is one of my favorite times of the year I enjoy renting horror movies, both good and bad, and having a horror movie marathon. I can find something enjoyable in nearly every scary movie, whether it is the awful acting of a terrible film called "Bats," the absurd plot line of "Leprechaun 5: In The Hood," or the genuine craft of a suspenseful horror classic like "Halloween." Of course, other things are scary this year, so my first few picks tend to deal with events from the past year. Remember all of those shark attacks during the summer? Why not rent "Jaws," Steven Spielberg's classic film about a beach terrorized by a man-eating shark. Is it scary? Kind of. There are several jumpy moments and the famous music always tends to get the heart beating a little faster. What will make it less scary now is the fact that nobody will be going to the beach for at least seven months or so. The acting is top notch, even though the shark doesn't always look real. The word on everybody's lips these days seems to be "anthrax," so a movie about bioterror could be worth a rental. My pick for this is Stephen King's "The Stand." Lauded by many as King's best book, the story was made into a mini-series by ABC. The program stayed very true to the novel, which dealt with a superflu wiping out most of the world's population. The survivors, both good and evil, attempt to reconnect and rebuild society. The movie stars Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald and many more recognizable actors and actresses. Now for my classic picks, and these are in order from best to worst. "Halloween" by John Carpenter is most likely his best work. It is still one of the scariest movies that I have ever seen. Jamie Lee Curtis is terrific in the film as a kind of a wallflowerish baby-sitter. She is also strong, resourceful and funny. This film launched her early career as a scream queen and is well worth a rental. "Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors" is my absolute favorite of the series. Patricia Arquette is the heroine and Laurence Fishburne plays an orderly in the mental hospital where Arquette's character is set. The "Elm Street" series hadn't had that kind of star power since Johnny Depp starred in the first film. The plot is the same as the rest of them. Freddy Krueger stalks the children of Elm Street in their dreams. He is defeated by several of the patients, who really weren't that crazy after all, but comes back several more times in later films. If you are familiar with the series, I also recommend "Wes Craven's New Nightmare." The film dealt with the actors in the series being stalked by a real entity that had taken the form of Freddy Krueger. The film was made before "Scream," which is another must-see if you haven't already, and is just as tongue-in-cheek about the horror movie genre as the latter film. Other good rentals would be "Bram Stoker's Dracula," "The Omen," "The Changeling," "In The Mouth of Madness," "Poltergeist" and "Dead Alive." Now for the bad picks. If you like to laugh at absurd story lines, awful acting and just bad movies in general here are some of the best. "Pet Semetary" - Sometimes dead is better, especially when creatures return from the Pet Semetary as demonic versions of their former selves. Fred Gwynne's Maine accent is hilarious. "Man's Best Friend" - A genetically enhanced dog terrorizes a neighborhood. In one scene, the dog lifts his leg and melts a fire hydrant. Classic. "Jack Frost" - Somehow, and I seriously forget how, a killer gets put in the body of a snow man. The snow man, of course, terrorizes a town. This is not a good film, but sometimes you just have to laugh and wonder how it got made. Other bad ones are "Popcorn," "The Funhouse," "Texas Chainsaw Massacre II," and, gosh, there are just too many more to name. Have a happy Halloween and enjoy the movies.
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