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The Scarion
The Clarion \ October 30, 2019
What to stream for Halloween
Best horror movies old and new
By Zach Dickerson
Campus News Editor
Almost everyone loves a good horror movie,
and if they don’t they at least have a strange
craving for the feelings that come with watching
one. The adrenaline, the excitement, the
suspense, the wonder of the unknown and even
the fear.
But a really, truly good horror movie is not all
gore and jumpscares (though these do help with
the horror). It also has to have a good (maybe
even in depth) story and equally good characters.
Horror movies both new and old use all of
these factors very well and have gone down
(or eventually will if not already) in history
considered as classics of the genre. Here are
some of those movies:
Old:
“Psycho” (1960):
A woman steals money from her boss and runs
away to start a new life with her boyfriend. She
stays at a motel in the middle of nowhere and
is then murdered in the shower. From here the
story changes completely.
This movie has a major twist ending, one of
the most famous scenes in Hollywood history
and one that has changed the way people view
movies in the theaters.
“Rosemary’s Baby” (1968):
A woman and her husband move into a New
York apartment with an ominous reputation.
Paranormal
Continued from page 5
has dealt a horrifying blow to the school’s
diversity as well, reducing our faculty, staff,
and student body to the corporeal.
The next victims of these powerful lights
are students housed in Green residential hall.
The blinds on the windows have no effect in
stopping the sheer luminescent potency of
the new lamps, causing said students to lose
sleep. This has resulted in an increase of the
zombie population among the student body.
Students are advised to exorcise caution
around these new lamps.
— Sam Hipp
Soon the woman becomes pregnant with what
may possibly be the Devil’s child.
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968):
Several people barricade themselves within a
rural farmhouse in order to survive the hordes of
zombies that have risen and are after everyone.
This is the original, classic zombie film that
helped to bring the creatures to mainstream
media.
“The Wicker Man” (1973):
A detective goes to a small town in Scotland
to investigate the report of a missing child, but
he soon realizes that this town is filled with
members of a pagan cult. One of the classic
horror films involving a cult and the movie
“Midsommar” (2019) has been compared to it.
“The Exorcist” (1973):
A young girl has become possessed by an
ancient demon and it is up to two priests to
perform an exorcism on her. This was one of the
first horror films to be nominated for the award
of Best Picture.
“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974):
A group of friends go to check on a family
grave and get forced on to a detour. They soon
end up at the rural farmhouse of a chainsaw-
wielding family of cannibals. While there is not
a lot of blood or gore in this, it may be hard for
some people to watch just due to the shock of it.
“Halloween” (1978):
A babysitter must work to survive from a knife
wielding killer on Halloween night. Similar
slasher films would include “Friday the 13th”
(1980) and “ANightmare on Elm Street” (1984),
but this one is probably the most well executed
of the genre.
“Alien” (1979):
The crew of a starship answer a distress signal
only to find a desolate world. When one of the
crew members is brought back unconscious with
something attached to his face the real horror,
suspense and tension begins. This movie is a
very good blend of science-fiction and horror,
similar to “The Thing” (1982).
“The Shining” (1980):
A man and his family come to a hotel to take
care of it over the winter season, but the family
soon realizes that the hotel has other plans for
them. While Stephen King hated this movie
due to it being very different from his novel,
the movie is considered a cinematic and horror
masterpiece.
“The Evil Dead” (1981):
A group of friends goes to a cabin in the woods
to get away and have a good time, but when they
read from the Necronomicon they reawaken
IW!?
the dead and it’s after them. While at times the
movie is campy, it is a very well done and a good
film that leads into a very good series.
New:
“Scream” (1996):
A masked murderer is going around and killing
high school students in the suburbs. This film
also acts as a kind of parody to slasher movies,
so there are also some comedic elements within.
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999):
Three students go to a small town to make a
documentary on the Blair Witch, but they soon
get lost in the woods where it is believed she
lived. This movie popularized the found footage
style of filmmaking and caused many people to
believe it was real.
“The Ring” (2002):
A skeptical newspaper reporter investigates
a videotape that causes whoever watches it to
die in seven days. She soon tracks it down and
watches it herself, giving her only a week to
solve the mysteries of it.
“Paranormal Activity” (2007):
A couple move into a new home and soon
begin to feel a supernatural presence within the
home, so they decide to set up video cameras to
capture it all. This is, in a way, a basic haunted
house story done in the style of found footage/
security cameras and it also lead people to
believe it was real.
“The Conjuring” Films (2013 and 2016):
While there are many movies within “The
Conjuring” franchise, this is specifically
focusing on the main two. These films follow
See ‘What to stream' on page 7