Halloween is fast approaching, and that means I've been re-watching a lot of old horror movies lately. I've got quite a few in my collection, so it's not too difficult for me to pop in an old favourite when I've got the urge. I watch horror movies all through the year, but around the end of October, my horror viewing goes way up.
When I was growing up, October always felt like scary movie season. The weather gets cooler, the leaves change colour, and it gets dark really early. In short, it's the perfect time for Freddy and Jason and Michael Myers to pop back up for a few, good old-fashioned scares.
I've never really been that scared of ghost movies. To me they seem like the least likely type of movies to actually happen. I don't believe in ghosts or demons or supernatural things like that, so it's hard for me to get scared by them.
Now insane axe murderers — they really do exist. It's hard to go a week without reading a story in the news about somebody being hacked or stabbed to death. Crazy people are real and very freaky.
Some of the best crazy-people movies are John Carpenter's classic "Halloween," Stanley Kubrick's absolutely chilling "The Shining" and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece "Psycho." Even after all the years that have passed since they were made, and all the times I've seen them, they can still give me a chill and a fright.
The funny thing about all of those movies is that not one of those movies shows overt gore. Sure, lots of violent things happen in those movies, but they don't really show up on screen. But I'll bet most people who've seen those films would swear that you see every knife stab and axe blow. Your mind is amazingly capable of filling in details and making you think you saw something that wasn't there. (Another scary film that does the same thing is Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." It's super scary and surprisingly free of gore.)
Now, I like a gory movie, too. The "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies are all quite bloody. Ditto the "Friday the 13th" franchise. But I don't watch those movies to be scared. I watch them to see people be dispatched in creatively bloody ways. I usually find them funny rather than scary because they rely on spectacle rather than building tension and fear. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's not the same thing as being scary.
So if you're old enough to be watching scary movies, and you enjoy a good fright, look up a few of those titles. But remember, they are scary. Make sure you've got somebody to watch with.
You might have to sleep with the light on for a few weeks. But what else is a good scare for?
Sean Vale
Editor
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