ROCCO's Top Ten Halloween Movies

 Meow!

As a member of the black cat family, it naturally figures my favorite holiday is Halloween! Both the human and I love scary movies!!!!!!!!  And October is the best time to watch them, Meow!!!!!!

Here are my ten favorite scary movies:

#10:  A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET:   The first time I saw Freddy Krueger he scared the fur off of me, meow!  Also I had kittymares for a week.  The plot concerns four teenagers living on one street in the fictitious town of Springwood, Ohio, who are invaded and killed in their dreams, and thus killed in reality, by a burnt killer with a bladed leather glove.   Notable fact:  Johnny Depp's screen debut.

#9:  ROSEMARY'S BABY (1968):  A huge fan of the book by Ira Levin, and the movie definitely delivered.  Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move to a New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and odd neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet (Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Gordon). When Rosemary becomes pregnant she becomes increasingly isolated, and the diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth. 

#8:  THE STEPFORD WIVES (1975):  Once again, loved the book by Ira Levin and the original movie, starring Katharine Ross, gave me the chills.  Joanna Eberhardt relocates with her husband and children from New York City to the Connecticut community of Stepford, where she comes to find the women live unwaveringly subservient lives to their husbands.  The ending still gives me the willies whenever I watch it!!!!!!!  (all those crinoline skirts and picture hats!!!!!)

#7:  Psycho (1960)  Who hasn’t been scared to death by this movie? Anthony Perkins delivers a truly horrifying performance as Norman Bates, mother-lover supreme.  Phoenix secretary Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), on the lam after stealing $40,000 from her employer in order to run away with her boyfriend, Sam Loomis (John Gavin), is overcome by exhaustion during a heavy rainstorm. Traveling on the back roads to avoid the police, she stops for the night at the ramshackle Bates Motel and meets the polite but highly strung proprietor Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a young man with an interest in taxidermy and a difficult relationship with his mother.  Interesting fact:  Janet Leigh remarked that after filming this movie, she swore off showers and only took baths.

#6:  SCREAM (1996):  Some debate on whether this is more of a comedy than a horror film, but Wes Craven’s send-up of slasher flicks had me quivering, especially after what happened to poor Drew Barrymore!!!!!  It follows the character of Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a high school student in the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, who becomes the target of a mysterious killer in a Halloween costume known as Ghostface. The film combines black comedy and "whodunit" mystery with the violence of the slasher genre to satirize the clichés of the horror movie genre. Interesting fact:  Courtney Cox and her husband, David Arquette, were both in this film.

#5:  SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991):  Who wants Chianti and fava beans after seeing this movie????   Jodie Foster plays Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee who is pulled out from her training to apprehend a serial killer, known only as "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims' corpses. For this she has to create a psychological profile and seeks the advice of the imprisoned Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer played to perfection by Anthony Hopkins. 

#4: MAGIC (1978):  A little known but very terrifying film starring Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margaret.  Did Anthony know Hannibal Lechter was in his future?  Ventriloquist Corky Withers develops an unnatural attachment to his dummy, “Fats” and goes to the Catskills where he reconnects with old girlfriend Peggy (Ann-Margaret).Unfortunately, Corky has also turned into a serial killer at the behest of Fats.  A real chiller. Don’t watch alone.

#3:  HORROR HOTEL (1960): Also known as City of the Dead, this film stars Christopher Lee (who went on to fame in many Dracula movies) as a professor with an odd  hobby.  History student Nan Barlow visits a town where a witch was burned at the stake years ago on Candlemas Eve and ends up becoming a sacrifice.  Her boyfriend attempts to try and find out what happened to her at the peril of losing his own life.  One of the great early Hammer horror flicks of the 60’s.  Very scary in black and white.

#2:  BLACK SUNDAY (1960): One of the great horror flicks by Mario Bava, this tells the story of a witch put to death 200 years ago by her brother, only to return to seek her revenge.  Okay, it’s an Italian film dubbed in English, but it’s so scary you can overlook that.  Interesting fact:  this film launched the career of actress Barbara Steele, who does double duty as the witch and her look alike descendant. Also filmed in black and white, which I thinks adds to the errieness.

 

AND NOW MY VERY FAVORITE HORROR FILM

 

HALLOWEEN (1978)  Of course it has to be the original.  The music alone sends chills down my spine.  It had me jumping at every turn!  Michael Myers is committed to a sanitarium for murdering his teenage sister on Halloween night when he was six years old. Fifteen years later, he escapes and returns to his hometown, where he stalks a female babysitter and her friends, while under pursuit by his psychiatrist.  Interesting fact:  Jaime Lee Curtis’ screen debut!

 

There you have it!  My top ten horror flicks! What are some of yours???????