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As Halloween rolls round, one of the most obvious past times for this time of year is watching horror movies, whether they are classics, or the ones with awful story lines and even worse effects.
I could spend all day trying to list my favourite horror movies, so I thought I should narrow down the list a little to one specific master of horror, Stephen King.
Stephen King has written a ridiculous amount of books, a large amount of which have been turned into movies. So if you’re stuck for something spooky to watch this Halloween, why not pick from the list below?
10. It.
It was one of those movies that I sneakily watched as a child, and as a result was scarred for life. If you don’t like clowns, this is a movie I would probably steer clear off, and if you do like them, you won’t once you’ve watched it.
The story follows a group of seven “losers” as the battle an evil force which has a taste for small children and enjoys turning into the things you fear the most.
This movie is about three hours long, because it was a TV mini-series when it was first released, but it is definitely worth the watch.
9. Misery.
While Misery may not seem scary on the outset, image if you were in poor Paul Sheldon’s position and you’d probably be more than a little terrified. When author Paul crashes his car in a snow storm, Annie Wilkes is quick to come to his rescue.
However, Paul soon finds out that Annie is his biggest fan, and she sets about getting his to re-write his latest novel to her liking, using a giant hammer as persuasion.
8. Sleepwalkers.
Sleepwalkers is an original screenplay by Stephen King, showing he can write good movies as well as good books.
The story focuses on a mother and son couple, with a less than healthy relationship, who are actually giant cat monsters whose one weakness is domestic kitties. Okay, it doesn’t sound like the best movie when you actually spell it out but it’s got some lovely special effects and it’s actually pretty scary…well early 90s scary at least.
7. Christine.
If you thought jealous women were a scary concept, how about a jealous car? Christine follows a young man as he buys a rundown old Plymouth Fury and proceeds to bring it back to its former glory.
However, while Christine seems to take care of her teenage owner, she seems intent on killing anyone who is mean to him or who tries to take him away from her, like his girlfriend.
Every time Christine decides to kill someone, usually by running them over, she manages to magically repair herself so no one is any wiser. While this does seem to imply that her teenage owner is behind the killings, at least he’ll be saving money on his car insurance.
6. Needful Things.
Needful Things is set in a small town where a new shop opens called Needful Things. The shop seems to have something for every resident of the town, but in order to buy it, they have to perform a task at the request of the creepy shop owner, Leland Gaunt.
While everyone gets what they want, it soon becomes clear that Gaunt is setting the townsfolk against each other and sitting back to watch the carnage.
5. Storm of the Century.
Storm of the Century is another TV mini-series and also another original screenplay by King, which I stumbled across one night by accident on late night TV. At about four and a half hours long, this is a long ‘un, but definitely one of the creepiest on the list.
The story follows a community on a remote island that gets trapped when a huge storm hits. Unfortunately, they get trapped with a creepy man whose eyes turn black and has fangs, called Andre Linoge.
Linoge demands one of the island’s children for his own, threatening to kill all of the children on the island if the parents do not give one up willingly. The film follows the residents as they try to decide what to do, as they are trapped from the rest of the world.
4. The Mist.
The Mist tells the story of a community trapped in a local supermarket after the army accidentally opens a hole through to another dimension and all these freaky looking monsters come spilling out.
While the giant monsters and acid spitting spiders are quite scary, the way the townspeople start to behave inside the store ends up being equally as terrifying.
3. Pet Sematary.
If you found out there was a cemetery that could bring dead things back to life, you might be tempted to try it right? What if you tried if with your cat, and it was evil and smelt like death, would you then try it again with your dead son?
No, probably not, but that’s exactly what the main character of Pet Sematary does. If creepy children freak you out, this is probably one to avoid.
2. Cujo.
Stephen King has a habit of taking things that you would normally find scary, and making them terrifying. Cujo is the perfect example of that, as a perfectly cute dog accidentally get rabies and then decides to kill anyone who comes near him.
Set in a small town (the same small town as Needful Things actually), Cujo mainly follows a mother and her son as they are trapped in a car, trying to avoid getting munched by Cujo himself.
1. Carrie.
Carrie is definite horror classic, and was the first of King’s books to be made into a movie. The story follows a young girl with telekinetic powers who is frequently bullied by her classmates and her mother.
When the popular kids decide to play a prank on her and the high school prom, it all goes a bit wrong and people start dying. Make sure you watch this one right to the end, because it has one of the best endings in horror movie history.
Got a horror classic we’ve overlooked on our list? Let us know in the comments.
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October 29, 2011
Movies