No Trick, Just Treats: Your Top 5 Horror Films For Halloween 2012

Is the thought of sharpening your elbows to grab the last palette of over-priced face paint at the local supermarket is simply too much to handle? Do you need a DVD to put on REALLY LOUDLY so that you simply don’t hear the hordes of trick or treaters knocking on your door? Here’s our top five scary movies to put on this evening.

1. The Exorcist (1973). Yeah, we know, it’s an obvious one… but that’s because it’s a classic! Even now, in 2012, with all of the advances in film technologies, CGI, etc, The Exorcist remains of of the most terrifying horror movies of all time. Even the less obvious moments, when young Regan says to the astronaut (who is a guest in her parents’ house) “you’re gonna die up there,” are spine-chilling. And talking of spines, we’re not entirely sure how Linda Blair (who plays Regan) actually managed to survive those terrifying convulsion scenes. Even if you’ve seen it before, it’s worth visiting again – you’ll always spot something you missed the first ten times…

2. Halloween (1978). Another 1970s classic and frankly, Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without Halloween now, would it? In fact, which came first? Halloween, or Halloween? OK, it was probably not the movie. Who knew that stretching a mask of William Shatner in Star Trek and painting it white (which is what Michael Myers’ mask was, fact fans!) would eventually strike fear into gazillions of movie fans over the next few decades? The main lesson from this movie – which was Jamie Lee Curtis’ debut – is that if the child that you are babysitting tells you he’s seen the boogeyman, sometimes it pays to listen.

3. Let The Right One In (2008). This Swedish film was remade in 2010, but we’d recommend watching the original (Purist alert! No, really, it’s just better…). Let The Right One In is pretty ‘sweet’ for a horror movie, so if your stomach’s a little on the weak side, or you’re of a nervous disposition, you should be able to deal with the blood-shed in this one, which is essentially a tale of friendship and love as much as anything else. OK, it’s pretty gruesome, as far as tales of friendship and love go, but the story of a bullied boy befriending a centuries-old vampire child is as moving as it is scary.

4. Funny Games (1997). Not your classic Halloween horror fodder, but more a depiction of psychological torment, this Austrian movie was also remade, in 2007 but again, we’d recommend the original for authenticity points. The movie involves two young men holding a family hostage and torturing them. Sound grim? Well, that’s because it is. It will probably make you never want to ever buy that nice holiday home by the lake that you and your family have always dreamed of.

 5. Poltergeist (1982). One from the 1980s here and a movie that spawned tons of cheaper imitations, Poltergeist is the best … er… poltergeist movie around (yes, better than any of the 154 Paranormal Activity movies). You’ll be hiding behind a cushion as you watch the Freeling family’s very pleasant suburban life start to fall apart at the seams, thanks to some rather vicious otherworldly forces.

Happy Halloween, folks!