By Trevor Law
So its October, and you know what that means, horror movies! We at Nerd Union, hate the overwhelming majority of them, but there are some good ones out there. Some you might have seen, and some you might not have, but I decided to give a quick rundown of what I think are some great horror movies you can watch to scare the crap out of yourself.
THE BABADOOK: This movies does a great job of filling you with dread in any given moment. This movie has only been out since 2014 but I love it. It is about a single mother, her weird son, and coping with the loss of her husband and his father. Things aren’t going very well for the pair, but they get much much worse when they find a children’s book that is super disturbing. I won’t tell you anymore but aside from the ending, which is a bit underwhelming, this movie succeeds in freaking me out, and even making you panic as you wonder if everyone will be making it out alive. The movie also deals a lot with the struggle of grief and coping with a loss.
ALIEN: There was no way this movie wasn’t making it on this list. Alien defined Sci-Fi horror. Ripley is one of the greatest protagonists of all time,and is nearly at the top of the best survivors of any franchise. There is no aspect of the Alien that isn’t terrifying and no aspect of Ripley that isn’t badass for not just curling up in the fetal position and crying (something I would’ve done) but instead, killing it. If you have somehow never seen this you need to change that, now.
THE THING: We are talking about the Kurt Russel version of this movie and it is my favorite horror movie of all time! The Thing is such a great movie for not just the setting, being trapped in Antarctica with no hope of help, nor just for the cast of wacky characters, from Kurt Russel, to Wilford Brimley and his great freak out, but the monster itself. The monster is so scary that I actually freak out a little just thinking about it. It can be anyone at anytime and almost nothing stops it. The way it attacks is such nightmare fuel that I actually had a nightmare the first time I saw it, that never happens.
CABIN IN THE WOODS: So this movie is great because of how hard it rips on horror movies. It is perfect because the movie is a metaphor for how horror movies really just are bunch of unoriginal stereotypes, following the same tired formula over and over again, aggressively forcing anyone that doesn’t fit those stereotypes into the role the audience demands. It does such a good job ripping into the horror genre that it will always hold a special place in my heart.
EVENT HORIZON Sam Neil is an AWESOME villain. While it takes a bit for this movie to get going, once it does holy cow! I don’t want to say anything else, but this is a movie that so perfectly blends sci-fi, horror, and a mystical element that it is hard to believe it isn’t more popular. Everything about this is great, from the mystery, to the environment, to the acting and the casting. It is rare for a horror movie to hit such a great mix and I for one will be watching this on Halloween.
(Editor’s note: I still refuse to watch this movie ever again after my first viewing because it genuinely freaked me out that much.)
CHILDREN OF THE CORN If you ever needed a reason to be scared of corn, children or small towns this is the movie for you. The premise is a small town is taken over by a cult of children who are worshiping something in the corn field, and by “taken over” I mean they kill all of the adults. The movie still gives me shivers and I am only a little paranoid about going into cornfields for this reason alone.
Honorable mentions:
Tucker and Dale VS. Evil, this movie is a horror comedy but it does a great job turning the genre on its head and it has plenty of great laughs along the way as well.
Halloween, This movie really did define horror for better and for worse. It is one of the greats of original horror. I didn’t put it on the list though because it has not aged well and you might find yourself laughing when you should be scared.
Friday the 13th, see above.
Horror can have some real gems in it and while I despise horror movies that turn the premise into a joke, when done right, it can really set you on the edge of your seat. This Halloween if you decide to watch a scary movie, please, do it with something good and not some travesty of a movie.
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