Five Frights For Halloween Night

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I’m not a huge over the top put up a skeleton in every window type, but to me there is some kind of comfort in giving out candy to the costumed kids and then snuggling up under a warm blanket watching a few of my favorite scary flicks.

I’m much more of a thriller/horror scary movie fan than a slasher/horror fan. I love books that provide a hook of suspense and you can not put down until you have found out the “who done it.” So, my favorite movies pull me in the same way. Must also admit I also watch a great deal of “Dateline” and “48 Hours”, but I digress.

Anyways, here are my top five scary movies for Vocal Social Society mini- Halloween challenge. VSS is an awesome facebook group that is set up to give creators a chance to connect and share your stories. I enjoy being a member as there are mini writing challenges and the administrators take a great deal of care as to what is posted in the group. If you haven’t joined consider it, as many fabulous writers are waiting to meet you.

Oh yes back to my top Five Frights for Halloween Night so this will be listed in countdown order as we get to number one.

5) Rear Window, starring Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr. I start off with an old movie that I remember watching on the local TV station (yes, the days before cable) as a kid with my mother. This 1954 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock is filled with intense drama. Jimmy Stewart plays a photographer who has fractured his leg and sits in his apartment watching his neighbors when he sees something he is not supposed to see. Raymond Burr has the perfect I see you moment look when he realizes he is being watched. I believe this role set Burr up for his "got you" looks on Perry Mason.

4) Scream starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Dan Arquette and Drew Barrymore. Okay so this movie is more a slasher/horror and it does make the list as a favorite. I’m mostly a thriller/horror fan, but I watched this 1996 movie directed by Wes Craven when it first came out with my best friend at her house. The opening scene with Drew Barrymore and the phone call still sends chills up my spine. I can remember right as the movie ended my friend’s landline phone started ringing which creeped us both out. This movie is also more a spoof on 1980’s horror movies and actually has some funny lines.

3) The Others starring Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan, Elaine Cassidy, Eric Sykes. This 2001 time period piece directed by Alejandro Amenabar set in after World War II. Nicole Kidman plays a widowed young mother who moves her children to a castle off the English Coast which sets the tone for an eerie background. There is this whole thing with the doors and pictures of dead people in caskets that gets really creepy. The ending has a twist that the first time I watched I did not see coming.

2) Identity starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Alfred Molina, This 2003 psychological thriller directed by James Mangold is actually based on an Agatha Christie novel “And Then There Were None.” First off, I will tell you John Cusack is my favorite actor so one of his movies was definitely making the top five, but this flick really does make a creepy horror movie. It is set in the desert when a group of ten people are stranded at a motel. It is a movie you have to watch from the beginning to get the whole plot and the twist at the end.

So that brings me to me my number one favorite thriller horror movie to watch this time of year. Drum roll please! Okay well bang your desk, well that screws up your laptop and shakes your coffee. Alright clap your hands or shake your head. Eat some chocolate. Wait save those candy bars for the trick or treaters! Our number one, okay my number one pick of Five for Fright is;

1)What Lies Beneath OMG love this movie! I saw it in the movie theater when it first came out for a midnight showing. My friend and I screamed at eyeball scene and I did drop the popcorn. You will know what the eyeball scene if you have watched. This movie directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford makes my top list of favorite movies ever. Pfeiffer plays a wife who is seeing and sensing strange happenings in her new home and Harrison Ford is her husband who has secrets of his own. The premise that bad deeds always need to be settled. The New England setting adds to the spooky feel. Michelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford are really both tremendous. One of my friends argued with me that Harrison Ford could not be a bad guy, well yes, he can. Five Stars

There you have it! My top Five Frights For Halloween Night! Happy Halloween!