When it comes to good old fashioned Hallow'een movie chills, there's nothing scarier than the old school fright films. Back then, that's when they made them scary....without having to resort to convoluted plot devices and buckets of gore.
Here are three of my absolute favorite Hallow'een flicks. These nearly forgotten gems scared the crap outta me, as well as an entire generation when I first saw them as a kid and my early teens...and they still hold up today.
I don't like to reveal too much when I describe these things, as I like for people to find out for themselves.
Try to find these in a video store and have yourself a nice, scary All Hallow's Eve movie night.
LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH (1971)
The title character of this story is released from a mental institution, and she and her husband move to New England for a fresh start.
They move into this old farmhouse where they find a young hippie transient girl living in there.
Things from then on begin to get weird....and Jessica wonders if the things she is seeing are real...or if she's having another mental breakdown.
It is revealed later on in the movie that the young hippie girl is in fact a vampire, but an unusual type of bloodsucker......she's also a ghost. Weird? You betcha! It may sound like a routine horror story, but it's very well put together, well-acted, and quite scary.
The scene where the creature rises out of the lake bone dry and dressed in a wedding gown is quite chilling.
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973)
A neurotic young woman named Sally inherits an old Victorian mansion which belonged to her grandfather, and she and her husband move in.
In the process of redecorating and refurbishing the old house, she, the handyman and the decorator she hired come across an old locked room in the basement.
The handyman warns her to keep the room locked, and to stay away from it altogether, but she eventually finds a key and opens it.
Inside the room is an old fireplace which has been bricked up, as well as bolted shut with a huge iron door.
Once she has it unbolted and the bricks removed, strange things begin to happen.
Sally begins to see small, demonic creatures everywhere, but of course no one will believe her. Even her husband dismisses her story as the product of her neurotic mind. Her friends begin to think she's losing her mind.
It is later revealed that upon opening the fireplace...she had set free a cadre of demons that her grandfather had summoned decades earlier and imprisoned in the house, at the cost of his life.
Released from their prison...they now want Sally. When her husband leaves out of town on a business trip, they begin stalking her.
Here's an example of the dialogue as the demons talk to each other in very low, hissy whispers in the dark:
"Don't hurt her...not yet."
"I want to."
"Wait until tomorrow."
"Let me just scare her."
"Alright, then scare her!"
Another excellent classic...with a very downbeat ending. The bathroom scene when the demons shut off the light and stalk her in there will stay with you long after the movie's over.
DARK NIGHT OF THE SCARECROW (1981)
A mentally-challenged young man is accused of the murder of a little girl which he did not commit.
He attempts to hide from his accusers by dressing up as a scarecrow and propping himself up in a cornfield.
A search posse is organized and they eventually hunt him down and shoot him in the cornfield.
Afterwards....the members of the search party are killed one by one by a mysterious scarecrow. That's all I'm gonna say about this one. 😛
The ending of this movie will leave you thinking for a long while.
: switch :
