Remember this movie?

Halloween is just around the corner and horror movies are on every screen around. I remember the “good ones” from the past, do you? How about, “Don’t worry ‘bout it m’aam, Cujo won’t hurt him. ”Hurt him, my foot, that big scary rabid dog sure wasn’t “Old Yeller” (Cujo 1983). Do you remember the heartbreaking day when your beloved pet died?  You would have done anything in the world to bring the pet back, even if it was just for a day. Well, “Sometimes dead is better” and in this film, it sure was! (Pet Sematary 1989) And, thanks to Steven Spielberg, I watch for fins before entering the ocean and scream, with everything, in me if seaweed touches my legs. Remember the phrase, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat”… yea think!! (Jaws 1975)

And, how about Freddy Krueger, the burned-face murderer with knives for fingernails? Killing teenagers in their dreams wasn’t enough for Ole Freddy, he followed them into the real world with his blood and gore…Sweet dreams! “One, two, Freddy’s coming for you…” (Nightmare on Elm Street 1984). And, if it’s gore you want, there’s a serial killer on the loose, and the FBI seeks the assistance of an even more disturbing, yet somehow charming, serial killer, in a maximum security prison. Conversations are as scary as the gore. Beware, “It puts the lotion on its skin” (Silence of the Lambs 1991). Let’s not forget Michael Myers, the homicidal maniac who wears a mask that carries an expression of pure blankness, as if killing is boring. “I realized what was living behind that boy’s eyes was purely and simply evil.” Yes Jamie, I think so! The film set the standard for all serial killer films to follow (Halloween 1978).

Children, when evil, can really scare the pants off a person. “Look at me, Damien! It’s all for you!” Oh yes, Gregory Peck, creepy children scare me. From now on, never secretly adopt someone else’s child without meeting the kid’s parents first, or at least seeing a picture (The Omen 1976). And remember, “They’re heeeeeere.” From white-noise on the TV, to empty in-ground pools, to ancient Indian burial grounds, the scares are almost too numerous to count, all coming through the children’s sensitivity to strange things (Poltergeist 1982). No child should ever be as foul-mouthed and convincingly scary as Linda Blair. Her performance was so convincing, it was some time before I could erase it from my mind. I kept repeating, “The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you!” (The Exorcist 1973).

And I will never take a shower without looking behind the curtain with a knife in my hand… and if all is clear, I quickly lock the door. You know, “She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes.” Totally eerie (Psycho 1960)! “Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!” “Redrum! Redrum!”

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” You guessed it, Jack Nicholson at his best (or scariest), slowly descending into madness and becoming a homicidal maniac (The Shining 1980). But, the daddy of all horror, for me, includes the description: “The house was a monument to evil sitting there all these years holding the essence of evil in its smoldering bones.” The evil was in the embodiment of a gnarly tooth, glowing eyed and pure evil vampire, who conjured up nothing but pure terror! (Salem’s Lot 1979).

Enjoy the horror of the season, and review some of these, and other memorable favorites this Halloween!