Compiled by Geno McGahee
Hello and welcome to the 2013 Scared Stiff Halloween Horror Picks, where we recommend some films for your viewing pleasure that you may not have seen. This year, I am happy to report that we have found several reviewers ready and willing to give their suggestions on what movies you should check out and that you may not have seen.
The point here is to broaden your horizons and present titles that may not have found their way into the mainstream. They may have cult followings, but they are not the monster hits that a HALLOWEEN is. If we suggested HALLOWEEN, we would deserve a kick in the nuts. If you don’t know about the movie HALLOWEEN, then you would deserve the kick in the nuts.
Here are the picks, split up into different sub-genres. We hope that you enjoy them and give some of these a chance if you have not yet seen them.
ANTHOLOGIES
Melissa Antoinette Garza’s Picks
THE TELLING (2009)
The cover made it look like some sort of soft-core porn which is what I expected. The stories were solid, the acting was good and the tone was very old-school. There were moments that were creepy and some that were fun.
THE MONSTER CLUB (1981)
This classic stars horror icons Vincent Price and John Carradine in the rap-around. Vampire Eramus (Price) brings writer R. Chetwynd-Hayes (Carradine) to a dance club where all different types of monsters party down. Awesome music is played throughout as this has one great soundtrack!
TALES FROM THE CRYPT (1972)/THE VAULT OF HORROR (1973)
I’m not just putting these films together because they’re on a double DVD together but rather because they are extremely similar. Both movies have a similar rap around, where five strangers each get together against their will and tell stories.
TALES FROM THE HOOD (1995)
One of the great underrated horror classics. The movie opens as a funeral director Mr. Simms (Clarence Williams III) brings in three young men who live a life of crime. All of the stories in this film are good.
SCREAMTIME (1983)
This like Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt is a British anthology, but it was made on a much lower budget. There are three tales not including the wraparound which is just a few guys from New York stealing the VHS tapes to watch and then going over their friend’s place to view them.
MIXED BAG
Geno McGahee’s Picks
MISTER WHITE (2013)
A low budget monster movie that I found to be incredible. An outcast is beaten to the point where he makes a deal with a demon to seek revenge. It’s PUMPKINHEAD meets TRICK OR TREAT and a can’t miss for horror fans.
MIDNIGHT (1982)
If you like the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, then you may like this one. It concerns a demented family of Satanists kidnapping and murdering people. It is very low budget but very well done and is inspiring a remake all these years later.
TERROR ON TOUR (1980)
We have “the Clowns” or KISS rip offs, that are taking the nation by storm with their on stage antics. They are doing mock murders and that leads to a great whodunit slasher film. A person in the clown makeup is stalking people and cutting them to ribbons and the ending of this film is priceless.
HARD ROCK NIGHTMARE (1988)
A silly werewolf movie with a rock band that involves a mystery. This is Scooby Doo, basically, and it’s great fun. It won’t scare you, or it shouldn’t, but it will amuse the hell out of you, which is part of the point, right?
THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977)
Yes, it gets a lot of bad press, but I can explain that. The critics are idiots. This film is great fun and involves a tainted astronaut, melting away and going mad. It’s absurd and great fun. I love this movie.
BRITISH HORROR
John Gilling’s Picks
John Gilling’s Cinema Online
THE INNOCENTS (1961)
Starring Deborah Kerr and Peter Wyngarde: spooky ghost story set in the English country side.
THE WICKER MAN (1973)
Starring Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee: a police officer is duped into visiting an island of pagans to search for a missing girl only to find he is there to be sacrifice.
DEATH LINE (1973)
Stars Donald Pleasence and Norman Rossington: police officers investigating missing persons find cannibals living in the London underground.
DON’T LOOK NOW (1973)
Stars Julie Christine and Donald Sutherland: a couple mourning the list of their child take a trip the Venice and meet a psychic which leads to disaster for them.
ASYLUM (1972)
Stars Peter Cushing and Herbert lom: scary story set in an insane asylum with a great cast.
B MOVIES
Drew Mead’s Picks
B is For Best, Movie Reviews and More
THE WILLIES (1990)
An intentionally campy horror anthology that showcases two brothers and their cousin camping in their backyard and spinning “true” scary tales to scare the crap out of each other. This under appreciated gem comes across as the twisted love child of an EC horror comic and an episode of Are You Afraid Of The Dark. With tales about a deep fried rat in a bucket of chicken, A monster who lives in the ceiling of the boys room and eats anyone who terrorizes the school misfit, a fly torturer who gets a taste of his own medicine when the flies eat some fertilizer with very unseal growth capabilities, and more, how are you not watching this right now!?
SOCIETY (1989)
Tells the tale of Bill, A young man who feels outcasted from his family, peers and even his girlfriend, who all mix well with the rich uppity members of his home town whereas he prefers a more simple existence. Things continue to seem stranger and stranger to him until the climax of the story which puts a whole new meaning to the concept of melting into the group to fit in! With some of the best and most grotesquely effective effects ever put to film and a darkly funny and just plain weird storyline and characters, Society is defiantly a classic that deserves much more of a cult following then it has!
KILLER CUP 1&2 (2011)
These short films from Canadian favorite Jef X (aka A.Normale Jef) reveal the true nature of toss-away Styrofoam cups; They’re sentient…and they’re pissed! The first film sets the mood for the carnage focusing around an office building cafeteria and bathroom while the second takes things to the woods where a group of 20-somethings go for a getaway of sex drinking and fun in the sun and get a lot more than they bargained for after they abuse their disposable cups! Goofy and cheese-tastic little homages to horror comedies of yesteryear like Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes, The killer Cup films are perfect for those who like a good laugh with their bloodshed.
SCARE ZONE (2009)
Follows the tale of of Oliver, an enterprising proprietor of a successful haunted house attraction and his staff. Scare Zone has just opened for the summer and business is already booming with huge crowds waiting around the block for hours to get in, but soon the scares become all too real as one by one Oliver’s staff begins dropping like flies slaughtered by a masked mad man hidden within the maze. Is the killer the enigmatic and deeply troubled goth (and counter girl) Clair? Is Oliver getting tired of the increasing insubordinance and incompetence of his staff? Is a disgruntle patron out for revenge or is something altogether different going on here? A delightful little Whodunit with an interesting location, Scare Zone is a 90’s style slasher with a great cast and some true-blue mystery that I’m very surprised isn’t more well known then it is.
HELL’S HIGHWAY (2002)
Tells the story of a group of teens on spring break attempting to catch up with another carload of teens who are involved with them in a competition to see who can reach their vacation spot first. Little do they know that a sadistic attractive young serial killer is also on the highway. The group unknowingly pick her up and all hell breaks loose in a scenario that ends with Lucinda dead…but she won’t stay that way! Is Lucinda really the devil incarnate? A wonderful little B-movie with laughable acting, over the top cartoonish gore that you have to see to believe and some very genuine plot twists, Hell’s Highway is one of the very few films carried by Brain Damage films that is defiantly worthy of a spot in the DVD collection of any gore hound!
SLASHERS
Kevin Scott’s Picks
Super Duper Shock Cinema
JUST BEFORE DAWN (1981)
A tragically overlooked film that was made during the rise of the Slasher film heyday. It has a machete wielding killer, a clever twist ending, and Mr. George Kennedy. Enough said!
NIGHT SCHOOL (1981)
A pretty unusual Slasher film with a young Rachel Ward trying to keep her head while everyone else is losing theirs (literally).
HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON (1970)
A Giallo Slasher from the great Mario Bava. A man who seems to enjoy the playboy lifestyle as a maker of exclusive wedding dresses has mother issues, and a penchant for killing girls in bridal dresses. It could be called a forerunner to “American Psycho”, and the only Slasher film that dared to make wedding planners creepy.
SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE 2 (1987)
A Slasher film for the MTV generation, with a killer that looks like the end result of Elvis raiding Bret Michael’s closet. Hands down, a guitar with a drill on the end of it is the coolest Slasher weapon ever.
BLOOD AND LACE (1971)
Ellie is sent to a hellish orphanage when her prostitute mother and her client are killed by a maniac with a hammer. She now fears that her mother’s killer has followed her. This is a unique little gem with Vic Tayback who played “Mel” on the old “Alice” tv show, and an ending that will hit the viewer like a hammer.