Chris Beaumont

beaumont@ifa.hawaii.edu
2680 Woodlawn Drive
Honolulu, HI 96822

Publication Date: October 20, 2006
Calvin Chimes
Headline: Forget the Candy

Your Best Bet This Halloween
Forget the candy

Chris Beaumont

As a college student, your Halloween activities can likely be placed into one of three groups. If you are among the socially adept, perhaps you’ll attend some sort of fancy costume party. On the other hand, maybe you’ll attempt to squeeze in one more year of trick-or-treating (which you should really let go – you’re old enough to vote).

However, if you are like me, you will hide from your apartment building’s band of ten-year-old bullies, hope they don’t egg your door, rent a horror movie, and scare the crap out of yourself.

For reasons primarily related to my own self-infatuation, this article is addressed to those of you in the third group. What follows is my summary of some of the best movies to watch this Halloween, organized into genre for your convenience.

A Brief Justification

It is possible that what follows will offend you. After all, horror movies are almost always violent, grim, and on occasion have demonic overtones. With the exception of “War of the Worlds,” every film below is rated R. I would like to offer three reasons why horror movies are worth your consideration, in increasing order of nobility.

Reason One: These movies can be entertaining – most people enjoy being scared. Besides, what better excuse do you have for blowing off homework on a Thursday?

Reason Two: I would argue that there is cathartic value in watching disturbing movies. They allow us to participate in something destructive while remaining largely unscathed, which is both liberating and relieving.

Reason Three: The most Calvin-esque argument, a good horror movie (which I believe these movies are) is capable of truthfully portraying darkness, which is intrinsically valuable. Too often, Christians look for culture which focuses on Redemption while overlooking the equal significance of the fall. While the darkness in these films is exaggerated, it is through these avenues that we become sensitized to the light.

With this in mind, I recommend to you the following:

The Slasher Movie
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” isn’t as viscerally scary as modern slasher flicks – the “bad-guy-lurking-in-the-shadows” moments are kept to a minimum to make room for a more subtle but much more powerful eeriness that sticks with you after the movie ends. What is creepiest about the movie is its realistic portrayal of violence, which is lost in lesser films like the “Friday the 13th” series. The movie follows a group of young friends who are terrorized by a family of psychopaths during their summer vacation.

The Zombie Flick
28 Days Later (2002)

The zombie genre enjoys a dedicated following who will want to crucify me for labeling “28 Days Later” as a zombie movie. After all, they say, a true zombie eats brains and stumbles about aimlessly, while the creatures in this film are agile and, as we come to learn, anorexic.

Forget you people – this movie is fantastic. It is a rare film that continues to creep me out three years after watching it during my freshman Halloween. The movie follows a young Brit who wakes up from a coma to discover that the population of London has been devastated by what could be described as a rabies-like virus.

Like all zombie movies, the film develops the fear of wide-spread disease, and goes beyond most of these flicks in its emphasis on isolation. Here, even many of the human characters are seen as corrupt, and the lack of justice creates an almost overwhelming feeling of loneliness. The Supernatural Horror Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

In my opinion, this film is the quintessential American horror movie of the 60s and 70s, rising above other notable films like “The Exorcist” (1973) and “The Omen” (1976). Written and directed by Roman Polanski, “Rosemary’s Baby” focuses on a young woman who becomes suspicious and then terrified that something is wrong her unborn child (read: demon baby).

What I like most about the film is its rapid scene cuts and nearly-incoherent dream sequences, which make the movie feel more like an impressionist piece than a narrative. Some of these cinematographic and stylistic elements have been reproduced (poorly) in the recent remake of “The Omen.” You can see this for your self, but I recommend that you not; rent “Rosemary’s Baby” instead.

The Alien Invasion Movie
War of the Worlds (2005)

“War of the Worlds” is, in my opinion, Spielberg’s second best film of the 21st century, only slightly behind “Munich.” The impact and taste of the visual effects in the film are sublime, showcasing an intensely devastating alien invasion. The futility of everyone’s attempts to stop the invasion is paralleled with protagonist Tom Cruise’s tragically inadequate efforts to care for a family that he has too long neglected. While the film is ultimately optimistic, it suggests that mankind’s problems are unsolvable by men and women, requiring instead an external act of grace.

The Psychological Thriller
Misery (1990)

This movie demonstrates the power of a well played villain. The role is played by Kathy Bates, who “rescues” an author (James Caan) from a car wreck only to enslave him in her home. The whole movie is like the dream where you are trying to run away from somebody but can’t seem to move. For a study in contrasts, watch Bates’ performance in this film alongside her role in “The Waterboy” to see that bad roles happen to good actors.

The Wildcard
Open Water (2003)

I admit that Open Water, a true-ish film about a pair of scuba divers who are abandoned in a tropical sea, is neither a Halloween movie nor a horror movie. Nevertheless, it is one of best suspense films of recent times, and I can write about whatever I want.

The movie, which was shot for a mere $130,000, contains little action and no visual effects (scenes involving actors and sharks were created by luring wild sharks near the actors). Instead, the film focuses on the ways in which people react to crises – with panic, rationality, anger and desperation. It makes for a great unorthodox fall pick, which I highly recommend.