In the spirit of Halloween, my next few blog posts will be featuring lists of good scary movies and games to watch and play for Halloween. First I want to talk about a few movies. Now, the following movies define the word “scary” in different ways. Some are more psychological, rather than pop-out scares. But a good scary movie, in my opinion, does not rely on a) killing off as many people as possible, and b) killing people off in the bloodiest, most disgusting ways possible. Movies like that should really be their own genre because they’re not scary, and they’re not psychological; they’re just gross.
Now my picks aren’t necessarily my top 10, and they’re in no particular order. But they’re all movies that stuck out to me over the years, so think of them as nothing more than recommendations. So without further ado…
Saw I & II (2004/2005)
Keep in mind I’m ONLY recommending the first two in the Saw series. The first movie presented one of the most brilliant villains of our lifetime. He’s a killer that doesn’t actually kill his victims. The famed Jigsaw killer goes through a life changing experience that makes him appreciate the gift of life itself, and he wants others to experience this epiphany. He captures seemingly innocent people who don’t appreciate the precious gift that God has given them, and puts them into “traps” where they must sacrifice some pain and fight for their own survival. This is a brilliant concept. Every situation is escapable, and most directly reference the reason they’re there in the first place (such as a man who cuts himself being caught in a maze of razor wire), and with the exception of maybe one or two of them, the sacrifice seems pretty fair. Well, as fair as a psychopath can make it.
So why am I only recommending the first two? Because after that, the series goes downhill at an accelerated rate. Starting with the third movie, the traps start encompassing innocent peoples lives, so that their survival is in the hands of someone else. And there are even some that aren’t innocent, but it’s still not up to them if they survive. The series picks up again for the fifth movie, reverting back to mostly people who are in charge of their own fate. But the sixth is the absolute worst. It involves an insurance agent that has to choose, out of about 10 people, only about 4 of them can survive these trials. This is no longer the question of fighting for your life, this is now a selection of picking favorites. Basically, this is the complete opposite of Jigsaw’s original objective if no matter what, people will have to die in these traps. Regardless of the fact that these people are put in the hands of Jigsaw’s apprentice, they’re still Jigsaw’s traps that he planned to continue even after his death in the third movie. I can’t even begin to describe how thrilled I am that this series is FINALLY ending this month. The first two are great, but the series as a whole is just an excuse to kill people off in the most inhumane ways possible.
Final Destination (2000)
This is another movie like Saw. Not the content of it, but the fact that the first movie is brilliant, and everyone should see it. The following three movies, however, exploit the brilliant idea of the first movie in order to kill off as many people as they can in as horrifying of ways as possible. The setting of the first movie is a high school class goes on a field trip to Europe. One teenager has a vision of a plain crash, which ultimately causes him and six other individuals to safely get off the plane before takeoff, sparing them. But Death has other plans, and the students begin dying off post-crash, one-by-one, in the order they were supposed to die originally, in a series of freak accidents. They seem like freak twists of fate, but the movie is so chilling, it keeps you wondering if anyone can survive the cold grip of Death. Please watch this movie if you haven’t already. And do yourself a favor, never watch FD 2, 3, and 4.
Disturbia (2007)
This movie is more of a psychological thriller than a true blood horror movie. But it’s still quite good. This movie features a young man name Kale whose mother begins dating another guy after his father is killed in a car accident. There’s something off about this new guy though. The teenage boy feels that the new guy may be some psychopath, but seems harmless in person. Still, something rubs him the wrong way, and he’s got the sneaking suspicion this guy is a murderer, and Kale swears he partially witnessed him murdering another woman. However, considering Kale is on house arrest after a confrontation at his school, there’s not a whole lot he can do. Who is this guy exactly? Did Kale really see what he thought he saw? Can he prove it before it’s too late? Or will his mother be the next victim? Give it a watch, it’s good.
Thirteen Ghosts (2001)
So this is the first movie on my list that’s like a true blood ghost film. It could just be my obsession with lists in numbers, but I love this movie. It’s from Dark Castle films, which does mean one thing: Gore. However, this movie’s not as bad as you might expect in that area. There’s not as many deaths in this films. The few deaths they have are horrific, but they’re still fairly few in number because there’s actually a plot to this. The film encompasses a family whose rich uncle has just passed on and left his estate to them. They are led to his estate where they are to spend the night. The estate in question is unlike any house I’ve ever seen before. Almost none of the walls are solid. As grandiose as it is, a house full of glass walls with weird writing all over just gives you a weird vibe, and it should. As it turns out, dear old Uncle had some skeletons in his closet, or ghosts in the basement rather, and a booby trap has caused them to be set free. As the title implies, there are 13 ghosts, each more terrifying than the last. They each have their own unique appearance and personality, and all of them make a sizeable appearance in the film. Well, actually, there were only 12 ghosts in the basement. So who’s the thirteenth? Watch it to find out.
So there’s five select titles to give a watch. The rest of the list will appear before Halloween. Keep an eye out for it.
0 comments:
Post a Comment