Halloween is just around the corner, making it the season for all things scary. So here are some recommendations for horror films to seek out in cinemas this month.
This is my favorite holiday season, and while I live Halloween 365 days a year, October is the month when the rest of the world finds it acceptable to seek out scares on a daily basis.
Saturday Scaries: 'Halloween'
This year Digital Gym Cinema will deliver Saturday Scaries every weekend in October with classic horror films such as John Carpenter’s original "Halloween" (1978).
It’s hard to imagine or remember just how original "Halloween" was when it opened, as we prepare for the 13th franchise installment, "Halloween Ends" (I suspect that title is false advertising), to arrive on Oct. 14. But Carpenter shot the original film in deep focus widescreen, not typical for the low budget genre; showed barely a drop of blood in the kills; and crafted the elements that would define the modern slasher film.
He gave us evil — unstoppable, unkillable evil — and he did so with an elegant leanness that none of the following films ever replicated. Plus, Carpenter composed that iconic, sparse, haunting score.
"Halloween" closes out Digital Gym’s Saturday Scaries on Oct. 29, but kicking off the series this Saturday is Dario Argento’s "Suspiria."
Saturday Scaries: 'Suspiria'
"Suspiria" came out in 1977, a year before "Halloween." It is an audacious example of Italian giallo (check out my in-depth discussion of it in my podcast below), the violent thrillers that were the precursors to the American slasher films. Argento turned the genre up to a feverish 11 as an American student played by Jessica Harper arrives at an international dance school and strange things start to happen. Argento uses bodies as canvases to create the most stylish and bizarre kills.
Argento renders his tale with an eye-popping color palette and an excessive style that drips off the screen. The film delivers sensory overload that’s best appreciated on a big screen in a cinema with an audience. "Suspiria" remains one of my all-time favorite films because its outrageous boldness still feels fresh.
Saturday Scaries: 'Drag Me To Hell'
Saturday Scaries also includes "Drag Me to Hell," an underappreciated gem from Sam Raimi.
Raimi may be best loved for the "Evil Dead" films, but "Drag Me to Hell" is a perfect example of his splatstick – splatter gore and slapstick comedy. Imagine Looney Tunes or Tex Avery doing horror. So don’t expect a subtle build-up of tension with a scary payoff. Instead, it's about shock gags punctuated by over-the-top sound effects and deliberately heavy-handed music and delivered for the purposes of wicked fun, not fear.
"Drag Me to Hell" will be screened at Digital Gym on Oct. 15.
Saturday Scaries: 'The Descent' and 'The Babadook'
But for subtler and more fear-inducing fare, Saturday Scaries will highlight the claustrophobic, subterranean "The Descent" and the psychological horror of "The Babadook."
"The Babadook" lures you in with familiar childhood fears about something lurking under your bed but then delivers something fresh and surprising about coping with grief and motherhood.
"The Descent" will be screened at Digital Gym on Oct. 8. "The Babadook" on Oct. 22.
'Smile'
Saturday Scaries returns us to classics of the horror genre, but if you want to try something new, there are a pair of films that strive to rise above the usual formula fare Hollywood drags out to cash in on the haunted holiday.
"Smile" opens this weekend.
While the trailer makes "Smile" feel like a one-note jump scare exercise in horror, the film actually attempts to develop the main character, Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), in some depth and explore how trauma can affect our psyche. Parker Finn adapted and expanded the film from his own short. But he stretches it a bit too far without enough originality to sustain it for two hours. The film also suffers from an ending that seems more motivated by the possibility of a franchise than by what’s best for the story.
'Barbarian'
Succeeding more fully than "Smile" is "Barbarian," which opened a couple weeks ago. That film cleverly twists tropes and shakes up the narrative structure, so we are kept off balance and entertained. It builds tension well, delivers some black humor and gives us the creepiest Air BnB ever. It is just frustrating that while handling so many tropes well, it falters at a couple of key moments to make the main character behave foolishly. But there are enough payoffs elsewhere in the film that you will likely be able to forgive its flaws.
If you want new horror, then "Pearl" (just reviewed) and "Barbarian" are your best bets. "Halloween" promises to end on Oct. 14, but I doubt the franchise will be laid to rest if the 13th installment makes money, no matter how tired Michael Myers may be. And remember you have the proven horror classics of Saturday Scaries at Digital Gym Cinema every Saturday in October.
And those are just your choices for what’s playing in theaters. Below is a quick rundown of some of the new films streaming on Shudder. I have notated the ones I have seen and will update as I watch more.
Shudder's streaming horror for October
- "Who Invited Them"
- "Saloum," a hybrid action/horror from Senegal that's worth checking out
- "Flux Gourmet," dark fun more than horror from director Peter Strickland, who did the highly original "In Fabric"
"Speak No Evil," highly recommended Danish horror
- "Sissy"
- "Deadstream" - premieres Oct. 6
- Dario Argento’s "Dark Glasses" - premieres Oct. 13, not the master at his best, but it has a few good moments
- "She Will" - premieres Oct. 13, one should not pass up a film with Malcolm McDowell
- "V/H/S/99" - premieres Oct. 20, not hopeful about this sequel in an overrated franchise that just won't die
- "Resurrection" - premieres Oct. 28, directed by Andrew Semans, and stars Rebecca Hall and Tim Roth. I saw this at virtual Sundance and loved its crazy strangeness and body horror.
SHUDDER SPECIAL
Joe Bob Halloween 2022 Special - Oct. 21, Joe Bob is always fun and surprisingly informative.
