It’s the Halloween season and that means people hanging out eating a bunch of candy and watching scary movies, or going to Halloween events put on by locals or amusements parks. If you’re like me you go to these events with the feeling of hating to be scared but the need to be scared. It’s a very odd feeling, like when I got scared of the movie The Exorcists and then asked for it at Christmas. I don’t know if it’s the need to be part of your friends when they go see scary movies, or the need to impress a girlfriend or boyfriend. I do know that when it comes to scary movies I can’t watch anything with ghosts, aliens or scary religious exorcisms. I’ll take slashers all day, but that’s probably because I’m immune from playing video games for so many years, but the rules still apply for video games. I can’t stand playing creepy video games and if I do I have to be with someone or at home with the lights on and the doors open. Even as I write this I’m listening to Bauhaus with the lights on and the door open. I try to make myself feel tough by listening to what would be considered scary music, but when it comes to movies I’m the worst so I’ve made a list of 5 movies that you can watch with people and not be scared.
5. Dale & Tucker vs. Evil
I had seen trailers to this movie, but after a while it just went away. I later saw it as a streamable movie on Netflix and when I saw it was labeled a comedy I decided to give it a try. This is a horror movie in the respects that there is gore and people are dying, but the fact that these deaths are being caused by the victims is hilarious. Two guys just wanting to hang out, drink and fish have to witness what they think is a cult doing sacrifices is too funny. The best thing is that I can imagine how they feel and how bad they must feel for the kids getting killed. This is truly a movie with the message of don’t judge a book by it’s cover
4. Cabin In The Woods
If you think that a person merely being part of a movie has the influence to make someone watch it, then you are absolutely correct. After I learned of Joss Whedon from The Avengers and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-A-Long Blog I decided to check what else had done and I was surprised to see just how many things he was a part of that I had enjoyed, especially Firefly. So when I saw that he was part of The Cabin in the Woods I decided to check it out. I really enjoyed the twist in the story, it was really funny at times and the best part was I was never scared. I actually recommended the movie to my mom, but I’m not sure if she watched it yet but I recommend that you do.
3. 28 Weeks Later
I guess I can’t have a list of scary movies without including some kind of zombie movie, so here it is. 28 Weeks Later is the sequel to the movie 28 Days later, which takes a look a man made rage virus that slowly infects London. The virus is spread through blood, which includes getting blood in places like your eyes or open cuts and then causes the dead to rise and crave flesh. The trailer to the movie makes it look scary, but there were hardly any jump scares and the theme song is really cool. There is suppose to be a third movie called 28 Months later, but so far no new information has come out about it.
2. The Purge: Anarchy
I guess you can chalk this up to being intrigued by violence and the fact that I walked The Purge maze at Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights. I never saw the first one, but since I learned there is no story continuation, I felt comfortable watching the sequel. While in line at Halloween Horror Nights they showed clips of the movie and it really made me want to take a chance and watch it. I know people are going to die but the clips didn’t really scare me and actually made me seek it out, so good job Universal Studio’s on making marketing that works. To me the movie is more for sparking conversation between friends and explaining how you’d survive The Purge if it happened in your area.
1. Resident Evil
Seeing what kind of website this is should have let you know that there would be at least one video game based movie on the list, and sorry it won’t be Silent Hill. The Resident Evil movies have been taking a lot of crap since they first came out, but they make a lot of money and the final one is currently being filmed. The movie is loosely based the game, but for the most part its a zombie and monster movie. The creepiest thing in the movie has to be the little girl who the security system is modeled after, because old people and kids are always extremely creepy especially if they are ghosts. There are subtle nods to the game and the movie goes as far as naming some of the key main characters and then in later movies introducing them. Personally I think a great video game based horror movie would be Parasite Eve, but until that comes out check out Resident Evil.