October 1, 2020 | dw_richards
Welcome back! For the second week of our Halloween movie marathon we're ramping things up with some classics and foundational films in horror's various sub-genres. So prepare yourself! You're in for a fun week of ghosts, zombies, slashers, and the first Bollywood horror movie
Monday, October 5th- Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Available on DVD Hoopla Kanopy
With this film, writer/director George Romero and his co-writer, John A. Russo, redefined pop culture's understanding of zombies. The rules established here are the inspiration for almost every bit of zombie lore and story that came after.
On top of that, It's a powerful example of how horror can be used as an allegory to explore social ills. It perfectly reflects the turbulent time it was made in, and is still very much relevant today.
Tuesday, October 6th-Mahal (1949)
Available via DVD
Horror stories are part of every culture and this film represents a historical milestone in the world of Indian cinema. It's the first Indian horror film. The movie is a gothic, haunted house style tale about reincarnation that borrows from Western horror traditions of the time and melds them together with elements of Bollywood filmmaking and Hindi beliefs to create something entirely new and unique.
Wednesday, October 7th- Halloween (1978)
John Carpenter and Debra Hill's classic 1978 film wasn't the first slasher movie, but it did popularize the formula of a masked killer stalking teenagers that many other franchises, such as Friday the 13th, would go on to emulate. It also made Jamie Lee Curtis a movie star by following in the footsteps of her mother Janet Leigh (star of the first film in our marathon, Psycho). So, it's definitely a seasonal classic worth revisiting every spooky season
Thursday, October 8th-Poltergiest (1982)
Available via DVD
In this film, writer Steven Spielberg teams with director with Tobe Hooper ( co-writer and director of the legendary horror film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)) to create one of the scariest haunted house movies of all time.There are a number of great jump scares and unsettling moments throughout the film, and the last 20 minutes are an incredibly intense thrill ride that still holds up almost 40 years later. Plus, the film offers some great commentary on the the idea of the American suburbs, and features some fantastic performances by Zelda Rubinstein, JoBeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, and Heather O'Rourke.
Friday, October 9th- Mayhem (2017)
Had a rough week at work? Then have we got a movie for you! In this horror comedy, a virus that cause people to lose all their inhibitions infects a cut throat law office and sends it into quarantine. The resulting chaos allows a wrongfully terminated lawyer (The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun) and a woman his former firm exploited (Ready or Not's Samara Weaving) to seek revenge Their quest is violent, gleefully twisted, and very funny. So, Mayhem is a fun, and very cathartic way to cap a work week.
Saturday, October 10- A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) & Scream (1996)
Available Via DVD: Nightmare Scream Hoopla: Scream
For our second double feature, we're taking a look at the work of a man who revolutionized horror and especially the slasher sub-genre, the late, great, Wes Craven. These two films are the kick-off chapters to the legendary horror franchises that the former humanities professor helped launch. In A Nightmare on Elm Street, writer/director Craven adds a supernatural twist to the classic slasher formula, and introduces the world to one of pop culture's most beloved boogie men, Freddy Krueger (Fun fact: This was also Johnny Depp's first film). Then in Scream, director Craven and writer Kevin Williamson kick off the meta horror craze with a film that examines, celebrates, and pokes fun at the tropes of the slasher sub-genre
Sunday, October 11th- Hocus Pocus (1993)
Available Via DVD
For our second all-ages offering, we're looking at what is a cult, horror comedy, classic for anyone who grew up in the '90s. It features some great performances from Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker as three villainous witches terrorizing the town of Salem on Halloween Night. It also features a great looking zombie, and a script co-written by horror legend, Mick Garris.