31 Must-Sees for the Month of October

October 31st—Halloween—is just around the corner and I usually make it an annual event to start the month off watching a horror movie (or two) a day, starting with October 1st right up until a bunch of kids are ringing my doorbell, begging for candies.

A few years ago, I'd actually reviewed a movie each day of October, and quite a few of those movies are going to make this list of films to enjoy, so you might see some familiar favorites of mine.  But all of these flicks are definite musts for me to see each and every year during the spooky time of Halloween.  Some titles might actually be franchises, treating them as extended stories or sagas, and you also may know of some flicks that are not featured here.  One such series I've excluded from this string of films is the Friday the 13th series and that's because I see those movies as the start to summer, feeling that it eloquently represents the conclusion of fall and takes us right into the days of summer camp terror.  A Nightmare on Elm Street is another series that reminds me of the time of spring (for some reason), so I'll be discounting those films as well.  However, by all means, you can add those to your Halloween fun and have a great time with them...they are all great slasher films of the 80s and early 90s, so go for it.

The films I'm about to go over are just some of the horror films that I just associate with the Halloween season—whether I'd first seen them during that time or the setting of each one has specifically to do with that time of year.

So...let's get started.

31. A few years ago, in 2012, I'd taken a chance with a flick called Sinister that appeared very dark and terrifying in the trailer, leaving me wanting to find out what the story was all about.  Instead of starring a bunch of teenie-boppers and making the story take place in high school, the movie was refreshing to see it starred Ethan Hawke as a non-fiction writer of real-life murders.  In this story, he takes it a bit too far by moving his family into a house where a family was murdered.  Shortly after moving in and while looking around in the attic, he finds a movie projector and some reels of strange films that showcase other families being murdered.  He then tries to piece together the films and figure out what they all have to do with each other.  Sinister is a dark and spooky film that'll get under your skin pretty quickly...a perfect start to the Halloween season.  The film was followed up by a sequel in 2015—not as good—but you'll have a nice three or four hours of spooky fun with these two.

30. If there's any movie that'll make you change your mind about moving into a secluded house far away from any neighbors, it's the 2008 film, The Strangers.  Starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman as a couple appearing angry with each other and who were supposed to spend the night celebrating their engagement, but apparently someone said no.  Before long, a strange woman is knocking on the door in the wee hours of the morning, soon joined by another woman and man—all wearing weird masks.  It's an eerie home invasion movie that'll make you get up and lock every single door and window in your house, as well as getting an alarm installed—stat.

29. Though this movie borrows heavily from The Hills Have Eyes, the 2003 film, Wrong Turn, was—and still is—a pretty intense and terrifying film.  When a small group of people are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no one in sight and no way to contact the outside world, they soon have to evade the deformed inbred mountain men that are tracking the group and trying to kill them...for food.  It's an exciting romp with a lot of scares, gore and all around tension that'll put a test to your nerve-endings.  The movie spawned about five sequels, none of them as good as this first outing, so you can skip them.

28. Being a Stephen King fan in the 80s and early 90s was a great time to be alive.  In the 80s alone, the man had a bunch of his books turned to films—some great, some good and some horrible.  One film that had come out in 1993 was one of the better ones—The Dark Half.  It had such an interesting story, which delved into the weird and supernatural, about a writer who has an evil side to him when he writes books under a pseudonym.  When his pen name is threatened to be outed by some loser trying to make money, the writer decides to come clean to the world and has a mock burial for his alias.  But, as it turns out, that side of the writer comes to life and starts killing people around him.  The movie is one of my favorite adaptations from a Stephen King book and it's one I go to during All Hallow's Eve.

27. Anthologies are a nice go-to during the scary season and one I like to pop in the player is a three-story film called Body Bags.  The film was actually supposed to be the start of a television series on cable, much like "Tales From the Crypt," with John Carpenter hosting as a corpse in a morgue.  Although the series was never given the green light, the pilot film is one to be cherished and shows just how little cable television execs know when a good thing is presented to them.  Each vignette is memorable—a bald man wishes for hair but gets more than he bargains for, a new gas station cashier is terrorized by a serial killer, and an athlete who loses an eye surgically gets a new one but also becomes as deranged as the eye's donor—and the whole film is a nostalgic piece of early 90s horror movies.  You can't help but think how great this series could've been if someone had been smart enough to recognize the gold they'd been given.

26. If you enjoy the movies of the 80s that had always featured a group of children who band together for a reason—like E.T.: The Extraterrestrial or The Goonies—then you'll love 1987's The Monster Squad.  A group of preteens, who love classic monster movies and even have an extracurricular school club, end up banding together to go up against Dracula, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man.  With an endearing Frankenstein Monster that ends up being the hero for the children, you can't help but fall in love with this movie.

25. 1989's The Horror Show has a weird history throughout the decades since its theatrical release.  I remember seeing this flick in theaters back then, knowing it only as the title I'd mentioned above.  However, over the years, it's been known as a sequel to the House films and had some rights issues because of it.  I don't know why this movie would be related to that series, but I'm glad the film was finally brought to Blu-Ray by Scream! Factory not too long ago.  The film stars the staple of the 80s, Lance Henriksen, and is a perfect nostalgia flick for that bygone era.  Being a lot like the plot of Wes Craven's Shocker, the film is about a serial killer (Brion James) who's able to teleport himself anyplace and wreaks havoc just to mess with the cop (Henriksen) who arrested him.  I love this film...even the strange laugh that James emits throughout the movie.

24. A lot of people may know Sam Raimi, probably most for being the first director to get the comic book character of Spider-Man on screen.  But before that, he was known for a little indie film called The Evil Dead in 1981.  It was a simple little movie about a group of friends who decide to spend a week in a cabin in the middle of the woods.  They find a book bound with human flesh and a recording containing the words that unleash an evil entity, causing a gory nightmare in that cabin.  The movie also brought cult fame to Bruce Campbell, who stars as Ash in this little movie that spawned two sequels (Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness), an awesome reboot in 2013, and a Starz cable television series that's now in its second season.  What do I think about watching these movies during Halloween time?  Groovy.

23. Although I was an avid movie-goer in the 80s, especially when it came to horror movies, I'd missed this one...but glad I'd found it on Blu-Ray not too long ago.  1986's Night of the Creeps is a little bit of science fiction, mixed with the zombie genre, and it also has a few Invasion of the Body Snatchers nuances once it gets into it.  With the inclusion of Tom Atkins as the witty—yet badass—police detective going up against a whole college fraternity taken over by mid-controlling space slugs and also with the help of two geeky college kids, everything goes totally ballistic in this flick.  You'll have a great time with this one on a cold October night.

22. Back when remakes weren't prevalent in the movies, and were actually welcomed, The Blob appeared and gave us an unconventional retelling of the 1958 original.  With bad boy, Kevin Dillon, and good girl, Shawnee Smith, this 80s classic is one I go to even outside of the Halloween season.  When a small meteor dispatches a seemingly harmless slimy globule of alien gunge, it soon grows in size as it devours anyone-and anything-it comes into contact with, taking over a small town.  Up through the twist in the climax, divulging the origin of the unctuous monstrosity, makes this a pinnacle of 80s cinema.

21. 1981's An American Werewolf in London is a film that can easily stand in its individuality as having the best werewolf transformation scene in movie history.  The film is 35 years old, yet no other film has knocked this movie off of its mantle in that claim to fame.  Though there's a lot of humor in this film, once the story jumps to the werewolf scenes, it gets pretty intense.  With the classic convention of showing us less of the monster, slowly revealing it more and more, the climax of the film really stands out as the best of the movie.

20. A franchise that had started off strong with its first three films (though they tapered off a bit as those three came about), the films had a few silly outings before righting itself with its last one.  The series I'm speaking of is the Child's Play franchise.  The first outing in 1988 was—and still is—a classic, still entertaining as it had been in its release back then.  All of the films in the series—with the exception of Seed of Chucky—are completely enjoyable and, so far, finishes off nicely with the 2013 straight-to-DVD film, Curse of Chucky, which was responsible for the cancellation of the planned reboot (thank goodness).  It's rumored that we're going to get a seventh entry and I'm looking forward to it...and you should be as well.

19. The Paranormal Activity franchise has obviously run its course as of late with the last outing being so far off track and with a big plot-hole that all the included CGI couldn't hide.  But...when the first film in the series was released (originally screened in limited theaters in 2007 until it gained wide release in 2009), it had made a big splash and reinvigorated the found footage subgenre of horror movies.  It's funny, this film definitely needs to be seen at night, or at least in the dark, to truly enjoy it.  When you're in the right environment, this movie can easily get under your skin.  Followed by two worthy sequels, an iffy fourth part, a pretty well-done spin-off, and an off-kilter fifth sequel...as a whole, this franchise has done pretty well.  All in all, the films are perfect to sit back and enjoy while you're waiting for all the kids to flock to your house, demanding candy.

18. As a child, not ready to get into the world of movies—though I'd wanted to do so very much—I'd seen quite a bit of movie trailers on television, making me yearn to see them.  One film that had intrigued me was John Carpenter's The Fog of 1980.  Just those thirty or sixty second spots on TV had me cringing yet wanting to see the movie.  Of course, Carpenter had made a name for himself after Halloween was released two years prior, so directing another frightening tale was a no-brainer for the master of horror.  I love the eeriness and slow burn of this film, making it a great ghost story as it takes place in a small coastal town.  With the acting staples of Tom Atkins, Jamie Lee Curtis, Janet Leigh, Hal Holbrook, and Adrienne Barbeau, you can't go wrong.

17. Steven Spielberg was all over the Hollywood map in the 1980s, even going as far as taking on two films at the same time.  Though there are rumors and denials about what happened in 1982, it's pretty clear (especially if you know Spielberg's directing stylings) that he had quite a hand in the production of Poltergeist.  What makes the behind-the-scenes aspect of this film controversial is that Spielberg was in production on the film, E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, at the same time and in the same filming location vicinity.  Tobe Hooper gets the credit, but it just doesn't look like a Hooper film as you watch this definitive story of a family's home being overrun by spirits.  Whatever the case may be on whomever was sitting in the director's chair, this film is truly scary at times and so much fun as well.  Though the first sequel is not as magical, it can be a nice addition to view after the original.  However, you may have some trouble getting through part three, but it has its merits.  In addition, a remake was released recently, but just doesn't cut it when compared to the original.

16. Though I hadn't gone to the theater to see this when it was originally released, 2001's Jeepers Creepers blew me away when I'd first had Netflix deliver this DVD to me.  The beginning of the film has a little Duel vibe to it, gets a little creepy when Justin Long's character discovers the Creeper's lair, and has a typical slasher ambiance up until the end of the flick.  After watching the inferior—but still great—2003 sequel, you get to find out so much of the villain of this story, but as you go through this first film, the mysteriousness of the Creeper will freak you out.

15. Yet another 80s classic, which brings on the nostalgia of the bygone era of hosted television viewings of horror movies ("Creature Features" in my neck o' the woods by the late great Bob Wilkins), is the vampire flick, 1985's Fright Night.  A pretty interesting tale here, with a teenager obsessed with horror movies finding out his new neighbor is a vampire.  Though there are some cheesy moments (especially in the dance club), the film includes all the vampire mythos front and center.  From garlic to wooden stakes, as well as a great climatic scene, you'll love this movie.  A remake was released in 2011, with Anton Yelchin and Colin Farrell starring as the teen and vampire respectively, and it's not half-bad.  In fact, the reimagining of the 1985 classic is very well done and should be considered a great companion to the original film.

14. A while back, I had embarked on a crazy journey, deciding to review just about every movie adapted from a Stephen King novel or short story.  It had burned me out quite a bit and I really didn't want to use a keyboard or look at a computer monitor for a while.  Most of the films in his adaptation repertoire are enjoyable, depending on the time of year.  I like watching Carrie when school's in session, The Dead Zone when we're in the very cold winter months, and to watch the others when the feeling arises.  But Pet Sematary is one I like to watch during the month of October.  It's clear in the movie that the seasons change from October to November, so this makes it a perfect flick to set yourself up for the scary times.  At the time, I'd felt that this film was the best adaptation ever attempted and it still is a favorite of mine (obviously).  The film raises a lot of 'what-if' questions you may ask yourself, but the answer is very apparent: "Sometimes...dead is better."

13. 1988's Pumpkinhead is quite special to me because of a few things, one of them being-of course-that it's a horror movie.  Seeing that this is a flick from the era of the 1980s is also a plus with me.  But the one standout in this flick is that it stars the ubiquitous actor from that time—Lance Henriksen.  I really can't speak of 80s horror and sci-fi cinema without including Henriksen in the discussion.  From his small part in The Terminator, to the starmaking role in Aliens, this man has been there.  He's perfectly cast in Pumpkinhead as the humble country everyman, running a small store with his son off of the main road.  When his son is accidentally killed, he goes whole hog and gets revenge with the help of the local witch who summons a demon to hunt and kill the kids responsible.  It should be noted here that Stan Winston not only created the titular monster featured in this flick, but he also makes his directorial debut.  It's a fun movie with cool monster effects, so sit back and celebrate the month of October with this one.

12. 1981's The Funhouse is definitely one to see during October, with it going as far as copying the beginning of John Carpenter's Halloween during the intro.  It's really such a simple story, how a group of friends decide to spend the night at the local carnival, but end up witnessing a murder.  As the group is discovered by the killer, the movie turns into a cat-and-mouse game as the friends try to keep hidden from the masked freak and look for a way to escape the funhouse.  Even though the story has the typical slasher formula, it's still fun and nostalgic to sit through this gem, getting ready for the ghosts and goblins when they come around to trick-or-treat.

11.  To watch a classic film, especially one of the black & white variety, there is no better time than this period of fall.  The best of this lot is usually the creature feature types of movies, whether giant insects or people transforming into monsters, it seems the only times this was perfected was in the 30s, 40s and 50s.  In addition, the best of these films were created in Universal Studios of Hollywood.  One of the first on this list is The Mummy, starring the great Boris Karloff as the titular creature.  The tone and frightening glares from Karloff is enough to regale you all the way through this definitive motion picture.

10.  Many people put this film at the top of their list of the best horror movies ever.  I agree it's a terrifying film, especially if you watch this at the right time, and it's enough to give most people nightmares.  Even though this was made in 1973, The Exorcist is still a relevant and captivating movie.  The effects still hold up and can still upset the best of them.  Nothing is laughable in this film and it will make you rethink your beliefs as this is one serious work of art.  But for the sake of Halloween, check this classic out if you haven't already.

9. Although I still have a few other classics I'm going to mention on my list, 1941's The Wolf Man is one that stands out as one of my favorite characters out of all the Universal Studios Monsters.  Some younger crowds may see this character on screen and laugh about some of the displays they'll see—the monster walking around on his tippy toes, choosing to strangle its victims instead of biting them, always appearing in a long-sleeved button-up shirt—but this is a monumental film nonetheless.  As with the characters of Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy, special effects makeup artist, Jack Pierce, creates another iconic character here that will be remembered until the end of time.

8. 1931's Frankenstein may be a movie that most younger people would not want to see.  I mean, come on, it's an 85 year-old movie, in black & white...but I'm captivated by this film and its 1935 sequel every time I watch them.  Though most millennials would probably never see this classic, you can't deny how well known Frankenstein's Monster is to this day.  Even if you were to show a picture of Boris Karloff in the famous Jack Pierce make-up, I'd hazard a guess to say that even a five-year-old would reply with the name of "Frankenstein" (as to which the monster is commonly known).  But both films have such great character and atmosphere to them, it's a must for me to see these films every October.

7. As with the classics I had mentioned above, Dracula sets the mood for Halloween like no other black & white film.  Being that it's one of Universal Studios' first "talkies" in 1931 (kids, you won't believe it, but movies prior to the 30s had no sound and you had to read all the dialogue on cards intermittently displayed on the screen throughout the film), the long silences and lack of a full score adds to the eeriness in the movie, making a lot of the scenes with Bela Lugosi feel intimidating.  Though there have been many vampire movies since, nothing compares to the dark and malevolent feeling you get while watching this staple of horror cinema.

6. I had mentioned the weird circumstances in my original review of 1985's Re-Animator, about how this movie suddenly appeared on our local channel—unedited—one night with my brother resourcefully recording the movie onto a blank VHS tape during the airing of the movie.  Man, I'd become such a fan of the film when I'd first seen it and was in awe of its raw special effects and how it blew my mind.  It's a gross-out flick, no doubt, but it's fun and crazy at the same time.  The movie's 1989 follow-up, Bride of Re-Animator, is respectable enough, but doesn't hold a candle to the original.  Do yourself a favor and pop this in to get in the horror movie mood.

5. The anthology subgenre of film had sorely been lacking since the 80s, when the Creepshow series was prevalent in its entertaining display of horror, being very sporadic with appearances in cinema.  Tales From the Darkside came close and so did Twilight Zone, but neither could really harness the magic that Stephen King and George Romero were able to capture.  You've already seen my views on Body Bags, but the one film that had had as much fun was 2007's Trick 'r Treat.  Although this film was made in 2007, it sat, shelved, for two years, finally released in 2009—straight to home media.  It seemed that Warner Bros. studio execs had no faith in this film and thought it wouldn't be worth churning out into theaters.  Guess what?  They were wrong as they always seem to be.  Remember how they'd repeatedly said R-rated movies didn't make as much money as PG-13 films?  And remember when Deadpool came along and changed all that, making those same studio dolts scrambling to release a Batman v Superman R-rated cut?  Yeah, those imbeciles know what they're doing, don't they?  Aaaah...if only us fans were running these studios, right?  Anyway, Trick 'r Treat is the perfect anthology for Halloween, all stories taking place during that special day of year and all of them intertwining with each other.  It's not very gory or upsetting, but it's a blast for anyone looking to get right into the October state-of-mind.

4. I had finally watched Night of the Living Dead, oddly enough, on a Halloween night years ago.  I'd mentioned this in my original review of this film, how it had been making the rounds on MTV back then for some reason.  Deciding to settle in and watch this old show when I couldn't make plans to go out with some friends was such a great choice.  Thinking it was just some silly old black & white flick, I wasn't prepared to be so creeped out and spooked by this viewing.  I had instantly become a fan of George Romero and decided to venture into all of the films in this series—from this one, right up until Survival of the Dead.  Even the remake that had been helmed by special effects master Tom Savini in 1990 is a great watch.  But I can't help but think of Halloween when I see the classic 1968 film...it's definitely a must-see for me every year.

3.  Now, the franchise of Creepshow has a storied past and it's shame that this series of films—especially the first one—has had a tough go of it, because it deserves much, much more effort to give the film—as well as the fans—what it needs.  The first film is such a favorite of mine and it gives me such a feeling of wistfulness that I can't explain.  The score, alone, is an awesome production in and of itself, masterfully crafted to be an epitome of horror music, which gives me a sense of the spooky season just hearing it without the movie.  Now, of the film, when anyone starts to discuss anthology films, this is the movie I go to, deeming it as the best in the horror movie subgenre.  The pairing of Stephen King with George Romero is totally ingenious and brilliant that I wonder why they haven't done much together afterwards.  Each vignette in this film has its own theme—from unstoppable zombies to a weird creature living in a crate—that your head will spin from the creative stories you'll witness.  Creepshow is a must—the first sequel is entertaining, the last one is unwatchable—and should be brought out every Halloween season.  If only we'd get a decent cleaned-up Blu-Ray of this masterpiece.  Warner Bros. is so fickle.

2.  Even though the first film of this series takes place closer to Christmas, Psycho is one I never miss during this time of year.  Starting off with the 1960 classic and going through the 1983 and 1986 sequels, I thoroughly enjoy these films for what they are.  The sequels are probably what fit most during the Halloween term since they're modeled after the slashers of that specific decade, but I watch them as a whole and usually throughout a binge-watching spree.  A third sequel, Psycho IV¸ was made as a cable television movie, but it's not as enjoyable as the first three movies.  But I do push my way through it when the occasion calls for it.  The 1998 remake isn't too awful and can be entertaining if you're in the right frame of mind.  However, the 1960 classic, followed by the sequels in the 80s, are the films to watch and will introduce you to the real meaning of October.

1. Finally—and I'm sure you can guess what franchise I hype as the number one series to go to during this season—the Halloween franchise is one I never miss during October of every year.  John Carpenter has definitely created the embodiment of what October 31st means and with what it's associated.  I won't say it's his masterpiece because I cite his film, The Thing, as the best he's ever created.  But Halloween brings in the trick-or-treat holiday to realization and gives most of us Generation Xers a feeling of nostalgia to boot.  To go through this franchise might be a bit confusing to anyone who's jumping into this for the first time (though I don't know anyone who hasn't seen some of these films), but let me break it down for you.  The first two films can be seen as one long film—the sequel taking place the same night as the first film.  Part three gets a little weird, as it was conceived by Carpenter to venture away from the Michael Myers character and make the franchise a part-by-part anthology of films.  When that didn't work, part four comes back to the Michael Myers saga and continues through the next two sequels.  Part eight—Halloween H20—completely ignores everything after part two, continuing on the saga with Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis).  The sequel to that one pretty much ended the series until Rob Zombie rebooted the original and made a sequel to that...leaving the series in the state that it's in right now—limbo.  But take the ones you want to watch (if you're a newbie, watch the original first two and the eighth part).  Whatever you do, don't discount Halloween III: Season of the Witch...it's pretty good—yet strange—for being the redheaded stepchild of the series.

Well...what are you waiting for?  You've got 31 days to see all these films!  See for yourself if you agree with me on my views.

Thanks for reading and, as always, you can find Cinema Bits on Facebook and Twitter.

Class of 1984

Ah...the 80s…movies from this era are near and dear to my heart, bringing nostalgia and a bit of longing for those days when I lived at home with my parents.  I don’t know how many times I had sat on that sofa in our family room and put on a video rental of a film from that decade.  Maybe hundreds…?  Hmmm…it boggles the mind.  So many silly, yet awesome, horror movies were seen on that small television…I just couldn’t get enough!  Just about every day, before the Blockbuster Video craze—and WELL before DVDs were a concept—my brother, sister and I would go with our mom to the local video rental store and rent a few movies—usually a couple of videos for the family to watch and one or two (horror or sci-fi flicks) for me. 

I’ve never stopped that journey, that drive to see so many films—either newer ones or trying to see if there are any gems I’d missed in my youth—and I don’t think I’ll ever stop chasing that dragon.

Usually, I think about films I’d seen in my teenaged years that I remember as pretty good, but not good enough to own on Blu-Ray or DVD, and how I’ve forgotten the plot or if it was a better film than I’d remembered. 

Besides my patronage of Netflix, there’s a company that has been doing the Lord’s work with films from the 80s—as well as other eras—and that company would be Shout! Factory.  Their subsidiary department, Scream! Factory, has been securing home media rights (actually, I’m not sure how that process works, so don’t quote me on that aspect of it) and has released some excellent special edition Blu-Rays.  I’ve purchased quite a few from their catalog of releases and I know there will be so much more I’ll be tempted to purchase, so I’m always checking.  I implore you to take a look at their web site and take it all in.

Not too long ago, I think it was just last year, Scream! Factory announced the release of Class of 1984 and it immediately brought me back to the days of high school, spending my weekends in front of the TV as I’d go through a marathon of movies.  I hadn’t seen the film since it came out on VHS back in the mid-80s, so I decided to place it in my Netflix queue to familiarize myself with it again before purchasing this classic. 

With that, let’s get into the summary of Class of 1984…

A new teacher, Andrew Norris (Perry King), transfers to a troubled inner-city high school and soon ends up clashing with the delinquent leader of a punk gang, Peter Stegman (Timothy Van Patten) who runs the school.

Okay, I’ll get it out of the way, now, since it’s such a minor piece of trivia.  Michael J. Fox has a very small part here as Arthur, one of the students of the high school.  This was before his notoriety on the hit television series, “Family Ties,” and a few years before his fame as Marty McFly in Back to the Future.  He’s barely in this movie and really doesn’t add anything to it besides a minor subplot, so don’t think you’re going to get some sort of lost Michael J. Fox feature.  Okay, I’ve said it, it’s out of the way…let’s move on.

I remember back in 1982, when this film was in the theaters, that I’d thought it was some futuristic film…the previews I’d seen scared me a little and made me wonder if that was how high school was going to be like by the time I’d get there.  But even though it was 1982, it seemed like so far away to be talking about 1984 or starting high school.   Anyway, I’d been too young to see this film by myself and didn’t get to see this in the theater, but finally had gotten to watch it when it was released onto video.  

As I’d mentioned that I had been thinking of this movie as some ultramodern dystopian story, it had been hammered further in by some of the scenes witnessed just in the first part—namely, at the beginning where we see the students enter the school building through metal detectors.  Now, maybe there were metal detectors throughout the school system in the Los Angeles area at the time, but for me, a kid growing up in such a utopian city of Santa Clara, that appeared to be something out of a science fiction flick.  Looking back, however, I can believe it…hell, my wife’s high school now has metal detectors and has steel-barred gates to keep students in and other people out.  So either Class of 1984 made a bold prediction of the future or it was something very commonplace that opened the eyes of my 14-year-old self.

So about the movie…

Class of 1984 is a common trope we’ve seen in plots for many years by the time this movie was released.  From 1955’s Blackboard Jungle to 1997’s One Eight Seven, there have always been films with the teens-versus-adults theme and that’s exactly what we have here.  The extremity of what each side has—or feels they need—to do is pretty dialed up here and that’s what makes this film interesting.  It goes from a high school drama (by today’s standards anyway) to a horror movie at times and it’s a really interesting time capsule to witness in any case.  The dialogue is pretty well-written and, speaking from experience, what you see in this film feels like the days of high school in the 1980s.

So the antagonist of the story, Peter Stegman, played by Timothy Van Patten, is a good character study of a typical high school bully, but turned up to 10.  Though there’s really no answer as to why he is how he is, considering he displays intelligence and comes from a well-to-do family, it leaves no reason except to deduce that he just wants to be immoral.  Of course his underlings are here in this film just to be background characters and remain unimportant, but they do help build up his character just by the fact that they’ll do whatever he tells them to do—that’s what makes him frightening in this film.

Perry King, as the teacher that wants to make a difference—Andrew Norris—was really good in this feature.  Even though this film is the typical revenge story, it easily could’ve been an archetypal teacher-that-makes-a-change flick where he’s able to change the troublemaker to end the film on a high note.  Though the film does go through those motions at first, it’s more of a high note for a fan of horror by the end of the movie.

I can’t let this piece of information pass—the awesome Tom Holland (writer of Psycho II, writer and director of Fright Night and Child’s Play) penned this script, so it makes this movie just that more special for me.  He definitely had a handle on how the angst-ridden teens of the 80s acted and knew how to write the perfect dialogue for the characters in this flick.  Holland made this believable and relatable, never writing anything that would make the audience laugh when they shouldn’t.  I don’t think this movie would be as memorable if it weren’t for him and it could’ve easily went that way as Mark L. Lester was the director who had helmed this movie.  Lester is known for making quite a few movies that are in the so-bad-they’re-good category, like Commando and Showdown in Little Tokyo.  He had returned for the semi-sequel to this film, Class of 1999, but that film is not as notable as this one.

So…like I’d mentioned, Scream! Factory has done it again, releasing a distinguished film from the 80s with awesome artwork and great extras within.  The package includes the Blu-Ray and the DVD, with some cool bonus footage.  However, I was just a little bummed that there wasn’t an episode of “Horror’s Hallowed Ground” with Sean Clark giving us a tour of the filming locations, but that’s just a minor disappointment (I guess you really can’t call this a horror movie, so maybe that’s why he hadn’t created an episode for this film).  Do yourself a favor and not only purchase Class of 1984, but go through the long list of their discs to see what else you can pick up…you won’t be let down.

I’ll leave you with a little trivia about an act in the film: Within the film, Andrew Norris teaches the group of students—who actually want to learn and behave civilly—music and is getting them ready for a school concert.  In one key scene, Stegman walks in and decides to show off that he can play the piano, performing a wonderful concerto that impresses Mr. Norris.  The music that the actor performs in the classroom was written by Timothy Van Patten himself.

My final “bit” on Class of 1984?

Travel back to 1982 and see what was so remarkable about that decade of movie-watching.  The film is a great popcorn movie, lots of underrated acting from the leads (especially the great Roddy McDowall as Terry Corrigan, the teacher who goes a little nuts).  With all the back-and-forth between the antagonist and protagonist, the film ends on a high note and you’ll love where the story goes.  The movie looks beautiful with the clean-up Scream! Factory has done with this collector’s edition Blu-Ray.  If you haven’t seen this iconic 80s flick, go out and get it.

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The Gallows

Living in the Central Valley of California, the cities in this region are basically notorious for a couple of things: extreme heat in the summer and lots of fog in the winter…and Alan Autry (Bubba from the “In the Heat of the Night” television series) was mayor of Fresno from 2001 to 2009.  Really, there’s not much else the area is known for, so when word had gotten out last year that a Hollywood film was being shot in and around the city of Madera—as well as a few establishing shots around the Fresno area—it became a pretty big deal. 

Even though I’d heard about the film production and knew it was to be a horror film, I couldn’t help but think of the disdain I have for most horror movies released these days.  Knowing that the movie was going to take place primarily at a high school, I couldn’t help but think of the worst—teens with cell phones, talking about the latest fads or music, speaking in their cryptic tongue, and just taking me out of the movie altogether.  When the movie was released, I had no intention of going to see it and didn’t think much of it until I’d seen some of the television spots.

If I remember correctly, I think the studio used the same tactics that Paranormal Activity used before it, showing parts of the trailer mixed with shots of the audience’s reactions to some of the scary scenes.  Though this method of advertisement worked with me and had me interested, I had resisted and only planned to see the movie when it was released to DVD.  But some of the scenes that were shown from the movie were pretty downright scary…still, there were doubts.

So…the day had arrived and I had Netflix send me the disc.  The synopsis of The Gallows?

Twenty years after a horrific accident during a small town school play, students at the school resurrect the failed show in a misguided attempt to honor the anniversary of the tragedy—but soon discover that some things are better left alone.

Film buffs, critics, and general audiences have argued the merits and shortcomings of found footage for quite some time now.  A lot of people think it’s already jumped the shark, but quite a few think it still has a spot to fill in today’s cinema, especially in the horror genre.  Since 1998, when The Blair Witch Project popularized this style of film, I have found myself on both sides of the argument, thinking that it fits in some films and sometimes it just doesn’t.  My overall opinion about it is if there is good reason for it to be in the film, then I’m okay with it.  An example of a good reason to include found footage in a film, in The Visit, the two children in that story are meeting their grandparents for the first time, so the eldest child—aspiring to be a documentary filmmaker—decides to film and record the visit on video.  A bad example (and even though I love the movie), in Cloverfield, it really tests your acceptance of the whole ordeal being recorded because most people in a state of panic and wanting to make themselves safe would probably not be video recording the situation—they’d be thinking of staying alive, running, and getting away from the huge monster that’s endangering their lives.

With that said, I’ll say it upfront, here, before discussing the movie that the choice to have this a found footage type of horror movie was probably a bad choice.  Much like Cloverfield, the constant recording of the characters’ surroundings doesn’t seem realistic or logical.  But again, like that monster movie, you’ll soon forget about how unnerving it’d be for someone to be constantly video recording when the shit hits the fan. 

The horror movies I enjoy watching are typically the slasher or monster type of films that I’d seen as a kid during the late night “creature feature” flicks that were presented by a charismatic host, like the late Bob Wilkins who’d presented those gems throughout the 1970s.  I guess he could be the reason for my love of horror movies because those were my formative years, growing up and watching those eerie and creepy movies on television. 

Sorry for the digression, but the horror movies that never really unnerve me is the supernatural kind, the ones that feature ghosts or hauntings.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m able to have a blast with them, but I can’t really say that they scare me.  It’s funny, because if I were in those situations in real life, I’d probably piss myself.

So...as we get into this movie, and after a little flashback of the accident that happened at the school years before, The Gallows starts off as a found footage montage of life in high school, albeit with a douche bag bully being the one that’s recording everything.  At this point of the movie, I was tempted to eject the disc and go on to watch something else.  However, it does give you some character build-up, but at the cost of having to hear this guy, Ryan (Ryan Shoos) get on your nerves.  Once the decision is made for he and his friends—Reese (Reese Houser), Pfeifer (Pfeifer Ross), and Cassiddy (Cassidy Spilker)—to meet after dark to trash the stage for the play’s revival, the movie starts to get interesting.

Now I know I’d said that the choice to have this a found footage subgenre was a bad one, but it still helps with the frightening tone of the film.  Because what it adds to it is a sense of being in the video recorder’s body as they see what’s happening around them through the viewfinder as if you’re watching with your own two eyes.  Of course, for that to work, you have to forget that there’s someone that’s constantly video recording everything instead of dropping the camera and trying to run from danger.

Much like The Blair Witch Project, the movie goes with the no-way-to-escape horror movie theme as the friends are stuck in the school with all the doors and windows locked, giving the movie a sudden claustrophobic tone to it.  Entrances that were easy to get into suddenly become locked, areas of the school turn maze-like, and the mood of the film changes to a sense of unease and being trapped.

My final “bit” on The Gallows?

Though the film takes a while to get going—with the excruciating addition of having to listen to the drivel of the jackass holding the camera—once the story moves into the school after dark, that’s when the fun begins.  The scares and deaths that we see are pretty terrifying and the directors, Travis Cluff and Chris Lofing, knew what they were doing when they staged these scenes.  I had really liked that opening where we see what happened—through a convincingly primitive video—of a high school actor that met his death because of a horrible accident during the play twenty years prior.  A lot of the situations are enough to get under your skin and really work to create terrifying tensions for the characters, conveying it brilliantly to the audience.  The reasoning given at the end for everything that had happened throughout the story may seem a bit paper thin, but the overall presentation here makes for a nice horror movie.  I wouldn’t miss this if I were you.

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The Boy

I've always had an aversion to horror movies featuring the haunted subgenre aspect, which I'm sure I've communicated in the past.  Very few have been able to produce any frightening reactions from me and I've always seemed to be bored by them.  Nowadays, the ghost story type of films continuously go by the numbers and almost seem to follow a checklist of necessities to include.  It's as if the filmmakers go down the list—dark and moody, check...slower than normal burn, check...jump scares every half-hour, check—and all these films end up like cookie-cutter copies of each other.
 

But, you know, there's always a gold vein out there that I must chisel out and if I have to chip away through dozens of films before finding it, so be it.

 

Although I don't speak much about television (this is Cinema Bits after all), one hot commodity out there is "The Walking Dead," which so happens to be a favorite of mine and—as a side note—I can't wait for the new season to start.  The series has gone through six seasons and they're about to start their seventh, with most fans eager to find out what had happened after the cliffhanger ending of the last season's finale.  But one star from the show, Lauren Cohan (otherwise known as the character of Maggie), is one of the popular and likable of all the cast members, so she's very recognizable to most fans.  Of course, that can be a detriment to an actor or actress, as the more your face is associated as a character of a series, it makes it harder for movie audiences to distinguish the person from the persona they've created and made their own for many years.  So, I couldn't help but say to myself, after seeing the trailer for 2016's The Boy for the first time, Oh, that's Maggie from The Walking Dead!

 

All that notwithstanding, and speaking more of my initial viewing of the trailer for this film, I was far from being overwhelmed and had no inclination to travel to the local theater for a looksee when this was released.  See, my first impression of the film's premise was that it was an Annabelle rip-off and I just did not want to see another haunted doll flick.  However, I did give it to them for creating a doll that definitely had the creep factor about it, but I intentionally decided to wait to see it on DVD from my handy-dandy Netflix account.  So the occasion had come around the other day and I sat to watch The Boy.

 

Cue the synopsis...

 

While traveling to the United Kingdom from America, Greta Evans (Lauren Cohan) is hired as a nanny by Mr. And Mrs. Heelshire (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle, respectively) but is shocked that the English family's boy, Brahms, is actually a life-sized doll.  After Greta violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive.

 

Now, there are a few things in here that are reminiscent of classic horror movies, like the huge manor where the story takes place—it's a cathedral-like Victorian mansion, with many rooms and not enough light to penetrate every space, giving the film an already spooky feeling.  Also, this huge manor is in the middle of nowhere with no other buildings in sight.  In addition, being that the rest of the cast are from the UK also gives you that feeling of seeing a scary movie from yesteryear.

 

For the setup of this story, as Greta is brought in to the mansion and finally meets the Heelshires, I thought it was typical how the filmmakers kind of show Mrs. Heelshire as a mean-spirited snob.  She's introduced to us as sort of callous and hardhearted towards Greta, not to mention the standard Brit-who-loathes-Americans character she's made out to be at first, and I'm with the movie so far.  Even as we have our introduction of the doll, as the Heelshires present it as their son, Brahms, I was totally understanding Greta's reaction as she starts laughing, thinking this was some sort of joke.  What I hadn't gotten is why Greta stays when it's quickly brought to the forefront that the Heelshires appear to really believe that the creepy doll is their son.  A list is even discussed on how Greta is supposed to read the doll poetry, play music for it, change its clothes, so on and so on.  If it was me, I'd be asking to borrow the phone to call a taxi to bring me back to the city.  Nevertheless, there is a plot point posed later that sort of explains why she stays-more on that later.

 

Another character in this film is Malcolm (Rupert Evans) and I took this character as being a red herring throughout.  Quite a few times there was mention of how he's known the family for a long time and how he's the same age as the Heelshire's son who'd passed away years before.  But he's here from the beginning of the story, explained as the Heelshire's grocery delivery person, and I thought that was kind of thin and thought there had to be more to him than that.  Without giving important plot details away, I really thought Malcolm was going to be a turnaround character in the third act of this film.  As a nod to the actor, it was nice to see him again as I hadn't seen him in any film (not that he hasn't worked)—that I remember—since seeing him in Hellboy years before.

 

Now, the plot point that I'd mentioned, regarding the reason why Greta doesn't leave when she finds out that she's going to be a nanny for a doll is that she's basically running away from her problems back home.  Through her telephone conversations with her friend back home, the exposition is given to us that she has an abusive boyfriend back home that she's hiding from after leaving him.  I felt it was kind of thin, that maybe this aspect of the story could've been fleshed out a bit more in the writing.  But it hints at a bit of a love triangle as her boyfriend, Cole (Ben Robson), shows up and seems to size up Malcolm.  Nothing comes to a head with this dilemma, however, and I felt the filmmakers missed the mark to make this whole situation more interesting.  Instead, it just seemed like an unnecessary plot thread that goes nowhere.

 

Director William Brent Bell has been around the block with horror movies, seemingly an auteur in the genre, with The Devil Inside being his last big studio film before helming The Boy.  He does well with establishing the scenes, giving us the right amount of ambience and mood, never going over the top or going too much into the clichéd movie-making tropes.  Bell does what he can with this story, which has some merits but comes with some problems and plot holes, and gives us a slightly above-average scary movie.  Speaking of the story, the screenplay was written by Stacey Menear and if you've never heard of the name, you're not alone.  According to IMDb, Menear has only three credits under her name, all as a writer: The Boy, Mixtape, and Dennis the Menace.  The last two have not been released yet (apparently, the last title is going to be, yet another, remake), so this film was her first writing credit.  And...it's not bad...it's not great.  I'll just say she gets an 'A' for effort in her first outing as a writer.

 

To sum it all up, I'll have to say that I'm sorry I couldn't go too much further into the story, but I really don't want to give any part of it away, so let me give you my final "bit" on The Boy.

 

The film starts off strong and I was never really bored, nor was I ever wanting to shut it off after starting it.  There were quite a few eerie moments throughout to unnerve the average moviegoer and the designer of that doll should win an award.  The movie moves you in one direction throughout the first and  second thirds of it, changing direction quite forcefully and mysteriously while giving the film a whole other genre in the process.  Speaking of that, I found it to be a very strange decision on how they came to elect upon this facet of the story and I'm not quite sure on how I feel about that.  On one hand, it shocked me and explained everything rationally, but on the other hand it was sort of a cheat.  That aside, the direction and acting surely was top notch, there weren't too many instances that ever came up to make me think that the characters were acting unlike someone would in real life (besides not running out of that mansion when unexplained ruckuses start happening), so I'd recommend you all give this a look.  Certainly nothing I'd purchase for my collection, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

 

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