🔪 Shock and awe: nine Halloween tips from the darkest & obscure corners of film history 🎃
The fact that Halloween doesn’t really hold any cultural tradition or significance on the European continent is still something I, as a European can quite easily overlook. Any opportunity to delve into one of my favorite genres, horror is a good one.
I’ve only gone to a Halloween party once before (as killer nurse with fake blood and all), every year I look forward to checking out at last one new to me horror movie (usually days after the actual day of Halloween I’m always late to anything if I’m being honest it’s why every horror film I’ve ever covered in October is under the tag #late Halloween).
So it’s safe to say I’m not especially crazy about the holiday, perhaps because I didn’t really grow up with. Sure they organized a haunted house type of thing at school but it was never the experience an American high school kid would likely have had.
It would be untrue to say I don’t enjoy some things about the holiday, like a Halloween snack: last year it was a chocolate pumpkin and also an actual pumpkin, from my neighbor’s Finca (which if you’re wondering is a Spanish type of ranch or farm) incorporated into a pasta for dinner, so probably too healthy to be a snack.
But anyway, each year I do have some kind of tradition: I have my best friend over and we watch a few horror movies, whilst huddled under a blanket with hot chocolate.
She used to hate the genre but over the years, I’ve slowly sneakily gotten her into scarier and more extreme horror, and now she loves it too the one I don’t think she’s quite ready for yet is The Exorcist but we’re getting there...
There are also things I enjoy less of course: like kids and teenagers egging buildings and windows, this actually happened with our apartment last year (though we weren’t the only ones) and it was particularly hard to remove from the window and the smell was, to put it mildly rather unpleasant.
But what bothers me most is perhaps why mostly the same uninspired film tips always seem to resurface around this time of the year? When the genre has produced many more great films over the years? Films like Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street are classics for good reason, but they’re obviously not the only ones.
Mind you, the following suggestions are not all unbearably suspenseful nail biters and may not keep you on the edge of your chair or awake at night. But one thing is certain: they’ll leave an impression for good or worse. Even I don’t want to watch some of these ever again.
If you’re faint of heart I suggest stopping to read now...
1. Häxän (1922)
Why not let yourself shudder with a silent film? Häxan dates back to the 1920s when Sweden was still a major player in the film industry (oh, those bygone times) and stood out with rather extreme films that went against the cultured Hollywood morality. Häxan is the perfect example of this: a pseudo-documentary that depicts medieval witches' persecution with Hieronymus Bosch like scenes and an unbridled imagination.
Highlight: a black mass where Satan himself summons the parishioners towards him.
2. Freaks (1932)
The first exploitation film ever made? Tod Browning provided us with a bizarre look into the curiosity cabinet, a rather dark and cruel thing to exist in retrospect. Rather a tragic story than a real horror film, but the conditions of the (otherwise really deformed) protagonists makes Freaks a very uncomfortable viewing experience. The infamous original ending, which included even a castration scene, probably lies somewhere buried deep under the old MGM studios.
Highlight: when the 'freaks' burst into song to welcome a new member in their exclusive company.
3. Two Thousand Maniacs! (1964)
A Halloween list without a good dash of hillbilly horror is like a cafe without beer. Two Thousand Maniacs! was made in the sixties when movies still sometimes got an exclamation mark at the end of the title (at least you knew it would be dramatic ) and tells the story of some unsuspecting Yankees that end up in a stereotypical redneck town where they are welcomed as guests of honor of a local party, before they are ritually slaughtered.
Director Herschel Gordon Lewis - known as the godfather of gore - lives up to his name and delivers an exceptionally bloody film for his time. Incidentally, the path was paved for countless later slasher and splatter films, but due to his amateurish drollness and great emphasis on southern folklore not exactly a milestone in film history but more likely to be recommended for its high camp content.
Highlight: the festive opening scene with infectious banjo seating, one of the most beautifully unsettling portraits of southern hospitality of all time. “Ooooh the south's gonna rii-iiise again!”
4. The Wicker Man (1973)
The Wicker Man is unique in its kind. A brilliant, atmospheric curiosity about a strict religious policeman who investigates the mysterious disappearance of a young girl on an island where the residents live a pagan lifestyle.
Besides the English folklore, countless frenzied scenes and the masterful role of Christopher Lee as the sinister Lord Summerisle, the strangest thing about it is that for a film with a small dozen musical moments it can be so damn nasty at times. Director Robin Hardy tried after 40 years of silence to revive the saga with The Wicker Tree, completely in vain. Lightning only strikes once is the rule with this type of movies.
Highlight: the seduction dance of siren Britt Eckland in her bare butt, which led to former boyfriend Rod Stewart wanting to take the film out of circulation.
5. The Driller Killer (1979)
With the earnings of a porno so dubiously titled (I wouldn't be able to type it out here without blushing and feeling vaguely dirty), Abel Ferrara directed his own version of Taxi Driver completely in the atmosphere of the late 70s.
The protagonist is Ferrara himself under the pseudonym 'Jimmy Laine' as an avant-garde artist who one day can no longer cope with the banality of the shady New York existence and is going to take on the ‘trash’ of society with - you guessed it - a gigantic drill. The film is so reprehensible, sleazy and dirty that it personally set in motion the video nasties riot in Britain. Bravo, Abel.
Highlight: the scene where pizza is eaten is in some way somehow more disturbing than all the bloodshed combined.
6. Zombi 2 (1979)
Long before The Asylum, the Italians had already discovered the profitable rip-off market. Every successful American blockbuster got a 'sequel', in many cases just a home-made low-budget spaghetti version with awful English-language dubbing. Zombi 2 of legend Lucio Fulci, the unofficial sequel to Romero's Dawn of the Dead, is actually quite entertaining, exciting and surprisingly well executed.
Highlight: the unforgettable underwater duel between a zombie and a shark. Such “high standing” cinematic moments or in my case, trash I’m happy to know my parents would find shocking. Sometimes all that it takes us to remind us why we ever became a cinephile…
7. Sleepaway Camp (1983)
Completely unjustly labeled as a Friday the 13th clone! This film works on so many levels: first and foremost, it is a nasty story that shows the growing pains of growing up in a disturbing way.
You can consider the film as a good cautionary tale against terrible summer camps (I’ve always hated them anyway, but maybe this is childhood trauma talking): the accommodation is poor and a lot of the time uncomfortable, the games boring, the food disgusting and the supervisors annoying.
But there are also some creepy scenes inspired by German Expressionism and an ending that will make the hairs on your neck stand up. A diamond in the rough for those who can watch campy and theatrical acting and tolerate the many crimes against fashion (apparently tank tops that reached far above the navel were the most normal thing in the world for 80’s men).
Highlight: a hypnotic softball game that contributes nothing to the plot, but for some reason still lasts for about ten minutes.
Who even let him get away with those shorts...
8. Phenomena (1985)
Anyone who, after Profondo Rosso thinks they’ve discovered the cross between Antonioni and Hitchcock in Dario Argento, should give Phenomena a chance.
A delightful 80's kitsch feast with ridiculous imagery and a misplaced soundtrack by Iron Maiden and is about a girl who needs to use her telekinetic power to communicate with insects to solve a murder case.
Did I mention that there is a rabid chimpanzee with a razor in it? A Completely incoherent scenario without any tempo and with all sorts of weird side jumps (there are a lot or 5 scenes that expertly kill all suspense, in which Donald Pleasence as professor emeritus endlessly rambles on about insects), but some grotesque set pieces and Argento's feeling for absolute madness make up for a lot.
Highlight: Jennifer Connelly’s performance. But believe me, you just do not want to know how old she was then.
9. Slaughter High (1986)
And to close, another 80's slasher. I had to! In the second half of the 80’s the genre had bled to death and serious film studios (as far as this is not a contradiction in terms) didn’t want to buy in anymore.
The consequence? the genre was marginalized and fully relocated to the low budget VHS market. The positive side-effect? In the best cases, these films excelled in student-like charm and creativity.
Slaughter High is the typical example of this and deals with the nerd Marty who, after years of a prank that got out of hand, returns to a school reunion to avenge his bullies. Highly fun, acted with plenty of enthusiasm and a self-conscious tone that brings to mind similarities with Scream.
Highlight: the deliciously teasing melody that is played over and over again when the killer appears.
