Scary Movie Night: Top 10 DVD and Blu-ray picks for Halloween
I have long been a stalwart proponent of the Scary Movie Night at home. Seeing horror films at the multiplex is a certain kind of fun -- there's something about the communal experience that enhances a good scary movie. But watching at home has a whole different vibe. With the lights down and the surround sound up, the spookiness invades your personal space. After a scary movie at the cinema, you go out to the parking lot. After a scary movie at home, you go to bed.
Below are ten recommendations for good scary movies on DVD and Blu-ray, across a variety of genres, with some relatively obscure titles for the adventurous viewer. For older films, the provided links point to specific reissue packages that have improved technical specs and/or interesting bonus materials, in case you're looking to add to your movie collection on disc. But if you're in a hurry, you can also find most of these in digital format, for instant viewing via the usual online retailers or your cable provider.
Last year's big Halloween hit at the box office, The Conjuring is a solid haunted house story that splits its focus between the unfortunate Perron family (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor), victims of a violent haunting, and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), called in to check things out. Pleasantly hokey and sufficiently scary, the movie has fun dragging out every haunted house trope in the book -- secret cellars, creepy dolls, off-key music boxes, scary things in mirrors and spooky little girls. Bonus materials on the DVD/Blu-ray combo pack feature historical details of the ostensibly true story, and details on the technical trickery in play.
(The prequel movie Annabelle is in theaters now.)
The horror-comedy film is tricky to pull off, but when it's done well, it's a great Halloween movie night option. There's something about zombie movies in particular that seems to inspire the best spoofery. Maybe it's because the zombie's dilemma is so existentially absurd -- not quite dead, not really alive, wardrobe options terminally depressing...The British import Shaun of the Dead (from the makers of Hot Fuzz and The World's End) brings a laddish attitude to the usual proceedings and a whole new level to the term deadpan humor. There are literally dozens of zombie horror-comedies out there, but Shaun still reigns as the funniest and sharpest.
In my occasionally obsessive opinion, director Ridley Scott's Alien is among the scariest movies ever made -- an inspired sci-fi/horror hybrid that plays like a haunted house movie in space. If you haven't seen it for a while, it's worth revisiting: The film's less-is-more approach to horror storytelling scales down nicely from the big screen to your living room TV.
For serious fans, the recently released 35th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray includes both the 1979 theatrical version and the 2003 director's cut, plus an intro and audio commentary track from Scott, deleted and extended scenes, and a reprint of the original Alien comic book.
The silent film Nosferatu, made in 1922, is generally acknowledged as being the best vampire movie ever made. Shadow of the Vampire is the story of the making of that film, as well as being a vampire story in its own right. The trick? In the movie-within-the-movie, actor Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe) actually is a vampire, and director F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich) is happy to let him dine on the cast and crew in exchange for the ultimate authentic performance.
If you're in the mood for a stylish, moody, art-house Halloween movie night, this one is highly recommended.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
A scary story of such sturdiness that it's been made three separate times (and ripped off more than that), the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers remains the best.
The concept of pod people from space replacing your friends and family is paranoia writ large (and lends itself to political allegory in any era), but watch how director Phillip Kaufman ratchets up the fear without actually showing much of anything. It's all in your head, see? Probably the scariest PG-rated movie ever made.
Two parts Deliverance, one part Alien, with some primal fear-of-the-dark psychology thrown in, The Descent is an overlooked gem that tells the story of six women whose caving adventure goes very, very wrong.
Writer/director Neil Marshall provides a dozen different kinds of scares, and what may well be the 21st century's first brand-new monster, both in concept and (heh, heh) execution. Think about that ambiguous ending, and ask yourself: What actually happened down there? Be forewarned -- the unrated DVD/Blu-ray version is gleefully gory.
By far the best of the Stephen King movie adaptations, director Stanley Kubrick's classic freakout The Shining elevate the haunted house genre tale (in this case, a haunted hotel) into realms of real hellishness and psychological terror. Room 237 is a fascinating documentary on the weird cult of obsession that's grown around the film among hardcore fans. You'll hear from various conspiracy theorists who insist that Kubrick threaded secret meanings into the movie about things like American Indian genocide, the Holocaust, and/or the Apollo 11 moon landing. It all makes for a creepy, thinky companion piece to the original film -- could be a great double feature bill.
Mama
There are five or six code-red scares in Mama, the spooky paranormal thriller from producer Guillermo del Toro and first-time director Andrés Muschietti. Fans of del Toro's previous horror movies (The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labyrinth) will recognize his sensibilities all over this thing. When two feral little girls are found in the woods, adoptive parents Annabelle (Jessica Chastain) and Lucas (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Jaime Lannister to you Game of Thrones fans) discover the kids have a ghostly protector with them. This is Mama, and she's none too happy with the new custody situation. Mama is a good scary movie with flashes of greatness. Don't read up too much on it if you want to preserve the surprises.
This is the granddaddy, of course -- the scariest movie ever made. The Exorcist retains a primeval, mythic power that has less to do with theology than with the visceral nature of cinema.
Director William Friedkin's story of demonic possession boasts a dozen truly heart-stopping moments, and this Extended Director's Cut edition adds a couple more, including the infamous "spider-walk" scene. No kidding -- if you've never seen The Exorcist, this is no scary-movie thrill ride. This is a traumatic experience. Discretion is advised.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Finally, if you're looking for something you can watch with the kids, you can't go wrong with the perennial Halloween classic It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The goodies are all here, as you remember them: Charlie Brown's trick-or-treat bag of rocks, Snoopy's Red Baron fantasies and of course Linus' interminable wait for the Great Pumpkin. It's a kind of magic, really, how Charles Schulz's creations retain their timeless appeal over generations.
Also included on the DVD is the bonus short, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown.
Double Secret Bonus Pick
For those who still enjoy the occasional book to the electronic screen, Time-Life recently issued the abbreviated tome of spookiness known as Mysteries of the Unknown, an update to the series of books sold on TV in the late 1980s. I read those original books as a kid, and they sparked a lifelong obsession with scary movies and fringe science. The new one-off book doesn't have the heft or scope of the original, but it's a great entry point for younger readers interested in the weird and spooky -- hauntings, paranormal phenomena, UFOs, magical arts, mystical places, etc.
