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Wednesday, 16 October 2013

IVM's 50 essential horror films for Halloween



We've had a big list for those who like the written word... but what about those who don't have the time or even the inclination to sit down and read a book? Well we thought we'd cover all the bases and give you a run-down some of our favourite scary films – some new, some old – that will be perfect for your own horror movie marathons this Halloween... Again, it's by no means a definitive list, but certainly some suggestions to add a little terror to the dark evenings.


The Wicker Man (1973)
A police sergeant is sent to a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl whom the townsfolk claim never existed. Stranger still are the rites that take place there. (IMDB)




Halloween (1978)
A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood for the murder of his sister, escapes and stalks a bookish teenage girl and her friends while his doctor chases him through the streets. (IMDB)

Friday The 13th (1980) 
Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning. (IMDB)

The Devil Rides Out (1968)
In the countryside of England, the Duc de Richleau a.k.a Nicholas welcomes his old friend Rex Van Ryn that has flown to meet him and Simon Aron, who is the son of an old friend of them that had passed away but charged them the task of watching the youngster. Nicholas and Rex unexpectedly visit Simon that is receiving twelve mysterious friends. Soon Nicholas, who is proficient in black magic, learns that the guests are member of a satanic cult and Simon and his friend Tanith Carlisle will be baptized by the powerful leader Mocata to serve the devil. (IMDB)

Susperia (1976)
A newcomer to a fancy ballet academy gradually comes to realize that the school is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of grisly murders. (IMDB)

The Exorcist (1973)
When a teenage girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two priests to save her daughter. (IMDB)

The Lords Of Salem (2012)
Heidi, a radio DJ, is sent a box containing a record -- a "gift from the Lords." The sounds within the grooves trigger flashbacks of her town's violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the Lords back to take revenge on Salem, Massachusetts? (IMDB)

Frankenstein (1931)
Horror classic in which an obsessed scientist assembles a living being from parts of exhumed corpses. (IMDB)

A Field In England (2013)
Fleeing for their lives, a small party abandon their Civil War confederates and escape through an overgrown field. Thinking only of what lay behind, they are ambushed by two dangerous men and made to search the field. Psychedelia, madness and chaotic forces slowly overtake the group as they question what treasure lies within the malignant field. (IMDB)



Dracula (1958)
After Jonathan Harker attacks Dracula at his castle (apparently somewhere in Germany), the vampire travels to a nearby city, where he preys on the family of Harker's fiancée. The only one who may be able to protect them is Dr. van Helsing, Harker's friend and fellow-student of vampires, who is determined to destroy Dracula, whatever the cost. (IMDB)

The Mummy (1959)
In the 1890s a team of British archaeologists discover the untouched tomb of Princess Ananka but accidentally bring the mummified body of her High Priest back to life. Three years later back in England a follower of the same Egyptian religion unleashes the mummy to exact grisly revenge on the despoilers of the sacred past. (IMDB)

Mama (2013)
Annabel and Lucas are faced with the challenge of raising his young nieces that were left alone in the forest for 5 years.... but how alone were they? (IMDB)

Nosferatu (1922)
Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter's wife. Silent classic based on the story "Dracula." (IMDB)

The Evil Dead (1983)
Five friends travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release flesh-possessing demons. (IMDB)

Psycho (1960)
A Phoenix secretary steals $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother. (IMDB)

Rosemary's Baby (1968)
A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbours and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life. (IMDB)

Hellraiser (1987)
An unfaithful wife encounters the zombie of her dead lover, who's being chased by demons after he escaped from their sado-masochistic Hell. (IMDB)



World War Z (2013)
United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to destroy humanity itself. (IMDB)

Carnival Of Souls (1962)
After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival. (IMDB)

The Purge (2013)
In the future, a wealthy family is held hostage for harbouring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legalized. (IMDB)

The Sixth Sense (1999)
A boy who communicates with spirits that don't know they're dead seeks the help of a disheartened child psychologist. (IMDB)

Maniac (2013)
As he helps a young artist with her upcoming exhibition, the owner of a mannequin shop's deadly, suppressed desires come to the surface. (IMDB)

Stoker (2013)
After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, who she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him. (IMDB)

The Call Of Cthulu (2005)
While sorting the affairs of his late Uncle, a man accidentally stumbles across a series of dark secrets connected to an ancient horror waiting to be freed. (IMDB)



The Crow (1994)
A man brutally murdered comes back to life as an undead avenger of his and his fiancée's murder. (IMDB)

Freaks (1932)
A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance. (IMDB)

The Thing (1982)
Scientists in the Antarctic are confronted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of the people that it kills. (IMDB)

Ring (Ringu) (2000)
A mysterious video kills whoever views it, unless that viewer can solve its mystery. (IMDB)

Vampyr (1932)
A traveller obsessed with the supernatural visits an old inn and finds evidence of vampires. (IMDB)

The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims. (IMDB)

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978)
In San Francisco, a group of people discover the human race is being replaced one by one, with clones devoid of emotion. (IMDB)

Videodrome (1983)
A sleazy cable-TV programmer begins to see his life and the future of media spin out of control in a very unusual fashion when he acquires a new kind of programming for his station. (IMDB)

The Shining (1980)
A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. (IMDB)



The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Five friends visiting their grandpa's old house are hunted down and terrorized by a chainsaw wielding killer and his family of grave-robbing cannibals. (IMDB)

Dead Of Night (1945)
An architect senses impending doom as his half-remembered recurring dream turns into reality. The guests at the country house encourage him to stay as they take turns telling supernatural tales. (IMDB)

Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of 3 people with the culprit being the legendary apparition, the Headless Horseman. (IMDB)

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)
In the dreams of his victims, a spectral child murderer stalks the children of the members of the lynch mob that killed him. (IMDB)

Alien (1979)
The space vessel Nostromo and its crew receive a distress call from a alien planet. After searching for survivors that planet they head back home only to realize that an deadly alien life form has joined them. (IMDB)

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
A New York University professor returns from a rescue mission to the Amazon rainforest with the footage shot by a lost team of documentarians who were making a film about the area's local cannibal tribes. (IMDB)

Poltergeist (1982)
A family's home is haunted by a host of ghosts. (IMDB)

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse. (IMDB)

The Omen (1976)
An American ambassador learns to his horror that his son is actually the literal Antichrist. (IMDB)



An American Werewolf In London (1981)
Two American college students on a walking tour of Britain are attacked by a werewolf that none of the locals will admit exists. (IMDB)

The Devils (1971)
In 17th-century France, Father Urbain Grandier seeks to protect the city of Loudun from the corrupt establishment of Cardinal Richelieu. Hysteria occurs within the city when he is accused of witchcraft by a sexually repressed nun. (IMDB)

Eraserhead (1977)
Henry Spencer tries to survive his industrial environment, his angry girlfriend, and the unbearable screams of his newly born mutant child. (IMDB)

Carrie (1976)
A young, abused and timid 17-year-old girl discovers she has telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her school's prom by a humiliating prank. (IMDB)

Let Me In (2010)
A bullied young boy befriends a young female vampire who lives in secrecy with her guardian. (IMDB)

The Hunger (1983)
he Egyptian vampire lady Miriam subsists upon the blood of her lovers. In return the guys or girls don't age... until Miriam has enough of them. Unfortunately that's currently the case with John, so his life expectancy is below 24 hours. Desperately he seeks help from the famous Dr. Sarah Roberts. She doesn't really believe his story, but becomes curious and contacts Miriam ... and gets caught in her ban, too. (IMDB)

The Descent (2005)
A caving expedition goes horribly wrong, as the explorers become trapped and ultimately pursued by a strange breed of predators. (IMDB)

A brilliant surgeon, Dr. Génessier, helped by his assistant Louise, kidnaps nice young women. He removes their faces and tries to graft them onto the head on his beloved daughter Christiane, whose face has been entirely spoiled in a car crash. All the experiments fail, and the victims die, but Génessier keeps trying... (IMDB)



What will you be watching this Halloween? Let us know in the comments for this post on our facebook page.