Top 11 Films For Your Halloween Season

7. Donnie Darko

The film is a cult classic for good reason.  It gives you psychological thrill, fear, creep-factor, and has a film-noir quality that makes it visually appealing.  The giant bunny is enough to give you nightmares for a few days and the fact that the climax of the movie is leading up to actual Halloween makes it perfect to put you in the mood for the holiday.

6. The Shining

What happens when you combine Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, and Jack Nicholson?  You get one of the most frightening tales ever told on film.  The film is able to terrify on several primal levels and is cinematically impressive the way Kubrick makes us feel so isolated in such a beautiful backdrop.

5. Halloween

I’m not a huge fan of slasher films, but if I have to pick one, I will pick the original.  John Carpenter introduced us to Michael Myers in 1978 and since then he has given us 10 sequels which have grossed collectively over $366million.  Carpenter has been called the “Master of Horror” and if you watch this film in the dark by yourself on Halloween it will be hard to disagree with the nickname.

4. 28 Days Later

I love a good zombie movie and there are so many to choose from, but “28 Days Later” my favorite to re-watch once a year.  It is not the first, it is not the goriest, and it is not the scariest, but it is the best overall when it comes to storyline and jump factor.  The realism of the characters’ struggle in the film is something that needs to emulated by all post-apocalyptic films.

3. Young Frankenstein

This year is the 40th anniversary of Mel Brooks’ comedic classic and it is still a blast to watch every time (and as promised Film Fad will have a coming feature celebrating the film).  Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman are able to make us feel just a bit uneasy but still have us laughing through the entire film.  This is a film that when you hear a friend has not seen it, you force them to sit down and watch it.

Click to the next page below for the final two!