Newswise — For those who prefer to curl up inside the safety of their own home on a spooky Halloween night, a horror movie marathon is often an effective antidote to screaming, candy-crazed children or the claustrophobia of a "spirited" Halloween party. Northern Michigan University's Leonard Heldreth, film critic and co-editor of "The Blood is Life: Vampires in Literature," recommends 15 films guaranteed to bring the chill of Devil's Night into your living room. He cautions viewers to take these rankings as rough, not definitive. "Even within the horror genre, apples begin to be compared to oranges, i.e., is this vampire film better than that ghost film?" Heldreth said. "Some, like Psycho, are familiar but so classic that they have to be on the list. Others, like The Changeling or Dead Ringers, are less known but have their own eerie charm. Enjoy."
1. Psycho (1960, dir. Alfred Hitchcock). Hitchcock's classic film, whose influence cannot be overestimated, still has the power to shock, even with repeated viewings. Despite the pop-Freudian explanation at the end (a repeated Hitchcock weakness), the last shot of the superimposition of the skull brings back the fear. 2. The Innocents (1961, dir. Jack Clayton). This frightening film, based on Henry James's "The Turn of the Screw," preserves the source's ambiguity. Deborah Kerr gives a solid performance as the governess, the children are beautiful and, perhaps, corrupt, and the English manor house provides an elegant setting captured in beautiful black and white cinemascope. 3. The Haunting (1963, dir Robert Wise). This adaptation of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House presents an English country house that has gone mad. Little is explained, but something walks the halls of Hill House and snuffles at the doors. Claire Bloom and Julie Harris are excellent, and Harris's scene where she clasps at Bloom's hand in the dark is truly terrifying. 4. The Others (2001, dir Alejandro Amenabar). At the end of World War II a woman is isolated with her two children in a dilapidated mansion on an island in the British Channel. A moody, perplexing film that keeps the audience on edge and guessing as Nicole Kidman tries to protect herself and her children from whatever's out there. 5. The Changeling (1979, dir Peter Medak). A music professor loses his wife and daughter in an auto accident and flees to a new position in another town. But in the house that he rents, something waits that bounces a ball down the stairs and rolls a child's dusty wheelchair out of the attic"¦ 6. Carrie (1976, dir Brian de Palma). One of the best adaptations of a Stephen King novel, this film benefits from the effects and an excellent performance by Sissy Spacek. Few can resist siding with Carrie as she brings down the house on her tormenters. Anyone overly familiar with Carrie should try De Palma's Dressed to Kill or Sisters, both equally good and just as scary. 7. Dead Ringers (1988, dir David Cronenberg). Based on a true story, this account of identical twin gynecologists is an account of a spiral down into drugs and madness. Jeremy Irons in a stunning performance plays both brothers who take advantage of their patients, and the red surgical robes and twisted examination instruments will bring a shudder. 8. Halloween (1978, dir John Carpenter). A list of Halloween movies could not exclude John Carpenter's work that set the tone for all the subsequent maniac slasher films. Carpenter's film benefits from excellent direction, a stripped down plot, his own effective score, restrained bloodletting, and a successful attempt to turn individual evil into something as mythic as the boogeyman. 9. Horror of Dracula (1958, dir Terence Fisher). My favorite of all the Dracula films, primarily because of the performances by Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, the moody technicolor settings, and the definitive disintegration scene at the end. 10. Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein (1931, 1935, dir James Whale). Halloween without the Frankenstein monster is like a birthday without a cake, so check out James Whale's films, both of which star Boris Karloff as the monster. Nobody does it better. (Try to get the reconstructed version of Frankenstein where the monster puts the little girl into the river, a scene originally cut by U. S. censors.) 11. American Werewolf in London (1981, dir John Landis). Humor, horror, and teen angst are stirred together in this effective account of a young American bitten on the moors by a British werewolf. At least the werewolf doesn't wake up fully dressed after he reverts back to human form, and the transformation effects by Rick Baker make you wince. 12 The Exorcist (1973, dir William Friedkin). A young girl is possessed by a demon that makes her swear, spout vomit, and speak in a raspy voice. Lots of shocks and surprises in a well-constructed and visually effective film. Get the director's cut as opposed to the original theatrical release. 13. Freaks (1932, dir Todd Browning). A unique film set in a carnival and mostly acted by people who were actual sideshow exhibits—the "freaks" of the title. When a beautiful woman attempts to cheat a midget out of his money by marrying him, his little friends set out for revenge one rainy night. Audience and studio reaction to the film was so negative (people fainted) that Browning's career was almost ruined, and the film was not seen for a long time. 14. Night of the Hunter (1955, dir Charles Laughton). Based on a Davis Grubb novel and set on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River, this film has two children in distress, beautiful black and white photography, and lots of suspense. Robert Mitchum, in perhaps his greatest role, is the murderous preacher with "love" tattooed on the fingers of one hand and "hate" on the other. 15. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, dir Peter Weir). This surreal, frightening film is based on a true incident about some girls disappearing on an excursion in Australia at the turn of the century. Nothing is explained because no one is certain what actually happened, and that makes the hypnotic, claustrophobic quality of the film even more effective.
Heldreth also recommends the following four non-English-language films "for those whose Halloween fear does not extend to subtitles:" Eyes without a Face (1960, dir Georges Franju), The Devil's Backbone (2001, dir Guillermo del Toro), Onibaba (1964, dir Kaneto Shindo), and Diabolique (1955, dir Henri-Georges Clouzot). Of the latter, Heldreth warns, "Avoid the Sharon Stone remake."
In 1999, Heldreth edited "The Blood is Life" with Mary Pharr and contributed an essay on S.P. Somtow's creation, the boy vampire Timmy Valentine. "In recent decades, readers have been thrilled with vampires who are neither diabolical or repulsive, but chic and active in a universe where ambiguity prevails," Heldreth said. He also edited an issue of "The Journal of Popular Film and Television," which explored live-action portrayals of vampires.
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