Monsters in the attic? Under the tundra? In space? To get you in the mood for Halloween, six Blade staffers recap their favorite scary movies, which can be rented, streamed, or viewed on broadcast or cable. The plots vary, but each left an indelible impression on the writer, even years after that first viewing:
Alien “scares the peanuts right out of your M&M’s.”
That line from Jack Kroll’s Newsweek review of Ridley Scott’s new science fiction film lured me into the theater when I was in college. Was it hyperbole, I wondered, or truth?
Closer to the latter, I discovered of the now-classic thriller (and franchise spawner), which proved the antithesis of such Force-fed space operas as Star Wars and the warm and fuzzy wonderment of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Even now, Alien packs a visceral punch: The crew of a space freighter wake from stasis to visit a nearby moon where they discover an abandoned alien vessel. Returning to their own ship, they inadvertently bring back an acid-drooling creature with an impenetrable exoskeleton and razor-sharp teeth the size of chalkboard erasers.
Sigourney Weaver delivers a star-making turn as Ripley, the one crew member with the cajones to take on the mother alien. The film has all the tropes of classic horror — dark and claustrophobic setting, unexpected twists, human characters at once flawed, foolish, and formidable.
Add multiple false endings (you think the monster is vanquished? Not quite), H.R. Giger’s creepy design for the title character, and one of the great movie tag lines of all time: “In space, no one can hear you scream.”
Alien stands up to repeated viewing. If you dare.
Available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.
— Mike Pearson, Blade features editor
The Thing from Another World, Howard Hawks' 1951 creepy masterpiece, unleashed a new monster for movie-goers: the blood-thirsty alien. But it was fright-master John Carpenter’s updated version, The Thing, that made the alien truly terrifying: not only did it kill people, it could become them.
The Thing is set at a U.S. research facility in Antarctica, which means the isolated crew of men are easy prey for the creature after it arrives in the form of a frightened sled dog and later assumes the visage of its victims. Once the team discovers that any one of them could be the alien, they are ruled by paranoia — except for Kurt Russell’s helicopter pilot-turned humanity’s last hope, R.J. MacReady, who remains as cool as the arctic chill outside to the end.
Widely panned by critics and audiences when first released, The Thing, with its groundbreaking visual effects, terrific ensemble, and haunted-house atmosphere, is now rightfully regarded as an all-time horror classic.
Available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, and Google Play.
— Kirk Baird, pop culture writer
• ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ 1991
The greatest scary movies aren't the slasher films full of blood and guts, rather the stories and villains that bore deep into one’s psyche.
Jonathan Demme's Silence of the Lambs is the pinnacle of the thriller genre. The film, adapted from the 1988 novel by Thomas Harris, stars Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter and Jodie Foster as FBI trainee Clarice Starling.
In her quest to apprehend a notorious serial killer, known only as Buffalo Bill, Starling enlists help from Lecter, a gifted psychiatrist who is incarcerated for a series of cannibalistic killings.
Nothing about the film is a cheap thrill; the plot’s slow burn comes from the brilliant cat-and-mouse game between Lecter and Starling.
When I first sat down to watch the film almost a decade after its theatrical release, I found the story so intense that it actually took three sittings to watch it in full.
Hopkins as Lecter is chilling throughout, and he delivers one of the best final lines in movie history.
The actor has since appeared in more than two dozen films and he last revisited the iconic role in 2001’s Hannibal, but I will forever see him as the serial killer.
Silence of the Lambs is just one of three films to win the top five prizes at the Academy Awards, taking Oscars for best picture, best director, best actor, best actress, and best adapted screenplay (Ted Tally).
Available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and HBO.
— Shannon Kolkedy
One scary movie that still terrifies me to this day is the early ‘70s classic The Exorcist, starring Linda Blair.
The movie is about a little girl who becomes possessed by a demon. After failed medical attempts, a priest from the family’s church decides to call upon an expert to perform an exorcism.
I remember watching this movie as a child at a neighbor’s house with the lights turned off and sitting on the couch completely terrified. Anything that has to do with demons or witches (I’m looking at you Wonderful Wizard Of Oz) still makes me uncomfortable at 26. In childhood, I had a recurring nightmare of a close friend of mine or someone I know being possessed by an evil entity, and that phobia continues today.
In writing this my co-workers informed me that the film was loosely based on actual events.
I can't wait for Halloween to be over.
Available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.
— Geoff Burns
Going back to when I was a child checking my closet and under my bed every night before going to sleep, things that go bump in the night have always been my greatest fear.
The original Paranormal Activity (2007) terrorized me, more than anything because the kitchen of the haunted home was nearly identical to my own. The “found-footage” format and the slowly ratcheting up of the haunting only added to the terror.
It's no exaggeration to say that I barely slept for three nights, always keeping one eye open to see if the door was swinging in the night or if my wife was standing over me in a trance.
Available on
Available on Hulu, Amazon (Free with Prime), iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.
— Brian Dugger
Silly name; very smart movie.
This 2014 Australian film flew under the radar of a lot of American horror fans, but its 98 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes is well-earned. The movie follows a single mother trying to care for her troubled son while coping with the fallout from her husband’s death. Soon, a mysterious children’s book invites the movie’s creepy title character into their lives, and the escalating horrors begin to tear at their psychological scars.
With a look clearly inspired by 1920s German expressionist classics like Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the movie makes the most of a modest budget by spinning an intimate, character-driven narrative that functions as well as an allegory for confronting grief as it does a straight-forward ghost story. It also features an enthralling performance by lead actress Essie Davis, who brings real emotional resonance to her role.
This movie works on a lot of levels: as a psychological horror film that creates an effective sense of dread, as a love letter to some of the greats of the genre’s earliest history, and as an insightful exploration of the human condition. This is an easy recommendation that will creep you out while it makes you think.
Available on YouTube, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and Vudu.
— Joe Landsberger
First Published October 25, 2018, 10:29 p.m.
