Michigan Halloween

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Watching Scary or Thrilling movies in honor of Halloween

As Halloween has been getting closer, Ive been thinking about going through my DVD library and/or Netflix and finding one or two horror movies to re-watch. Im not a big fan of horror films, and in fact I dont like seeing people get slashed and it takes days for me to go back to the basement after seeing anything involving supernatural beings, but it is one of the ways of taking advantage of the time when the kids are sleeping or out of the house. And, I have found that I liked some of them. The Ring series of films might be one that I will watch back-to-back (and actually own). This movie is actually a good example of the type of horror films I like: psychological, with a little bit of mystery, but still lots of casualties by the end of the first hour of the film. The Ring earned its popularity with a pretty solid plot and a healthy dose of scares. Ive often think about the VHS video from the movie whenever I hear that something has gone viral on YouTube. When you think about it, if you rebooted The Ring for the twenty-first century, the video would probably be put on the Internet and shared over Facebook or YouTube instead of a VHS, giving it a much farther reach than when it was just on VHS. Thats a lot of computer screens for Samara to crawl out of! The Ring 2 was okay but I didnt think that it really held up to the original movie (a problem with a lot of sequels). I read the translation of the novel that The Ring, and the Japanese version Ringu are based off of, and I was surprised by the difference. The novel read more like a police procedure or science fiction novel than horror. There was a Samara character, and also literally a virus which mutated. One movie that I watched on Netflix which I might watch again in honor of Halloween is Let the Right One in, or if you are watching the American version, Let Me In. I saw both on Netflix, and despite the subtitles I liked the original a little better. I also read the novel that the movies were based off of, and of course it goes into more detail than what you can get from a movie. In it, a ten year boy who is picked on by bullies at school befriends a girl who moves in who just happens to be a vampire. They slowly become friends, and she helps him with his bullying problem. The relationship between the two is so endearing, that you hope that it will work out, but this is no ordinary boy meets girl storyline. Compared against the Twilight movies, Let the right one in takes a deeper, more psychological look at the nature of vampirism and, I think, relationships. I probably wont watch all of them again, but the trilogy of Paranormal Activity movies would be worth a rewatch this Fall.

Michigan Halloween
View as: | Pressbooks | Google | Activity Feed | Dashboard What are some of the movie watching traditions that you follow around Halloween time? What have been your favorite or least favorite horror films? Share your response in the comments below.