Online Editor James Smurthwaite gives his tips for a slightly alternative Halloween movie selection.
With the cancellation of the Enchanted Forest, many of us will be wondering how else we can entertain ourselves on Halloween.
Of course, the most obvious answer would be to stick on a horror film with our house mates and then periodically attempt to scare each other throughout the night, but frankly this doesn’t do the spookiest night of the year justice.
There’s only so many times you can see mass mutilation and gore before it gets a bit boring, the Found Footage genre has been done to death and I think we all know that surviving a zombie apocolypse is easy if you avoid the mall.
So what can you watch to give you a good old fashioned 8 hours of nightmares?
1. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
I know what you’re thinking, ‘who could possibly be scared of a film about a flying car but vertigo sufferers?’
Probably people who see this.
In these days, when every children’s TV presenter and his driver are accused of child sex offences, this scene has become even more poignant. He does have several supernatural advantages that rack up the fear factor though, try for example that his long hooked nose is used for smelling children’s blood!
Marilyn Manson found this scene so traumatising that he based his on-stage persona on the Child Catcher. That’s how scary this is.
Although to be honest, the adults could have been a bit more pro active in stopping the kids…
2. The Witches
This film begins with a young boy being orphaned and doesn’t get any better.
Witches is the book in which Roald Dahl’s imagination explores its most morbid tangent, and given the creepiness of characters such as Miss Trunchbull, Aunt Spiker and Willy Wonka, that’s a pretty dark place.
The main antagonist, the nightmare inducing Grand High Witch, has a face not even a mother could love and to be honest, when Luke, the hero of the film, is turned into a mouse he looks pretty unsettling too!
At least the film gives us a happy ending, Luke is transformed back from a mouse to a human being. In the book, Luke is told he will remain as a mouse forever with nine years to live.
3. Shakes the Clown
If you thought one clown in a film was bad (It, Poultergeist etc) then this one will have you piling cushions over your face faster than you can say “hey, hey kids”.
Shakes is an alcoholic clown, who refuses to obey the ‘Clown Code of Ecthics’, and as such, is framed for the murder of his boss.
Whilst the film is actually quite funny in parts, if you’re anything like me, the sheer volume of clowns will border on unbearable, and bring back all those mental scars you’d long since repressed.
Do you agree with James’ list? What unconventional films have scared you? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or by commenting below.
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