Halloween is the ideal time to take a stab at more eerie, unsettling films, whether they are made by horror icons like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees.
An easier transition into thrillers often involves larger-than-life horror stars, like movie monsters that haunt castles or stomp on cities. Whether it’s King Kong or Godzilla smashing through New York, Bela Lugosi or Christopher Lee terrorizing Transylvania as Bram Stoker’s Dracula or Dr. Frankenstein screaming “it’s alive” in any one of his 50-plus film appearances, the otherworld energy helps make these movies palatable. Disturbed spirits haunt families in “The Exorcist,” “Poltergeist” and “The Conjuring,” but they aren’t the only ones to be afraid of, as Hannibal Lecter and Buffalo Bill prove men can also be monsters in “Silence of the Lambs.”
When it comes to suspense, few match the skills of the master: Alfred Hitchcock, whose work includes characters like Norman Bates in “Psycho,” James Stewart in “Rear Window” or the feathery fowls of “The Birds.” If Alfred Hitchcock is too creepy, then you won’t fare any better with Stephen King, whose spine-tingling works deliver disturbing chills thanks to Jack Nicholson in “The Shining,” Pennywise the Dancing Clown in “It” or Sissy Spacek in “Carrie.” M. Night Shyamalan also inspired nightmares in “The Sixth Sense” and “Signs” before his career became a nightmare itself thanks to “The Happening.” If you need a good “Scream,” then Wes Craven has got you covered with Ghostface and Freddy Kruger from the “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchise. Because if there’s anything that will keep you up at night, it’s flashes of a great villain popping up on the back of your eyelids.