Need something to do on Halloween? Boy, do we have a movie (or two) for you

Ledger Staff Writer

Since you won’t be trick or treating on Oct. 31 this year (remember, Gaffney and Blacksburg celebrate Saturday night) you may be stuck for something to do in the Halloween spirit. Fear not faithful reader, The Ledger staff has put together a list of our favorite Horror movies to sate those creepy desires.

Following on the heels of his success in the immortal “Psycho,” Alfred Hitchcock was hard pressed to catch lightning in a bottle again. Publisher Cody Sossamon lists Hitchcock’s first film immediately following the adventures of Norman Bates as one of his favorites. It was “Rear Window” (PG) in 1954. The premise goes like this; A wheelchair bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder. Like all Hitchcock classics, “Rear Window” relies on superior writing and incredibly tense timing to scare the viewer, rather than sheer gore like some modern horror.

Donna Parker, assistant office manager, was scared to death by “The Ring,” (PG-13) a 2002 movie which shares the harrowing tale of a killer videotape. All who watch the particular video die within 7 days. Also on her list is “John Carpenter’s: The Thing,” (R) an out of this world account of a shapeshifting, body-possessing alien beast. Based on John Campbell’s short story ‘Who goes there?’ the film made the antarctic more scary than it already was. And while the 1982 special effects are starting to show their age (yes kids, we did get good movies before the Internet) the film still managed to scare up quite a profit for its recent DVD release.

Office manager Gina Poole’s daughter Bethany chimed in with her choices for fright flicks. Topping the list was “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” (R) not the original Leatherface, but the 2003 remake. Starring Jessica Biel as the damsel in distress, the gorefest still manages to elicit a jump from those who

aren’t prepared for it’s gut-ripping scenes. And in keeping with her theme of modern horror, she also liked “Feardotcom.”(R) If a videotape can kill, why not a website?

Classified advertising manager Phyllis Wilson had nightmares after “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”(R) The 1984 horror masterpiece of Wes Craven details dead child murderer Freddy Krueger’s attempt to get revenge on his own killers by attacking their present-day offspring in their dreams. If it sounds complicated, it is — but also very scary...pass the No-doze. And who can forget Jack Nicholson rambling about redrum in Stephen King’s “The Shining?”(R) As if having King write the novel wasn’t scary enough, Stanley Kubrick wrote the screenplay for this 1980 mindwarping terror.

Advertising director Robert Martin advocates George Romero’s epic “Dawn of the Dead”(R) and he specifically notes, “The original one from 1978.” Both a violent zombie movie and a scathing indictment of consumerism in modern America, the story is of the last humans on Earth in their attempt to escape flesh-eating zombies...in a shopping mall. The worldwide plague that spawned these creatures makes it “apocalypse in the food court.”

And for me? Well, I used to always tell myself that “A Nightmare on Elm Street” wasn’t scary because it was all fake. Then I saw “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare.”(R) It’s been 10 years, but I haven’t slept the same since.

So, this Halloween, kick back with some of our favorite horror movies...and if the shadows grow long and the eerie feelings won’t go away after you turn off the TV, just lock your door and tell yourself, “It couldn’t happen here.”

l See MOVIES, Page 5A