With Halloween right around the corner and temperatures cooling down, folks are busting out their favorite fall movies. In true spooky spirit, our crew broke down a few of their Halloween favorites and tossed up some recommendations along the way. We cover it all -- from easy breezy fall classics meant for the self-proclaimed wimp (looking at you, Zach) to horror films that have been terrifying people for years.
It Follows
There’s no easy way to describe It Follows. It’s your typical scary movie with an interesting twist. The 2015 indie horror movie is about a young woman who followed by an unknown supernatural force after a sexual encounter.
The movie is a throwback to classic horror movies like The Thing and Halloween. It creates an atmosphere that immediately sucks you in. The way it’s shot is both eerie and beautiful, and the synthy soundtrack is an earworm that sends shivers down your spine.
Everyone has experienced the feeling of being followed -- It Follows takes that feeling and cranks it up to 11. The movie is timeless and will strike a chord with almost anyone, and that’s what makes it a great movie to watch around Halloween.
Evil Dead 2
Evil Dead 2 is the perfect campy movie to watch if you’re a huge horror wimp like me. It’s silly and dumb, but funny and clever. Directed by Sam Rami (who later directed the gloriously cheesy Spiderman movies starring Toby Maguire) and starring the B-movie legend Bruce Campbell (who has CAMP in his name), they mix horror with comedy all with a budget of less than $4 million.
Because of their tiny budget, they were forced to create all of these spooky set pieces in creative ways, which adds to the humor. It barely takes itself seriously, which makes it less nightmare-inducing. If I haven’t convinced you yet, Bruce Campbell gets a chainsaw for a hand. Come on, that’s amazing.
Practical Magic
Practical Magic has it all: Murder, mystery, magic and romance. The film, which is arguably considered a romantic comedy, features two witches who grow up with a curse on their family. Over the span of the movie, they come to terms with the lifestyles they'd worked so hard to reject. With an intriguing murder and a few spooky scenes along the way, it's simply fun to watch.
Though this movie may lean a little more toward Hocus Pocus on the scale of cliche Halloween movies, the quality story arch, character development and iconic scenes put it in the spotlight.