It’s the spooky season again, truck drivers. Now, we know some of you might not have the time off to get around to seeing the newest screaming, slithering, slicing and dicing gorefest on the big silver, but we know many of you love to slap down dollars to get scared. So if you can’t see it in the first run, just think of this as another checklist of things to put in your Netflix or Redbox queues.
If you’re on the road and still have some down time here and there, you might want to download a couple of mobile apps that help you find movie times and theater locations in your area. One is Flixter – here.
Another is MovieFon – found here.
Shall we begin? Alright.
1. V/H/S
This is a modern take on some of the old ombibus type horror films like Steven King’s Creepshow, Twilight Zone or The Illustrated Man. It’s also done in the current horror genre darling format of “Found Footage.” The Blair Witch way back when really got something started with that one, didn’t it?
Anyhow, the bookend story involves a gang of destructive misfits, creeping into a house in search of a mysterious VHS tape. Though their usual gigs consist of cheap topless female shots, which they typically accomplish by force, they take this job in hopes of significantly better pay. Once they break into the house, however, they’re greeted by a corpse, surrounded by VHS tapes and slumped before a stack of TV’s spewing white noise. As they search through the tapes they’re faced with hyper-violent footage, documenting ghastly accounts of hungry demonic creatures, cold-blooded murder, mutilation and malevolent supernatural beings. This one has had lots of hype surrounding it, but somehow V/H/S is able to keep audiences divided about which sequence was the best. We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
This one is already in limited release in theaters, so if you spot it on a marquee and feel like a good scare, roll right in.
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2. Sinister
This one just finished the film festival circuit and the news is out – Sinister is the scary film to see this Halloween.
Sinister stars Ethan Hawke in his second horror story role, after the lead in the futuristic vampire thriller Daybreakers. He goes from villain to victim in this one though.
A true crime novelist struggling to find his next big story, moves his family into a house where the horrific murder of an entire family took place. But after finding a box of home videos in which other families are also brutally murdered, his investigation leads him to a supernatural entity that may be placing his own family in harm’s way.
Sinister hits theaters nationwide on October 12th.
3. Paranormal Activity 4
The original Paranormal Activity really spooked audiences with its uncomfortably close look at an unexplained haunting surrounding a newly married couple. It also thrilled movie studios because it only cost about $18,000 to make, but it raked in nearly $200,000,000 after its theatrical run and DVD release. That makes it THE most profitable movie ever made, beating out the likes even of Star Wars. How did they do it? Shoot it with cheap video cameras, use natural lighting, use unknown actors, and keep the marketing campaign full of questions. Bingo.
No surprise that the studio who owns the property will probably continue to churn these out each year until your grand kids are in college. However, we have to say that each new chapter still manages to keep things interesting and spooky. If you want to catch up on the story, You can stream the second one at Netflix here, or stream the third chapter from Amazon On Demand for $3 here.
Seems as though demon-possessed Katie (Katie Featherston, from the first two films) has moved to Nevada with her kidnapped nephew, Hunter, now going by the name of “Robbie.” What they’re up to is still a mystery, but our focus is on the girl next door, Alice (Kathryn Newton), as she quickly discovers something is odd with Robbie, who comes to stay with her an accident puts his single mom in the hospital. Soon enough, all manner of, well, paranormal activity besieges the young girl and her family.
Paranormal Activity 4 comes out Oct. 19th
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4. Silent Hill: Revelation
Normally, movies based on video games are pretty terrible. The original Silent Hill managed to avoid that curse and took people through a fairly complex storyline, while keeping the imagery from the video game intact on screen for maximum effect. You can stream the first film for free at Crackle TV here. You can also buy it at Amazon here.
It’s now three movies into the franchise, and we aren’t going to be shy about this – they better bring it with this one, because we doubt anyone will miss the movie franchise as long as we keep getting Silent Hill video game sequels.
This one is aimed at the younger ones, since they’re easier to spook, which should be a red flag, but given the cool imagery in the trailer, we’ll recommend this one anyway. What’s it about? Girl, dad, demons, high school, the usual. The official story: When her father disappears, Heather Mason is drawn into a strange and terrifying alternate reality that holds answers to the horrific nightmares that have plagued her since childhood.
Got that? Good. Silent Hill: Revelation 3D releases on Oct. 26th.
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5. The Bay
Now, officially – this movie doesn’t actually come out before Halloween. It comes out Halloween weekend on November 2nd. However, this one looks so crazy we decided to put in a mention anyway. The film uses a mix of hand camera work, security camera footage, cell phone cameras and regular film to produce a horror story that’s really going to get under your skin. Like, literally.
What’s the story? Environmental experts visit beach. Environmental experts discover something horrible and deadly. Environmental experts warn small town that something odd is going on. Small town doesn’t listen because it’s tourist season. Bad things start happening to everyone. And when we say “Bad” we mean that creatures are inside human bodies laying critters that begin to eat their way out.
They also carry a nifty bacteria that loves the taste of human organs. Getting the picture? Good.
The Bay bursts out on Nov. 2nd
We hope at least one of these looks interesting to you. However, if none of the movies we recommended sound like they’ll scare you enough, you could always tune into the Presidential Debates.