Images courtesy of IMDB Halloween
Halloween. A night of spookiness, spiders, creepy clowns, and diabetes. Well, enough candy to give Liberty Medical a secure future. What about those who don’t enjoy the scares though?
Our guest author Alexa has a list of movies you can watch that will raise your heart rate without losing sleep. Thrills, no haunted chills.
Check out the list and have a Happy Halloween!
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1. Get Out
As if the opening song being “Redbone” by Childish Gambino wasn’t reason enough to watch this film, let me give you a few more reasons why Get Out was *the* film of 2017.
We got to see Jordan Peele make his directorial debut.
Daniel Kaluuya makes this film seem lifelike. His reactions are realistic and you forget that you’re watching a film – and not Dateline.
Dat symbolism tho. There are multiple easter eggs in this film that are direct references to Stephen King’s novel, The Shining, which gives you all the more reason to appreciate this film.
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2. The Village
Because really, you’re just waiting to spot director M. Night Shyamalan making a cameo in his own film.
The Village will make you never want to wear the color red (the blood of angry men) again. It will definitely make you think twice about yellow being fashionably acceptable.
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3. Signs
Now anytime I go through a corn maze, I instantly think I’m going to be confronted by an alien. But then I remember Joaquin Phoenix and everything is alright with the world again. Swing away Merrill. Swing away.
Also, Signs is arguably M. Night Shyamalan’s best work.
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4. Black Mirror (TV Series)
Who doesn’t want to see a technologically advanced rendition of The Twilight Zone?!
The show keeps you engaged because every episode has a different plot, different characters, and a different theme.
It’s always fun to see what famous celeb is starring in each episode. Everyone from Bryce Dallas Howard to Jon Hamm, from Jesse Plemons to Domhnall Gleeson – you’re bound to recognize a celeb in each season.
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5. Disturbia
Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s, Rear Window, Shia LaBeouf plays a teen on house arrest that believes he witnesses a murder his neighbor committed.
Shia Surprise: he’s great in it.
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6. I Am Legend
Will Smith facing zombies – what can’t this man do? This is the story of a man that is immune to a sickness spreading among the people in his city, aka a zombie epidemic. He has his trusty companion with him, Sam the German Shepherd. He has to find a cure, but is limited to only being able to do so in daylight.
Intensity increases when the sun goes down.
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7. The Shining
Okay okay, I know – The Shining is famous for being a cult classic horror film, BUT hear me out: this movie is actually chill AF for about the first hour and a half. Beautiful cinematography (shoutout to the DP John Alcott), classic color schemes, and the lack of character backstory.
To make you feel better about watching this, just take a look at The Shining as a happy film.
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8. World War Z
Zombies that RUN?! No thanks fam.
This is an energy rush from start to finish. It’s part of the zombie apocalypse era of film, but it’s much more than just a zombie movie. It takes the idea of a weakness actually becoming a strength. Halloween shut-ins unite in their love of Brad Pitt with facial hair.
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9. Nightcrawler
This film presents a first-hand look into the question of unethical journalism. It asks whether or not a journalist should interfere with a dangerous situation in order to help someone in danger, or to let the situation play out organically. What if the journalist wasn’t present?
No, this isn’t scary, nor is it considered a “Halloween movie,” but it will definitely give you the heebie-jeebies. I mean, just take a look at Jake Gyllenhaal’s face.
I don’t think he even blinked in this film.
Check out the trailer to get a taste of Jake creepin’ ya out.
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10. War of the Worlds
Based on the famous novel by H. G. Wells, War of the Worlds is the alien story that everyone fears. Aliens coming from the Earth’s core? Can’t run haphazardly into a dark forest to escape that.
If you want to have an especially academic Halloween night, check out the radio broadcast of Orson Welles’ telling of The War of the Worlds novel.
Check it out on Spotify while you’re at it.
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Get out there and get your spook on tonight!
If you’re staying in, watch something on this list and gorge on the candy corn.
Want something scary? Check out Cole’s 31 Days of Halloween Movie List and find something scary there!