Horror

My Top 5 Horror Movies for Halloween.

Published on 27/10/202112/01/2022 by Debbie Johansson8 Comments

Free image courtesy Eleni Petrounakou on Unsplash.

A few months ago, I revisited the movie Sleepy Hollow, which is good viewing for this time of year. As Halloween is only a few short days away, I thought I’d share with you a couple more movies that have stuck with me over the years (one way or the other), that is sure to get you into the spirit of the season.

Aliens (1986)

With a strong, kick-ass heroine in Ripley, great supporting cast, good lines, and wonderfully creepy Aliens, what’s not to love? Together with the theme of motherhood, this is my all-time favourite horror movie.

Halloween (1979)

It’s just not Halloween without a visit from Michael Myers, and I’m talking the original here. The quiet streets of suburbia hides a silent killer lurking in the shadows of darkness. He could be anywhere, and the creepy music helps heighten the suspense. Totally!

The Exorcist (1973)

The ultimate story of good versus evil, this movie is terrifying as a malevolent entity possesses a young child, the very symbol of innocence. You can literally feel the chill in every bedroom scene. What’s even more frightening is the movie is based on a true story. (If you want to find out more, you can listen to the podcast Inside the Exorcist).

Wolf Creek (2005)

The Australian outback can be a lonely, desolate place, and is the perfect location for a serial killer. You can feel the vulnerability and fear of the backpackers, and after all my years of watching horror movies, there is one scene that even had me horrified. John Jarrett’s performance is both terrific and creepy, but he’s a nice guy really.

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

I’ve put this one on the list because Halloween is supposed to be fun, and there are plenty of laughs in this one. I’ve always appreciated British humour and I love the characters Shaun and Ed, probably because they’re gamers, like both my kids and my husband. The best zombie movie I’ve seen.

What will you be watching this Halloween?

Revisiting Halloween.

Published on 24/10/201724/10/2017 by Debbie Johansson2 Comments

Recently I viewed the original Halloween movie, which is timed perfectly for this year’s Halloween (even though we don’t celebrate it here in Australia). It’s one of those films that I enjoy watching every now and again and I just love the theme music. Totally!

After having done some film studies at University, I’ve become a bit more aware of the tropes within horror movies. It seems to be the stock in trade, which is why it was so good to see successful spoof films such as Scream and Cabin in the Woods. Totally!

I found it quite remarkable that for such a suburban setting, the streets seem deserted and people just ignore Jamie Lee’s cries for help (isolation – check). You also have to have the sexually active young girls getting the chop, because in the end it always comes down to the ‘final girl’. And like all good ‘boogie-men’, Michael Myers can’t be stopped no matter how many times you may injure him and bring him down (even to be shot at and fall out a window), the guy just keeps on coming. I mean, how else are we supposed to have sequels?

And yes, who could ever forget the theme music, because like Jaws, it just sticks in your mind? To me it sounds like the approach of impending doom while you race against the clock, because after all, the boogie man strikes at Halloween. And as a writer, I like to listen to it every now and again to help build up some atmosphere in my own writing. 😉

Maybe I’ll sit and watch it with my kids over the coming weekend. They’ve sat through Aliens, so surely, they can handle Michael! But then, ‘boogie-men’ never really die, do they?

To those of you who celebrate it – Happy Halloween!

Have you been watching some old movie favourites lately? What horror movies do you watch at this time of year? Have you watched any of the Halloween sequels?

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Do You Dislike Clowns?

Published on 19/09/201718/09/2017 by Debbie Johansson2 Comments

Why do some people dislike clowns? Clowns are supposed to make people laugh, yet in others (myself included) they can provide the opposite effect. A fear of clowns has been termed coulrophobia and as recently as 2016, there was a creepy clown epidemic, where some cities in the United States experienced menacing looking clowns, and eventually would become sighted world-wide.

With the remake of Stephen King’s ‘It’, I wonder if this was the reason behind last year’s clown epidemic. I read the book back in the 1980s and naturally, the only part that stayed in my mind was Pennywise. How could you not be afraid of a clown carrying red balloons and trying to lure small children down sewers? Watching the telemovie only heightened my dislike. I’m still debating whether to go see this new version.

Recently I read an article that Nevada’s Haunted Clown Motel is for sale. A haunted clown motel situated on a deserted highway, next to a cemetery and I instantly had images of ‘Psycho’ in my head, amongst other things. My muse turned to overdrive with the possibilities and I wondered why on earth anyone would want to own a clown motel. Each to their own, I guess, but despite the possibility of it being haunted, I’ll keep my distance thanks! 😉

A dislike of clowns are only heightened (as least for me) when it comes to John Wayne Gacy. It wasn’t until the 1980s that I learned about him, and perhaps he was Stephen King’s inspiration for Pennywise, but either way, he only cemented my dislike of clowns ever since. Dressing up as ‘Pogo the Clown’, performing at parties, charitable events and children’s hospitals was all part of his act in being a valuable member of society. This would eventually earn him the name the ‘Killer Clown’. In the telemovie ‘To Catch a Killer’, Brian Dennehy did such a wonderful job as John Wayne Gacy, that I will always picture him in that role. It was so creepy; I’m not surprised he was nominated for an award for his performance.

I can only speak for myself, but I think one of the reasons for my dislike of clowns is their faces. With their entire faces painted, one cannot see the real person behind them and in the cases of John Wayne Gacy and Pennywise, what lies behind is not good. It can be the same with people wearing masks and why they tend to appear in horror movies. Such things can either frighten or deceive. For me, that’s what makes clowns so scary.

Do you dislike clowns or do you rather like them? Are you going to watch ‘It’? If you’ve already seen ‘It’, what did you think? Would you stay in a haunted clown motel? Did John Wayne Gacy make you dislike clowns or was it Pennywise or perhaps another clown entirely? What do you think makes clowns so scary?

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