My Halloween Horror Watchlist

1. Jeepers Creepers, 2001

⭐Rate: 7/10

🎬Review: I must say, I was expecting a lot worse from this film. The whole first half is genuinely scary. Although the brother and sister's rivalry was played up just a bit too much, their characters were still a lot more believable than most modern scare films. Their dialogue was especially natural, and didn't contain a single "oh my god, like, did I just totally see, like, an undead demon, or is it just me?" which I praise the writers for (there's only so many times Buffy the Vampire Slayer can say lines like that before I start doing a little slaying of my own). Despite the constant squabbling the kids do, you can still warm up to them enough to feel empathic about their plight. The cinematography was excellent, my favourite scene being the long pan up the side of the church. The music and sound were cued perfectly and conveyed a true sense of fear, anxiety and isolation.

Unfortunately, the second half of the movie really suffers. Like so many other movies, once the killer/monster is revealed the whole thing goes down hill. It goes from relying on X-files-like suspense to bland gore and a cliché monster suit. Top it off with some overacting "we're not taking any crap" police officers and a poorly acted psychic lady and you turn what could have been a gem of a scary movie into a second rate dud. The biggest disappointment was the end. It was horribly tacked on in a desperate attempt at being a shocker.

Other then the whole second half, the only other complaint I have is regarding the DVD. The menus show clips from the movie which essentially run in sequence, and if you pay attention to them, they spoil just about everything. Where they are, what the monster looks like, etc. I haven't bothered to watch the menus all the way through but with any luck they spoil the ending too (but that's not really so bad in this case).

2. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, 2024

⭐Rate: 6/10

🎬Review: All I can really do here is speak my truth and not worry about whether people agree with it or not. As a man who has a nine out of ten review for "Beetlejuice" logged on this website, I can only report that I found this sequel to be bit of (though not totally) a mess.

Following the death of her father, Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) returns to her childhood home, with her stepmother Delia (Catherine O'Hara), boyfriend Rory (Justin Theroux) and daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega). Lydia, still able to see ghosts, has been having visions of Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton), which only intensifies as she returns to the house. But Betelgeuse has his own problems, related to the return of his vengeful ex-wife Delores (Monica Bellucci) who has the ability to extract the remaining souls of the dead and make them 'dead dead.'

What I found really interesting was that for years, Burton and Keaton steadfastly refused to engage in a sequel unless the story was right. Then for this to be the one they progressed with, which feels more like a bundle of ideas gaffer taped together than an actual story. There are four main plots, two of which could have been exorcised (pun intended) partially, or even completely without making much of a difference. It feels like they're there only so there's an excuse for particular actors to be in the film. It's also a bit too enamoured with recreating moments from the original, so there are two gags that are slight variations on previous ones and another song and dance possession scene, which is a strong moment, but again, just a remix of the first film.

Almost single handedly Keaton drags the film to being acceptable. They smartly keep his character out of the majority of the film so that when he does appear he's a breath of life, but it's a shake up the film needs all too often and I don't think I found anything anyone else did to be funny.

As you can see from the score, despite how negative this review feels, I wouldn't say I disliked the film overall but it feels all too close to being the 'cash grabby' sequel we could have had at any point in the last 30 years.

3. The Mummy, 1999

⭐Rate: 8/10

🎬Review: Rick O'Connell (Brendan Frazer) leads the beautiful Evelyn Carnahan (Rachel Weisz) to Hamunaptra (The City of the Dead) where reading from a book brings Imhotep (Pharaoh Seti I's High Priest) back to life.

Once revived Imhotep has only one purpose in this world, to bring his love 'Anck Su Namun' back from the dead to join him, and will kill anyone who gets in his way.

Although based on a Horror Theme, there is little horror on show here, but there are plenty of Great Action Moments, some brilliant visuals and some good humour.

The dialogue is well written and punchy, this combined with some great characters bring the story to life and it turns out to be a terrific Film that is more Action/Comedy than Horror.

4. The Witch, 2015

⭐Rate: 8/10

🎬Review: To say I didn't get what I was expecting is a huge understatement, I was expecting a run of the mill horror, with all the usual cliches, obvious and blatant scares, etc, but instead I got to watch ninety minutes of rather subtle, intelligent and subtle horror. The film is hugely atmospheric, moody and tense, it is visually fantastic, with great scenery and costumes. The story unfolds cleverly, when I think of witches, this is what comes to mind, as opposed to the more conventional. As you watch you never quite know what's coming next, or who the malign force truly is. Some truly unsettling and disturbing scenes, it's not a horror in the conventional sense, the scares are not cheap, but very poignant. Very good performance from the cast, Ralph Inseson and Kate Dickie in particular. On occasion the dialogue sounded a little flat, but it was in keeping with the setting of the movie.

Very watchable.

5. Haunted Mansion, 2023

⭐Rate: 7/10

🎬Review: Might be hard to believe, but we actually have a Disney movie that was fun!!! It didn't try to shove an agenda down your throat while still tackling important themes such as loss and grief. Of course that is all secondary to the most important thing...FUN AT THE MOVIES which is rare these days sadly! It was escapism, great cast, not to mention soooo many easter eggs for fans of the ride. If I'm honest, the 2003 version isn't something I hated like many, but this does it MUCH better. I told my wife when we left, "if I wanted someone to know what ride they were about to get on at Disney World, I'd just have them watch this and I love the movie for it".

What's the creepiest horror film you've seen recently? Comment below!

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