Halloween is just around the corner, kids, and what better time to make an excuse to watch an unhealthy amount of horror movies?

For the next four weeks, I will be bringing you five movies to check out- two “Essentials,” one “From The Vault,” one “You May Have Missed,” and one that’s “So Bad It’s Good.” So without further introduction, fire up the DVR, pull up your NetFlix queue, and dust off the Blockbuster card; it’s time for the first installment of “20 Horror Movies To Watch This October.”

Essential

“Halloween” (1978)
What better way to gear up for Halloween than watching “Halloween?” Be sure to note the release year (as you should with a lot of movies on this list, considering how many remakes Hollywood is churning out). Michael Myers escapes from a mental ward, dons an expressionless white mask, goes on a murderous rampage of revenge and gets poked in the eye with a metal hanger. This movie perfected the slasher category.
Fact: The Michael Myers mask is actually a William Shatner mask turned inside out and painted white.


Essential

“The Omen” (1976)
There’s something wrong with the Thorns’ kid Damien. Maybe it has to do with Robert Thorn secretly accepting their baby from a priest when his wife gives birth to a stillborn child. Maybe it has to do with Damien being terrified of churches. Maybe it has to do with him trying to kill his mother. Maybe it has to do with him being the Antichrist. A thriller of a movie full of twists, “The Omen” is a must see. This spawned a few not-so-great sequels, and a 2006 remake that wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
Fact: Charlton Heston and Dick Van Dyke turned down the lead role eventually picked up by Gregory Peck.


From The Vault

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968)
This is the archetype of all zombie films as we know them. Before George Romero shot this black and white classic, zombies were mindless slaves under voodoo curses. The movie follows a group of mismatched people taking refuge in a small cabin as the dead rise from the grave. This was back when Romero actually made social points in his movies, so it is a lot deeper and more entertaining than his recent “Diary of the Dead,” and has a surprise ending you won’t see coming.
Fact: The attackers were originally going to be aliens before switching them to zombies (a word never used in the film).


So Bad It’s Good

“The People Under The Stairs” (1991)
Nothing says “Happy Halloween” quite like a middle-aged man dressed in a leather S&M suit chasing a child down a hallway firing a shotgun. In this often overlooked Wes Craven (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”) flick, three robbers (one being the aforementioned child) break into a house to steal some sweet, sweet loot. Their plan goes awry when they discover the demented brother and sister (named “Mommy” and “Daddy”) living there aren’t the home’s only occupants. There are people – brace yourself – under the stairs!
Fact: The actors who played the psychotic Mommy and Daddy were cast because of their performance as husband and wife on the TV series “Twin Peaks.”



You May Have Missed

“Suspiria” (1977)
In this cult classic, a young American girl travels to a European dance school. Horrible deaths start to occur, and our heroine discovers that the school is just a front for something much more diabolical than French ballerinas. This movie has some of the most artistic shots seen in a horror film, a perfect soundtrack and just may have cinema’s best death scenes ever filmed. Show your DeKalb pride and watch a girl fall into a room full of barbed wire!
Fact: Director Dario Argento originally wanted the school to be for girls no older than 12, but was advised against making a movie about the violent killings of children.

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