This is it, kids. Halloween is here Saturday, and this year’s 20 must-see horror films has come to a close. There were plenty of deserving films that had to be overlooked. Narrowing down eight essential horror films is a lot harder than it looks- no room for movies like “Dawn of the Dead,” “Friday the 13th Part 2” or “Puppet Master.” But on the bright side, there’s only 48 more weeks left until 2010’s Halloween movie list starts up.

Essential

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
This classic sets the pace for six sequels, a spin-off and a remake coming out next year. While Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees constantly hide silently behind their masks, Freddy Krueger’s killing methods are outrageously creative and limited only to what can be dreamt up. This is contrasted by his animated personality and humor (especially in the sequels). Johnny Depp fans will love seeing him in his first movie role. Those who dislike Captain Sparrow will enjoy seeing him sucked into a bed and shot all over the walls.

Tricky Trivia: The movie paid homage to “Evil Dead” with a ripped movie poster hanging on the wall and the trailer playing on a TV. Sam Raimi returned the favor in “Evil Dead 2” by hanging Freddy’s glove above the tool shed’s door (if you can call stealing the original glove to use in your own movie a favor, that is).


Essential

Poltergeist (1982)
They’re heeerrrreeee! The Freeling family moves into a new house and it doesn’t take long for weird stuff to start happening. What starts off as innocent fun with the unknown (if there is such a thing) ends with a full fledged battle with the paranormal for the youngest Freeling daughter’s life. It’s up to Craig T. Nelson of “Coach” fame to save the day! This movie has some of the scariest images ever in a PG film (don’t be fooled by the rating – this was two years before PG-13 rolled around). The story is from the mind of Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper (the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”). The film spawned two sequels, which ended up actually being good and worth checking out. This movie made me terrified of snowy TV screens when I was a kid.

Tricky Trivia: Those fake corpses in the muddy collapsing swimming pool weren’t really fake. It sounds like an urban legend, but interviews with actors and producers confirm that these bodies were real and no one knew until after the shots.


From The Vault

Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
We all know what Elsa Lanchester and her white-streaked beehive hairdo look like, and Boris Karloff’s monster has been etched in our minds since we were kids. There’s a reason that this movie is still a big deal after almost 75 years- it’s GOOD. Dare I say, even better than the original? It turns out that the Dr. Frankenstein and his creature didn’t die at the end of the first movie in that nasty windmill fire. The scientist wants to get out of the business of reanimating sewed-together corpses, but his monster and his old mentor get him to build a woman to keep his previous experiment company. Too bad she isn’t into dead guys with big boots and bolts coming out of their neck. Sadly, there are talks of a Universal remake of the film. Not even un-dead brides are sacred anymore.

Tricky Trivia: For being such an iconic character in classic horror movies, The Bride has an insanely short time on screen- just five minutes. She is also the only Classic Monster not to have any victims.


So Bad It’s (maybe) Good

Child’s Play (1988)
I remember going into the video store when “Child’s Play” came out on VHS and running out of the store in terror after seeing the gigantic Chucky cardboard cutout in the front. It seriously traumatized me. It was years before I watched it, and I was shocked at how terrible of a movie it was. Sure, it’s creepy, and yes, Chucky has become a Halloween icon. But seriously, this is just a bad movie. One of the highlights is a scene shot first-person through Chucky’s eyes where he attacks a baby-sitter with a toy hammer. One hit with the small toy sends her flying back fifty feet through a huge glass window and plummeting down to the street twenty stories below. Catherine Hicks plays the mom, who later went on to be the mom on “7th Heaven.” This just makes things more awesome/terrible/hilarious.

Tricky Trivia: Alex Vincent’s (the kid who played Andy) little sister appeared in the movie...as Chucky. She plays the killer doll for a split second when he runs across the hallway behind the baby-sitter.


You May Have Missed

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)
What? A musical on the horror movie list? It’s true! This loose adaptation of “Phantom of the Opera” stars Jessica Harper from “Suspiria” (see week one’s list) as the young singer Phoenix, whom The Phantom wants to have star in his masterpiece’s premiere. Evil music producer Swan played by musician Paul Williams, has The Phantom under his power and has his sights on adding Phoenix to his collection. I’m not one to throw in “The Sound of Music”, but this is good stuff. The movie isn’t particularly scary, but it’s still good Halloween fun with a few good tunes (and a couple of annoying ones to skip over).

Tricky Trivia: Swan’s record label was originally called Swan Song. Led Zeppelin came up with their label name, also Swan Song, during the movie’s filming and sued. Producers then changed the name to Death Records.

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