Last year, I recommended four horror movies for adults for Halloween viewing. Right after that post, I received an email taking me to task for not recommending any movies made in this century. I laughed out loud at the comment, but it was a fair enough criticism of my selections. And to be honest, it is hard for me to find recent movies that I’d like to watch that don’t rely on splashing a bucket of blood in the audience’s face.
That said, I’ve selected three movies made in this century that will make excellent Halloween viewing. One is a murder mystery, unfortunately a series of bloody and gory ones, another one is a vampire movie, sadly equally bloody and gory and the final one is a monster sci-fi thriller. You are warned, however, that all three are entertaining require a huge suspension of belief .
– The Raven – John Cusack gives a very credible performance as Edgar Allen Poe who discovers that murders are be committing using his stories as a template. Poe teams up with Detective Fields, a Baltimore policeman to try and catch the killer by using his intimate knowledge of his stories. Even though the stories are fictional, they start to become reality and the killer is a step ahead of them. The case becomes personal when Poe’s lover becomes a target.
To me, there is only one thing glaringly wrong with this movie and it is the casting director’s fault. Cusack as Poe looks so much like Nicholas Cage, it is sometimes distracting.
That said, this is a good movie to watch while you’re waiting for the little monsters to ring your doorbell. But it is not a movie the little monsters should watch. It’s rated R and is on Netflix.
(Oh and by the way, all of Poe’s works are now in the Public Domain and are freely available for reading at Gutenberg.org. )
– Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – This is not a perfect Halloween film, but it is a 
darn good one. Young Lincoln witnesses his mother being killed by a vampire. He vows vengeance and with that the movie is off and running as Lincoln (portrayed by Benjamin Walker) hunts vampires everywhere. This is a well acted and surprisingly entertaining movie. It has good special effects, but there are no real surprises in this film because as we all know, Lincoln will die at the end. And we are not really surprised to discover that the vampires have united and are fighting with the Confederacy.
Nevertheless, this R rated movie has great fight choreography and is a joy to watch for that alone. Look, this movie is not Underworld or Resident Evil or Spielberg’s Lincoln , but it doesn’t try to be. It tries to be fun and it succeeds. As you watch the 16th President handle an axe in ways you might not have imagined before, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear the doorbell as you get engrossed in this horror film. It’s available on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.
– Cloverfield – This 2008 movie is not about fighting a space alien that lands in New York City and starts destroying the city; but rather about those who are fleeing from the monster’s attack. We follow four desperate people who put their lives on the line to embark on a perilous rescue mission. We witness New Yorkers who first think they are under a terrorist attack and then realize that what is attacking them is truly horrible.
This PG-13 movie is filmed in the same first-person camera style as The Blair Witch Project. In fact, that is probably the best way to describe this film. It’s Blair Witch meets Godzilla and it’s very well done (provided you suspend belief and don’t ask yourself too many questions). However, if you suffer from motion sickness – this movie will make you ill.
The actors are competent and with this style of filming, we become part of the movie. There’s no commentary on society or digs at the political establishment in this film. It’s an enjoyable movie that will fit in well with other Halloween faire. It’s available at Amazon Instant Video.