Benjanime's Top Ten Halloween Movie Picks

Greetings guys and ghouls! Halloween is only a couple of weeks upon us, so what better way to hold out the wait than with a listing of some obscure, if not hard to come by horror films? Join me as I give some personal choices from....





10. Re-Animator (1985)



As perhaps an inspiration to Mary Shelley's Frankentstein's Frankenstein, this story is about a youthful scientist by the name of Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), inventing a chemical to bring the dead back to life, though with his efforts, a professor  wants to steal it. What neither of them know though, is that the chemical has the downside of making those that consume it go crazy. For its time the special effects look well done, and if you can handle a little gore here and there, then I say give it a go. Though, as far as animal cruelty goes, you may not like how Herbert's first subject of his invention comes out, as he reanimates a dead cat, only to beat the cat to a pulp. Don't worry, he's an animatronic!


9. The Incredible Melting Man (1977)



As a rather low budget film from MGM, The Incredible Melting Man revolves around an astronaut by the name of Steve West (Alex Rebar) who becomes exposed to radiation after an expedition in space. His only cure to this is consuming human cells, but rather, he actually goes out of his way to chomp through human skin as he's in a mad panic. The movie is a bit tongue-in-cheek, and it may not be one of the best horror films around, but if you're looking for a good B-Movie fright, this might do the job.


8. Vampire Hunter D (1985)



Imagine if you will, that vampires and other ghoulish monsters still prowl the Earth in the distant future. No advanced technology emerges, but instead our culture ends up going back to basics with a 19th century feel. Vampire Hunter D pretty much sums up our protagonist's name in a nutshell. Count Magnus Lee, a late century vampire looks into making a female human one of his own. Doris Lang, daughter of a local werewolf hunter, ends up becoming infected with a bite from the Count upon a meeting, and soon D follows in both of their footsteps in not only protecting Doris, but ultimately overthrowing Count Magnus Lee. Based on a set of both novels and manga, Vampire Hunter D is worth checking out, even if you're not into anime, but it's by no means for the kiddies out there.


7. Tales from the Darkside:The Movie (1990)



If you're familiar with the film Creepshow, this is a familiar concept. Three short stories are told by a youngster trying to keep himself from becoming lunch for a witch. While I won't spoil them for you, I will say that it has its fair share of being campy. Canadian singer Deborah Harry stars in this film by the same director of the original tv series.


6. The Blob (1988)



So aside from the usual suspects of monsters like werewolves, vampires and zombies, what could be said about the formula with a gelatinous creature that consumes everything? Enter The Blob, a once aggressive moving piece of slime from a meteor, as it latches onto the arm of an old man living in Colorado. A trouble making kid by the name of Brian Flagg takes him in to to the hospital with his friend Paul and Paul's girlfriend, Meg. To no avail, the old man doesn't get treated, but slowly begins a rampage amongst the city. It's all good fun as a horror movie, I recommend it if you're looking for something different, other than that, the film is fairly decent.


5. Mad Monster Party (1967)



What's this? Something not horror related? Well, it does fit in with the holiday charm. The only downside is, out of all the common holiday specials that you see that are stop motion, it seems that this one is unfairly overshadowed by the stop motion Christmas specials that still air today. Boris Karloff lends his voice as Baron Bon von Frankenstein, as he feels that it's time to give up his business with creating monsters and choose somebody else to step in for the job. It's frightful fun for the kids, and parents should enjoy it as well.