BRIDGET MORRISON

Halloween is just around the corner, so the Sheaf turned to University of Saskatchewan students to find out their favorite freaky flicks for the season.

An informal poll surveyed roughly 100 students from across campus, giving them a choice of six classic Halloween films and asking them to pick a favorite and to explain why. Here are the results!

In fifth — last place, since two films tied for a higher rank — is the film Halloween. The Halloween franchise was comprised of numerous directors and writers who completed a total of nine films. The original, released in 1978, was directed and written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. Although the survey didn’t specify which out of the 10  Halloween movies to vote for, most Halloween supporters said they preferred the first one, over the others.

Samuel Rafuse, third-year psychology student, explained his reasoning for this choice.

“It’s that feeling of insecurity, combined with the iconic soundtrack and villain that cement Halloween as the embodiment of scary thrills and fun,” Rafuse said.

However, Zachary Tennent, fourth-year history student, was adamant in his preference for the third installment of the series.

“Halloween 3 is a super underrated one-off detour in an otherwise hot and cold franchise,” Tennent said. “I just needed to make sure that movie got its due credit.”

As it turns out, it was actually the ninth film that had the biggest box office success in the Halloween franchise. This film, made in 2007, was a remake of the 1987 original.

In fourth place is the film Hocus Pocus. This relatively low ranking doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Maybe it’s the fact that starring alongside Bette Midler in this film is Sarah Jessica Parker.

Parker is like that one annoying kid that you’ve known your whole life growing up. You know, the one that no one really wants to hang out with, yet they somehow manage to tag along with you and your friends — everywhere you go. Or maybe it’s the fact it was directed by Kenny Ortega, the director of the High School Musical franchise. Either way, these are not the most convincing elements of a great film, but it can be good fluffy fun.

Free your inner child this Halloween while watching the third place winner, the animated TV special It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Created and written by Charles M. Schulz and based on his comic strip Peanuts, this 1966 film always has and always will be a classic.

Tied for second place are Halloweentown and Beetlejuice. Most of the supporters for Halloweentown, a film released in 1998 and directed by Duwayne Dunham, agreed that this film was their favorite because they had a tradition of watching it every Halloween with friends or family. Perhaps this is because it played every single year on TV on the Family Channel, making it a forced tradition rather than a chosen one. Nonetheless, it’s a classic.

Beetlejuice, released in 1988 and directed by Tim Burton, was a sure-fire film to make it into the top three.

“Who doesn’t love a man with green hair and a vertical striped suit?” said Ellen May-Melin, a third-year French student.

Beetlejuice received the most critically sophisticated response from students, who looked more at the formal techniques of the film than other aspects. The base of many arguments was that Beetlejuice takes you to a world where the ordinary things, such as family, become believably and realistically spooky in your mind.

In first place, the winner and most popular Halloween film as voted by U of S students is Tim Burton’s 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas. It doesn’t seem at all coincidental that both Burton films on the survey were among the most popular. The combination of Tim Burton and Halloween is a match made in heaven.

Horror, fantasy or family-friendly — this list of films offers lots of options to watch while cozying up with your friends and loved ones this Halloween. As Beetlejuice would say, “Not so fast, round boy. We’re gonna have some laughs.” Happy Halloween!