My recommendations for films to watch this Halloween.

It’s fall, the best time to relax on the couch and watch whatever shows or movies you’ve been meaning to watch. As we get closer to Halloween, I always love rewatching my favorite spooky movies. So, if you’re looking for some recommendations on what to watch, you’ve come to the right place. The following are some of my favorite horror and Halloween movies that I think everyone should watch at least once in their life.

The first movie I recommend is The Conjuring, directed by James Wan. In this suspenseful film, the Perron family move into a run-down house in Rhode Island with the intention of renovating it. Carolyn and Roger Perron, along with their five daughters, move all of their belongings into the home, but they quickly realize that something is very wrong, as they experience increasing paranormal activity. To try and get to the bottom of what is happening in their home, they contact the well-known paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. 

This movie is based on the experiences of the real Perron family, however, much of the story is fictionalized to be better suited for the screen. This movie is filled with nerve-wracking cinematography and well-written scenes, so if you’re looking for a film that will keep you on edge the entire time, then this film is perfect for you.

My next film recommendation is Coraline, directed by Henry Selick and based on a novel by Neil Gaiman. In this story, a young girl named Coraline Jones moves into a new house with her parents. She feels unhappy after moving away from her friends and dislikes their new home and neighbors. She’s especially upset by the fact that her parents never show her any attention and are always working. However, her life is turned upside down when she finds a small door behind a  wall that leads to a parallel reality, where everything seems to be better and everyone has buttons sewn onto their eyes. . She returns to this world every night until she gets the offer to stay, under the condition that she sews buttons over her eyes. When Coraline refuses, she realizes that not everything is exactly how it seems, and that this other world may have actually been created to trap her there. 

This entire film was created in stop motion, with all of the characters being sculpted from clay. This process, known as claymation, is extremely time-consuming, and thus the film took years to complete. Their hard work paid off because the final product is a beautiful and eerie piece of cinema that can be enjoyed by people of any age. 

The third film I’d recommend is The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. This found-footage film follows three amateur documentarians as they explore Burkittsville’s gloomy Black Hills Forest in an attempt to search for the Blair Witch, a legendary local murderer. A year after their trip, nobody knows what happened to them. That is until the footage captured from their trip is found, revealing that they got lost and began to hear strange noises in the woods. 

One interesting aspect  of  this film is that the actors were only given a 35-page outline of the plot and mythology behind the Blair Witch. Because of this, nearly all of their lines were improvised and the events were unknown to the actors, making their reactions to the events genuine. This enhances the realism of the found footage atmosphere that the film provides.

My next recommendation is Corpse Bride, directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson. This animated film takes place in a Victorian Village, where we follow a man named Victor Van Dort as he prepares to marry a woman named Victoria Everglot. However, when Victor messes up his marriage vows at the wedding rehearsal, they are forced to put the wedding on hold. Victor goes into the woods to practice his vows, placing the ring on what he believes to be a branch but is actually the fingers of Emily, a corpse bride. As a result,, he finds himself married to this undead woman while engaged to Victoria. The film follows as he tries to find a way to break off his marriage to Emily and return to Victoria. 

This movie, similar to Coraline, uses claymation. Each of the characters is a clay puppet that is maneuvered to display distinct facial expressions and body language within the story. The storytelling is accomplished through writing character design and scenery, and it is masterfully done in every sense of the word. 

Of course, the majority of these films are classics that most people have seen, but that’s precisely why I wanted to recommend them. They are definitely classics for a reason. They are extremely entertaining and well-crafted, and honestly, I could watch each of them a million times and never get bored because of the intricate details. So, if you haven’t seen these movies before or haven’t watched them in a while, I recommend giving them a watch this Halloween.