The Ultimate Halloween Movie Guide!

What once started as a day to honor the dead, has now become one of the most anticipated and commercial holidays we have. Halloween has always meant more to me than just candy and costumes, for me it has evolved into a month long celebration of one of my favorite genres, Horror! There are many different types of Horror for all different types of audiences. Some people are terrified by the ghosts and demons of supernatural films, while others prefer to enter the twisted mind of a serial killer. A lot of people just like to be scared and have things jump out at them, yet others prefer seeing as much blood and guts as humanly possible. As for me, as long as it's a good movie, I'll watch them all! As Halloween is upon us once again, here are some of my favorite Horror films (as always in no particular order) to help you have a scary good time.

The Shortcut - PG-13 - 2009 - IMDB Rating: 5.0

Red Dragon - R - 2002 - IMDB Rating: 7.2

Scream - R - 1996 - IMDB Rating: 7.2

The Sixth Sense - PG-13 - 1999 - IMDB Rating: 8.2

Bride of Chucky - R - 1998 - IMDB Rating: 5.2

The Silence of The Lambs - R - 1991 - IMDB Rating: 8.7

Playback - R - 2012 - IMDB Rating: 4.1

Se7en - R - 1995 - IMDB Rating: 8.7

28 Days Later - R - 2002 - IMDB Rating: 7.6

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - R - 2003 - IMDB Rating: 6.1

The Good Son - R - 1993 - IMDB Rating: 6.1

Saw - R - 2004 - IMDB Rating: 7.6

The People Under The Stairs - R - 1991 - IMDB Rating: 6.1

The Amityville Horror - R - 2005 - IMDB Rating: 5.8

1408 - PG-13 - 2007 - IMDB Rating: 6.7

Saw III - R - 2006 - IMDB Rating: 6.1

The Visitation - PG-13 - 2006 - IMDB Rating: 4.9

Hostel - R - 2005 - IMDB Rating: 5.8

Cry Wolf - PG-13 - 2005 - IMDB Rating: 5.7

Wolf Creek - R - 2005 - IMDB Rating: 6.2

The Ruins - R - 2008 - IMDB Rating: 5.8

Saw IV - R - 2007 - IMDB Rating: 5.8

Fingerprints - R - 2006 - IMDB Rating: 4.9

Child's Play 3 - R - 1991 - IMDB Rating: 4.6

Return To Sleepaway Camp - R - 2008 - IMDB Rating: 4.2

Offspring - R - 2009 - IMDB Rating: 4.6

Dark House - R - 2009 - IMDB Rating: 4.8

Saw 7: The Final Chapter - R - 2010 - IMDB Rating: 5.5

I Spit On Your Grave - R - 2010 - IMDB Rating: 6.2

The Final - R - 2010 - IMDB Rating: 5.4

Kill Theory - R - 2008 - IMDB Rating: 5.4

Paranormal Activity - R - 2007 - IMDB Rating: 6.3

Devil - PG-13 - 2010 - IMDB Rating: 6.2

The Collection - R - 2012 - IMDB Rating: 6.0

Child's Play - R - 1988 - IMDB Rating: 6.4

So... Where are The Exorcist, Halloween, and Friday The 13th?  While I enjoyed some of those films, I wanted to make a list for you that maybe didn't have the same titles you'd find everywhere else on the net, I always like to find different things and I hope you do too.

Thoughts On The Walking Dead

As the cult phenomenon, The Walking Dead enters it's 4th season, it is pulling the highest ratings that cable television has ever seen. The critics are raving about how wonderful, original, and shocking this show is, but that's the thing, it's not...

I am a fan who has seen every episode and while I enjoy it, it is anything but original and there are very limited places the show can go and only three possible ways the show can eventually end. Maybe the other critics haven't watched as much Science Fiction as I have, few have, but the truth is that following the original story of the first graphic novel, (basically season 1 of the show) The Walking Dead has been taking ideas that have already been done and are re-packaging them.

I'll get back to that, because it all comes back to the basic problem with this show...

Given the story they have, there are very limited places to go and the creators can re-package and re-write it as many ways as they'd like, but the fact is that show is about a group of people trying to survive at the end of the world. Whether it's in a trailer park, on a farm, or in a prison, it is the same story being repeated. People are trying to survive the walkers and each other. They face hardships and people die, but soon new people take their place and we re-live it all again in one big cycle. This is why the show is aired once a year instead of seasonally. How long do you think it will take before people get tired of seeing the thing over and over again?

Okay, so it's repetitive, people like continuity, that's why there are so many sequels, but what about originality?

All I hear about this show is how refreshingly original it is, but outside of the make-up and the gore they get away with on prime time television, there is nothing original here anymore. Ever since the end of the original novel, the start of season 3, they have been stealing ideas from other shows!

Two towns of survivors, fighting with each other over control of land and resources, after a disaster that has ended the world as they know it....Sounds an awful lot like Jericho, Season 1, Part 2... What about the Governor? He was a great character, but anyone who is a fan of Star Trek will remember a very similar leader from DS9. Now, season 4 has started and there is a trader in their group! Besides being painfully obvious who it is, it's also a theme we had 8 episodes into Lost.

The show is repetitive and unoriginal, so why do we watch it? The answer is simple, we have invested the time in it and want to see what happens to our favorite characters, but as I see it there are only three possible ways for this show to end...

Either the walkers start to heal as in Warm Bodies or they all start to die for real as in 28 Weeks Later. Once that happens, the group can move into an abandon town and live happily ever after. Scenario number two, everyone dies and becomes walkers at the end. I think we've all seen that before and know exactly where. Finally, the artsy answer, it was all a dream and Rick awakes from his coma to find the world is safe and sound and he's a changed man.

Either way, all three endings have been done and all three endings will be obvious and disappointing to a large majority of the fan base. Look, I'm not trying to rip the show, I watch it with you every Sunday, but the fact of the matter is, while the ratings are enormous, the show ran out of ideas two years ago, it's limited in how it can end, and the true appeal is nothing more than blood and guts mixed with the oldest theme in the book, who lives and who dies.

AMC is putting all their eggs in the Walking Dead's basket, cancelling shows like The Killing and promoting the Walking Dead, months before it airs, instead of promoting new projects like Low Winter's Sun that aired ahead of it. Every commercial set, every promo, even the website is all Walking Dead and now their even talking about a sequel, featuring another group in a different area of the country at the same time. While I agree with them riding the wave of success, eventually people are going to get sick of seeing the same thing over and over and what's AMC going to be left with? No Killing, No Low Winter's Sun, Breaking Bad and Mad Men are done, and pretty soon, I think it'll be back to 30 year old movies and reality TV.

Just one man's opinion... Please feel free to leave your own in the comments....

Beware The Gonzo

Starring: Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, & Jesse McCartney

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It's the first week of Senior year and already, Gonzo Gilman has been kicked off the school paper and his friends are being bullied. Gonzo is a smart kid and he knows better than anyone that the pen is mightier than the sword. With the help of his loser buddies, Gonzo comes up with a plan to create the anti-newspaper of his High School, a publication that focuses on the negatives of the school and it's students. Most of these High School themed movies are about the popular kids drama or the unknown student who becomes a legend, but how often do you see the losers rise up against the popular kids, in a non-violent way? This story was written by Bryan Goluboff, who also wrote the screen play for one of my favorite movies, The Basketball Diaries. Much like that film, this one is as clever as it is funny. Ezra Miller stars as Gonzo, and gives the best performance I've seen him give. Yes, he was great in Perks of Being a Wallflower, but he has a whole different energy here, and I think it might have something to do with Miller's personal life. Miller is openly gay and has often talked about how difficult it's been for him. The character he's playing here, Gonzo Gilman, is a cult hero for every kid that's ever been bullied and didn't know what to do about it, and in a way I think this role was Miller's way of fighting back against what happened to him. He's opposed by Jesse McCartney, the most popular kid in school. I think McCartney is a tremendous talent and he's a good looking kid. For that reason, he's always portrayed as this sweet, loveable guy, and it was really great to see him in a different type of role. Sometimes the best way to rejuvenate your career is by trying something new and it works here. Beware The Gonzo is a refreshingly unique, independent film, with a great young cast, and an amazing writer, who is very particular about what he does. Everything comes together to create something terrific that we really haven't seen before. I can honestly say I loved every minute of this film and for that it's receives the label of must see movie!

30 Minutes or Less

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari, & Nick Swardson

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I hate this cast of actors more than I have ever hated the entire cast of a movie in my life. Danny McBride and Aziz Ansari are two of my least favorite actors in Hollywood, so why would I watch this movie? The trailer looked hilarious and that's really the point of trailers isn't it, to get you to watch a film you wouldn't otherwise be interested in. The story follows Dwayne, a spoiled rich kid who won't grow up. Dwayne and his buddy Travis hatch a drunken plan, to off Dwayne's father for the insurance money, using a pizza boy as a pawn in a murder for hire scheme. The pizza boys job is simple, rob a bank or the bomb they've strapped to his chest explodes. The clock is running out for pizza boy Nick, along with his best friend Chet, they have to come up with a plan before they're blown to bits. With this cast and the same Writer/Director as Zombieland, I was expecting all the funny parts to be in the trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised. That Facebook kid, Jesse Eisenberg stars and is actually pretty funny, he always reminds me of Michael Cera, only less lanky and gay. His Co-star is Danny McBride, who is my top 10 list of least favorite actors. It's not that he's a bad actor, but he's just so over the top with everything he does, that it destroys anything that could have been funny. Surprisingly, McBride is pretty toned down in this film and for once you could actually see that he can be very funny in the right circumstances. The story wasn't bad, but it isn't as unique as you might think. About 20 years ago this actually happened and in that case the pizza boy was killed, so turning it into a comedy may not have been the most sensitive thing to do. As for the film, it was a lot funnier than I was expecting and the cast actually had some really good chemistry. It's not the funniest film you'll ever see, but it's certainly a good way to kill a couple of hours.

Dahmer

Starring: Jeremy Renner, Bruce Davidson, & Dion Basco

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

Naturally after Gacy, I had to move on and watch Dahmer, it was just one of those nights. Unlike the Gacy film, Dahmer was more typical of what you see from these types of movies. Jeffrey Dahmer's crimes may have been just as shocking as Gacy's, but Dahmer was of a completely different personality, one that doesn't really equate to film. Unlike Gacy, Dahmer was really shy and introverted, avoiding interacting with people that he wasn't planning on killing. The movie version of Dahmer's was honestly as boring as a Horror film could get. Much of it shows Dahmer alone in his apartment, torturing his victims, and much of the time, there isn't even any dialog! Jeremy Renner stars and does as good of a job as someone can do with a role like this, but to be completely honest I found this film to be nothing but boring. Even the graphic scenes the film portrays in order to shock you, don't really cut it. Dahmer may have been just as deranged as Gacy, but the two men were very different. Gacy's film was interesting, Dahmer's put me to sleep. Dahmer is one movie you can most definitely avoid watching.

Gacy

Starring: Mark Holton, Charlie Weber, & Jeremy Lelliott

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

These serial killer films are really hit or miss, most of them are misses, for a variety of reasons. They are usually cheaply made, direct-to-video films, with an inexperienced cast, trying to profiteer on the infamy of these evil men. That being said, I decided to watch Gacy anyway, because of all the insane people who became infamous, John Wayne Gacy, may have been the craziest. This married man with kids, ran a construction business, that only employed young boys, and on the weekends, he made extra money by dressing up as a clown for children's birthday parties. This man was seen as a wimpy, harmless, closeted guy, no one would have ever thought they'd find 27 bodies underneath his house. The producers of the film, Gacy, decided to take it in a different direction than similar films by introducing Gacy as this loveable loser. If you didn't know the story and just popped in the film for the hell of it, I'd have thought this was some kind of comedy....until it wasn't. Veteran character actor, Mark Holton, stars as Gacy and was terrific, he was honestly the only reason to watch the film, especially after it turned. The story is horrific and the rest of the cast amounts to little more than eye candy, but Holton really pulls everything together, takes you inside Gacy's tortured mind, and makes this movie more than just another slasher film. After watching Gacy, I did what everyone else would do and Wiki'ed John Wayne Gacy. I wasn't surprised to see that the film is considered to be wildly inaccurate. Obviously five people aren't going to live in a house with 27 rotting bodies underneath and be almost completely oblivious to it, so I knew the movie probably had a lot of bull shit in it. Gacy does have a talented star, that really makes this film much more interesting then the other serial killer bio-pics.

Beneath The Darkness

Starring: Tony Oller, Aimee Teegarden, & Dennis Quaid

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

It is great to finally see Dennis Quaid play a character with personality again! Lately, it seems like he plays the same scarred, emotionless character, over and over again. It's hard to remember that it's his charisma that made him a star and you can really see it in Beneath The Darkness. Dennis Quaid plays Vaughn Ely, a mortician who is bat shit crazy. To the town, Ely is this great guy who gives back to the community, but only one person can see him for what he really is. Travis (Tony Oller) is a local teenager who works odd jobs for Ely and has always had suspicions about the man, but never did anything about it. One night, the subject comes up while with his friends and they decide to bust into Ely's home to find out what he's really hiding. The story starts out very slowly and I wasn't expecting it to get any better, but it really does. I already mentioned how good Quaid is, but the star of this film is Tony Oller. I've heard him sing, but I've never seen him act, and to say I was impressed is an understatement. Between Quaid's outlandish behavior and Oller's teenage angst, I didn't need much of a story to follow in order to be entertained. Beneath The Darkness is strange and not everyone is going to like it, but it's one of these films that you keep watching, because you want to know what's going to happen. What happens is that it actually turns into a pretty entertaining and respectable film, that features a star in the making.

Abduction of Eden

Starring: Jamie Chung, Matthew O'Leary, & Beau Bridges

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

To me, films like this are the true definition of horror, because they really happened. Anyone can look up the graphic details on Wikipedia and see that not only did it happen here, but it happened fairly recently. Hyun-Jae was just a typical California teenager, who went out to party one night. She met a man, left with him, and quickly learned he wasn't what he appeared to be. Hyun-Jae is sold into prostitution and has no other choice, but to be a sex slave for the next three years. The film was very well done, in that it didn't go over the top. Abduction of Eden showed us, what we needed to see, in order to understand and be shocked by what happened, but it didn't go so far as to desensitize us to the story. Jamie Chung, A.K.A. Stu's wife from the Hangover, stars as Hyun Jae, and her performance was really key to how the audience would react to what was happening. Equally as good, was the jailer, Matthew O'Leary. It took me a while to recognize his as the kid from Domestic Disturbance and Spy Kids 2, and it was shocking to see how quickly he grew up. He was this horrorible guy, doing terrible things, but there was a part of you that saw him as trapped as the girls were and you couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The cast makes the film, it's as simple as that. Abduction of Eden was a story that was fast moving and somewhat graphic, but ultimately predictable. Films like this one could go either way, it all comes down to just what they show and who they cast, and the producers of this film did an outstanding job of both.

Middle of Nowhere (2008)

Starring: Anton Yelchin, Eva Amurri, & Susan Sarandon

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Middle of Nowhere is an independent film and another example of a dark comedy that tries too hard to be funny. They had a weak storyline, but a very strong cast, and I felt it was a film that could have easily been a lot better. Dorian (Anton Yelchin) is a spoiled kid, who never had to work a day in his life. After yet another rebellious act against his parents, the seventeen year old is sent to live with his uncle for the summer. He starts working at the local water park, where he meets Grace (Eva Amurri), a girl who is his complete opposite. She is desperate to earn money for school and Dorian is looking to act out, so the two decide they can both achieve their goals by selling pot together. The story doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me, because the characters are nothing like they describe themselves to be. Dorian is rich and only there for a couple of months, he doesn't need the money, so why take the risk? Grace, she's always had to be the mature one, taking charge of her family, but we don't see her do that at all. The film is definitely a bit strange, while at the same time being somewhat slow and predictable, but what makes it worth seeing is Anton Yelchin. The Russian born, former child actor, has such charisma and really thrives in roles like this. If you saw Charlie Bartlett, then you know exactly what I am talking about. Yelchin is on another level, outgoing, energetic, quick witted, he's the kid in this film, but as it would turn out, he's also the smartest one of all. Yelchin's personality is larger than life and he will completely draw you in, sadly, other than his performance, this film wasn't much of anything. The story is predictable, the humor is dry, and the rest of the cast really wasn't anything special.