The best time of the year is finally here! The launch of the strain of holidays that human experience seemingly revolves around. Halloween is here! Halloween films can typically fall into several categories. One that is rarely visited is the charmingHalloweenslice of life films, which can get incredibly messed up. At times, these films have a tendency to be more disturbing than slashers.
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Maybe it’s because fans don’t see the 360 coming towards them, or those working on the films just didn’t have a consistent thought on what they wanted the film to be. Whatever the reason, these are all fun to watch regardless and are sure to get the Halloween spirit pumping in the veins.
7The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Terry Gilliam’s fictional film on the Grimm Brothers focused more on the twisted aspects of the Grimm stories, that Disney always tends to leave out. Gilliam, who is notorious, for over-the-top and twisted whimsicalities, harnessed the darker portions of the Grimm fairy tale stories.
He managed to add less of the blood and gore aspects and focused more so on bringing about psychological warfare on seemingly innocent and cheesy things. For example, sure the CGI doesn’t hold up to this day, but the scene where the horse eats a child, and another child turns into a giant cookie, are still quite memorable. Or how about when the old and decrepit queen’s corpse went to town drinking out of that goblet? Yeah, just little things like that still linger on. Still a very fun watch regardless of how it has aged. Plus the dark comedy and cast still carry this undervalued film in the best of ways. It also has a brilliant music score.
6The Lady In White (1988)
First off, yes that is the kid fromWitnessand My Chemical Romance’s ‘Black Parade’ music video. This sleeper hit from the 80s gives the viewers many things to think about. The film starts off as aHallmark card to Fall in New England. This is a lovely thought, at least until the audience discovers the whole thing is about a little boy who survives an attempted murder while locked in his school’s cloakroom. Before this happens, he witnesses the ghost of a little girl having terrible things happen to her before his eyes. The funny thing is this film starts off so cheesy, and in fact remains heavily cheesy throughout, but there are scenes such as this that uncomfortably bring real life to this seemingly charming small town. Moments, that are very uncomfortable.
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It is really strange to watch a film that was praised by famous critics and just watch these characters go through some heavy stuff and yet nonchalantly mention child molestation and ghosts and small-town racism. The film almost at every stop manages to explore heavier conversations about these things, yet fails to do so because the filmmaker wanted to just hang on to that early 1960s nostalgic feel and quite couldn’t part with the whole cookie-cutter image. That is just the thing, the film just goes back and forth with the overall vibe it is trying to give off; and it goes from beingscooped ice cream, to soft serve, then it just turns into a malt. It doesn’t know what it wants to be, but the film wants to be and say so much.
5Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
In 1983 Disney produced this hidden gem of a film. It is based on the Ray Bradbury novel of the same name. The book was indeed a great read. The movie? It wasentertaining, to say the least. It is fun simply because the film had a bit of trouble translating the material from the book. This easily can comedown to budgetand a multitude of other reasons. There are indeed cheesy aspects to the film and inconsistencies that can leave viewers scratching their heads. However, these things are what makeSomething Wicked This Way Comesso much fun to watch. It isn’t a bad film, just a little patchy in some spots.
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The chill factor comes from Jonathan Pryce’s amazing performance as the film’s villain, Mr. Dark. A man who feeds on the broken dreams of the sad souls who he manages to convert into his carnival troupe. He even gets lovely tattoos of these poor souls as trophies on his body to commemorate the occasion. It is also worth mentioning that he manages to graphically split an old man’s hand in half, in a children’s Disney film. Nobody ever sees that kind of thing coming.
4Sleepwalkers (1992)
Where to start with this one?Sleepwalkersis one of the films where Stephen King took a stab at screenwriting. This movie, in particular, was written by King solely for the big screen. It starts off innocent enough with Mark Hamill making an uncredited cameo. From there, a young teenage virgin is just living her life in the suburbs and meets a cute new guy in school. He isn’t like the other guys either.
No really, he isn’t. He and his mom are these incredibly strong cat people who feed off of virgins to stay alive. What is more uncomfortable is that they are in an incestuous relationship with each other.Sleepwalkersis very cheesy, but seeminglybrutal murders and uncomfortable momentsthat put Oedipus to shame, tend to just catch the viewer out of left field…constantly throughout the film. Also, Enya’s first foray into cinema (musically speaking). It’s not really worth mentioning…but it’s a thing.
3Silver Bullet (1985)
Another Stephen King classic.Silver Bulletjust smells like cheese. It isn’t a bad thing, and it can be a wonderful fragrance depending on personal preference. The opening alone prepares the audience for what they shall be in for throughout the rest of the film. A group of people are targeted by a werewolf. Are they ripped to shreds like normal werewolf victims?
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No, the werewolf gets a hold of a baseball bat. Seeing a medium shot of an extremely hairy arm swinging around a baseball bat is a strange artistic choice for many reasons. The thing is, there are plenty of cheesy scenes like this throughout, but then the audience is presented with scenes where prosthetics and sweaty close-ups can make viewers feel a bit uneasy. Plus watching Gary Busey ham it up is always good fun.
2The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane (1976)
There is a good amount of cheese throughout this one. The cheese, however, is subtle. A 13-year-old Jodie Foster lives alone and has a fromage (that’s cheese in French) amount of cryptic surrounding her life and backstory.
Despite that, she has a pedophilic Martin Sheen creeping around her home, and his landlord mother, who is poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. The ending, plus the unfair and unkind demise ofthe protagonist’s beloved pet hamster, leave the audience uncomfortable throughout.
SPOILER: There are dead bodies in her floor. Not really too surprising, just a lot of creepy fun
1The Witches (1990)
This film is cheesy, but it has scared every single millennial who had the misfortune to watch it before hitting puberty. The 2020 remake is laughably pale in comparison to the originalThe Witches, especially when it comes to the Jim Henson Creature Workshop prosthetics and puppets featured in the latter.On top of this, it is a children’s filmdirected byDon’t Look Now’sNicolas Roeg! For those who are not aware, Roeg is notorious for making audiences uncomfortable and creeped out.
Some of his wholesome stories include an alien coming to Earth and getting addicted to drugs, and a father who is haunted by images of his dead daughter when it is really images of his future murderer. Yeah, that guy made a kids’ film. The concept of witches is already seemingly terrifying to children (the Hollywood kind that is) since they love to target children. Mix that with Roald Dahl’s dark humor and Nicolas Roeg’s up close and personal Dutch angles, it does make for the most horrifically uncomfortable time for a child. Many who now watch this film as an adult still remark on how unsettling the film can be.
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