Halloween Horror Movies Bulletin Board

Kammy KuangFeatured Program:

East Tennessee State University

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

On the Halloween movies list because: There's hardly a better fit for a creepy night in than director Tim Burton, and his take on the Washington Irving short story is ghoulish, intriguing fun.

Critics say: "Gorgeous filmmaking that brims over with fun-house thrills and ravishing romance... Heads roll, bodies pile up, and the horseman—played in flashback by a megaweird Christopher Walken—rises from the dead."—Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Halloween (1978)

• On the Halloween movies list because: Halloween all but invented an entire subgenre of slasher horror movies, those that take place on All Hallows' Eve.

• Critics say: "There isn't another post-1970 release that comes close to it in terms of scaring the living hell out of a viewer."—James Berardinelli, Reelviews

Paranormal Activity (2007)

• On our Halloween movies list because: Something of a modern classic, this shocking feature plays on a culture saturated with reality television and near omnipresent surveillance.

Critics say: "It comes by its screams honestly, earning them with incremental, at times agonizing gradations of old-fashioned, what's-that-noise-in-the-hallway suspense."—Dana Stevens, Slate

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

On our Halloween movies list because: More slaughterhouse than haunted house, this classic still chills.

Critics say: "[A] sneaky equation of middle-class values with cannibalism and wholesale slaughter."—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

Panic Room (2002)

On our Halloween movies list because: This harrowing home invasion movie is a realistic nail-biter totally devoid of ghouls or the supernatural, making it a choice pick for those who know they'll be triple-checking their locks when the movie's done.

Critics say: "It could be an especially grisly, profanity-laced entry in the Home Alone' series. And, it must be said, an exceptionally well-directed one."—A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Evil Dead (2013)

• On our Halloween movies list because: This new update to the 1981 original eschews some of the camp and piles on the gory scares, making it a decidedly creepier pick for the holiday.

Critics say: "The gore is considerable (though often imaginative) and Alvarez's decision to forego CGI effects pays grisly dividends. That may not be a genuine tongue being slashed in half lengthwise (while still, it should be noted, in its owner's mouth) but damned if it doesn't look like one."—Christopher Orr, The Atlantic

Note from the editor

This bulletin board could easily be adapted into a program where the community

a) votes on movies they want to seeb) The community comes together once a week

in October to watch the scary movie that wins the voted and

c) The Community comes together on a special evening for a scary movie marathon evening or weekend!