halloween movies – NERDCROPOLIS

31 Nights of Horror VII, Night 2: Suspiria (1977)

NIGHT TWO is here in brilliant, heart stopping TECHNICOLOR.

31 Nights of Horror VII, Night 2: Suspiria (1977)

Three sentence review:

The Suspiria remake (in theaters November 2nd) received jaw-dropping reactions after its debut at this year’s Fantastic Fest – but we’re not here to discuss that one, we’re here to discuss Dario Argento’s original witchy acid trip. If you’ve never seen 1977’s Suspiria – and you should – just imagine a Lisa Frank folder but with lots of blood spatters and one of the cute, big-eyed tiger cubs eating the heart of a ballet dancer. It is a visually stunning, grisly experience much like how I imagine skipping through a stable of colorful, shrieking unicorn skeletons might feel.

31 Nights of Horror V, Night 20: Jeepers Creepers 2

More than three sentence review:

I think that when the original Jeepers Creepers came out I laughed it off because I couldn’t get past the silly name and the connection to the even sillier song. Fifteen years later, I feel like the “The Creeper” is now a legitimate and recognizable horror villain a la Jason and Freddy. Tonight’s review, however, is about the sequel which I personally like even more than the first installment. It’s what any iconic horror killer needs in a sequel – lots of teenagers and a high body count. Jeepers Creepers is a darker movie that took itself too seriously, and the sequel is the scary yet entertaining popcorn movie we all deserved. Yes, the sequel is definitely better. I would guess that in the future – hell, probably even now – people will remember the sequel that took place entirely on a school bus more than they remember the first movie.

Night 14, The Birds

31 Nights of Horror, Night 14: The Birds

Three sentence review:

All Hitchcock films are scavenger hunts of symbolism and macguffins, but The Birds is the Gospel of effectively using sound in horror. Bernard Hermann was hired as the composer but he didn’t write any music for the film, rather Hitchcock asked him to focus on incorporating noises and strategic silence that make the birds more menacing and the scenario more dire. Alfred Hitchcock’s films are idolized, but the director himself was a bit of a Norman Bates who had various phobias (eggs, policemen, his mother, etc.) and creepily obsessed over the blonde leads in his films, including Tippi Hedren from The Birds.